Other It's a Bird, it's a Plane! No, it's another 40 Breeder Build!

[Count Krunk]

Hello fellow Humble members. It is about time I created a build thread on this site. I have migrated here from R2R, as I am an athiest and if I said that on R2R this post would be deleted. I love how much more accepting this forum is of peoples belief's and lifestyles.

With that said! Let's go on a journey shall we?

This tank's humble beginning. I found some good LR on craigslist for cheap so I bought it and set up this 10g. This tank is actually the first fish tank I ever owned, and was also my first foray into reef keeping back in 2007. You can see the frogspawn in it here as well when it was two heads. This was two years ago.

Yes that is a power compact light Fancy I know, it is at least 10 years old. It now lights my fuge on this build.

YWG enters the dojo.

This was the first fish in this tank (still in the 10g). He passed about a month ago, I think my starry blenny stressed him out too much, he stopped eating

Next I acquired a 200gpd RO/DI unit. This was my first ever RO/DI unit. I got it for $150 on CL. I have since replaced both RO filters, added a booster pump, and hooked up the RO filters to be water saving. I also added a triple TDS meter and a new pressure valve. I have since learned that the water restrictor, water pressure, and your RO filters determine the GPD of your unit.

Glamor shot of my little frogspawn

The other coral in the tank at this point. A mushroom or maybe a ric? I got this and the froggy from RAP Orlando 2019.

This coral is still just one very nice looking shroom, it is on a rock that I uhh scrub vigorously every 3 weeks or so (slowly winning the battle on this rock, more on that later) so it is really quite the trooper.

I later bought two random old blackboxes for $70, and the guy also gave me this ES5 skimmer, (bubble magnus curve 5 clone) for free as the pump was broken.

I then bought two zoa frags from my fav LFS at the time, Top Shelf Aquatics.

Unfortunately right as these hit stride a xanthid crab ate them 🤬

PSA live rocks from the gulf of mexico (mine came from Tampa bay saltwater) WILL have these crabs in it. They eat coral. A stemless wine glass with some food in it works great as a crab trap.

Meanwhile work on the 40breeder display with a 29g sump marched on.

The hood.

The stand. 2x2 frame construction.

Bean animal overflow.

Drains into a simple 3 chamber sump.

 

[Count Krunk]

Its alive! This tank came online about a year ago. The first FTS. The Metal halide wasn't on.

At some point during the 10g days I picked up a smol pair of snowflake clowns from TSA. I combo'd two coupons for them I got in the mail and got them both for $58 lol.

Unfortunately the female clown jumped about 1-2 months ago

I have since installed BRS's 1/8" screen top. I also got a new teeny frostbite clown to become the new male.

About a year ago I got 3x PJ cardinals, that I have since traded back to my new LFS, Nemo Aquarium. These 3 grew 2-3x in size during that year.

These guys made room for this cool fellow, a starry blenny. Next up is a yellow coris wrasse or a bonded pair of banggai cardinals.

Below are the most recent pictures I have of the tank. I just did a waterchange tonight, so over the next few days I will get some new pictures in. These pics are 2 weeks old.

FTS

Some awesome GSP from @Neilp2006

A wonderful green fungia from @Neilp2006

A bizarro something or another from @Neilp2006

An encrusting monti also from @Neilp2006. I just mounted this guy on some liverock with the last of my superglue, but at an angle so I can only actually see the lil fellow from the side of the tank

My green nepethia that has grown, then almost shrunk to nothing, and has since grown out nicely again

The frogspawn (same pic is above post) is now at 4 heads from 2.

This favia i got for $15, it's on the recovery train

This favis has grown a decent amount since I first got it, it has also colored up nicely.

My little acan that can

A p something encrusting SPS that is BRIGHT yellow IRL with a slight green tint around the edge where it is growing.

 

[Count Krunk]

My other GSP frag that I just glued to the back wall (on the other side) tonight. It looks better every week.

Surface flow pic

Older pic (5 months ago) of my conch, he is still going strong.

 

[Humblefish]

Welcome aboard! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Count Krunk]

Now is a good time to get the equipment info I would think. RIght after this closeup on the yellow/orange SPS.

