Pwnzorman's 40B build thread

[pwnzorman]

Hello all, this is my first thread on R2R! After watching BRS videos for weeks, I've finally made the plunge into saltwater! I also currently have 4 FW tanks (3 w/ mixed angels that I've bred, and 1 w/ shell dwellers).

Equipment:
-40B DT from petsmart, lid included
-Homemade stand
-2x Tunze nanostream 6025
-60lbs ocean direct sand
-~50lbs dry marco rocks
-cheap Amazon light I had lying around, plan to upgrade soon

-10gal tank from petsmart for sump
-2x 125W eheim Jaeger heaters
-Inkbird temperature controller
-Cheap ac return pump I had lying around (I can't recall the GPH rating and im currently on vacation)
-4" filter sock
-light over the fuge is 20" finnex stingray (had it lying around and plan to upgrade)

The tank got filled on 3/20 and the rocks went in 3/29.

I have some Chaeto in the fuge that came from Algaebarn. I split this cheato between the sump and a 10gal QT tank. I also dosed ecopods into the 10gal QT. Despite being added to a sterile tank the pods have definitely survived the cycling process. I also moved a rock from the 10gal to the 40B and noticed that I transferred some pods to the 40B as well. I have been dosing oceanmagik phyto twice daily to keep the pods fed. Despite there being many many hydroids everywhere, I can still see pod activity if i look for a minute.

After taking the time to let the 10gal tank cycle and establishing pods, I'm thinking I may just use it as a separate nano display tank. I will throw a pic of that in as well, it has been running week longer than the 40B. Or I can take the rocks and use them as pre-cycled rocks for a 125gal setup that I'm also in the process of setting up. I was offered basically a whole setup for a fair price and im still in process of cleaning everything up and figuring out to plumb a herbie overflow. I will list the details in a separate build thread for the 125gal.

Needless to say, I'm in deep over here lol.

First livestock purchase I have planned is a CUC, I'm still seeing nitrite in both the 40B and 10gal, so I've been holding off. But it's been a month and the wait is starting to hurt!

 

[pwnzorman]

I'm very excited because I finally added my first livestock today! I ordered a clownfish pair and 5 cerith snails from ORA (BRS). They arrived this morning and are settling into the tank. I had a bottle of Tim's one and only in the fridge, so i just decided to add it even though I'm confident the tank is cycled.

However, I'm wondering if I have too much flow in the tank with the two tunze 6025 wavemakers. The clowns have just been hovering in this corner since I got home from work about 45 minutes ago, see attached video please. Is this normal or did I choose wavemakers that are oversized?

4 of the cerith snails are in my 10gal since it has so much more food (dinos, algaes, cyano), and just one in the sump of the 40B to eat the hair algae thats staring to take over.

I'll also include a log of all my testing results so far! I did around a 25% WC last night to try to correct the salinity before the livestock arrived. I use the tropic Marin compact lab kit and also got some secondhand hanna checkers with my 125gal that I am using (salinity, phosphorus ULR, nitrate HR, and calcium).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I'm very excited because I finally added my first livestock today! I ordered a clownfish pair and 5 cerith snails from ORA (BRS). They arrived this morning and are settling into the tank. I had a bottle of Tim's one and only in the fridge, so i just decided to add it even though I'm confident the tank is cycled.

However, I'm wondering if I have too much flow in the tank with the two tunze 6025 wavemakers. The clowns have just been hovering in this corner since I got home from work about 45 minutes ago, see attached video please. Is this normal or did I choose wavemakers that are oversized?

4 of the cerith snails are in my 10gal since it has so much more food (dinos, algaes, cyano), and just one in the sump of the 40B to eat the hair algae thats staring to take over.

I'll also include a log of all my testing results so far! I did around a 25% WC last night to try to correct the salinity before the livestock arrived. I use the tropic Marin compact lab kit and also got some secondhand hanna checkers with my 125gal that I am using (salinity, phosphorus ULR, nitrate HR, and calcium).

