Another newbie with a 40 gallon breeder

Captain Highliner · Jul 16, 2020

I've been reading posts on this site for almost a year while I researched how to start my saltwater tank. So now that it is finally in the stocking stage I figured I should join.

I've been keeping freshwater aquariums for awhile assuming that saltwater would be difficult. So when it came time to switch up an aquarium I was unhappy with, I was going to start an Mbuna tank as I really wanted colorful fish and a busy tank. Then a friend of mine told me about the 110 gallon saltwater system he used to have and the seed was planted. I had somehow not paid attention to reef tanks before! The low stocking side is alright when there are so many options of corals and the varying kinds of livestock.

Months of research later and with the cracking of our 45 gallon freshwater tank, I settled on starting a 40 gallon breeder tank. I couldn't convince the wife to let me alter the living room enough for a 75 or bigger. I may add a little more rock for hiding spaces but that will depend on the stocking. It currently has a Black Ice Ocellaris clownfish, orange Ocellaris clownfish, a Yellow Watchman Goby, and few Hermit crabs and Cerith snails.

I plan on adding 2 more fish but I'm still undecided on what and will be asking for some advice in another thread. And then I'll start looking into the corals but I had already decided on a softie tank from the beginning.

Bryn · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to R2R.

Fred2482 · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome!

dbl · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to the family.

andrewey · Jul 16, 2020

Nice! Love that sized tank and you're going to love your new softy tank

NashobaTek · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to the party!

BeltedCoyote · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to the community and your new way of life (the more you delve into this amazing community the more reefing becomes more than just a casual hobby lol)

High five for the black ice clowns, I have a pair that were my very first saltwater fish. Love that morph.

You’re aquascape looks pretty darn good!

If you want, start a build thread. You’ll have a good documentation of your progress, people here will undoubtedly jump in when you’ve got questions, and best of all your build will end up being a resource that someone starting out can look to when they have questions!

JaviNap90 · Jul 16, 2020

Captain Highliner said:
I've been reading posts on this site for almost a year while I researched how to start my saltwater tank. So now that it is finally in the stocking stage I figured I should join.

I've been keeping freshwater aquariums for awhile assuming that saltwater would be difficult. So when it came time to switch up an aquarium I was unhappy with, I was going to start an Mbuna tank as I really wanted colorful fish and a busy tank. Then a friend of mine told me about the 110 gallon saltwater system he used to have and the seed was planted. I had somehow not paid attention to reef tanks before! The low stocking side is alright when there are so many options of corals and the varying kinds of livestock.

Months of research later and with the cracking of our 45 gallon freshwater tank, I settled on starting a 40 gallon breeder tank. I couldn't convince the wife to let me alter the living room enough for a 75 or bigger. I may add a little more rock for hiding spaces but that will depend on the stocking. It currently has a Black Ice Ocellaris clownfish, orange Ocellaris clownfish, a Yellow Watchman Goby, and few Hermit crabs and Cerith snails.

I plan on adding 2 more fish but I'm still undecided on what and will be asking for some advice in another thread. And then I'll start looking into the corals but I had already decided on a softie tank from the beginning.

[/QUOTE

Wellcome too R2R. How long did you let the tank cycle? What lights are you using? Sump? is that live a dry rock? I came from Fresh myself 6 months ago and this is a challenge everyday but a fun one. Just take your time and let the tank establish little by little before adding more fish

WIReefer · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!!

Crabby48 · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome. Love the size and look of 40b’s great job on your rock scape

jay06705 · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!

User1 · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome. 40 breeders are the mainstay of the marine reef hobby. At least in my opinion. When you look at the tanks foot print it is easy to see why. Nice width, nice height, and also depth. You can put a rock wall, you can do islands, you can do minimal, lots of choices for hardscape. As it matures you have plenty of room to let some larger corals fill in. Hammers, monties, and soft corals like a fuzzy lobo, kenya tree, toadstool, etc.

Down the road should you find yourself looking to upgrade the 40 can be repurposed as a QT tank, frag tank, or even a sump. Honestly, the 40 breeder is like the Air Force's C-130 or B-52. Not going away anytime soon.