Tank: standard 40 breeder
Sump: standard 29g
LIghts: mystery blackbox LED (left side), 175 mogul 14k metal halide (right side) hung about 8" off the water line.
Heating: 2x 150w heaters from BRS
Fuge light: 60w (maybe??) 10k power compact. Sump is covered in coraline. Goal is for it to be a coral fuge someday.
Overflow: Fijicube 1200GPH slim internal box bean animal setup overflow.
Skimmer: Seaside Aquatics ES5 (Bubble Magnus clone)
Return: Jebao DCP4000. This thing ROCKS. The feed mode is super useful. It cost like $65. It's dead silent.
In tank flow: 1x jebao SLW-30. This thing also ROCKS. It is the AI Nero clone I think. I plan on getting another one, likely a 20 to place on the back glass. Also dead silent.
Rock: all live rock, some from CL, most from TBS. I still find new crabs lol. Luckily I have removed all the xanthid ones.
Reactor: One BRS mini reactor. It usually runs GFO, it's running carbon right now. Feeds off of the return pump.
Dosing: Manually adding 5-5.5ML of Vibrant 2x a week. I have a jebao to hook up someday. Now I'm thinking about running kalk in the ATO..
ATO: IM sensor, tom's aqua lifter pump with a prefilter. This little fellow has been going strong for years. Orange home depot 5g bucket reservoir .
Cooling: One kickass fan in the hood turns on with the lights, pulls out hot air from the hood. Actually makes a huge difference in the heat directly underneath the lights (so the space between the surface of the water and the bottom of the hood).

 

[Neilp2006]

Nice bro!

the bizarro is a Cyphastrea and the montipora is a JF Fruity Pebbles... that was 2 polyps on that rock 6 weeks ago so it grows pretty fast. My parent one lost its reds and yellows and went all green but I had it too exposed after I transferred it so it was getting busted while I was out of
Town. It’s coming back though

Don’t do kalk in the ATO- it’s too variable since evaporation rates change based on too many variables.

do a saturated kalk solution and hook up one of the Jebao doser heads. I was literally looking at a single head doser for Kalk this evening, since I’m getting a bunch of SPS this week. Might do a kamoer, but the 4 head jebao is the same price and I could dose trace colors and aminos with it too


you’re making me want to do a proper summary on my thread. Maybe I’ll carve out some time tomorrow to do that.

judging by how this evening went, I might not have much time soon... my wife just went through 90 minutes of Braxton Hicks contractions and we are still technically 23 days out...

 

[Count Krunk]

that's a good idea. I do have 4 free doser heads. Might as well put them to use. My wife was just about 1 week "late".

 

[elementalj]

Hey its looking great! I always say use what you got!

 

[Neilp2006]

that's a good idea. I do have 4 free doser heads. Might as well put them to use. My wife was just about 1 week "late".

Our first was breech all the way up to a week before due date, so we had to do a C-sec. then #2 was C-sec because they don’t recommend natural after a C. We have Boy scheduled for June 27, but he seems eager to make an appearance. Sitting low, turning lots, stretching a bunch. He occasionally stretch so far you’ll literally see a little hand print like he’s going for a high 5. Kinda freaks the girls out.

want me to frag some of the SPS for you once it establishes? 3 colors of plating montipora cap and a setosa

 

[Count Krunk]

Our first was breech all the way up to a week before due date, so we had to do a C-sec. then #2 was C-sec because they don’t recommend natural after a C. We have Boy scheduled for June 27, but he seems eager to make an appearance. Sitting low, turning lots, stretching a bunch. He occasionally stretch so far you’ll literally see a little hand print like he’s going for a high 5. Kinda freaks the girls out.

want me to frag some of the SPS for you once it establishes? 3 colors of plating montipora cap and a setosa

I'm always down for frags. There is a mix of SPS, LPS, and softy in it now. I really want some more softies. I need to find somewhere I can get a few good ones.

In July I will be getting some more snails, in august I hope to raid the local forum for a frag pack or two. I will def need to get a dip system set up before that though. I am currently leaning bayer, what do you do Neil?

 

[Neilp2006]

I'm always down for frags. There is a mix of SPS, LPS, and softy in it now. I really want some more softies. I need to find somewhere I can get a few good ones.

In July I will be getting some more snails, in august I hope to raid the local forum for a frag pack or two. I will def need to get a dip system set up before that though. I am currently leaning bayer, what do you do Neil?

