Sparty30's Tank Build

[Sparty30]

Hi everyone—John here.
Figured I’d document this new build since it’s been a while since I’ve set up a tank. I’m 51, married, with four kids (20, 17, and 7-year-old twins—yes, life is busy and no apparently I'm not planning to ever retire LOL). I’m an engineer in SE Michigan and a lifelong tech junkie.

I got into saltwater reef tanks back in 2002 with a 75‑gallon and was active on ReefCentral and MichiganReefers. That simple mixed reef system eventually turned into a mostly SPS/ Chalice tank with 2 separate frag tanks in the basement, reactors of every type, and multiple computers/ controllers running everything. It ran for about 12 years before I sold it as a complete setup when we moved. About 3 years later, in our last house, I built an in‑wall 120 with a small fish room with huge plans. This tank ended up more empty than full with just a handful of beginner type coral and fish and was much more "laid‑back" thanks to the kids’ schedules. Sold that house 2.5 years ago and owner wanted the tank and all the gear; I thought I was done with the hobby… but realized I missed having a small piece of the ocean near me.

Someone local recently listed a nearly new 40‑gallon AIO cube they won at a raffle, so I decided to dip my toe back in. I’ve never run something this small (no fuge, smaller footprint, etc.), but I’m hoping the simplicity keeps things fun and maybe leads to a bigger setup again down the road.

Current equipment (light and skimmer came with tank, recently bought rest):

• Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue + Kessil controller
• Icecap AIO240 HOB skimmer
• 300W heater
• Tunze Osmolator 3 Nano ATO
• Jecod (Jebao) DLW‑20 & DLW‑10 wavemakers
• ~20 lbs CaribSea LifeRock (another 10 lbs on the way)
• Kasa HS300 smart power strip (trying to go little cheap for now and control some things with this)
• DIY mesh lid on order

I set the tank up last weekend, filled it with Reef Crystals seawater, and started cycling with Dr. Tim’s ammonia and TLC StartSmart Complete. Never heard of TLC but local fish store recommended it. As of Wednesday, ammonia was dropping and expecting nitrites to show soon, curious to see if this really does cycle in around two weeks. I still need to get the ATO installed and the wavemakers in.

When the extra rock arrives, I’ll add it to the front to make a spot for a zoa island and flesh out the scape a bit. This will definitely be a slow-and-steady build—starting with a few fish and some hardy corals, then working toward a full mixed reef again over the years. Planning to stop by the Lansing frag swap on Feb 1 to look around and maybe catch up with some familiar faces, kinda bummed tank won’t be ready but will save me a lot of money knowing it's not ready for stuff. ha

 

[Sparty30]

Here are couple photos of the new 40 cube showing initial aquascape...can also see some of my old reef/ fish books that we used before all these high tech phones. haha Will add pics once get the wavemakers installed and the additional rock in for the future zoa gardens.

 

[TexAgReefer]

Dipping a toe in is dangerous but welcome back! Lol

I'm also an engineer. One of my favorite things about this hobby has been getting a little piece of my engineer fix in with all of the equipment, coding, tracking data and dialing in the numbers. I've made MANY a spreadsheet along the way!

 

[Sparty30]

Haha, yeah I have the spreadsheets already running and have been looking at open source coding type DIY controllers. It's a little 40g so not sure that's really needed but it's what we do. And yeah dipping the toe in is already got the bug back...I was already scouting areas in house for a larger tank last weekend.

 

[Sparty30]

Few updates on the tank. The ATO and wavemakers are installed and running. Installed the Kessil light controller and got the program setup but haven't ran it besides testing the program colors. I added about 10 lbs more of Caribsea Liferock creating few more openings to swim through and a rock island for eventual zoa garden. Not 100% sure on aquascape yet but think I'll enjoy it once fish are in and swimming through all the openings in the rock I've made. Just need to finish the cycle, build the DIY net and start adding livestock.

 

[Sparty30]

Here are a few pics of the current aquascape

 

[Sparty30]

Speaking of cycling it's progressing but little slower than I was told (but still weeks faster than what I'm used to). The ammonia spiked to 2ppm with Dr. Tim's but didn't change for over a week which kinda surprised me. I was visiting daughter at Michigan State so stopped in Pruess Pets to look around and they said might have got a dud bottle of bacteria so recommended buying brand they had (AquaVitro Seed). Added that and within 4 days ammonia was dropping and nitrites were starting to show. Guess I'll never know if coincidence or not. Ammonia has been at 0 since January 31st, that was same test day Nitrites spiked to 5ppm. Just tested today and nitrites are still around 5ppm so still in waiting mode; can't remember how long that took to start dropping. Been testing every couple days. Temp has been stable between 76-78, salinity at 1.024, and Ph at 8.2 today. I thought Ph dropped during this phase of testing but mine went from 8.0 to 8.2 (but I've only tested that couple times and very well could be API test kits).