Great tank choice and again welcome.

BeltedCoyote · Jul 16, 2020

saf1 said:
Welcome. 40 breeders are the mainstay of the marine reef hobby. At least in my opinion. When you look at the tanks foot print it is easy to see why. Nice width, nice height, and also depth. You can put a rock wall, you can do islands, you can do minimal, lots of choices for hardscape. As it matures you have plenty of room to let some larger corals fill in. Hammers, monties, and soft corals like a fuzzy lobo, kenya tree, toadstool, etc.

Down the road should you find yourself looking to upgrade the 40 can be repurposed as a QT tank, frag tank, or even a sump. Honestly, the 40 breeder is like the Air Force's C-130 or B-52. Not going away anytime soon.

Great tank choice and again welcome.

Definitely agree on using a 40B as a qt when you upgrade.

Mastiffsrule · Jul 16, 2020

Peace River · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

fuelman · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to R2R nice looking tank!!!

Ippyroy · Jul 16, 2020

Welcome to R2R!

Captain Highliner · Jul 16, 2020

The tank cycled in roughly 3 weeks. I used dry rock and Caribsea Fiji Pink Arag alive sand. Cycled it using Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride with the lights off. Misread the instructions and had a Nitrite spike that lasted for longer than it should have. Checked it for another week to make sure that it could process ammonia and nitrite and was in fact cycled. Turned the lights on for another week and half roughly before adding a few scarlett hermits and then fed them for a week before adding the 2 clownfish. Kept them for 2 weeks before the goby and snails were added. Now I'm just waiting for a bit and still deciding on what to add next.

I picked up a piece of live rock and scraped the corralline algae into the tank during the cycle just for seeding and now I am seeing some spots forming on different locations on the rock. Had a small diatom bloom once the lights turned on. Two of my favourite past times is seeing what has changed on the rock and figuring out where the crabs went and what shells they are in.

The light is just a Lominie led light from Amazon. Coming from freshwater I wanted to see the change and look of a light that isn't directly over the tank. Light spillage and the different spectrum was something that I had to see firsthand before considering an AI or Kessil as the online back and forth on them leaves no clear winner. I spent almost 2 months thinking I was sold on T5's. Keeping softies in such a shallow tank I decided to hold off on the major lighting decision until corals were going in. I also need to determine if I should get something overkill and dim it so that I can use it to upgrade later or just get what I need for my current plan.

I have a 20 long that I purchased to make a sump but currently my stand is housing a different freshwater 20 long under it. It is a custom double stand that i built. I need to build another stand in order to reconfigure the tanks so that this 40 gets the sump. I had read a lot of forums where people were running 40 breeders with a HOB so I am currently using a Tidal 55 until I build the other stand. It currently has floss and purigen and that's it.

I purchased an RODI unit and am running a Duetto XP sumpless ATO. The only downside to it on the rimmed aquarium is that the water level is just a little higher than the bottom of the trim. But I didn't want to modify it.

I find there is more conflicting information in saltwater than freshwater but it's crazy how much the tank changes. I'm on a few Facebook groups as well with people constantly asking for the ID of something that turned up in their tanks. I'm trying to keep mine pest free.

I still have 4 freshwater tanks to maintain along with this one so now my maintenance is 2 days a week instead of 1 but totally worth it.

Captain Highliner · Jul 16, 2020

saf1 said:
Welcome. 40 breeders are the mainstay of the marine reef hobby. At least in my opinion. When you look at the tanks foot print it is easy to see why. Nice width, nice height, and also depth. You can put a rock wall, you can do islands, you can do minimal, lots of choices for hardscape. As it matures you have plenty of room to let some larger corals fill in. Hammers, monties, and soft corals like a fuzzy lobo, kenya tree, toadstool, etc.

Down the road should you find yourself looking to upgrade the 40 can be repurposed as a QT tank, frag tank, or even a sump. Honestly, the 40 breeder is like the Air Force's C-130 or B-52. Not going away anytime soon.

Great tank choice and again welcome.

It is great to not be shoulder deep when working doing things in it! And having space around the aquascape was alot easier with that width.