Ryan’s 40G first reef

[rdriggett]

Hi all and welcome to my tank journal thread!

I discovered reefing in college via BRS but couldn't make it happen until this year. I'm loving BAR and all the support I've been given. I'm still on a budget so my gear isn't the best.

Tank specs: Aqueon 40 breeder
Filter: Fiji Cube DIY AIO insert with floss, sock, carbon, Tunze 9004 DC skimmer, Aqueon Pro 200W heater, Biohome ultimate media and a AqutoAqua Smart ATO lite, Jebao MDP-2500 return pump, inkbird controlling the heater and tank fan.
Lighting: NooPsyche K7 V3
Flow: RFG return, Jebao MLW-30, Jebao MLW-10 with nem guards

Stocking: Frozen frostbite clownfish, equisite firefish, bicolor blenny, yasha goby, fake hawkfish, skunk cleaner shrimp. and tiger pistol shrimp.

Corals: Rainbow acan, rainbow goni, green and blue goni, other green and blue goni, purple goni, blue birdsnest, orange and bleached monti, green and red monti, purple sytlo, green acro, purple and green acro, branching cyphastria, green and blue acro, gold torch, pruple and pink hammer, green and purple frammer.

Full tank shots:

Original first post:
I have my Fiji cube siliconed and installed and just setup my aquatic fundamentals stand. Looking forward to getting my cycle started once I move and refinish some furniture.

 

[rdriggett]

I moved the tank to its new home. I’m just waiting on my noopsyche k7 V3 140W light to arrive.

Jebao MLW-10 for a friend vs my MLW-30. Big size difference.

stocking list:	Quantity
Frozen Frostbite Clownfish	2
Sixline wrasse MAYBE	1
Bi Color Blenny	1
Yellow Watchman Goby	1
Exquisite Firefish	1
Royal Gramma	1
Skunk Shrimp	1
Randells Pistol Shrimp	1

 

[PjFish]

Was looking at that drop in kit a while back since I've had an empty new 40g breeder laying around and want to set it up as a qt. Is it a tight fit wondering on the silicon gap size? Due to the top frame. Did it come with a lid to help algae buildup I didn't see one mentioned at the fiji website but an easy diy fix. Also wonderful if you are going to mod the internal media rack or ditch it? Since there is extra space around the rack. My smaller tanks just have had large tidal seachems hob easy to pop off and hose out. That drop in gives the 40g a cool peninsula look!
Thanks
Paul

 

[PjFish]

View attachment 35335
I moved the tank to its new home. I’m just waiting on my noopsyche k7 V3 140W light to arrive.

View attachment 35334
Jebao MLW-10 for a friend vs my MLW-30. Big size difference.

stocking list:	Quantity
Frozen Frostbite Clownfish	2
Sixline wrasse MAYBE	1
Bi Color Blenny	1
Yellow Watchman Goby	1
Exquisite Firefish	1
Royal Gramma	1
Skunk Shrimp	1
Randells Pistol Shrimp	1

My noops took a while from Hong Kong I'd fill that tank now don't need a light cycling or anything unless ur tossing in good live rocks with corals on them at the get go. Best of luck

 

[rdriggett]

Was looking at that drop in kit a while back since I've had an empty new 40g breeder laying around and want to set it up as a qt. Is it a tight fit wondering on the silicon gap size? Due to the top frame. Did it come with a lid to help algae buildup I didn't see one mentioned at the fiji website but an easy diy fix. Also wonderful if you are going to mod the internal media rack or ditch it? Since there is extra space around the rack. My smaller tanks just have had large tidal seachems hob easy to pop off and hose out. That drop in gives the 40g a cool peninsula look!
Thanks
Paul

I kind of didnt follow the instructions. It says to silicone on all sides but I only attached it via the rear. Hopefully no fish get stuck between the AIO wall and the tank wall, its a tight clearance. It did not come with a lid. Neither did it come with a media basket, so I'm going to have one 3D printed. I do like the ultra budget peninsula look!

 

[rdriggett]

My noops took a while from Hong Kong I'd fill that tank now don't need a light cycling or anything unless ur tossing in good live rocks with corals on them at the get go. Best of luck

I need to finish my koi pond first, only one fish project at a time! The liner is about to go in and then I can get started cycling this 40G.

 

[rdriggett]

It's just about time to head to Neptune for some water and fill this tank up!
As far as bottle bacteria goes, I usually stick with Fritz Turbo Start. Any reasons to use Dr. Tims instead?

 

[rdriggett]

Water, sand and reef crystals are in! Aquascape glue is drying. Now I have to wait for it to clear up.
All my gear has arrived now I just need to cycle the tank and add fish at the end of the month.

Category	Equipment
Tank	Aqeuon 40G Breeder
Filter	Fiji Cube DIY AIO kit w/ RFG nozzles
Return pump	Jebao MDP-2500
Filter Media	Greatwave Eng Biohome Ultimate, filter floss, carbon
Light	NooPsyche K7 V3 celling mounted
Wavemaker	Jebao MLW-30 w/ nemguard
Rock	used Florida dry rock
Sand	Carib Sea Fiji Pink
Heater	Aqueon Pro 200W

Stocking:

Frozen Frostbite Clownfish	2
Sixline wrasse	1
bi color Blenny	1
Yellow Watchman Goby	1
Exquisite Firefish	1
Royal Gramma	1
Skunk Shrimp	1
Randells Pistol Shrimp	1

 

[Srt4eric]

Do you have a lid for that? I lost a sixline out of each of my tanks the same week.