10ml Bayer insect killer in a cup of water (I use Chinese take out soup containers). Use gloves and don’t sniff it- that stuff is nasty. It’s also caustic to stainless steel so be sure to rinse utensils if you use them. I actually use plastic chopsticks (see a theme?)

10 mins dip with gentle blasting with a baster, 10 mins tank water rinse x3.

I have all 4 cups in a shallow tray with tank water half way up and a heater at 78 so they don’t cool down for the 40 minutes they are dipping. But I’m anal like that

 

[Count Krunk]

My trusty MH bulb finally started to brown/yellow out after 3-4 years of service and being over 6 years old.

The new bulb from Hamilton is also 175w 14k. It is SO MUCH brighter! I hope this helps with the turf algae, as there isn't any on the rocks on the LED side of the tank.

Old bulb, you can see it's a bit messed up (finally haha)

Other - It's a Bird, it's a Plane! No, it's another 40 Breeder Build!

Hello fellow Humble members. It is about time I created a build thread on this site. I have migrated here from R2R, as I am an athiest and if I said that on R2R this post would be deleted. I love how much more accepting this forum is of peoples belief's and lifestyles. With that said! Let's go...

humble.fish

Quick FTS I took to show what it looked liked under the bad bulb. You will see the larger GSP fell off the backglass. I am ordering more glue and getting it back up there soon.

Will get some updated pictures soon.

 

[Neilp2006]

My trusty MH bulb finally started to brown/yellow out after 3-4 years of service and being over 6 years old.

The new bulb from Hamilton is also 175w 14k. It is SO MUCH brighter! I hope this helps with the turf algae, as there isn't any on the rocks on the LED side of the tank.

Old bulb, you can see it's a bit messed up (finally haha)

Other - It's a Bird, it's a Plane! No, it's another 40 Breeder Build!

Hello fellow Humble members. It is about time I created a build thread on this site. I have migrated here from R2R, as I am an athiest and if I said that on R2R this post would be deleted. I love how much more accepting this forum is of peoples belief's and lifestyles. With that said! Let's go...

humble.fish

Quick FTS I took to show what it looked liked under the bad bulb. You will see the larger GSP fell off the backglass. I am ordering more glue and getting it back up there soon.

Will get some updated pictures soon.

You need to really coat the back of the sheet with glue, and make sure to clean algae off the glass. I’d use a whole one of those little 5/$1 tubes from the dollar store on that

 

[Count Krunk]

You need to really coat the back of the sheet with glue, and make sure to clean algae off the glass. I’d use a whole one of those little 5/$1 tubes from the dollar store on that

I used about half a tube, and that didn't cut it! I'm getting a 12 pack here soon.

 

[Count Krunk]

The conch out and ready for some pictures. Very good look at him I don't get all that often. Longest it's been without seeing him is probably 2 months. He/she is one of my favorite reef denizens.

 

[OZ_SPS]

Love the details and pictures.
Whats your latest parameters?

 

[Count Krunk]

I haven't tested yet, i am due for a testing time tomorrow. I test every 1-3 weeks. Testing will happen more as more life is getting added to my system. For a while it was a frogspawn and not much else.

 

[Wrangy]

Tanks looking real nice mate! Conch are just the best aren't they! 🥰

 

[Count Krunk]

They really are! Conch is still buzzing around on the surface.

 

[Count Krunk]

Picture time.

Starting things off with a quick FTS. You can the turf algae I have been battling on that rock has grown some. Vibrant is definitely helping me defeat it.

The lovely clown couple around their host the frogspawn

the green nepthia really looks good under the new hamilton bulb

a quick peak at the large GSP, will be doing mount attempt #2 this weekend

small GSP mounted, also a growth appreciation post
1 month ago

now

the little bizzaro is doing great, he is tucked into the front right so hard to get a good pic

the rock that's happenin

The starry blenny

I could tell visually the PO4 is ticking down, I need to test it. The acan being more shrunk is an indicator I think. I removed the phosphate 3 or 4 days ago and replaced it with carbon.

Turf algae growth is way down, and the stringy cyano is gone. Now i have a dark red cyano in a few places. It removes easily enough when I do wc changes. I'm not worried about it. Conch is continuing to treat me to being able to see him buzzing around. Snail order coming in July that will really help this out, algae wise.