Bill's 40 Gallon Breeder - 1st Reef Tank

[Willhersh34]

So this is my first reef tank and attempt at keeping corals. Some details:

4 fish
- Yellow Angel
- Engineer Goby
- Red Spotted Hawkfish
- Sailfin Tang (I know, this tank is too small for tangs; this is a temporary home until I get a 125 converted to salt)

CUC
- 6 Astea snails
- 1 Mexican Turbo snail
- 2 Florida Cerith snails
- ????? Dwarf Cerith snails
- 3 Blue leg hermits

2 corals (yes, picture isn't great, will try to get better)
- An acropora
- What I think is a leather/plate coral


Gear
- Icecap Reef Sump 15
- IceCap K1-50 protein skimmer (Not a terrible skimmer, not great either. Probably need an upgrade but it's currently doing the job)
- 2 Jebao DC power heads
- 1 Jebao DC return pump (660 GPH, running at 295 GPH)
- 1 BRS Single reactor, fed off of main return line and GFO and carbon in unison (yes, gently tumbling so as not to grind the carbon to dust)
- 1 Godawful HOB overflow, 300 GPH
- Nicrew Hyperreef 50 (Planning to upgrade to an AI Prime to get the controller features)
- Running a media cup with ceramic rings and floss. I'm up in the air on this as my FOWLR tank is running filter socks. I could be persuaded either way

Custom built stand. Yes, waaaay over built, this thing will hold a freaking small car, LOL


Plumbed by me, not drilled so yeah, still learning. All first attempt stuff so please, constructive feedback is more than welcome!

More pictures:


I don't plan to add more fish at this point although once the tang gets moved I will want to add a wrasse and maybe a dragonet.

I'm specifically looking for coral recommendations as well as advice on whether I should add one of the breeder box fuges for macroalgae and pods or not. My parameters are pretty spot on although phosphates are a little higher than I'd like and pH is lower than I would like. I'm also looking for input on whether I need a return jet/locline. I'm going to redo my return plumbing soon. It doesn't hang the way I like, using a 1" drain and a 3/4" return, with reactor(s) plumbed directly.

 

[Willhersh34]

Some better pics of my corals:

 

[Reef_prop88]

Looks like a nice setup! If you don’t setup a fuge look into a co2 scrubber for your ph problem. Mine bumped my ph up to 8.3-8.4 from 7.8ish. What kind of corals are you planning on keeping?

 

[Sean Clark]

Looking promising! Following along.

 

[Willhersh34]

Looks like a nice setup! If you don’t setup a fuge look into a co2 scrubber for your ph problem. Mine bumped my ph up to 8.3-8.4 from 7.8ish. What kind of corals are you planning on keeping?

Ultimately I want at least one Candy Cane of some type, so at least one LPS. My wife shares this hobby (amazingly!) and she likes more "wispy" (her words) stuff so I'm thinking at least one more acropora and likely a zoa or 2. I guess that means it's a mixed reef? and my lighting will definitely need an upgrade.

Thanks for the advice on the CO2 scrubber. I've been pondering the fuge for a couple of weeks and I think the breeder box as a fuge isn't a bad idea, especially while I'm still learning stuff and the investment is small. I was initially kicking around adding a fuge plumbed off of my return then gravity feeding back to the return chamber on the sump but need to work out the space requirements. Then running Cheato and some pods of course. We'll see either way.

 

[Reef_prop88]

Ultimately I want at least one Candy Cane of some type, so at least one LPS. My wife shares this hobby (amazingly!) and she likes more "wispy" (her words) stuff so I'm thinking at least one more acropora and likely a zoa or 2. I guess that means it's a mixed reef? and my lighting will definitely need an upgrade.

Thanks for the advice on the CO2 scrubber. I've been pondering the fuge for a couple of weeks and I think the breeder box as a fuge isn't a bad idea, especially while I'm still learning stuff and the investment is small. I was initially kicking around adding a fuge plumbed off of my return then gravity feeding back to the return chamber on the sump but need to work out the space requirements. Then running Cheato and some pods of course. We'll see either way.

If you get the fuge going it will have multiple benefits. It should take care of your ph problem to a certain extent and of course take care of nutrient export. Getting that ph in check is a huge plus when it comes to coral growth though. Keep us up to date on the fuge progress! I'm also a big fan of the candy cane corals. I have wanted a star mint candy cane for a while!

 

[ReefSlice]

Nice start! The corals seem to be an alveopora and a discosoma mushroom.

 

[Willhersh34]

Nice start! The corals seem to be an alveopora and a discosoma mushroom.

Funny, I thought the guy at the LFS said alveopora and then got acropora in my brain. And my first thought on the other was that it was a mushroom. Should have trusted my first thoughts. Lol.

 

[Willhersh34]

I should add here.........I work from home and this tank is in my office. Since I'm also an IT nerd............a view of the office looking in



And yes, the office is "trimmed" in LED's. Yeah, that nerdy. LOL!

