The Divine Miss M - 40g Breeder

[BetteMidler]

Been out of the hobby for a while and have been gathering things for this over the last couple months. This is a canister build, hopefully budget friendly. Just dropped in the Rock/Sand yesterday and almost 100% clear this morning. I am please about the amount of rock I got, 75 lbs. It was a lot more than I expected, with lots of variety. This is the best layout I could come up with with what I got. I haven't epoxied or glued anything. When I say I have been out of the hobby, it has been 15+ years. So, sorry for all the questions.

Working on getting a Reef Cleaners package, then on to the fish, and finally the corals. I have no idea on what fish or corals I am going to stock this thing with. Really want to get back into SPS.

I haven't tried to do anything with the NooPsyche K7 Mini's yet. Just turned them on for the quick photos. I heard they can be troublesome setup/sync. Hopefully, it won't be a problem.

I am thinking about using the Seachem 2 part solutions, unless there are some alternatives. I'll see what my readings are and go from there.

Let me know of any suggestions or questions. I will list about everything I have purchased.

Equipment:
Tank: Aqueon 40g Breeder (36"Lx18"Wx16"H)
Lid: BRS 3 Ft DIY 1/4 In Screen Top Netting Kit
Lighting: 2 x NooPsyche K7 Mini 60W APP control with Flex Arm

2 x Mini-Shade & Rimmed Tank Adapters from ParlAquatics​

Canister Filter: OASE Aquatics Biomaster Thermo 600

Biohome Ultimate Marine Media Saltwater 5 LBS Media (filled 3/5 chamber)​

Refugium: TUNZE MAR-3181 Macroalgae Reactor
UV: TMC Vecton V2 600 Aquarium UV Sterilizer
Water Flow: Nero 3 Powerhead 2000 GPH
ATO: MagTool Optical Sensor ATO
RO/DI Equipment: Aquatic Life RO Buddie Plus DI Four Stage Reverse Osmosis

HM Digital DM-1 In-Line Dual TDS Monitor​

MISC: Handheld Refractometer

PINPOINT Salinity Monitor + Calibration Fluid​

ADJ Products PC-100A AC POWER STRIP​

JARDLI Glass Lily Pipe 5/8” set​

HOTOOLME Aquarium Scraper​

Supplement Dosing:
Nyos Pure Salt Mix
Seachem Reef Fusion 1
Seachem Reef Fusion 2

Live Rock/Sand:
US Live Rock - 75 Package
40 lb. Special Grade Arag-Alive! Reef Sand - Rinsed Cleaned

Progress Pictures:
Building Stand - July 11th 2023

Day 1 Setup - September 6th 2023

Day 2 FTS - September 7th 2023

 

[c4haskett]

Tank looks good! I love the 40 breeder dimensions, such a cool tank. I don't know the par output of your lights but for sps you may want to look for other alternatives. A good budget option you can find on amazon are Viparspectra's. They are known to grow as much sps as you'd like. I'd suggest two over that tank. As far as flow goes I would add another nero 3 to the otherside. Later down the road possibly even more flow would be needed. Other than that it looks like you have everything figured out. Good luck!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love the aquascape in your tank!

 

[BetteMidler]

Tank looks good! I love the 40 breeder dimensions, such a cool tank. I don't know the par output of your lights but for sps you may want to look for other alternatives. A good budget option you can find on amazon are Viparspectra's. They are known to grow as much sps as you'd like. I'd suggest two over that tank. As far as flow goes I would add another nero 3 to the otherside. Later down the road possibly even more flow would be needed. Other than that it looks like you have everything figured out. Good luck!

Thank you! I was going to get the Acro & Monti Frag packs from Boom's and go from there. I didn't really see a lot of info on these K7 Mini's on a 40g, but wanting something not so intrusive over the tank. I'll get a top down pic and show the real estate.

You are correct, there are flow issues with the single Nero 3 & already thinking about another. It was really a lot more rockwork than I imagined.

