40B Build starting on low budget

[Hdale85]

Change of plans on filter upgrades. Just gonna go for a single DI canister for now, with a flush valve for the membrane and adding a 1 micron depth filter to replace my current sediment filter. Had an unforeseen expense creep up today. 

[Weetabix7]

8 hours ago, Hdale85 said:

Well just placed a 330 dollar order with Amazon, grabbed the HOB from ebay as it was about 10 bucks cheaper. I have a 185 dollar order to place with BRS for my RO upgrades and replacement filters. I'm waiting until Saturday for the BRS purchase for the group buy deal. Here is the items I'm ordering from BRS

 

 

I decided to go with this light, just one for now if I feel I need another I will grab one. The LED colors on this seemed more appropriate to what people recommend compared to the ebay models. Also it has a timer function and was pretty cheap at 117 bucks considering I don't have to swap any LED's. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KJHWHYK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

I'm really interested to see your livestock under this light. 

I know I'm in the minority on this, but I don't think we need quite as much light (strength wise) as most think we do. 

I do have some experience backing this up, though. 

[Clown79]

2 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I'm really interested to see your livestock under this light. 

I know I'm in the minority on this, but I don't think we need quite as much light (strength wise) as most think we do. 

I do have some experience backing this up, though. 

I agree.

 

Most ppl go overkill. They purchase these high end lights and run them at 30%. 

 

 

[Hdale85]

Well most of the Chinese boxes like this one people are running at like 20-50% because they've been measured to do 200-300par or so at the sand even in some bigger tanks. I know it says 165w, but realistically they are pulling 100-120 watts from the wall, but even so they are pretty dang powerful from what I gather.

 

I was going to get a lower powered light but I figured for the price this was a good move in case I ever wanted to try some sps down the road. The only thing I might be lacking is coverage from what I understand. It's only 16" wide so that would be the only reason I'd go for a second unit.

[Weetabix7]

7 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Well most of the Chinese boxes like this one people are running at like 20-50% because they've been measured to do 200-300par or so at the sand even in some bigger tanks. I know it says 165w, but realistically they are pulling 100-120 watts from the wall, but even so they are pretty dang powerful from what I gather.

 

I was going to get a lower powered light but I figured for the price this was a good move in case I ever wanted to try some sps down the road. The only thing I might be lacking is coverage from what I understand. It's only 16" wide so that would be the only reason I'd go for a second unit.

 

I would suggest just doing low light Softies on the edges of it's light. 

I see no reason that couldn't work for what the livestock needs. 

The light drop-off on the edges is far more likely to bug you than it is the corals. 

[Hdale85]

Yeah I'm sure, the main reason I went with that light is unlike the MarsAqua which has like 4 green led's 4 reds, and a ton of warm whites which are more of a yellow color, this one has mostly cool whites which are in the higher 12000-16000 kelvin ranges or on the blue spectrum, and only 2 red and greens, also it has more royal blue and several on the UV side. If I went with the MarsAqua I likely would of swapped out a ton of LED's and this light wasn't much more money and has timer functions that I can use, eventually I'll likely mod it to make it work with a controller though. 

[Hdale85]

So I got a package from Amazon today, started opening it and couldn't figure out what it was. It was heavy and larger than anything I was expecting. Then through the bubble wrap I saw Eheim and I thought "this is a huge heater!". 

 

[Hdale85]

After opening it I was surprised to find it was 6 heaters...... So I guess I have some spares or something.

[Weetabix7]

6 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

After opening it I was surprised to find it was 6 heaters...... So I guess I have some spares or something.

 

That's crazy!!!!

Mebbe I should buy a heater off you, lol. 

[Hdale85]

Lol, I would but I don't have PayPal and refuse to have anything to do with PayPal due to past issues although I do have to make payments through them from time to time. So likely won't sell them because of that unless I could sell them locally.

