Starting with a 40 Breeder Build

[Philly Reefer]

Curious to see with that much light “spill” in your sump if you will have algae problems on the walls etc besides just the cheato growing

Good question.
I will keep an eye on it and give you an update in the coming weeks/months

 

[Philly Reefer]

I really need to do a weekly update so I don't get lazy...

Got a dragon's breath

 

[Philly Reefer]

Weekly update:

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.81 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 78.47 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.14 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 8.2dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.04ppm (Hanna)
NO3: 1ppm (Nyos)
Calcium: Ran out hanna reagent. waiting for RedSea calcium pro to arrive.
Magnesium 1350(Aquaforest)

Unfortunately, I have been slacking on my weekly update. The cornbread/anacropora is looking pretty bad. bleaching out a bit. I think it might be dying. The rest of the sps seems to be doing pretty well.

2 weeks ago, my nitrate seems to be dropping. From 5ppm to 2.5. So I decided to feed more. Unfortunately, the nitrate is still dropping while the phosphate shoot up to 0.24. I think chaeto is doing too good on the nitrate but not phosphate. so for the mean time, I will be dosing neo nitro so I can get the nitrate to 5ppm. And I'm reducing the refugium light hours from 12h to 6 hours.

I also upgraded my refugium lights to Tunze Eco Chic 8831. I also got diffusers for my 16HD. I couldn't pass on those, since it was a good deal from fellow R2R.

Lastly, I also got Dragon's Breath from a local reefer for cheap. He told me to keep it on high light and high flow. So I put 1 on the top of my rocks on the right. The other one, I put it on my refugium just directly under the light. Unfortunately, that's not going to be high flow. Hopefully it can thrive down there.

@Amstar some brown algae starting to build up on the side glass. So I'm scraping those off.

 

[Philly Reefer]

I am adding 5% moonlight for 2 hours every night now. There is a moon settings on my AI 16HD
Picture is bad. LoL

 

[Amstar]

I’ve seen where people have put plastic or even cardboard on the sides of the refugium light to help the light creep

maybe add a few clean up crew in the refugium to help with the brown algae?

 

[Philly Reefer]

I’ve seen where people have put plastic or even cardboard on the sides of the refugium light to help the light creep

maybe add a few clean up crew in the refugium to help with the brown algae?

I do have some baby Trochus snails in there. Maybe I'll transfer 1 of the big one down there. But for now, I am not that worried. I'll scrape it off whenever it pop up.
I also reduce the time for now too. I am fighting to increase nitrate on this tank

 

[Philly Reefer]

I got some frags from the Tidal Gardens R2R sale on monday. My 1st coral shipment.

Tidal Gardens Coral Extravaganza

No no...

www.reef2reef.com

All I can say is, I will buy from them again.
Here are my spoils:

Edit: unfortunately I was not fated to have a My Clementine Zoa. This is actually a Fiesta Zoanthids or Fire& Ice Zoa

Bob Marley Zoanthids

Hollywood Stunner Chalice

Pink Stardust Acropora Millepora

Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthids

Bonus Zoanthids... Need to find out the name
Update: found out the name for this beautiful zoa.
Buttkisser Zoanthids

 

[Philly Reefer]

Update Time!!!

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.7 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.97 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.15 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 8.5dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.06ppm (Hanna)
NO3: 1ppm (Nyos)
Calcium: 390ppm (Red Sea)
Magnesium 1335ppm(Aquaforest)

I finally received my Red Sea Calcium Pro Test kit. Not bad. I like the handle for the titration. But I am thinking of buying an Aqua Smart Stir for these titration tests.
I am kinda lost about the nitrate. I tried to feed more but it increase phosphate but not nitrate. So at this point, I'm going to dose Neo Nitro weekly to increase it to 3ppm. I actually have reduced my refugium light from 12 hours to 6 hours but the nitrate still the same (1ppm).

Today I feel like I hit a milestone. I actually pulled out chaeto out of my refugium. This is the 1st time I am able to do that.

Unfortunately, some of my SPS died.
Orange Setosa, Yellow Digi, Cornbread, Branching Montipora Stellata.

I think its because of the high phosphate or because the low flow. At least now I know that its too hard to have different flow zones in a small tank(40B). If I increased my mp10, it will blast the torch and hammer too much..

I decided these are it for SPS. I won't be adding anymore. Fortunately the other SPS left are doing ok at this time.

I also tried to make a 1 day time lapse video of my tank using a dslr camera. It's not a good quality. but I will try it again next time.

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

 

[Philly Reefer]

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.7 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.4 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.15 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 8.8dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.04ppm (Hanna)
NO3: Ran out of nyos... I wish there is a refill for it.

Unfortunately almost all my SPS died, I am done with them at this time. I think I am leaning towards to euphylia heavy.
The 2 sps left are the red plating monti and Pink Stardust Acro.

I finally had some time yesterday and decided to repurpose an mdf board for my apex board.

Spray it black and splash of red

Apex/module placement

(Finish board... For now...)

