40 Breeder macro haven

[kekke1082]

IT HAS BEGUN!!!!! So I've finally got some things up and running again. Im so excited about this build. I've waited more than 8 months for this and finally its started! 

 

Current plans are as follows:

 

40Breeder with a mix of live rock and dry rock, still stuck between bare bottom and special grade sand.

 

25gallon refugium (idk yet if this will be 100% necessary but it will provide a place for me to put any cool hitch hikers that i dont want to get rid of but cant keep im the display) 

 

29 gallon QT 

 

The 25 gallon is going to be resealed since it is a much older lagoon style tank and rebuilt as rimless for aesthetic reasons. 

 

I'm still deciding on stocking but I'd love two seahorses (preferably females im not looking to breed them) however, I'm not married to that idea at all. There will definitely be gorgonia, lots of macros, and seahorse safe soft corals if i go that direction. 

 

I still need to get a piece of ply and some foam cut to go under the tank between the tank and stand. The stand itself is actually made for the 60 or 65 gallon petco/petsmart tanks so its more then capible of supporting this tank and the refugium on the bottom rack. There are some FW tanks below for plant grow out that can be moved once the 25 is resealed and ready. 

 

I'm so excited to be able to get started on the reef again but things are going to happen super slowly at first since we just moved into this place at the end of august so my fiance and I are still pulling the rest of the house together. Fortunately once the tanks are all up and running they will be staying where they are for a few years ❤. 

 

So community i need your help! To seahorse or not to seahorse is the question? I dont yet know if setting up a separate pony tank is going to be feasible since space is already dedicated for my 4 or 5 other set ups on the way but exceptions can be made. 

 

Stocking ideas? I love nano fish and this time i dont think I'll be sticking to anything theme wise. Previously I wanted this to be a gulf of mexico reef with endemic species or as close to endemic as possible. Now i just want to have fun with macros and kind of go with the flow and see what happens. The goal is for everything in this tank to be strictly captive bred, maricultured, aquacultured etc. 

 

[kimdawg]

I have never done seahorses, but it would be a neat set-up.  I think they go great with gorgs and macro tanks.

[kekke1082]

14 hours ago, kimdawg said:

I have never done seahorses, but it would be a neat set-up.  I think they go great with gorgs and macro tanks.

From what I've been researching they should be fine with the gorgs and macro for sure. There are some other soft corals I'd like to add but I'll have to check on those. I joined a few FB groups and reached out to seahorse source and done some research on alyssa's seahorse savvy website. If i do go with seahorses it will probably be quite a while before they get added tl the tank. Honestly idk exactly what i want to do with this one but i do want to have fun with it regardless 😁 

[WV Reefer]

2 hours ago, kekke1082 said:

From what I've been researching they should be fine with the gorgs and macro for sure. There are some other soft corals I'd like to add but I'll have to check on those. I joined a few FB groups and reached out to seahorse source and done some research on alyssa's seahorse savvy website. If i do go with seahorses it will probably be quite a while before they get added tl the tank. Honestly idk exactly what i want to do with this one but i do want to have fun with it regardless 😁 

If you haven’t already, check out @vlangel ‘s threads. 

[kekke1082]

11 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

If you haven’t already, check out @vlangel ‘s threads. 

Thanks for the info I'll definitely do that 🙂

[kekke1082]

Nothing much has changed yet with the 40 B macro haven. It is still dry but my goal is to have it wet by the end of this month. There are a few modifications that i need to have done first including getting some wholes drilled for the overflow and return in preperation for plumbing my refugium in. I do plan on having a 25gal fuge for this tank just to isolate the macros that are more likely to become food and to hold additional live rock. I'm going to do my best to keep the main display free of overly large rock pieces since i plan to stock it with pipefish and eventually a pair or single seahorse (the jury is still out on the seahorses) but either way the main focus will be to display as many varieties of macro algae as i can possibly get my hands on mixed in will be a few soft corals more of the somewhat invasive type. I'll add updated pics as the tank comes together 😊

[kekke1082]

The 40 breeder was temporarily turned into a few community tank 😬. I took on a colony of kribenses cichlids which are currently living their best live in the 40 B but test assured they are going to be evicted into a different tank soon! As I've posted in another of my journals, my racking systems are finally starting to come together so once they are completed and in place the 40 B macro haven is back on! My living is in chaos right now due to me being the only person moving tanks and setting up racks but if anyone can understand the chaos its the nano reef community! So here are some very..... interesting before shots of my pre-organization rack system 😅 hopefully by Monday things will be looking much better! I'm scraping the sump idea for the 40 and I'll just add some HOB equipment and remove things as needed. The goal is for the 49 breeder and the 25 gal lagoon tank to sit side by side and possibly end up plumbed to the same sump. Anywho....picture time 😅 (again it's all a mess but it's my mess 🤣) 

 

it took me almost 4 months to find this rack and I'm so happy I waited 😁 . Originally the one I wanted from would have cost well over $400 after taxes but this one from Sam's was around $200  or so. Plus it holds about twice the weight that the Lowe's one does for the same price point.