aKlevans' 40 Gallon Breeder Sumpless Reef Tank - Build Thread

[aKlevans]

Just thought I'd give an update on future plans:

-I ordered a deep blue professional glass hood too cut down on evaporation
-I am also thinking of getting another powerhead to increase the flow
-I'm getting the pair of clowns as soon as the hood arrives.

 

[tdileo]

I would definitely get another powerhead or a whole new one. A 425 GPH one isn't much for a tank that size. My 3' tank has an 850GPH pump and it's not enough IMO. I have lots of dead spots. Would love to upgrade to a Vortech MP10 but unless I find a used one for cheap I don't see it happening. Love your scape btw

 

[aKlevans]

I would definitely get another powerhead or a whole new one. A 425 GPH one isn't much for a tank that size. My 3' tank has an 850GPH pump and it's not enough IMO. I have lots of dead spots. Would love to upgrade to a Vortech MP10 but unless I find a used one for cheap I don't see it happening.

Yep, that's probably what I was thinking. I might get 2 more of them.

Love your scape btw

Thanks man

 

[samnaz]

You're off to a good start!

Do you feed the tank anything at all? Just wondering cause Nassarius snails are scavengers, not algae eaters, and they need meaty foods or they'll starve.

 

[aKlevans]

You're off to a good start!

Do you feed the tank anything at all? Just wondering cause Nassarius snails are scavengers, not algae eaters, and they need meaty foods or they'll starve.

Haha thats so funny, I was about to write a message telling what I fed the snails and then I saw your post lol.

I have been feeding them pellet food every other day until I get fish.
Here is a video of one of the snails eating:

 

[aKlevans]

The hood arrived, I'm picking it up tomorrow.
I had a small diatom bloom, I'm sure it will disappear in a few weeks.

 

[aKlevans]

I got the clowns!

I also picked up the lid, which was actually not Deep Blue but Aqueon. The hinge in the middle blocks the light, so I am either replacing it with a clear one or removing it altogether.

 

[aKlevans]

Ok, a few things changed:
The new powerhead arrived today, which was the Hydor Korallia Nano 565.

I also moved the heater and filter in order to hide the cables a bit better, but I am probably going to just get a black background to hide them better.

The clownfish are doing fine, but they are behaving really weird (which I know is typical of clownfish, so I'm not worried). They were hosting the heater at first, then the filter, and then the corner of the tank. As I was rearranging the equipment, I might have done something accidentally to bother them, and now they are at separate corners of the tank. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm just going to wait and see what happens.
They are both eating pellet food, although the pellets were a bit to big for them, so I had to crush them up. I am hoping that soon they will eating out of my hand.

The diatom bloom has gotten a little worse, which I expected, but I'm sure it will be gone soon.

 

[Justin poirier]

-A pair of ocellaris clownfish
-2 banggai cardinals
-yellow watchman goby
-yellow assessor basslet

Add a tiger pistol. They don't bother no one and with a watchman it is an amazing duo

 

[aKlevans]

Add a tiger pistol. They don't bother no one and with a watchman it is an amazing duo

Yep, I was planning on it, I just thought you were asking for fish.

 

[Justin poirier]

Yep, I was planning on it, I just thought you were asking for fish.

Oh ya ya. I have a pair and they honestly make me very happy. They actually share a hole with a sand sifting goby.

 

[aKlevans]

Another Update:

I picked up a green toadstool leather on Sunday. I did not attach it with glue and it fell off within one day. I reattached it to the rock and is doing a lot better. It took about 2 days for it to open fully, but it is looking great.

(the black isn't really there, it just looks that way in the photo.)

I also picked up some acans from a friend that were in pretty rough shape. Some of the tissue was completely bleached, but you can see that it is getting better.
An ID would be great:

I also picked up a mag float from my LFS. I got the "small" one that is recommended for tanks 10 gallons or smaller, but really, it works just fine. It is also less obtrusive than some of the larger ones.

I also picked up 2 Astrea snails since they were out of trochus snails. I spent about an hour acclimating them because they are a bit more touchy about changes in parameters.

I forgot to pick up a black backgound while I was at my LFS, but oh well;Shifty

 

[aKlevans]

Another Update:
I went to my LFS and they were selling Utter Chaos Zoas for $10 each and they were buy one get one free!
I know that they are not the most colorful utters in the world, but for $5 each, they are pretty nice.

I also made my own black background using cardstock.

Here are a few more pics of the tank:

 

[aKlevans]

Coral Haul:

And get this:
Total cost-


$10

 

[Johnnyj239]

Looking good how are you liking the light...
I have a fluval 36gl that's 3ft wide and was thing of the 2 ai's

 

[aKlevans]

Looking good how are you liking the light...
I have a fluval 36gl that's 3ft wide and was thing of the 2 ai's

It's pretty nice, I haven't had any issues with it.

 

[Johnnyj239]

For now I picked up one ai prime and still using the stock fluval led strip

IMG_2566

• Johnnyj239
• Sep 6, 2017

Fluval m-90 with 1 AI prime

IMG_2564

• Johnnyj239
• Sep 6, 2017

Fluval m90

 

[aKlevans]

The spoils of a local frag swap:

Rasta and Fire & Ice zoas

Green Hammer Coral

Ricordia Mushroom

Rhodactis Mushroom

I also won a raffle for $250 credit to my LFS!

I moved the Utter Chaos higher up in the tank because they weren't showing the best of colors.

Top down shot of zoa garden:

FTS:

 

[aKlevans]

It's been a while.
Sandbed looking SPOTLESS thanks to this guy:

I love him, he is so active and interesting.

Some more corals:

Some more pics:

The clownfish came down with intestinal worms, but with one week of treatment with metro + focus it got better.

I'm going to turn the HOB into a refugium to grow some copepods for the diamond goby.

Trying something new:

 

[aKlevans]

New FTS