I can't see the video (they don't work on iOS) Good on you though for keeping a log of your parameters!

 

[pwnzorman]

No worries, I sure I'm over thinking because they keep swimming straight into the powerheads and getting blasted all over the place like a roller coaster lol. I tried to feed them today at noon and they didn't eat, but I will try again tonight and tomorrow. Here's a photo of them this afternoon

 

[pwnzorman]

Update time, I've added more CUC and upgraded the lights! I got some viparspectra 165W fixtures from a coworker for free, so I figured I'd throw them on the tank. Now I'm down the rabbit hole of adding a reef pi and upgrading the lights to allow reefpi control.

 

[pwnzorman]

There have been some ups and downs.
My ruby mithrax crab molted last Monday, which scared me since I thought it had died. I cam home from work and saw and on the rockwork and was relieved. The crab seems much larger after the molt.


Unfortunately, I lost both clowns within a 24hr period on thursday. I'm sad and want to figure out what exactly happened. As far as I can tell, the CUC seems to be okay.

I believe the cause was too much light too fast with the light upgrade. Over 3 or so days, some dinos or crysophytes took over. There were many small bubbles all over the tank. I will attach a photo from Wednesday (day before clowns passed).

However, the tank already seems to have cleared up. The parameters also seem like they are back to a reasonable place. I will attach a picture from today as well as my testing/waterchange log.

My MQ-510 just arrived today and I will make a par map to see where the tank stands.

 

[pwnzorman]

The last two weeks have gone well. The ruby crab has molted a second time and is huge! All the rest of the CUC seems to be doing just fine, except for the serpant star. It has 3 short legs now (only one was short when added), so i suspect something is nipping at it. I have been hand feeding it mysis a couple times per week.

I finally watched the blackbox showdown video and realized i had my lights way to close. After moving them up to about 22" from the waterline and adjusting them over the last 2 weeks i am finally at a place im happy with. Ive attached a chart showing the par levels around the rocks and down in the corners of the sand bed.

With the light situation handled, there is now plenty of hair algae growning. I've stopped weekly supplementary feeding of nori to the urchins.

I got a GFO reactor installed on 6/5 and lowered my phospates from 0.4ppm to 0.0ppm in just 3 days. My refugium is also working a little too well because my nitrates are down to 0.5ppm.

Im working to get my nitrates and phosphates up to healthy reef tank levels (10-25ppm nitrate and 0.01-0.1ppm phosphate). I have dialed back my refugium lighting to just 4 hours per day and unhooked the GFO completely until i get measurable phosphate again. I've also setup a second autofeeder, and now the tank is fed pellets twice per day.

I think my tank is at a good place once again, so i have ordered some replacement clowns and my first corals!

I've included a photo of the tank this morning and parameters up to this point. The paper is getting pretty tore up, i need to switch to a spreadsheet badly lol.

 

[EricR]

Keep up the good work!
Any reason you didn't paint the outside of the back panel?
*could probably add stick-on vinyl or something easily enough if you ever wanted to

 

[pwnzorman]

Keep up the good work!
Any reason you didn't paint the outside of the back panel?
*could probably add stick-on vinyl or something easily enough if you ever wanted to

Thank you!

No reason other than me rushing things along. Once i caught the reefing bug, I wanted to get the rock cycling ASAP after I finished the aquascape.

I did do this a few years ago to a 30gal tall, i wonder if i still have the plastic roll lying around.

 

[pwnzorman]

The new arrivals last week include 3 oscellaris clowns (ORA) and 6 frags. Frags are all SPS. I know I'm supposed to start with easier corals, but i prefer the looks of SPS and LPS.

Frags were, rainbow monti, watermelon psammacora, outerspace psammacora, purple stylophora, yellow tip acro, and green birdsnest.

I slightly over corrected my alkalinity, but I'm slowly bringing it back down. Unfortunately this shift in parameters looks like it has claimed the acro, but the rest seem to be doing okay. The clowns also seem to be doing well!

