40B Build starting on low budget

[1891Bro]

1 minute ago, WhiteWulfe said:

At that price, I'd say the media basket and 110 combo is definitely worth it.  I haven't personally looked at the stock filtration that comes with the 110 but if it's anything like the 20, 30, or 50 the stock one is terrible and lets a good amount of water bypass the filtration.  InTank's media baskets are definitely worth it, as not only does it remove the bypass problem (thereby forcing the water through your filtration) but it also keeps things nice and organized, plus has a convenient spot for filter floss too (with easy swapping capability). 

Jus tryin to help. 

[Clown79]

Ac 70 will be fine. You will want to use filter floss and a good carbon, not the aquaclear media. 

 

I never used the  largest filters and have never had an issue. My 15g has a filter for up to 30g. My 55g had a filter for up to 70g.

If Its just to run media in it, then you don't need it to be huge. 

Ppl run reefs with no filter. 

 

Liverocks, sand, saltwater, powerhead, ammonia test kit to start cycle.

 

Reef keeping is not a cheap hobby, even the budget style tanks. Believe me, I've always run my tanks on a budget and it still cost more than i wanted.

 

Things i've learned:

 

Its still expensive on a budget

 

Buy an item once rather than buying something to make do with to replace it later, thats dble the wasted money.

 

Try finding used items

[Hdale85]

Well I'll keep it in mind, I'm barely going to be able to get the live rock water and power head this week likely. I really want to get the basic setup going so that I can get it cycling for a month or so. 

Yes I understand it's not going to be cheap. I've been pricing everything out and that's why I'm going slow. I don't expect to put fish in this tank until probably 1.5+ months from now. I'm going to go very slow so I can spread the big purchases over a few weeks and get the higher end stuff. 

[Hdale85]

Been working on the tank a bit. 

 

 

Here's the tank sitting on the stand after I got it together. Then I decided to paint the back black. I tried rolling on some house paint but it wasn't looking that great so I went to plan B which was spray paint. 

 

 

And now here's how it sits currently. 

 

[Hdale85]

Do you really need to cure dry rock? I thought the idea of dry/base rock was to make it easier to just throw the rock in. But apparently you get a lot of phosphates leaking out?

 

So it seems I either have to deal with possibly having bad things come in on live rock and spend quite a bit more money, or spend weeks curing dry rock. There is an LFS about 40 mins from here, I'm going to see what they sell live rock for. They may not have any yet as they just opened not long ago. 

[lkoechle]

1 minute ago, Hdale85 said:

Do you really need to cure dry rock? I thought the idea of dry/base rock was to make it easier to just throw the rock in. But apparently you get a lot of phosphates leaking out?

 

So it seems I either have to deal with possibly having bad things come in on live rock and spend quite a bit more money, or spend weeks curing dry rock. There is an LFS about 40 mins from here, I'm going to see what they sell live rock for. They may not have any yet as they just opened not long ago. 

Nope.  I have an easy solution for you.  I've used it every single time: https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/rock

 

Contact John Maloney to see when they're getting their rock back. It's great, just rinse it off and put it in the tank and start cycling.  John's super responsive with e-mails too.

[Hdale85]

Wow his prices look really nice......like 2 bucks a lb with shipping?

[Hdale85]

Will the live sand I have be enough to seed the rock?

[lkoechle]

7 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Will the live sand I have be enough to seed the rock?

You can dose ammonia (pure janitorial ammonia, ace hardware carries a good one and here is a calculator http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm) and get a product like Fritzyme 9 (https://www.amazon.com/Fritz-Aquatics-Fritzzyme-9-Saltwater-Nitrifying/dp/B0002DGK8G) or Bio-spira which are nitrifying bacteria cultures. And that will start your cycle.

[Hdale85]

Ok, looks like he's getting rock back by the end of the week. So hopefully I can grab some of that lol. 

[lkoechle]

Just now, Hdale85 said:

Ok, looks like he's getting rock back by the end of the week. So hopefully I can grab some of that lol. 

It's great rock.  Especially if you keep something like a wrasse.  There are so many holes, my wrasse sleeps inside the rock at night and has crazy little paths he takes through the rock.

[Hdale85]

Nice, I sent him a reply asking if I should just order 30lbs or if I should over buy. I was wondering if the pieces he sends go together pretty good or if I'd need extra to try and pick and choose pieces. 

 

[lkoechle]

16 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Nice, I sent him a reply asking if I should just order 30lbs or if I should over buy. I was wondering if the pieces he sends go together pretty good or if I'd need extra to try and pick and choose pieces. 

 

The pieces he send are really good.  I've always been able to come up with really good scapes using his rock.  Tell him what size tank it's for and what type of scape your hoping to build, and he'll send appropriately sized rocks.

[Hdale85]

I'm not sure what the different types of scape is? I'd just like to have some caves and holes for stuff. It'd be neat to get some fish that would live in there or maybe an eel although I'm not sure if there is a reef safe eel? 

 

So I should just be able to get a 30lb package then.

[lkoechle]

eels require a little more research.  A snowflake eel would fit in a 40 but I wouldn't reccommend them for your first reef.  If you don't have any scape ideas, that's fine.  The size of the tank will be enough to tell John what size rocks you need. And yes, I would think 30 lbs would be enough.