 

[BetteMidler]

Love the aquascape in your tank!

It was a bit overwhelming with so many pieces. There were three large pieces had cut flat spots on the bottoms, made it really easy to decide where to start and stabilized everything nicely. I wish I would of got pictures of it.

Thank you!

 

[BetteMidler]

Here is the under cabinet. Sorry about the cable management. I slide the canister & refugium out on that tray. Just cleaned out the pre-filter for the 1st time since adding the live rock. Waiting to order some cheato for the refugium. I'm already seeing algae coming back on the rockwork. Looks like some macros & possibly some nuisance algae even though the lights have yet to be on. Refuge light on just for the pic.

 

[BetteMidler]

Just a small update and adding to the timeline.
Day 1 - Live Rock & Sand added
Day 5 - Turned light on for full cycle (15% intensity)
Day 6 - Added 1st fish, a Carribean wild caught species - Greenblotch Parrotfish (Sparisoma atomarium)
Day 8 (today)- ReefCleaners CUC added (40 Dwarf Ceriths; 12 Nassarius; 17 Florida Ceriths; 11 Nerites; 12 Hermit crabs; 1 Ruby Mithrax Crab) & an order of Pods+

It looks like the live rock I sourced had very little die off. Never seen any ammonia spike, but algae was growing like crazy, film/macro/nuisance very prevalent and getting out of control. Still not able to source cheato for the fuge, but that can wait.

This species of parrotfish loves algae and is known to NOT pick/eat corals. See the article in "Reef Hobbyist Magazine" if you want to know a little more about them. They only get 4-4.5" max size. Great alternative to a tang, much smaller. Not really colorful, but is a pig of an algae eater.

The CUC that was added today is destroying all the nuisance algae that seemed to be taking over.

Trying to decide on Corals. Probably going to give it another week or so.

Working on getting a camera filter or adjusting the settings for better pictures. I try to take so many, but they are all washed out.

 

[BetteMidler]

Arrange the rockwork around a little bit. Fish is camera shy

Day 9 FTS - September 16th 2023

 

[BetteMidler]

Happy Tuesday everyone! I took a quick pick of this guy with my phone. He is going to be riding solo for a while, just don't want to risk anything, even though things have been going smoothly. I did order a cleaner shrimp along with some cheato for the fuge. The pod population at night is pretty insane, the entire water column is full of them. Curious if a Phyto dose is going to be needed to sustain them.

 

[BetteMidler]

I'm wondering if I did enough for a lid. Could a fish still get out of this? I used some craft mesh & binder holders for the area in the back that the BRS DIY lid kit did not cover.

 

[mmw64]

Yes! If there is a hole they will find it.

 

[BetteMidler]

No matter what your Tuesday is, don't worry because Friday is on its way!
This Friday I'm expecting delivery of the 1st corals for the tank. Probably jumping the gun, not sure if three weeks has gave enough maturity to the tank. Super worried about this guy & if he is going to munch on the coral.

 

[D4jack]

Nice work. Good luck with your build.

 

[kevgib67]

Your off to a great start, following.

 

[JoJosReef]

Looks great. Love the DIY tweaks! I run three K7 minis on my 40, and I think that's good enough for easier SPS and hardier acros:

Flow is a challenge. LOVE your parrotfish!

 

[BetteMidler]

Looks great. Love the DIY tweaks! I run three K7 minis on my 40, and I think that's good enough for easier SPS and hardier acros:

Flow is a challenge. LOVE your parrotfish!

Thank you, I got an idea for keeping up with the flow, probably going to need another Nero 3. This Parrotfish is defiantly a character. I scared him the other day & he has not forgave me . Plus my cat is terrorizing him from time to time.

I was going to go cheaper on the lights, but decided to try the NooPsyche lights. I think they should work out fine for this tank. I turned up the intensity a few days ago in attempt to prepare for a coral delivery of easy SPS, but that was delayed. Starting to see a another algae bloom. Curious to see what light schedule you got going as I don't have access to a par meter. I didn't want to use the default SPS setting & came up with the following:

 

[JoJosReef]

Thank you, I got an idea for keeping up with the flow, probably going to need another Nero 3. This Parrotfish is defiantly a character. I scared him the other day & he has not forgave me . Plus my cat is terrorizing him from time to time.