 

[Willhersh34]

I’m adding my 75gallon FOWLR. Replumbed the drain today. Found that I’ve been spending soooo much time on my reef my CUC was basically gone in this tank. Added some turbo and some astraeas to kill of cyano and some algae before they get out of control.



and yeah, that’s a Niger trigger so no CUC is largely him. Anything smaller than a turbo other than dwarf cerith’s is on the menu. The astraes i added will be dead in 48 hours likely unless they hide in the live rock. But he’s a beautiful fish so I live with it.

This is a pretty basic FOWLR. 75 gal, icecap skimmer, 20 long sump, DC return pump, DC wave makers. And it’s basically reef ready, save the coral/snail killer Trigger. Lol.

 

[Willhersh34]

I decide to replace the cube sump and go with a sump with a fuge chamber. I went with this:

https://bashsea.com/bashsea-products/bio-fuge-sumps/
Not sure anybody‘s take on the bashsea sumps but this fits the stand and my needs. And, perfectly honest, I’m not in the mood to DIY one right now.

Can‘to wait for it to get here! Go figure………

 

[Tunnelrat]

Any updates on this? How do you like the sump? I just started my own build of a 40B and I always said If I were to start it up again, I would buy a sump.

 

[Willhersh34]

Any updates on this? How do you like the sump? I just started my own build of a 40B and I always said If I were to start it up again, I would buy a sump.

its mostly going ok. I’ve added a Duncan and a candy cane to my corals. Corals are growing slowly but some of that comes from still being a pretty new tank. I’m in that “brown town” phase so just need to practice good maintenance habits and be patient. I added some Chaeto to to my sump and am waiting for it to really take off but again that’s just a be patient thing.

As for the sump I like it. It fits well under my stand and Bash Sea makes a solid product. One minor thing is the return chamber is tight; the return pump barely fits but that’s a small thing. Saving that I would recommend them and any future builds I would do a Bash Sea again.

 

[Willhersh34]

Since I first set this tank up I’ve changed a few things, learned a few things, messed up some stuff, and well, full on have the bug of reefing.

after replacing my sump I couldn’t be happier. I dumped filter socks for a Red Sea media cup running pinky floss. Replace the floss once a week or so, toss the old out. Super easy, nothing to wash or replace. Results are pretty good so far but will monitor it.

Fuge section is filled with a thin sand bed, some rubble and Ulva Lactuca. Being a curios sort I recently pulled a sheet of it out and dropped in the display tank. The Sailfin tang - yes tang gang, he needs a bigger tank but I have time to rehome him yet - went nuts and the amount of pods that were free swimming in the tank was cool to see. So the Fuge is doing it’s job.

my corals…….well I had to tone things down slightly, learned the hard way, and added some softies. By some I mean I managed to acquire several pieces of rubble with Waving Hand anthellia. Now, some consider these nuisance corals. That’s fair. But it is pretty cool seeing them “wave” in the current. And mine are growing like crazy.

Ive also added a couple of Duncans, a Hammer, and a ricordea. The Duncans look good but are growing slowly, due to an ongoing lower pH than I’d like but I have some 2 part coming to start addressing that. The hammer is doing roughly the same.

I did learn that if you buy a cheap grow light made in China……….you get a cheap grow light made in China. New Kessil Tuna Lora H80 is coming. Once it’s in I’ll get some pictures up.

Th big thing I’ve learned: reefing isn’t a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. LOL

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Glad to see your tank is still doing good!!

 

[Willhersh34]

So my Kessil H80 Tuna Flora is installed and running. Some pics of the reef as of today. I’m also throwing in a pic of a 10 gal freshwater planted tank. My boss, er, wife was like, “let’s try a little planted tank.“ I’ve never had much luck with freshwater plants. I think the results in this case speak for themselves.

And the reef tank up close

Full view of tank and stand

Under tank

Fuge light installed

Fuge light on

You can see that I used the canopy bracket. There’s about 10” from the light to the surface of the water in the Fuge. I’m running a little more full spectrum as I have Ulva Lactuca (sea lettuce) in the Fuge right now. I wanted chaeto, algae barn was out at the time hence Ulva. I plan to add some red Pom Pom or red gracilaria shortly to get some variety. Just added some eco pods and I’m dosing phyto daily for the pods.

All in all tank is doing………..ok. Params I track are below.

pH 8
salinity 1.024
alk is high, 11.5 dKH. I learned the hard way the Hanna reagents are only good for 30 days after opening……….so was dosing sodium bicarbonate thinking alk was low when in fact it was fine

phos is 1.1 I’m hoping the anthellia helps bring this down. If not I just started carbon dosing and can add some GFO if need be.

nitrates are running 20ish. Again I hope anthellia and carbon help here

calcium is around 400.

Weekly water changes of 12%. Yes, that’s oddly specific but I’m using a 5 gal bucket and have roughly 40 gal total volume. You do the math.

my lights……….well I’m currently using a Nicrew Hyper reef 50. It’s ok but I’ll be upgrading soon. Probably AI, maybe Kessil. Lights are controlled by an Alexa power strip and schedules so good on timing but no ramp up/down.

Now, I’m sure as a relative noob there are things for me to do differently or better. So feel free, I’m learning and open to suggestions!