40 gallon breeder

[CaseyWagner]

40 gallon breeder, Nicrew lighting, Aquatop surface skimmer, Eheim classic 250 filter.

Having some issues with diatoms as I don't have RODI yet, but not too bad. Our water has silicates, but only at 106 TDS.

Inhabitants, pair of Ocellaris, two mollies, two hermit crabs.

Waiting on Xenia to turn it into a xenia garden tank.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I love Xenia! And very nice tank I like the dark feel to it do the corals really shine through. Only thing is the Xenia looks like a Kenya tree leather but pretty none the less

 

[CaseyWagner]

That is a Kenya Tree
I'm still waiting on the Xenia.
I'm on an island with limited air shipments coming in thanks to COVID so the LFS hasn't been able to get nearly what he's wanted to in his orders. And delays wiped out an entire order on him. ;Dead

The left side of the tank will start the Xenia forest, and the right side will house the Kenya Tree, the Rosy BTA hiding in the back at the top, and some zoas and other goodies. I'll probably move all those out into another tank as Xenia takes over though.

 

[CaseyWagner]

There's a small tunnel system in the rocks on the left side and the clownfish love it.
They go through them constantly and pop out the holes in the top, look around, and dive back in.
Definitely turned out well Today is the first time I've seen them using the cave on the right.

 

[CaseyWagner]

I love how this one looks at different times of day.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Not a picture of the tank, but installed the AquaticLife RO Buddie yesterday.

Very simple install for anyone looking to set one up. This one is just the sediment filter, carbon filter, and membrane. It filters our 106 TDS down to ~3-4 TDS.

You can add the Mixed resin cartridge on separately or buy a version that has it included. I'll probably get one eventually, but right now I'm not terribly concerned about that last couple of solids.

 

[count krunk]

How's the tank looking?

 

[CaseyWagner]

How's the tank looking?

The cyano has cleared up. And some of the algae has completely cleared off sections of the rock (due to falling back in some spots and very thorough little hermit crabs in another).
There's added algae in other parts though. I'm setting up a fuge for it shortly. Just waiting for the PVC siphon I made to lose any of the chemical smell from the glue. It's the 'non-breaking' siphon that uses an internal piece of tubing.

I really wish I had a drillable tank

 

[count krunk]

If that is a standard tank, it most likely has a drillable back glass.

Post some pics please, of this diy overflow as well.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Unfortunately both my tanks had labels warning that all panels are tempered.
And, being in a remote area on a fixed income, I don't have a lot of options tankwise that won't break my bank.

Anyway, here's a couple of the siphons I built.

The first is based off this design:

The other is from a design on Joey's channel. (King of DIY).

The second moves a lot of volume but without a lifter I don't trust the siphon not to break. The first won't break the siphon but is limited by the size of the internal hose. So I scaled up the size of the piping from his original build.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Doh. Just tested the one with the tube and it did not scale well.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Testing the large one and it's working great. I've added about 20 gallons of water volume and 20 pounds of rock to the system.
Now I just need some chaeto and diy refugium and that should clear up nutrient issues.