new 40 Breeder Tank Build

[ezramore]

I picked up a bottle of red tiger pods and reseaded the fuge yesterday (17$ for a 6 oz bottle). I had the LFS order them so i would not have to pay the 40$ shipping costs. he bought a case so it worked out to be 19$ a bottle including shipping. Livley little pods. They moved into the cheto right away and i spotted a few this morning crawling on the rocks.

 

also picked up a couple more pieces of live rock for the sump. I fragged the kenya tree coral and placed the pieces on some rubble in the fuge. the pieces have already attached and seem to have full polyp extension.

[ezramore]

Stuck in the middle east for the last month. The wife says the tank has grown a lot since ive been gone. Soo looking foward to seeing it. will post some new pics when i get home this weekend.

[ezramore]

made it home but havent had much time for pictures. We just had a death in the family. (Wifes Father) Things have been a little nuts as a result. Tank is maturing nicely. the Coraline has covered all the black pieces, and most of the rock. The fuge has hundreds of pods running around many of them with eggs and the Manderine is fat and happy. Will get some pics soon.

[flick]

Waiting for new piccies!

 

LOTS please Of yellow tang, and FTS please! lol I LOVE your tank! Such an awesome, easy desgin of ref, and canopy and stand! Such an amazing job! Im going to do one of these when i move out, i want to do this to a 90g *Then* i can get my yellow tangs lol

 

Flick

[ezramore]

ill try to get some up this weekend. thanks for the comments

[flick]

Yes please!!!

 

I cant beleive how awesome you did! Geeeeze! lol Soo nice! Even the trim is awesome! And how simple the doors on stand open up. Ref all layed out nice, and simple, very usable space. With shelv above for food e.t.c. And the canopy! I like how you enclosed the backside! Great idea! I hate when people dont and half their light escapes b efore going in tank! Overall, id honestly give you a 95%, the only thing im not to fond of is the rock! Looks werid! But you layed it out how i would have if i got rock like that! So props! lol

 

Flick

[Juanhunglo69]

What are the measurments of your tank? I have a 40 that was given to me but it is trimless and I thought that it may have been made here in Germany. I am starting to wonder where it was made now. I am looking at doing basically what you have done here except that I think that I am going to drill 3 or 5 holes in the back of the tank with a center overflow. I even have a stand already and as going to go topless but I think that you just inspired me to build my own with a hood.

 

I have a couple of options: a frameless 30 gallon German tank, the frameless 40 gallon tank mentioned above, a 29 long, and a 125 aga. I am not interested in the expense of the 125 yet. Chances are that I will be moving again in a few years anyways. Maybe I can start building that stand for it. Anyways I will more than likely take the 40 apart drill it and redo the silicone. It looks like it has been around a while. But then again that 30 is soo perfect. That cheap 29 long is doomed to be a sump/refugium. Your tank looks good! Good enough to make me want to partially copy it.

[ezramore]

What are the measurments of your tank? I have a 40 that was given to me but it is trimless and I thought that it may have been made here in Germany. I am starting to wonder where it was made now. I am looking at doing basically what you have done here except that I think that I am going to drill 3 or 5 holes in the back of the tank with a center overflow. I even have a stand already and as going to go topless but I think that you just inspired me to build my own with a hood.

 

I have a couple of options: a frameless 30 gallon German tank, the frameless 40 gallon tank mentioned above, a 29 long, and a 125 aga. I am not interested in the expense of the 125 yet. Chances are that I will be moving again in a few years anyways. Maybe I can start building that stand for it. Anyways I will more than likely take the 40 apart drill it and redo the silicone. It looks like it has been around a while. But then again that 30 is soo perfect. That cheap 29 long is doomed to be a sump/refugium. Your tank looks good! Good enough to make me want to partially copy it.

 

Dimensions are (L=36, W=18, H=16) sounds like you have a lot of options. help your self to copying my stand or what ever you need.

 

Not drilling is one of my biggest regrets. Unfortunatley as i have never done it before I descided I could not afford to break it. If i had it to do all over again I would have bought 2 while they were on sale drilled one and if it was successfull make a sump, sell or return the other. I ran my 12 topless for a while and after picking a couple of carpet surfers off the floor descided i would not go that route again. Thanks for the kind words. and Good luck

[Burks]

Great looking tank! Your tank is coming along very nicely. The stand/canopy look very well done also!

