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My 40g Long build thread

So here's my build thread for my upgrade. Even though I promised myself not to upgrade from my 20L until I owned a house, the prospect of not moving for over a year combined with the fact that I'm renting a house now and not in an apartment prompted me to pull the trigger. It took a bit to track down a tank with dimensions I like, but between either a 30L or 40L, I decided I like the 40L.

So here's the stand built and awaiting skinning and sealing.
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Put in place and beginning to fill the tank.
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A mostly FTS of the new tank, and a pic of ~2/3 of the tank, mostly on the right side. Notice the ghetto lighting from my old 20L canopy :)
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More pics to come once I skin the stand, add the trim and finish the door and lighting.
 
Oh yeah, equipment list so far

MJ 400 w/ algae free sure mod
mj 600 in a tiny overflow box, just to keep surface scum down
Koralia 1, just because? It'll probably come out
heater, forgot what wattage, 175W maybe?

And current lighting is 4x24W T5's....changing to something, I guess. Probably 3 or 4x 54W. Not sure if I'll be using a fixture or a canopy this time though.


Livestock:
misc snails
no hermits I don't think anymore
2x percula
1x yellow coris wrasse
And that's it so far....
 
Looks good.

Is that stand sturdy. I am only asking due to no middle bracing across the length of the stand.

Keep up the good work buddy.
 
Yeah, according to all the info I could find, a 2x4 on end should hold it just fine. But I'm not done with the stand yet. I'm planning to add in 2 back legs to mount some bent conduit on for hanging lights (eventually). I'll probably also add another support under the front side where the door will be hinged to.
 
Just some quick pics of livestock. Figured since I added in the 2nd baby banggai from Phong that I should at least toss up some pics for him. A few of the corals pictured came from the swap and have grown some. Too bad I didn't take pics back then too though. Enjoy.

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Great photos. I like the long tank, but maybe because my tank is almost a ball. It looks different, scenic. You have good rhythm in the sand, rock pillars, and bridge. The babies look nice with all the green around them. You will be trimming soon, if not doing so already.

I am amazed at the short amount of time from dry to this.
 
Thanks Richard. Glad you like the tank. It's like an extended 20L tank which is why I like it.

The quickness of the livestock comes from the fact that it was an upgrade, and I had to include everything I had in the previous tank (no sump, no 2nd tank to toss everything in).

And yes, going to be trimming the macro this weekend as well as scraping the glass and another water change.

The banggais are chowing down on shrimp shavings and PE mysis. They still ignore frozen brine as well as just about anything else frozen that I've found.
 
I'm surprise that the trigger hasn't eat the banggai.. I tossed a dead baby banggai in the tank and the mom ate the whole thing. I'm sure if I released the live one in the tank, the parent would ate them as soon as they hit water..

If you think your tank is dirty, I don't know what I would call mine :(( .. I haven't tough it for like 5-6 weeks now. I didn't even clean the glass... :(
 
Trigger is a Niger, and so far only eats things floating in the water column (pellets, flake, frozen, my finger) and same with the clowns.

Heh, and the glass is covered with coralline and other things that a magfloat won't take off. And I'm growing hair algae and cyano more than anything else.
 
Well it's been a good 5 months or so. I rescaped the tank a while ago, but still trying to go for something of a seagrass/macroalgae bed. None of the oar grass I picked up has really taken off. Maybe my sandbed isn't deep enough, or the caulerpa is out-competing it. Still have tons of GHA. Reasons being the T5 bulbs are probably ~2yrs old (swapped them out now), was over feeding (GF decided the clowns wanted more food), and for a while the TDS of my topoff/makeup water was pretty darn high. Oh, and I still have no skimmer. I'm considering adding a HOB fuge to see if that makes a difference.

Most of the vertebrates in the tank have passed. A couple jumped, more than a few straight up disappeared. The poor scooter somehow got into my little 'overflow' box and stuck to my MJ 'return' pump. Current livestock:
2x wild-caught percs
1x mandarin
1x peppermint shrimp (that doesn't touch the 2 aiptasia in my tank...grrr)
1x pompom crab

Still just a heater, mj900 and I think a K2.

I also put together something my friend had talked to me about about 5 years ago. It turns out it's pretty darn similar to what Jim is doing in his shop. Not trying to take credit, but not trying to look like I'm copying either ;) Guy's name was Nick H. (lucubrator on sdreefs) but I think he's moved on from the hobby. It's a good method I think for people not wanting a frag rack on their wall.
 
Annnd...back from the dead. Literally...

Tank started leaking a while back and I basically took it down and resealed. Everything either got stuffed in a 20 long, a 1g pico or given away. Sad to say, most things did not make it in the long haul.

About a month or so ago I drilled the tank and got it on an updated stand. Live rock has been submerged the whole time and the clowns made it through the ordeal. Unfortunately, I've been pretty good at growing cyano. Most everything in the tank is covered with it. Theres a few snails wandering around though.

The biggest issue I've been having is with my "new" eheim 1260. Bought it used from Rc, no big deal. The problem is the output is way more than I was expecting and way more than my single 1" 90* 'overflow' can handle. Right now, it's T'd off going back to the sump, has a kink in the hose at the pump and is being compressed by a ziptie a little farther up to keep the flow around where it needs to be. I'll be looking for anything that has a little less output (and uses less power).

The eventual plan is to have stargrass growing in the front right third and hopefully/possibly expanding beyond. The rockwork needs to be moved around some and it will be sloping down from left to right. Not going for a tank full of pretty sticks, mostly LPS/softies with maybe some pocci's or monti caps.

hardware:
40 long tank (48x12x16)
20g sump (24x12x??)
eheim 1260 paired with 1" overflow via 90* elbow.
some random ATO (hence the 5g jug next to the sump)
MJ 600
K2

lighting will be 3x54W HOT5 when I get around to building a canopy and wiring them.

Current residents:
2x percs
2x firefish
possibly?: pistol shrimp, pompom crab
misc snails

Planned residents: tailspot blenny, twinspot goby (pair) OR Randall's shrimp gobies (pair), mandarin(cb), maybe 3 cardinals or wrasses?

Now for the pics:
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Hey Mike, thanks for the reply. I do already have the return T'd off and going back to the sump. I figure I can use it to run a reactor or something. Still too much flow.

I also found two small leaks on the back side at the bulkheads. Apparently, tossing on a lot of teflon tape and screwing 90* elbows in to threaded bulkheads doesn't seal it all the way. I'm looking at ~1 drop/2-3 minutes. Not a huge issue, but something I want to take care of. Any other suggestions other than unscrewing and putting more tap on it? I'm about ready to put a little bit of silicon on the last few threads since it isn't in a high-pressure situation.
 
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