 

[rdriggett]

Do you have a lid for that? I lost a sixline out of each of my tanks the same week.

I have the aqueon lid but I strongly dislike it. My 75Gal Aqueon lid is hindged at the 1/3rd point. This one is hinged exactly in the middle so it casts a 5" shadow where my SPS are supposed to live. I'm considering a Kraken reef custom lid but @ $200 it would be more expensive than any single part of my build.

 

[rdriggett]

It’s almost done clearing and heating! I added bottled bacteria (turbo start) tonight and I add seeded media tomorrow. I have never fishless cycled a tank before so hopefully it goes well.

 

[rdriggett]

Day 1 of cycling. It’s 75% clear after 28h. I keep rinsing out the fine foam filter but I should switch to Polyfill soon.

 

[rdriggett]

According to brandon429 on R2R, the fact that my tank processed 2ppm ammonia to 0.5ppm ammonia means it’s almost done cycling. I have detectable nitrates but no nitrites.

 

[richiev]

I have the aqueon lid but I strongly dislike it. My 75Gal Aqueon lid is hindged at the 1/3rd point. This one is hinged exactly in the middle so it casts a 5" shadow where my SPS are supposed to live. I'm considering a Kraken reef custom lid but @ $200 it would be more expensive than any single part of my build.

I'd suggest putting one on before you get fish you care about. I was waiting on picking one I liked, and had put some clowns I hand picked after visiting a bunch of stores in my tank. Weeks later while I was still thinking it over, one clown went carpet surfing, which really sucked. Not just from the monetary loss, but more from having it happen to that fish I liked, and had invested time in finding and quarantining and ...

You can DIY your own kit on a simple rectangular aquarium like you have. Get some mesh net like this from Amazon ($14). Get a frame kit like this Ace hardware one ($15, certainly also available on amazon, buy a black one if you can). You'll need a saw (hacksaw) of some sort to cut the frame kit. It'll just sit on the lip of your aquarium frame. If you want to drive to Redwood City I might even have enough mesh you could have to fit (I'd have to check though).

Not as posh as the acrylic ones, but the frame will be slimmer and if you get black it'd probably look really nice on your tank. Also, it won't take 6+ weeks to arrive.

Here's my DIY lid for comparison.

 

[rdriggett]

Hit 3-4ppm ammonia due to crappy API test kits by accident. I did a 50% WC and dosed 4oz turbo start again. I got a SeaChem ammonia badge to test toxic ammonia while cycling. My parameters are: 2 ammonia, 1+ nitirite, 30 nitrate.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

I assume the lights are just on for the picture.

 

[PjFish]

What was the accident? I wouldn't bother testing parameters for at least a week or two especially since you started with un cured dry rock. Let the bio do its thing and enjoy the show..Toss in a couple cucs when algae starts growing on the rocks to help the ugly stage. You can also jumpstart coraline algea if you want by getting some reef rubble/frag plugs with coraline and drop it in or give it a few scrapes with a blade in the tank. No rush on adding fish..Tank looks great!! How's the koi pond going you mentioned earlier any pics ?
Paul

 

[grizfyrfyter]

I would turn the lights off and add fish before cuc. Give your rocks lots of time to colonize with becateria and stabilize before turning the lights on. Use this time to develop your nutrient control measures before algae grows and does it for you.

 

[rdriggett]

RIght now my free ammonia is coming out to 0.05-0.1 according to my SeaChem badge.

What was the accident? I wouldn't bother testing parameters for at least a week or two especially since you started with un cured dry rock. Let the bio do its thing and enjoy the show..Toss in a couple cucs when algae starts growing on the rocks to help the ugly stage. You can also jumpstart coraline algea if you want by getting some reef rubble/frag plugs with coraline and drop it in or give it a few scrapes with a blade in the tank. No rush on adding fish..Tank looks great!! How's the koi pond going you mentioned earlier any pics ?
Paul

Thanks for asking, its nearing completion. One corner is 4" lower than the others and the water line is barely to the skimmer so I'll have to add dirt to raise the low corner. I'll post a build thread for the koi pond soon.
I accidentally put in 150Gal worth of ammonia in my 40 gal tank on day 2 due to API reading low. RedSea was reading 4ppm before my 50% WC.

I would turn the lights off and add fish before cuc. Give your rocks lots of time to colonize with becateria and stabilize before turning the lights on. Use this time to develop your nutrient control measures before algae grows and does it for you.

The light is just for photos and admiration of my tank being setup I will slowly add a CUC as the uglies start.

 

[H2OPlayar]

I'd suggest putting one on before you get fish you care about. I was waiting on picking one I liked, and had put some clowns I hand picked after visiting a bunch of stores in my tank. Weeks later while I was still thinking it over, one clown went carpet surfing, which really sucked. Not just from the monetary loss, but more from having it happen to that fish I liked, and had invested time in finding and quarantining and ...

You can DIY your own kit on a simple rectangular aquarium like you have. Get some mesh net like this from Amazon ($14). Get a frame kit like this Ace hardware one ($15, certainly also available on amazon, buy a black one if you can). You'll need a saw (hacksaw) of some sort to cut the frame kit. It'll just sit on the lip of your aquarium frame. If you want to drive to Redwood City I might even have enough mesh you could have to fit (I'd have to check though).

Not as posh as the acrylic ones, but the frame will be slimmer and if you get black it'd probably look really nice on your tank. Also, it won't take 6+ weeks to arrive.

Here's my DIY lid for comparison.

+1 for the diy lids. Same story here with losing a few fish before getting the lid and I even have the euro brace to help the edge jumpers.