Bear's 40 Gallon... Return???

September 20, 2019

Hello everyone,

I have been away for quite some time and I assure you that my posting will be very inconsistent with this new thread. LOL (I know my life).

After taking down my previous 20 long I kept most of the gear and rock "just in case".. Well "in case" is about to happen as predicted.

My intention is to set up a 40 breeder softy tank with some cool fish. There is always potential for things to change in my plan but the last few iterations have taught me a great deal. The primary lesson appears to be "slow down, and keep things simple" so this will be just that, slow and simple.

That being said there are a few reasons for this thread

1 - to catalog my progress

2 - to refer people to when asked questions about failures and successes

3 - because even if I do not post here anymore Nano-Reef has always been my go to source for information and lurking here over the years has helped to answer many questions for me.

I am not sure if this is a true homecoming just yet, but I am on the way.

A few weeks back I obtained a 40 gallon corner bowfront tank. I was NOT in love with this thing. My wife however is. She happens to have a 40 breeder that I want. hmmm Let me back up a moment

we are currently running a 40 breeder and 2 - 20 long fresh water tanks. She wants to combine the 2 - 2o's into one community and I want to separate the fish in the 40 (good swap so far) the issue is that there are 2 fish we took in on a rescue that need to be placed. ONCE this occurs the tank moves will start and I will have the 40 breeder to turn into my personal salty paradise.

Once the tank is ready to get started I will be starting with dry rock, and likely, a crushed coral and aragonite mixed sand bed. I really REALLY want to keep myself in check and keep this tank SIMPLE. 2 good powerheads for flow, a heater, and a HOB for water polishing and the occasional chemical filtration.

I am intending to seed the tank with one live rock (source to be determined) and start the cycle with a table shrimp.

Being that I am going to make every effort to keep things simple and inexpensive I have a unique lighting situation. I have ordered from this company on eBay before and the lights were pretty good for what I have going on. When I had intended to keep the bow front I ordered two set of lights one longer than the other to accommodate the odd shape. This actually works for my aquascape plan. I intend to have a higher pile of rocks on one side then a ridge along the back that will slope down to the sandbed. With these lights I can light the back and the high rocks by putting the lights in an "L" configuration. This will light the tank, focus the light on the corals, and prevent me from having to invest more funds on lights. The lights are in the 10K range so they should be great for softies. I do not intend to keep SPS.

At this moment I think this is all of the details that I have ready for the start of this log.

I will post images, and updates from time to time. Please feel free to comment, question, and conversate on this tank. All constructive conversation is always welcome. That is what we are here for after all.

September 22, 2019

Stand built. Temporary holding the corner bow for my wife while I await my tank...

September 30, 2019

OK so the more this tank sat there the more I liked it, and the more the wife did not like it..

So here we go.

First challenge is the cover. I cannot find a cover for this particular tank ANYWHERE its like they don't make this tank here in the United States. so after looking at how I want to set this tank up (details below) I decided that a 3 part cover would be in order. I do not have pictures of the mock up for this but the I am sure you will get the idea as I describe it. Starting at the back corner I will take a 16" square of glass and cut it into a triangle, this will be the rear cover. I will then use a rectangle piece of glass to cover the center section (the trim is designed to accommodate this). Then I will use a piece of PVC sheeting to cover the front. This will permit me to cut the arch for the front and have some left over PVC sheeting for the rest of this project.

Now on to the ideas and Mock up from last evening -

1st - I decided that I do not want a sump, nor to I want a HOB if I can avoid them. (Again wanting to keep things simple and budget friendly, I know me.. I do not want to take out a credit card for this tank.) So a 3 chamber AIO is the solution.. This section will be fabricated out of PVC sheeting using PVC weld to hold the pieces together and then anchored into place using silicone on both sides of the dividers wherever they touch the glass. I know it would bond with the PVC but it should be enough to hold things in place.

Here are the pictures -

Over view