I bought the wrong extension power cords.. waiting for the correct one to arrived.

Love the new look.

I really need to have back board to block the fuge light spillage..

 

[Philly Reefer]

Weekly update

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 35.1 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.48 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.16 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.3dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0ppm!!! Yesterday; 0.01 Today (Hanna ULR Phosphorus)
NO3: 2ppm Salifert

Unfortunately my regular LFS doesn't carry nyos anymore. Not even salifert. Only Redsea and API.

I had to drive to another LFS for the salifert NO3 test.

This was actually my 1st time using salifert test. I didn't know that top view and side view are different. Side view actually for lower range reading.

At this point I think I am going to plunge and get a Hanna nitrate. I want to have my nitrate to be 5-10. But for the last few months, it has been 5 or below.

I was surprised that my phosphate went down to 0 last night. Last week was 0.04. I should have gave some reefroids last week.

I also started dosing RedSea AB+ Energy daily.

Finally I got a doser. It's a no brand doser that I got it for cheap. It's not bad. My only complaint is the tube connectors. I actually snapped 1. And they leaked air in the output tube.

For now it's only 10ml of soda ash and 10ml of calcium daily. Programmed them to dose 5 times over the 12h. Soda ash at night and calcium during the day.

I also picked up a Carpenter's Wrasse yesterday. Went hiding of course after acclimation. But today it's been out and about.

Very pretty fish.

I also got another RBTA.

For the 1st 2 days it kept getting sucked in to the MP10s...

1st night.

I was able to get it out after letting it be and use ice on his feet.

2nd night was much worse.

I thought he won't survive this.. but so far..

And.. I found a smaller version of it.. I think it split cause of the stress..

It's been almost a week now and both still maintain their colors and still having bubble tips.

Hopefully both survive. They have not move around though

Oh and last pic of the controller board. Got another hole but forgot the grommet.

 

[Philly Reefer]

Weekly update:

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.9 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.5 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.19 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.1dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.01 (Hanna)
NO3: 2.5ppm (Salifert)

So my phosphate was up again after I spray reefroids on last week(saturday night). I only scoop 1/4 tbsp for my tank. If I give more, the phosphate would jump too high.

Unfortunately all my SPS are dead by now. I am totally done with them.

I got a 2 head Indo Dragon Soul out of an auction from Frags2Fishes.com. They are local to me and its a small shop thats run by a couple. They are good people. I also got Ricordea mushroom and a random Acan.

While I was picking them up, they were having an inventory sale cause they are moving to a new store. and I managed to score a green hammer for cheap.

1 of my zoa, the buttkisser, has a white blob in the middle of the polyps. I asked around and was advised, its their guts. It's either be ok or it's gonna die. We will see.

BTW, I am done with the purple death paly. I am trying to sell them locally but nobody is taking the offer yet.

I love my Carpenter's Wrasse. He looks so pretty and he is the most active fish in the open water at this time. I am also hopeful with my 2 RBTAs. At least they are not losing their colors.

Couple things I got this week:
Avast Skimmate Locker

I didn't think that the Avast Skimmate locker is tall.... The port is taller than my skimmer cup drain. So I had to put the skimmate locker on the floor behind my sump. I don't like it. but.. its either that or put a stand for my skimmer and increase the water in the sump.
I might still do that actually...

Hanna Salinity Tester

When I received this, I tested over with my apex probe. It's close enough. I am just gonna calibrate this with the tank water after I confirmed with my TM High Precision Hydrometer.

AutoAqua Smart Stir
This is a game changer. I use this with Hanna ULR Phosphorus test, and that 2 mins of stirring went by way faster compared to when I have to manually shake it...
I also used it with RedSea Calcium titration, that's also way better since I don't need to shake it too.
All I need..... is to buy some more for the stirrer... I almost lost it already... LOL

Hanna Nitrate
I bought this because of the refill cost. Nyos which I like, cost $25. no refills. which add up when I want to still test nitrate twice a week..
I was looking RedSea Nitrate Pro. but that is also expensive. $43 with $24 refill cost. and its purple. I always have a problem with the different shade of purple/pink.

I did buy salifert in a pinch last week. And I am surprise that I like it. But after seeing Hanna Nitrate refill cost is cheaper than salifert nitrate, I decided to get the Hanna. $15(refill) < $17.37

Have not tried it yet. I saw some youtubers that didn't like it cause of the too many steps. But I think I'll be ok.

I also bought some connectors and RO bulkheads. I want to change my dosing lines using RO lines. the current lines for calcium kept having air bubbles in them.

 

[BeTreyed]

Awesome build thread! I'm working on my 40b build right now. Working on a budget so it's slow going a bit like yours was at first. But dang I felt I learned a lot from your thread. Thank you!

I'm sorry for your troubles with SPS, do you think it's due to your nitrate/phosphate issues or something else?

Also you mentioned at one point you had some stray voltage in the tank, did you ever track down what was causing that?

 

[Philly Reefer]

Awesome build thread! I'm working on my 40b build right now. Working on a budget so it's slow going a bit like yours was at first. But dang I felt I learned a lot from your thread. Thank you!

