Paul's 40 Gallon Reef

Paul87 · Jan 28, 2015

Ok so I got a ne 40 gallon breeder tank from the $1 per gallon sale at Petco. I will be transferring my current 38 gallon into this for dimensional purposes. Also to get a little different rock scape. I will be doing away with some of my current coral to make room for some SPS's. I have been busy working on the stand here lately. I almost have it done. I still have to drill the tank and plumb it. Here is where I am at now.

Also I am trying to decide on white or black for the stand.

Paul87 · Jan 28, 2015

My current 38 gallon.

BattlestarGalaxia · Jan 28, 2015

Nice craftsmanship on the stand! I'd go with white personally. It's a little easier imo for white to blend with a room than black. It will also hide slat build up a little easier. Good luck with the upgrade.

SeahorseKeeper · Jan 30, 2015

Oh, I will be tagging along! Your 38 looks great!

Paul87 · Jan 30, 2015

Thanks guys! There will be alot of pride going into it.

Paul87 · Feb 1, 2015

Got the tank drilled finally! Reused the bits that I used on my 38. Gonna be plumbing it the same exact way using the 'herbie method'. Bulkheads are in place. Just gotta paing the back glass and stand, then do some plumbing.

Paul87 · Feb 1, 2015

I also traded in my galaxea coral and some frags for my sand. I was looking for the special grade reef sand but ran into this flamingo reef sand. Same size (1-2mm diameter grains). It has the coloration of the figi pink which I like the look of. I got 45 lbs of it, that should do good in a 36'x18' I believe. Can't wait t get this tank going!

(Not my photo. I actually don't see any of thoe real big pieces in my bags, but we will see.)

Paul87 · Feb 3, 2015

1st coat on stand.

Paul87 · Feb 5, 2015

Stand complete! (sorry for all the low quality cell photos. I'll start breaking out the camera here soon)

BattlestarGalaxia · Feb 5, 2015

Wow! That looks better than store bought. Superb job!

Paul87 · Feb 5, 2015

BattlestarGalaxia said:
Wow! That looks better than store bought. Superb job!

Thank you. Structurally, it is alot better than most store bought. This thing is built like a tank for what its intended to hold!

Rob.D · Feb 5, 2015

Great job on the stand! I wish I had your carpentry skills

Paul87 · Feb 10, 2015

Rob.D said:
Great job on the stand! I wish I had your carpentry skills

Thank you! Is that your fish in your avatar? Awesom marking on that clown!

Paul87 · Feb 10, 2015

Well the 40 is up and running and the 38 is gone! I've been really busy during the transition of it all. I still have to rescape everything, I just wanted to make sure everything settled in nicely which it appears that it has. The footprint of this tank is SO MUCH better than my old 38. Here are some photos of the process.

Oh boy...

Had to switch the gate valve to the other drain, wasn't paying attention I guess.

The sump is OUT!

Last of the 38! (was using the old T5's because I put the 40 in its place)

Farewell, it's been a great pleasure...

Hello 40! (just got everything in)

The day after the big transition (everything surprisingly mostly open)

New FTS! (still have to rescape it all, this is just how I placed it into he cloudy water)

Paul87 · Feb 10, 2015

Also I got rid of my yellow chrysus wrasse while I had the chance to catch it (in an empty tank, which still proved to be difficult!). I ended up getting a rainfordi goby and a green tabling acro frag of some sort (my first acro!). Here are the new additions.

Tabling Acro

Rainfordi Goby

Rob.D · Feb 10, 2015

Paul87 said:
Thank you! Is that your fish in your avatar? Awesom marking on that clown!

I wish, it belongs to a LFS here in Knoxville. The amazing part is the "X" is on both sides at the exact same location.

Paul87 · Feb 12, 2015

Media reactor (rowaphos), smart wave controller, and 15 more pounds of sand added. Everything running smoothly. Just gotta get this rockscape the way I want it. I did move things around the other day, but still not the way I want it. Not gonna mount any of those zoas and things on the sand until I have it right. Rainfordi goby has been hiding a lot, I found his hidey hole. I hope he pulls though. Here is a quick cell pic of my tank now. I'll get some better quality ones once I have it the way I want, or mostly anyways.