 

[Sparty30]

While I wait out the cycle I've been trying to decide what clowns to add first, I know I want to add a pair of clowns. Old tank I gravitated to the rarer fish and corals but girls want "Nemo" and I don't want to shock the wife with cost of this stuff so we'll see who wins that LOL. If anyone in the SE Michigan area has extra "new tank type" frags (zoas, candy cane, etc...) from last weekends swap I'll hopefully be looking in the next few weeks/ months when things stabilize.

 

[Sparty30]

No real change here and starting to wonder what to do. My nitrites have stayed at 2-2.5 constant and ammonia has been zero. Ph, salinity, and temp have all been very stable. Nitrate have been 20ppm or little under (somewhere between 10-20 most time) but not sure if accurate if still registering nitrite???

I added more Tim's ammonia (2ppm worth) a couple times and next time I tested within 36-48 hours ammonia was zero but nitrites hadn't really moved. Any suggestions or just keep playing the waiting game?

 

[Tahoe61]

Sounds cycled to me. Nitrites are non toxic and don't need to be tested at this point.

 

[Sparty30]

Yep think it’s done. I did a 20% water change on Saturday and Monday Nitrites were down to 0.25. Plan to test tonight to double check then head to fish store tomorrow or this weekend and get first couple fish

 

[Sparty30]

Friday ended up getting 2 Davinci Ocellaris clownfish. They had 4 at the store and all were similar size but these 2 were next to each other entire time I watched so picked them. So far been doing good in the tank. Stayed paired up since putting them in and haven't seen any aggression at all and both ate last night pretty well. Today I added filter floss to tank since now feeding, will likely add carbon after next water change (especially if water has any color to it). Tested water today as well and everything holding stable after feeding (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, and 8.0 Ph)

I also turned the light on today. I'm using the Kessil A360W with the Kessil Spectrum X Controller. This is the schedule I'm using. I'll mess with this more when actually get coral and check PAR but for now I think it will work.
Time Color Intensity
12:00 0% 10%
14:00 20% 25%
16:00 50% 50%
18:00 75% 50%
20:00 40% 25%
22:00 0% 0%

 

[Sparty30]

Here's couple pics of the fish. 1st one is in the bag during float acclimation since easiest to focus on them when they weren't really moving. White particles were things just floating in the bag, nothing visible on fish anywhere.

 

[Sparty30]

Added a royal gramma a week ago. All 3 fish have been eating great and no issues to date. Royal gramma swims around before lights on and during ramp down and up but he's in the cave most the day when lights are on (minus feeding time he comes out for a minute).

All water parameters are staying stable almost at nominal. A small diatom bloom finally started last few days so letting that hopefully run it's course. Will likely start adding a small cleanup crew now and maybe few zoas (if anyone in SE Michigan has some zoas or candy cane type corals). Figure start easy hardy stuff while tank still working through maturity cycle.

 

[Sparty30]

Been a while since last update so figure time to throw together an update. Diatom bloom did it's thing, I still have lingering effects but it's starting to go away. All tests are staying very stable and just about nominal for where I want them. Wasn't sure how a small tank would be but so far it's staying stable (knock on wood).

Sadly about 10 days ago the royal gramma died. He was doing fine eating every time fed, swimming around or hanging near his cave, and the clowns weren't paying him much attention so didn't seem stressed at all. I thought all was good but on the 14th day in the tank got home from work and he was dead on the sand. No signs of any parasite or disease or anything so might be just one of those reef tank mysteries :/.

Slowly adding to CUC; currently have around 12-15 astrea, 3 Nassarius, 4-5 nerite, a peppermint shrimp, and a couple hermit crabs since daughters like watching them. I'm usually not a fan since they always tend to eat my snails.

Have also added some beginner type corals. Think we're up to 12 now in the tank. I'll attach some pics but I realize I need to research how to take coral pics since I have no idea how to get good pics. The zoa garden has a lot of polyps closed when I took the pic but looking better now. Here's the list of what I have (I think since not always the best at remembering what I bought).

Zoas (Captain America, Scrambled Egg, Rasta, Fruit Loops, Bam Bam, Pink Diamond)
Montipora - Superman
Torch - Ghost Pepper
Favia - War?
Acan Enchinatas - Agent Orange?
Acan Lord - Red
Trumpet Coral
Duncan

 

[Sparty30]

Coral pics