 

I too have a 40g breeder although mine is a planted freshwater tank. Lovely size isn't it? Lots of room for scaping and creating a "deep" looking tank. I want to do a reef tank the same size someday.

 

Here is a finished shot of the canopy/stand combo my dad and I built over Christmas vacation while I was home visiting. Keep in mind neither of us claim to be woodworkers by any means. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v154/burks/DSC04326.jpg

[ezramore]

new pics

 

Manderine

tang

conch

fuge

gobe

clown fish hosting flower pot

Xena

butterfly

Tank

Zoas

[Gerber77]

That rock work is killer. I really like the anthias.

[ezramore]

more zoas

Candy

anthias

butterfly

frogspawn

Clam

torch

tang

 

That rock work is killer. I really like the anthias.

 

thanks fof the compliments. I wasnt sure about the anthias wen we got him but he has become part of the family

[ezramore]

I have been noticing my Toad stool has been showing signs of stress and as a result doing daily water testing and logging the results. The toad stool was coming out in the mornings and evenings and would shrivel up during the day time hours. What i found is that I was getting almost an 8 degree temp swing from day to night. Everything has been wondefull all winter until the weather started getting nice. I spent last night drilling a few holes in the back wall of the canopy and mounted an additional cumputer fan. For those of you who have set up your tanks in the winter months as i did this might be something to keep an eye out for as the 3 mini computer fans was not enough for me. The fans i was using are the 2" high speed computer fans. The new ones i installed last night is a 3" and i will be swapping out the rest hopefully today if the local electronic store is open when i get off work.

[ezramore]

checked it at lunch and the toad stool was out and looking good. Temp only went up 2 degrees. Ill still add the additional fans this evening. Looks like it was definatley the temp swing causing the problem.

[ezramore]

I added the additional fans and for now seems to have done the trick. It has definatley increased the amount of evaporation however and i will have to fill the auto top off more often until I find a glass cover for it.

[ZeRo 91]

Hey whats your current stock list? I am just starting to build a 40B just like yours and wanted to know how many/what kinds of fish you have.

 

 

Tank looks absolutely amazing BTW, great thread for someone starting a 40B like myself.

[ezramore]

Hey whats your current stock list? I am just starting to build a 40B just like yours and wanted to know how many/what kinds of fish you have.

Tank looks absolutely amazing BTW, great thread for someone starting a 40B like myself.

 

thanks for the compliments here is what i have so far:

 

1 purple dottyback

1 pygmy angel

1 yellow tang

1 lear tale anthius

1 tiger prawn goby

2 percula clowns

1 green manderine

1 bicolor blennie

1 skunk cleaner

1 clam

1 tiger conch

1 sand sifter starfish

many snails and hermit crabs

 

ive had others but have traded them out for various reasons. some for fighting some for coral abuse. good luck to you in you set up.

[ezramore]

i know its been awhile since i posted on here. Ive been out of the country quite often lately with my job. anyways. The tank is still doing quite well. The teadstool loves its new location, and the frag i cut off of it seems to be growing quite nicely. Since the addition of the new fans the temperatures have stabelized quite nicely. When i got back from my last trip however i noticed a small patch of hair algea. I quickly removed it and did a large water change, and added some turbo snails. it doesnt seem to be growing back very fast so i am hoping i got it taking care of.

Everything is kind of on maintanence until i get my house painted, new deck built, and new tile installed. I am doing it all myself so it will take a little while to get time to go back to the tank other than just viewing

[glennr1978]

Just out of curiousity, how much water do you have to top off daily?

[ezramore]

I have a Tsunami autotop off set up so I dont know the exact per day but the freshwater resivour is 1.5 gallons and I refill fill it every other day. I had a plexi lid between the lights and the water and the 1.5 Gallons would last aproximatley 3 days. unfortunatley i learned that plexi absorbs water and becoms flexible after awile. I did not like how it warped so i removed it.

[Buehler]

I have a Tsunami autotop off set up so I dont know the exact per day but the freshwater resivour is 1.5 gallons and I refill fill it every other day. I had a plexi lid between the lights and the water and the 1.5 Gallons would last aproximatley 3 days. unfortunatley i learned that plexi absorbs water and becoms flexible after awile. I did not like how it warped so i removed it.

 

 

I use a 1/4 piece of Lexan that seems to work really well and doesn't warp (just fyi if you're interested). And yeah, 1.5 gallons every other day seems like a pain. I have a 20 gallon and lose quite a bit of water in a day without the cover on. I live in Avon, Colorado (I see you live in CS, CO) and the evaporation rate with the low humidity is soooo high sometimes!