I was going to go cheaper on the lights, but decided to try the NooPsyche lights. I think they should work out fine for this tank. I turned up the intensity a few days ago in attempt to prepare for a coral delivery of easy SPS, but that was delayed. Starting to see a another algae bloom. Curious to see what light schedule you got going as I don't have access to a par meter. I didn't want to use the default SPS setting & came up with the following:

Mine currently looks like this:

With the 3 lights over my tank I'm hitting 300-350 par on the top of my rocks and 200 on the sand bed. I haven't tried measuring with just two lights, but I'd guess a reduction of about 10-30% as you get further out from the center. This seems to do well for the stylophora, birdsness, monti digi, pavona and branching psammy. I'm not sure it's enough for the acros I have, which might do better pushing blue into the 60s range (maybe 70s on a 2-light tank). These lights are plenty strong. Just remember that the largest contributor to PAR is the blue channel on these lights, followed by whites and very very little from purples--I only adjust the purple for aesthetics.

 

[BetteMidler]

Mine currently looks like this:

With the 3 lights over my tank I'm hitting 300-350 par on the top of my rocks and 200 on the sand bed. I haven't tried measuring with just two lights, but I'd guess a reduction of about 10-30% as you get further out from the center. This seems to do well for the stylophora, birdsness, monti digi, pavona and branching psammy. I'm not sure it's enough for the acros I have, which might do better pushing blue into the 60s range (maybe 70s on a 2-light tank). These lights are plenty strong. Just remember that the largest contributor to PAR is the blue channel on these lights, followed by whites and very very little from purples--I only adjust the purple for aesthetics.

This is very helpful. Before, I was using your lower setting that was in your build thread. It was a bit cumbersome to figure out the incremental increases to slowly raise up the intensity. So, I researched a ab+ scheme. Not sure if what I did was correct and after a few days, I'm not liking the algae I see popping up. I'll switch it back to this updated scheme you posted & just might add a 3rd mini or swap out to the noop pro versions. There seems to be a lot more info on the pros. I have a variety of SPS on order, Stylo, Monti's, cactus, stags, & a couple acros. Hope to get some success.

 

[BetteMidler]

Update for this week. Several frags (10) introduced. Had a minor issue cutting the frag plug on the Blue Tip Stag & ended up breaking it off the plug & day 1 fragging it into two pieces. Had to glue it to the cut offs of other plugs. Cheato growing in the Tunze Fuge, the entire cylinder is filling up. Snapped a bunch of photos with my phone.

Day 30 FTS - October 6th 2023

Green Slimer

Purple Tip Valida Acropora

Blue Tip Sarmentosa

Blue Tip Staghorn

Pink StyloAcropora

Pointy Birdsnest

UC Chili Pepper Montipora

Montipora Setosa

Orange Pavona

Scooby Snack Zoanthids

 

[BetteMidler]

Haven't really done anything to the display tank. Watching it mature. Getting some nuisance algae in places. Looks like some red turf algae on one rock & some bryopsis popping up in random places. The Parrotfish picks at both. Also, got a QT going for future fish.

Day 42 FTS - October 18th, 2023

The Tunze Macro reactor works well being feed by the canister filter. Pulled out a small ball today while I had the canister pulled apart to retreive the media for the QT. Lots of adult pods running around. Growth just shy of 30 days.

New QT tank. 20g Long

Using some mature media from my DT & put my extra ball of cheato in there for now. Plus, added some Biohome Rock that are sintered glass. We'll see if these rocks absorb meds or not.

Now got to decide on a fish.

I did lose my scarlet cleaner shrimp after a couple weeks. I seen him grab a pellet & eat a few times, he never molted. Not sure why I found him dead.