40 Gallons with a few Soft Corals

[EricR]

2/7/2026 FTS:
Been kinda just stuck at this point without much more room for quite a while.
Just waiting for enough motivation to get a bigger tank to strike, I guess.

ORIGINAL FIRST POST (11/6/2021) below…

Not really a "build" -- more of a recent "tank transfer" with a couple of minor DIYs.
*3 weeks since tank transfer

40 gallon breeder:
-- tank transferred from 37 gallon TALL tank (FOWLR + non-coral inverts run for 6+ months)
-- in otherwise useless nook in the house so no room for sump/refugium below
-- 2 HOB power filters for mechanical filtration,,, nothing more

Lame DIY stuff:
1. Last minute lighting mount (for tank transfer):
- TV wall mount ($13 on Amazon)
- Aluminum angle from garage (other projects) for arms/brackets
- 2x mismatched reef LEDs:
- Kessil A80 Tuna Blue
- Nicrew HyperReef 50W
2. Home-made acrylic lid with center mesh and feeding door — took off after a couple of days when I freaked out about toxicity of sealant I used for bonding acrylic
3. Switched to DIY window screen frame lid with clear mesh

Small bio-load:
- Small clownfish
- Bicolor blenny (((almost committed suicide during transfer,,, but all good now)))
- Chocolate chip starfish ***
- Pink urchin (looks like pincushion)
- Tiger sand conch
- 2 nassarius snails
- 3 margarita snails ***
- 2 blue-legged hermit crabs ***
*** = first inverts, through several (increasing capacity) tank transfers

First pic of new tank:

 

[EricR]

Additional details about my journey in case anyone gets really bored...


Recent tank transfer thread:

Livestock Transfer Risk Assessment

I plan to transfer all of my minimal livestock (FOWLR + inverts, NO corals) from current 37 gallon TALL tank into standard 40 gallon breeder. Current tank is about 5 months old (some of the livestock older, from smaller tanks). Just wondering how risky this really is. Reasoning: -- Current 37...

www.reef2reef.com

Current FLOW considerations thread:

Flow for Beginner Soft Coral in 40B

Looking for suggestions for 1-2 powerheads and/or wave makers to get adequate flow in a 40 gallon breeder to try a couple of beginner soft corals (probably GSP and/or Xenia). *Just did a tank transfer from a 6 month old 37 gallon tall tank so will wait a bit for new tank to mature/settle before...

www.reef2reef.com

Life story, aquarium-wise:
- had jellyfish for 1.5 years (free after in-law never used a gift desktop jellyfish tank for many years)
- added inverts; chocolate chip starfish, 2 hermit crabs, plus snails, amphipods, and bristleworms from some live rock I bought
- moved the established water and substrate to larger 37 gallon tank just for fun (through progression of 3 tanks)
- two fish; one small clownfish and a bicolor blenny
- ran 37 gallon TALL for 6 months then tank transferred to 40 breeder for better dimensions
*will try a couple of soft corals in the near future

 

[kittenbritches]

Looks awesome! Following.

 

[EricR]

...and finally (for now), since I guess this is basically my home page, some random pics of some of the stuff in my tank


Urchin and starfish (old tank right before transfer):

Target feeding the conch -- scared new tank is too clean right now:

The 2 "fish" (old pic):

Micro brittle stars doing "alien" stuff -- someone suggested one on right may be spawning:

My daughters got a rescue kitten (old tank right before transfer):

...probably more babble to come, eventually

 

[EricR]

Looks awesome! Following.

Thanks,,, yours is way nicer but,,, uhhh,,, I think there's a slight chance you just may be WAY MORE committed/motivated than I am.

Great job on your "journey", by the way...

It's like reading a novel (assuming I ever read):
The ups, the downs, the drama, the perseverance,,, NICE!

 

[kittenbritches]

Thanks,,, yours is way nicer but,,, uhhh,,, I think there's a slight chance you just may be WAY MORE committed/motivated than I am.

Great job on your "journey", by the way...

It's like reading a novel (assuming I ever read):
The ups, the downs, the drama, the perseverance,,, NICE!

Thank you kindly! :)

Honestly, it's the only thing I can stay consistently motivated by right now! I feel like I land flat on my face more often than not, but I'm a little proud and a lot stubborn. Haha!

 

[EricR]

Nothing new to report except I SUCK at taking pics (under blue light at night) with my old-xxx iPhone 6 !!!

Enough critters were out so thought I'd try -- didn't really work, so here's bad pic with lame captions on some stuff that was out but not very visible in my stupid pic attempt:

 

[EricR]

Accidentally posted a status update to the wrong thread here:

2022 Status Update

 

[EricR]

ATO setup installed:
(pics below)
- Tunze Osmolator "Nano" 3152 -- 2021 Christmas Gift
- Delay for install was being too lazy to figure out ATO water container that has to go in limited space behind tank in house "nook". (No room below)
- ATO water container = $13 trash can from Target -- polypropylene (PP, recycle code #5)
*cut about 5 inches off top of trash can (and a few inches off lid) for fit/accessibility behind the tank
*didn't pay enough attention when I filled with RO/DI but guessing it's holding about 8-10 gallons (with water filled to almost DT water level)

...seems to be working but I'm only about 8 hours in -- test was just scooping out water until the ATO started fill then watch it shut off.

