Chris's 40 breeder

hawk82 · Mar 24, 2020

So I thought I may as well make a build thread, so I can look back on everything in the future.
Specs:
40 breeder from Petsmart
Glass top
40 pounds of CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand
45 pounds live rock from Gulf Live Rock
~~Reef breeders RP-M wavemaker~~
Jebao SOW-4
Hydor Koralia Evolution 600
Eheim Jager TruTemp 200 watt heater
Fluval 206 canister filter, for chemipurr, carbon, and purigen
Reef Octopus HOB 100 Skimmer
~~Evergrow IT2060 Controllable Full Spectrum LED~~
Maxspect R420R
~~Green Killing machine 24w uv sterilizer~~
Marine Depot 4 Stage 100GPD RO/DI

Im trying to keep things simple, as the reason for no sump. I used to keep African Cichlids for over 6 years, but Im new to saltwater.
I started this tank back in November 2019. Originally started with dry rock, and bottled bacteria, but after lots of problems, and research I switched out to all live rock. I have one fish a Melanurus wrasse. Right now hes in a 20 long with the original rocks I started with. I moved him and the rocks over when I restarted the 40 with the live rock. Hes going back in the 40 pretty soon, just making sure everything is in check. Im going to move the 20 long into another room and use that for QT of future fish. I wanted to make a log here so as I add new stuff, I can look back on this. Future plans for the tank are soft corals, leathers, mushrooms. No LPS or SPS, just want to keep it simply and not demanding. Future fish I would like to add are, Clownfish, Royal Gramma, Firefish, Longnose hawk, Banggai cardinalfish, maybe some kind of blenny or goby. Im open to suggestions. Overall I want to have a fun stress free tank I can enjoy and relax and wa

Full Tank Shot 8/20/2021

Intense37754 · Mar 24, 2020

Looks good! Rock looks awesome, find any cool stuff?

hawk82 · Mar 24, 2020

Lots of stuff! Im so happy to switched over to live rocks. Ive found all kinds of feather dusters, sponges, sea squirts, little pods.

Chrisfish · Mar 24, 2020

Congratulations!! Really nice tank!!

Intense37754 · Mar 24, 2020

Can’t have a tank without a pair of clowns lol
We bought 3 firefish and only see 1. Our lawn mower is pretty awesome, a watchman and pistol are cool if you don’t mind the pistol redecorating daily. our Molly Miller is cool too
Always wanted a Jawfish but there’s something other than them being jumpers that I haven’t gotten 1 yet

hawk82 · Mar 24, 2020

Id love to have a blue spot jawfish, but they are so expensive, plus I read you need a deep sand bed for them to build a home.

35ppt · Mar 24, 2020

Good stuff. Keep an eye on that UV though, I got one to use temporarily for dinos and the impeller rusted in about a week. I complained to the manufacturer and then sent a whole new unit for free. Same thing happened so I complained again, they sent another and that one was good for the time I used it, ~3 months. Idk if I was just unlucky or maybe the grade of stainless they use for the impeller is not meant for marine applications. But their customer service is excellent. Any issue and they send out a new one.

Chrisfish · Mar 24, 2020

Intense37754 said:
Can’t have a tank without a pair of clowns lol
We bought 3 firefish and only see 1. Our lawn mower is pretty awesome, a watchman and pistol are cool if you don’t mind the pistol redecorating daily. our Molly Miller is cool too
Always wanted a Jawfish but there’s something other than them being jumpers that I haven’t gotten 1 yet

Love Molly Miller Blennies, great personality

hawk82 · Apr 3, 2020

Updates today! Got my pod order, and my order from Reef Cleaners. Got a small cleaner pack with snails and hermits. Most the snails went under the sand before I could get a pic. Bunch of dwarf ceriths in the order, which is good because my LFS does not carry those. Pods and Plankton from Algae Barn, Got a Marine Pure cube also to throw in my filter. Got 2 mushrooms and some GSP from Reef Cleaners.

hawk82 · May 1, 2020

Updates! Added a Green leather coral, Xenia, and some Zoas. Still have the Melanurus Wrasse, and Ive got other fish to be added in QT, Clown, Red Firefish, Royal Gramma, and Banggai cardinal.

hawk82 · May 9, 2020

Some updates: Had to take the Reef Breeders RP-M out, It was too strong for the leather coral, replaced it with a Jebao SOW-4. Still dosing Prodibio Bioptim every 15 days. Doing 3 gallon water changes once a week. Just tested pH was 8.0 and Nitrate was 10. Still not turned on the Green Killing machine 24w uv sterilizer, have not seen a reason for it yet. Just turned the skimmer on last week cause Nitrates were around 20, they have dropped to 10 now. Everything seems like its doing fine. I still have 4 fish in the QT, going to give them a few more weeks, everyone is eating fine except the Banggai cardinalfish. He just spits the food out, and its been almost a month now. Im feeding Larrys Reef Frenzy, but Im gonna try some flakes out on him this week.

These are the fish I have in QT tank:

And some of the main tank, can you spot the Melanurus Wrasse

hawk82 · Aug 20, 2021

Got some new updates! I now have a total of 6 fish, Melanurus Wrasse, Clown, Royal Gramma, Banggai cardinal, Midas blenny, and Flame Hawk. I switched my light out for a used Maxspect R420R. No longer use the UV, just carbon in my canister filter. Still have the Reef Octopus bh100 hob skimmer, Doing 5 gallon weekly water changes with regular Instant Ocean. Got a new better RODI from Marine Depot. Just wanted to show how the tank is doing now, its been running about a year and 6 months.