[ezramore]

I use a 1/4 piece of Lexan that seems to work really well and doesn't warp (just fyi if you're interested). And yeah, 1.5 gallons every other day seems like a pain. I have a 20 gallon and lose quite a bit of water in a day without the cover on. I live in Avon, Colorado (I see you live in CS, CO) and the evaporation rate with the low humidity is soooo high sometimes!

 

ill give your suggestion about the lexan a shot and see what happens. I am tossing around a new sump configuration idea and if i end up doing another i will incoorporate a lid design into the build. the main reason for contemplation of a new sump is that i have been using this one as a holding area for fraggs when i prune the main display and would like to incoorporate a frag shelf and reduce evaporation.

[ezramore]

I had a Eye apointment this morning and had to spend the day at home after with my eyes dialated. Of course im not one to just sit around so i took advantage of my time off and although a things were a little fuzzy for awile i managed to almost completley finish the new sump idea ratteling around in my head. anyways here are sme pics. I descided to keep this one kind of simple as far as operation. as my head was a little fuzzy still i descided to have the shop where i buy my plexi go ahead and cut the basic box for me. it is the exact dimentions as the old one only i added a euro style brace. Here is it mocked up using masking tape to hold it in place. Here is everything glued and the euro brace rough cut. after the rough cut i used a razor blade to smoothe the edges followed by a nice flame polish using a torchi picked up a new skimmer on the way home. Ive been eying this thing for awile and i think it will be perfect for my needs i made a hole in the top to pass the skimmer through, made an algea guard to keep algea out of the return and built a small frag shelf. I just need to drill the whole for the overflow, and attach the lid and i thing it will be ready to go. i made this one a little more simple as i wanted it to have more fuge space. i will drill the overflow whole in the morning and run a wet test to see how she does. i cant wait to get it set up though. Not sure what i will do with the old one. it will probably be used for scrap materials. the old bioballs will be cleaned and put into the new one, and the return pump will be transfered over. Whish me luck

[ezramore]

Got the new sump up and running. Sofar so good. The fuge is much larger and seams to be working really well. I picked up some red kelp and placed it in the fuge and the next morning i found a swarm of misis shrimp swimming around. Ive never had them before so i was pretty excited. Tried to get a pic but my camer takes horrible marco shots. i placed som yellow zoa frags, and a kenya tree frag on the little shelf and they are both looking great. The only casualyty was a large featherduster worm i had just gotten a couple weeks ago. He may recover but it isnt looking good. i basically replaced 60 percent of the water when i drained the old sump and added the new one which is what i beleave to be the cause of the feather duster issue. 1 question for anyone who may have used the urchin pro skimmers. I have it set on what is supposed to be the dryest setting and it foams like crazy. The instructions say it should have taken a week for it to foam at all and at this setting it should be putting out black slime if anything. This one is making stink foam tea. For now im just going to keep emptying it and hope it settles down once the new fuge begins to establish itself. I am dosing calcium and strontium as well as magnesium for my sps, and clams. Anyways. Ill update with some new pics soon. It came out really well and i am very happy with it so far.

[ezramore]

Lesson learned for thos who move.

 

Shortley after i got the new sump set up. i noticed the new protien skimmer going absolutly nuts. The gap i left around the skimmer cup intentionally wdid its job, so all the excess foam simply went back into the sump . Well it was about midnight when this happened, the water was smelling funny and i was out of reef carbon and used the last of my salt water to refill the new sump.

Turns out it was the zena that went toxic. cuz it was all curled up in the corner. Anyways I added an airpump emptied the skimmer cup, changed the filter removed what was left of the skimmer. and had no choice but to wait it out till morning. Anyways, I ended up emptying the skimmer again in the morning picked up water and carbon. Did a water change and placed the carbon in sump. Everything seems ok now almost a week later, but i thought i lost everything. Luckily the casualty list was minimal. I lost the torch coral, The frogspawn is touch and go right now. Lost the feather duster worm, a scallop, and my large cleaner shrimp. Everything else seems to have survived the incident mostly unscaved other than looking stressed for a couple days.

 

I am hopefull that the frogspawn looks to be recovering. It had 2 heads one of which is looking strong and the other is starting to look like it may be ok. Their skelitons have been broken up and added to the frag shelf in the sump to be used for future frags. I love how the ocean reuses everything.