My initial complaints with the Tunze "Nano" Osmolator are:
- No sensor (or "dry" detection) in fill water area to shut-off if level too low. *probably not an issue as my guesstimate is that I could ignore it for 10+ days before the water got to low/danger level, which I don't plan to do.
- Clamp for fill hose is not wide enough to mount horizontally on my rimmed tank (Aqueon 40 gallon breeder). *went with clamp mounted vertically on my acrylic slat around my HOBs -- seems fine,,, we shall see.
- Magnet is stated to handle 3/8" glass while my tank is only 1/4" glass, which is great,,, but didn't feel it was strong enough for PAINTED back glass,,, went on un-painted side glass and fine.
- Outer magnet at max height right below "rim" of my tank leads to float being about 1/2" lower than than I'd like -- my water lever is just going to be about 1/2" lower now.

Pics...

Target trash can for ATO RO/DI fill water:

Fill tube clamp:

Float:

 

[EricR]

Just testing out hand-me-down iPhone 11 through orange filter at night with blue LEDs running ramping down (since my iPhone 6 night pics really sucked) -- better, I think.

Urchin is back to work again trying to carve all the coralline off my rock structure:

 

[EricR]

Really need to get an updated full tank shot for 2022 with my two (so far) zoas but, for now...

Here's what I'm dealing with on my lunch break today:
*becoming a far too common occurrence

 

[EricR]

Dinkin' around so some pics from today...

2 zoas so far from LFS, $15 and $35, respectively:

First coral at 1 week, 4 weeks, 5 weeks since purchase:

 

[EricR]

Just bought 2x AI Prime 16 HD LED lights -- $220 each, new from Amazon,,, doh!
*coming soon

Finished 30 day QT of chaeto with "pods" purchased from eBay, cultivated in a system with fish.
Found hydrozoa (ID'ed by another R2R user) -- pic and video below.

Bad news is I had already put the chaeto ball into DT as well as a bunch of "scoops" of pods the day before.
*weird that I only noticed these the day after when I was about to dump the QT water and deciding if I wanted to try to save any more pods first.

 

[EricR]

Skunk cleaner shrimp in 6 gallon QT, day 3 -- hoping for a molt:

 

[EricR]

Shrimp molt in QT 'cause I thought it looked "neat" and 2x AI Prime 16HD LEDs installed on my hack-job TV wall mount with scrap angle aluminum brackets
over the weekend:

 

[EricR]

Most of the larger living stuff was out and visible on my lunch break today so:

 

[EricR]

Just picked up these 5 zoas from a local R2R member last night for a pretty good deal -- now thinking I need to break down and flatten the rock pile on the right side of my tank for more mounting space. (I think I'll keep that one rock structure for zoas only):

My original 2 zoas from January are doing pretty well, although I think I did stress them out a bit with too aggressive lighting so have cut it back.

*2x AI Prime 16 HD LEDs were in acclimation mode but I was gone for 2 weeks when acclimation ended (topped out) and when I got back they didn't look happy,,, but better now:

 

[EricR]

My rock pile on the right was bugging me because it was basically stacked straight up without a lot of flat room for the new zoas so, today, I took it apart and flattened it out,,, all in the tank.

Made a mess and nobody's really happy right now...

Not exactly what I was going for but none of the rocks fit together the way I hoped and I ended up with one large rock leftover so broke it in half (hammer and pry bar) in the garage to at least fit it "somewhere" in the tank -- the piece jutting off the back/left of the new assembly is one part of it.
*Main thing I don't like about that piece right now is that it touches the back glass so no room for conch to cruise the whole perimeter, other than climbing it -- leaving it for now but will probably do "something" at some point.


Other than the one piece I just mentioned, there's still room around everything and between the two, separate structures -- this angle just makes it look "cramped":

 

[EricR]

Lame FTS of where I mounted the zoas on the newly scattered rocks (on right side of tank):

Top down shot of a couple of the newer ones:

 

[EricR]

My wife/kids bought me a BRS 6-stage RODI (75 GPD "Plus") unit for my birthday in early June.
Up until now, I've just been buying bulk RO/DI water from my LFS at 25 cents / gallon.

Metrics based on use so far:
— Tap water = 475 ppm TDS
— Waste water = 660 ppm TDS
— After RO membrane = 15 ppm TDS
— Final output = 0 ppm TDS
*using HM Digital TDS-3 handheld meter except for post-RO only used BRS included/mounted HM meter

Water pressure at gauge on unit = 48 psi but falls to 42 psi when other water is being used in the house.
*just living with this for now but may look into booster pump at some point.


Previous thread from when I first installed the unit:
First RODI Install