[Hdale85]

So after sitting with the scape the way it was for a week or so I just don't like the left side very much. So I pushed the sand to the side and played around with it a bit.... It's no exactly what I want yet but I've got some better idea's now. I may pull out that side and play with it a bit out of the tank, and also going to get a big tube of gel super glow and try and glue the rocks together a bit for stability. Even the way it is I think it looks better than it did. I didn't' like how flat it was and also didn't like the way the rocks lay before, just kind of looked thrown in there. I also have some rubble and stuff to fill in some spots that don't look natural and such. 

 

[Hdale85]

Ok I think I have something I like better now....I completely redid everything lol. I pulled all the sand out and everything. This is what the rock looks like currently although pictures don't really show it as good as it looks in person. 

 

 

Hopefully I can keep them like that, we're going to move the tank over to a different part of the room I think. We kind of changed our mind on where we'd like it lol. 

[DC5]

My stand arrived today so I will be starting my 40b sooner than I expected...that is if I actually start it

[Hdale85]

Got the light today, looks and feels pretty dang good. 

 

 

The light output looks pretty good, I'm leaning towards a second one for sure It's super bright though lol. Those pics are with the blue channel at 100% and white channel at 20%. 

[Hdale85]

Sure takes a long time to make 40 gallons of salt water.....been working on it about 7 hours now and halfway done lol.

[Hdale85]

So got the tank filled finally, looks like my PH is right at 8, and alkalinity is around 3-3.5 so that's pretty good it seems. 

 

I got a big bottle of Seachems Stability, but I gotta pick up some Ammonia tomorrow then I can start the cycle. 

 

I desperately need to get a magnetic glass cleaner thing, cause there's bubbles and crud on the glass from filling it up. the water is semi clear at the moment. Still a bit hazy but currently I only have the stock filter floss insert that came with the Seachem Tidal. I'm going to grab some poly batting tomorrow as well which should be able to collect a lot more smaller particles that are floating around. 

[Weetabix7]

4 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

So got the tank filled finally, looks like my PH is right at 8, and alkalinity is around 3-3.5 so that's pretty good it seems. 

 

I got a big bottle of Seachems Stability, but I gotta pick up some Ammonia tomorrow then I can start the cycle. 

 

I desperately need to get a magnetic glass cleaner thing, cause there's bubbles and crud on the glass from filling it up. the water is semi clear at the moment. Still a bit hazy but currently I only have the stock filter floss insert that came with the Seachem Tidal. I'm going to grab some poly batting tomorrow as well which should be able to collect a lot more smaller particles that are floating around. 

 

Hooray, so cool to see this get started!!

 

[Pinner Reef]

Love them 40s... Keep up the good work

[Hdale85]

Here's an updated pic. I don't know the best place to place the circulation pumps, but I just put them in the middle towards the top. It seems like there is a good bit of flow getting to the sand as I can see the sand shifting a little from time to time. Some how a hair got in there cause I can see it flying around from time to time......not sure how to pull that out. 

 

[Pinner Reef]

You'll be rearranging the pumps as you see fit, so, not  a big worry. As for the hair, as long as it's not a pube floating around in there, you should be fine.

[Hdale85]

Hmm I got some Ammonia from Walmart, but it's got Surfactant in it which is apparently bad.......so the search continues I guess. 

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Hmm I got some Ammonia from Walmart, but it's got Surfactant in it which is apparently bad.......so the search continues I guess. 

 

Try Ace Hardware, I know they sell Ammonia without surfactant. 

And yes, surfactant is bad.

[Hdale85]

Yeah, just have to drive like 20 minutes for a dollar bottle of Ammonia lol. 

 

Also how many drops of ammonia do you put in a 40b? I thought I saw someone say one drop per gallon, but then other things said that's inaccurate because you don't know how much ammonia is in the actual liquid you're dripping etc. 

[Hdale85]

Well we have a local store called Handyman Supply and apparently it's an Ace Hardware affiliate, they had the right stuff and in a smaller bottle too. Boy this stuff stinks though! I put 40 drops in and added the stability. Going to wait a bit here and then try and figure this ammonia test out.....

 

Oh I also added another 5lb bag of sand as the middle sand layer was a bit thin and it just didn't seem like there was enough. So I'm up to like 25lbs now. 

[Hdale85]

Not sure I like the Seachem Ammonia test......lol