[Hdale85]

Ok about to place an order for the things I need to start cycling the tank, minus the rock. I can't get the hang on filter, and powerhead this week but figured the powerhead should be good for cycling? 

[Weetabix7]

4 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Ok about to place an order for the things I need to start cycling the tank, minus the rock. I can't get the hang on filter, and powerhead this week but figured the powerhead should be good for cycling? 

 

Yes, a powerhead is absolutely enough for cycling. 

[Hdale85]

Ok, good stuff. Now I just can't make up my mind. I've read a lot of people having failure issues with the Jebao powerheads. So I was thinking about getting a Hydor Koralia which seems to have a lot less issues out there as far as I can see. But the Hydor isn't a wavemaker and not sure if you can control it with an external controller the same way. The TW25/WP25 combo is like 55 bucks, the Hydor Koralia Evolution 750/850 is like 32.99 and I can't seem to find anyone really having issues with them. 

 

How is Jebao with warranties and such? From what I understand Hydor is pretty standup when warrantying products. 

[Weetabix7]

6 minutes ago, Hdale85 said:

Ok, good stuff. Now I just can't make up my mind. I've read a lot of people having failure issues with the Jebao powerheads. So I was thinking about getting a Hydor Koralia which seems to have a lot less issues out there as far as I can see. But the Hydor isn't a wavemaker and not sure if you can control it with an external controller the same way. The TW25/WP25 combo is like 55 bucks, the Hydor Koralia Evolution 750/850 is like 32.99 and I can't seem to find anyone really having issues with them. 

 

How is Jebao with warranties and such? From what I understand Hydor is pretty standup when warrantying products. 

 

See discussion of Jebao vs. Koralia on pg. 4 of this thread: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/381788-fish-added-cals-resurrection-desktop-im-20-a-lounge-rats-contest-tank/?page=4

 

You actually can get a controller for Koralia. 

[lkoechle]

I like ecotech vortechs.  I would do some research into them  If you thibj thats something you'd want to upgrade to in the future, then I would start with non controllable powerheads.  Everyone has their likes and dislikes.  Maxspect Gyres are another that people really like.  These are two expensive options but I feel they are worth mentioning for research puposes. If you end up upgrading, I feel your money is better spent on basic koralia pumps than dropping 1/3 or 1/2 the price of an "expensive" system on a product you may upgrade later.  

 

I am saying this from how I do budget builds.  So its personality dependant.  i would rather pay $200 for non smart tv now and buy a $1k smart tv in the future than $500 for a non smart tv with some extra features and still upgrade to that $1k smart tv.  

 

I am showing you your "tv upgrade" If you're happy with the mid level tv, thats great but if youre wanting to upgrade later anyways then save the $300, you know? I hope I am making sense.  ultimately, it depends on what your future plans are.

[Hdale85]

15 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

See discussion of Jebao vs. Koralia on pg. 4 of this thread: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/381788-fish-added-cals-resurrection-desktop-im-20-a-lounge-rats-contest-tank/?page=4

 

You actually can get a controller for Koralia. 

I'm not sure that discussion offers much input really..... Just one guy saying that you can get the same flow from a single Jebao powerhead without much other input other than some trash talking of Hydor. 

6 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

I like ecotech vortechs.  I would do some research into them  If you thibj thats something you'd want to upgrade to in the future, then I would start with non controllable powerheads.  Everyone has their likes and dislikes.  Maxspect Gyres are another that people really like.  These are two expensive options but I feel they are worth mentioning for research puposes. If you end up upgrading, I feel your money is better spent on a light and use basic koralia pumps than dropping 1/3 or 1/2 the price of an "expensive" system on a product you may upgrade later.  

 

I am saying this from how I do budget builds.  So its personality dependant.  i would rather pay $200 for non smart tv now and buy a $1k smart tv in the future than $500 for a non smart tv with some extra features and still upgrade to that $1k smart tv.  

 

I am showing you your "tv upgrade" If you're happy with the mid level tv, thats great but if youre wanting to upgrade later anyways then save the $300, you know? I hope I am making sense.  ultimately, it depends on what your future plans are.

Ecotech is nice yeah....but at nearly 250 for the smaller ones it'd be quite a while before I could upgrade to something like that. 

[Hdale85]

I think I'm just going to grab the Jebao SW-2 with plans to add a second SW-2 before I add any corals. This option gives me 0-10v support so I can use a DIY controller that I've been thinking of doing eventually as well. 

 

More than likely my Controller and LED light will be DIY. I've always been a heavy DIY guy lol. 

[Clown79]

I have hydors and have used them many times but you will need 2 of them in that size of tank.

 

All powerheads, even ecotechs have had issues.

 

Hydors controller has a bad reputation.

 

If you don't wanna do jebao go with sicce, they are nice powerheads.

 

Sw-2 is a nano wavemaker. Ensure that it will work on a 40g. The rw or pp series i know definitely will work in a 40b

[steelwrap]

On 4/29/2017 at 9:14 PM, Hdale85 said:

But a brand new AC 110 is 80 bucks and I don't know if I really need the media basket. I did see it though. 

Another option for a filter is the seachem tidal power filters. They have a huge area for media and will skim from the top of the water also. The 75 gallon size is around $60 on amazon

[Hdale85]

Hmm the SW2 specs on Amazon appear to be off. It says it has the same flow rate as the RW-4. Going to have to cancel that and reorder.