40 Gallon Breeder Upgrade

[Reefraft]

Well this isn't my first rodeo. I have finally got the 40 gallon breeder up and running. I started with a 25 gal reef tank. Had it for about a year and it crashed. Going to say it was from going to fast. Lost everything. Packed it up for a few months and decided to dive back in. Set up the 25 gallon and its was up for about 3 months before I came across a steal of a deal on a 40 breeder. Now all of my recent purchases for the 25 have been with the intention of going to a 40 eventually.

The tank is cycled and the diatoms are on their last leg of life as there is just a little left on the sand bed. Here is the most recent full tank shot I have.

Current stock list
Fish and inverts
1 clownfish (not sure of the breed anymore)
1 skunk cleaner
Handful of astrea, cerith, and nassarius snails. (Currently hunting hard for some free stomatella)

Coral
3 head Duncan
Orange cyphastrea
Blue eye lepto (didn't take the tank switch well)
Green eye lepto ( not sure it was labeled correct when I bought it more on that later)
No name zoanthids
Acan (if it has a name not are of it)
Several pieces of Hollywood stunner chalice ( all of which have started dieing since phosphate reactor hooked up)

Figured there would be some coral casualties. Sad but I get mine as tiny $10-$15 frags usually.

I'll add more about the build and equipment later when I get back from work and add some pics of the coral and residents of my little reef.

Hope you guys enjoy.

 

[Antics]

Looking great!

 

[Fishhands]

Very nice! Just a thought... could you put some shims under the overflow to lift it a bit and raise the water line into the black trim? Ive never used a hang on style so not sure

 

[Reefraft]

Very nice! Just a thought... could you put some shims under the overflow to lift it a bit and raise the water line into the black trim? Ive never used a hang on style so not sure

I can adjust the height of the box in the tank. The overflow box I have is was better than the pvc one I made when I first started a few years back. I plan on building a hood to cover the lights and stop any chance of my 2 year old tossing anything in. So far just one foam golf ball has made its way in. The hood will cover the trim and I usually make my hoods hang a little past the trim.

It's more or less set like that to handle a siphon break in the over flow to cover for any chance of a flood.

 

[Fishhands]

Fantatsic. Did you build the stand?

 

[Reefraft]

Yes, I Did build the stand. Here are some pics of the stand build.

 

[Reefraft]

Please Don't judge my dirty garage and garage floor. There are a lot of unfinished projects going on.

 

[Reefraft]

Current equipment list
Tank has roughly 40-50 lbs of rock I'd say ( not 100% sure as I have about 200lbs in my garage from various sources)
2 ai prime led (don't think I have the hd version)
Reef octopus bh 50 skimmer
Brs dual reactor
Overflow box rated at 350 gph max
2 koralia 425 power heads
2 no name return pumps (1 for reactors- 1 for overflow pushes about 300 gph after the head height
150 watt heater (keeps tank at a steady 75 degrees
20 gallon long diy sump

Here is a recent pic of the sump minus the skimmer due to being cleaned currently. The sump is very simple and easy to keep clean.

 

[Reefraft]

So noticed my Duncan has spawned a new head and is working in another one. Pics are not the best as they are taken with the iPhone. Sorry in advance.

And for giggles a current FTS taken about 20 minutes ago. Diatoms are still present on the sand but all is looking and growing good. My acan colony is still looking for its home in the tank. Where would you guys place it?

 

[cgdcinc]

Nice set up. [emoji106]

 

[Reefraft]

:/ not sure how I feel about this. Took a job out of state and have to pack this tank up and move. 4+ hour move.

 

[Reefraft]

Not much to update other than we decided to stay in our current home because we found out we will be having a second child.
The chaeto I added to the sump has doubled in size and I ditched the other macro I had in the sump. Duncan’s have sprouted another new head.

 

[Reefraft]

So I want to add another fish or 2 and I’m not sure what I want. Maybe something to sift the sand and keep it sparkling white. I had a diamond watchman goby before and enjoyed him. I enjoy the shrimp goby pairs but not sure if I want to add a pistol shrimp to my tank.
Anyone have any experience of their pistol shrimp going rogue and killing other inverts?

Thinking about some type of blenny as well. This I have no idea on as I haven’t come across many in my lfs. I’m sure they have them I just miss them.

 

[JarrodsREEF]

I have had a couple of different types of Pistol Shrimp and have never had them hurt anything or anyone in my reef, they usually keep to themselves under a rock. It's looking good!!

 

[Reefraft]

Good to know. I do enjoy them when I see them. What goby would you suggest to go with them?

 

[Reefraft]

A little update on the tank. Things are going smoothish.
Added a few things to the mix. My son and I went to our lfs in search of a lawn mower blenny. We found one we liked and brought him home. He is currently undergoing his qt just about finished up with it.

While at the lfs my son (mind you he is only 2 almost 3) noticed a zoa polyp sitting in the sand and wouldn’t unglue his face off the glass. Well low and behold the guy who was helping us reached down grabbed the zoa and pulled a full chunck of it out of the sand with it. He literally gave my son a frag if fire and ice zoas for free.

This is the frag he gave my son. Such a nice guy.

I did purchase a new Duncan head yesterday due to the completely different colors it has compared to my current Duncan. Here is a pic of the new frag and the current Duncan I have. My question is will the new frag color up the same as my old one or will it keep its current color.