I'm sorry for your troubles with SPS, do you think it's due to your nitrate/phosphate issues or something else?

Also you mentioned at one point you had some stray voltage in the tank, did you ever track down what was causing that?

Hey, thank you. I did say I wanted to take it slow. But in the end, I was not patient enough.

For the SPS issue, I am thinking more of the flow and light. Currently, I only have the 2 AI 16HDs on 70% and my mp10s flow at 50% the most. If I increase the light or the flow, I am afraid that my lps will suffer. So since my lps are looking good. I decided to just stop sps for now

I didn't track it down. But I have my suspicion that it's the jebao return pump that does it. I only have 4 wires that goes in the sump.
Return pump, 2 heaters, skimmer.
I decided not to replace it cause it was not a big stray voltage. As I mentioned, I didn't really feel it when I have my hand in the water.

 

[VB313]

So what’s your final verdict on that skimmer and what height is the water level with the sump baffle kit and issues?
You have a very similar setup I’m currently planning

 

[Philly Reefer]

So what’s your final verdict on that skimmer and what height is the water level with the sump baffle kit and issues?
You have a very similar setup I’m currently planning

Skimmer is running great. i have no concern on it. I am currently running it on 7" water depth. I think it would be ok if I increase the water to 8. But not their recommended water depth at 9.5 to 11.

7" is the minimum water height with the baffle kit. And 9 is the highest it can go.

So unfortunately, I don't actually know if my skimmer can work better in their recommended water depth cause my sump ain't high enough.

My only complaint about this baffle kit.. the filter socks lid. I cant open it without help.

Fortunately I have that heater holder laying around. So that is how I can open it.

 

[VB313]

Yeah the 9-11 depth is what concerns me with the kit cause the 20l only has a depth of 11.5 ish sooo I think I might have a custom baffle made taller to accommodate and get a skimmer stand if needed later on but hey if your working at 7” depth shouldn’t be a issue, thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Philly Reefer]

Weekly Update:

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.7 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.4 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.21 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.3dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.05 (Hanna)
NO3: 2.5ppm (Salifert)

I reduced my alk and calcium dosing to 10ml/day last week but somehow it still increase from 9.1 to 9.3. It is a small different so for now I will just keep an eye of it. If by next week it goes up again. Then I would need to reduce the dosing amount.

Phosphate is the other one I am wondering about. I didn't dose reef roid this past week and it still rise to 0.05. If it keep rising again, I do have some gfo to throw in. I want to get the aquamaxx FR-s reactor for a while.. but it still not in stock yet.

I did 5 gallon water change today. I think for now I will do it once every 2 weeks.

I sent an ICP test to fauna marin cause I got this for cheap. Good news is Tin is gone. Non detected. But... Aluminium is doubled. From 60 to 120.
I am going to pull out all my marine pure balla out of my tank then I will try another ICP test to see if the aluminum is removed.

I wonder if cuprisorb is not taking it out.

Unfortunately my Buttkisser zoa melted out. I think I might have moved it around too much.

I accidentally fragged my 2 head "kinda" gold hammer when I was trying to move it to a different spot... well now I have 2 of those.

On a positive note,
Love my Indo Dragon Soul

 

[Philly Reefer]

Weekly Update:

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.8 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.4 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.21 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.3dKh (Hanna)
Calcium: 380 (RedSea)
Mag: 1290 (Aquaforest)
PO4: 0.03 (Hanna)
NO3: 5ppm (Salifert)

I am still battling with low nitrate on this tank. I finally dose neo nitro again to get it up to 5ppm.

I finally got around to test my nitrate using the hanna checker... I did it wrong.. lol the vial turned purple when I shake it with the C reagents. O well.. try again next week.

I do want to add more pods. Hopefully I can get a mandarin soon.
I also plan to get a royal gramma. I wonder what other fish I should add.

 

[Philly Reefer]

Update:

I do wonder which one I like better.. I think still the blue one though.

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.9 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.4 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.18 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.3dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.03 (Hanna)
NO3: 6.2ppm (Hanna, Diluted)

I didn't really had anything going on the past 2 weeks. I moved the corals around and finally TSM has Royal Gramma. But that will be ready next month. Next.. would be my last fish, Mandarin.

I do wonder why my Indo Dragon Soul tentacles are not long like the one I see online. Seems ok though. Hopefully got another head soon.

 

[Philly Reefer]

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 34.9 (Apex) Weekly Average
Temp 77.4 F (Apex) Weekly Average
pH: 8.21 (Apex) Weekly Average
Alkalinity: 9.3dKh (Hanna)
PO4: 0.05 (Hanna)
NO3: 6.1ppm (Hanna, Diluted)
Calcium: 390 (Redsea)
Magnesium: 1350 (Aquaforest)

Not much happened the last week. I am happy to see that my tank is stable now. Only dosing 8ml of soda ash and calcium everyday.

I might slow down my update to twice a month now. I will still update anytime I have anything.