I just downloaded the reef bay app this morning and am going to work on getting all of my log entered.

 

[EricR]

3 clowns? What's the plan there?
*don't think 3 are likely to work out well long-term (in this size tank)
...maybe hoping to see which two bond and re-home the other?

 

[pwnzorman]

Yes, i plan to upgrade to a new tank ASAP. I have a 125g and a 180g in the garage that I'm torn between setting up. Once i make up my mind, i plan to tansfer everything to the new setup.

I really want the 180g, but its a lot more work to get in service. The tank is from 2008 and the silicone is badly bubbled. One the ribs on the top trim was cracked also, so i have new trim on the way. It will also need drilled.

The 125 is from 2018, and was in good shape except for a couple spot in the silicone. I have already put fresh silicone and its been holding water just fine in the garage for 6 weeks. However, this tank has the dual megalows and i am not a fan of the real estate they take up in the tank.

Im leaning towards selling the 125 and just keeping the 180.

 

[pwnzorman]

It's been a while since I've updated, a lot has happened in the 5 weeks.

I have learned that crabs are not very nice nor reef safe. There are no longer any crabs in the 40B. The ruby mithrix crab (which is now huge) was moved over to a 10 gallon and very quicky ate the green emeral crab that was about half the size. After that, I determined the pithos crab was also attacking a brittle star, so I threw him in the sump when I caught him out of the sand.

Blue legged hermit crabs are also not very nice. I have been catching the bad apples and moving them out of the tank as well. I have caught them fighting over shells despite plenty of open shells and picking at my replacement hammer coral.

The pencil urchin has also been temporarily rehoused after eating half of one of my red aussie lord heads, despite being fed nori ever 2-3 days.

I have also learned the importance of nitrate. After slowly losing several SPS frags, I bought some Nyos Nitrate+ and Phosphate+. Despite increasing feeding, I need to add about 1 ml of nitrate+ to maintain 20ppm.

2 weeks ago, I started feeding frozen brine or mysis every day on an alternating schedule. My phosphate climbed slowly up to 0.49ppm. At that point , I turned my GFO reactor back on. Over just a couple days it quickly dropped down to around 0.25. So, I have dialed back to 10 mins per day from 1 hr, and I am going to try to slowly decrease back down to 0.10ppm. I should be able to find a sweet spot in minutes at this point to maintain my phospate at the proper level.

 

[pwnzorman]

Oh, and the picture of trochus snail is showing some breeding activity! I have seen two very tiny snails on the glass already, but managed to catch an adult in the act of releasing a white cloud. It was very cool to watch!

 

[pwnzorman]

The tank has been doing well. In September I added a tomini tang and a lawnmower blenny to help with algae control. They both seem fat and happy. The three clowns are still doing alright, but one has started to bite me occasionally. I managed to snap a family photo with everyone in it!

I also added a black widow anemone when I added the two other fish. Unfortunately, the nem didn't make it, and I believe it was due too much flow and too much phosphate. After adjusting the angle of the wavemakers, I have finally have random turbulent that isn't excssive for the LPS. I ordered 3 rainbow BTA after losing the black widow and all 3 are doing very well. The clowns love them.

My LPS are doing well and actually growing. It feels so nice to finally have some success. The gonis seem to be the fastest growing, but the hammers arent far behind.

After slowly losing acro after acro to STN, I added another piece of dry rock to boost the frags closer to the light. They're now receiving around 250 par. I am hoping at least a couple hold on for me.

After months of battling hair algae, I decided to add Flux Rx. I only added half the recommended dose, but the algae began dying in just a couple of weeks. The display now grows minimal algae that the fish and CUC can finally keep up with. The refugium is basically a giant wad of GHA though, and I'm not sure what I can do about that.

I've also been chipping away at the 125gal upgrade. I finally have the system inside and plumbed. I'm hoping to get it filled in the next few weeks. I'm planning to move everything from the 40B and tear it down. I'm very tired of the durso drain over the rim and the issues it causes.

Sorry for the long update, life has been busy!