DIY 40 gallon build

[amirk48]

hi everyone
here is my new (just under) 40 gal build I have been working on for the last few months, dimensions are 24' x 24" x 16"
everything is DIY, from the lights to the sump. i'm a big believer in the why should I buy it if I can make it for double the price myself approach.
tank has been cycling for about 2 months now and lights are on since 8 days ago. with 1 clown and 5 small hermit crabs for now.
I'm not going to bore you with details on how everything was built so here are a few pics of the process and end product.
now to stocking!

side view

 

[ReQuackulous]

I like how you styled your stand

 

[vlangel]

You must be quite the craftsman to do such a nice job on everything. It looks really nice.

 

[amirk48]

thanks
its in the living room so i tried to make it look somewhat like a furniture

 

[amirk48]

hi all,
its been 3 weeks since lights are on.
there's a minor brown diatom bloom but seems to be under control. there are also a few tiny green spots here and there but also nothing out of hand.
today I added a bunch of SPS frags plus two torches. some have polyps out already, some not yet.

1 clown
1 fire fish
1 purple fire fish
1 strawberry dottyback

my parameters are:
nitrate: 10 to 15 ppm (hard to say with the API test)
phosphate: 0 to 0.03 ppm (salifert)
alk: 8.4 (red sea)
cal: 430 (red sea)
mag: 1400 (red sea)

with this nitrate level, do you think i should start carbon dosing already or let the tank do its thing for now?
mind you there's no room for a refugium or reactors in the sump so i cant think of other way to reduce nitrates.

another annoying issue im having is micro bubbles from the skimmer going through the return pump to the tank. its been running for 3 weeks now and its pulling dark junk but not too much. i really have no idea if its broken in yet.
what do you recommend doing?

thanks!

 

[ReQuackulous]

Whats your ammonia at?

 

[amirk48]

i dont have an ammonia test yet
i figured if the tank is cycled and the fish and inverts (cleaner and banded coral shrimps) are doing good then ammonia level is ok

 

[Philly Reefer]

This has to be ask. Why do you have 3 valve on the drain line? True union ball to gate valve then another ball valve in the end.

 

[ReQuackulous]

i dont have an ammonia test yet
i figured if the tank is cycled and the fish and inverts (cleaner and banded coral shrimps) are doing good then ammonia level is ok

Ammonia is one of the indicators for when tank cycling is complete, when you add livestock to the tank there will be an ammonia spike that your bacteria colony will adjust to with time. Along with the ammonia spike from the fish, the increased feeding will also impact your parameters. The safe route is adding one fish at a time, keep an eye on the parameters and corals, if they start looking like there may be an issue be prepared to do a water change. In regards to carbon dosing you really don't need to this early, skimmers and other mechanical filtration will be able to help with those levels. If you can upgrade to the Hanna checker for phosphate I think it would be worth while, its a lot easier to use.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Suggest you keep some Seachem Stability on hand just in case your ammonia or nitrates go thru the roof.

 

[amirk48]

This has to be ask. Why do you have 3 valve on the drain line? True union ball to gate valve then another ball valve in the end.

the first ball valve is to cut the flow all together without messing up the fine tuning of the gate valve.
the last ball valve facing down is to be able to build up some pressure in order to push water out through the small ball valve (the small one with the blue top) for easy water changes

Ammonia is one of the indicators for when tank cycling is complete, when you add livestock to the tank there will be an ammonia spike that your bacteria colony will adjust to with time. Along with the ammonia spike from the fish, the increased feeding will also impact your parameters. The safe route is adding one fish at a time, keep an eye on the parameters and corals, if they start looking like there may be an issue be prepared to do a water change. In regards to carbon dosing you really don't need to this early, skimmers and other mechanical filtration will be able to help with those levels. If you can upgrade to the Hanna checker for phosphate I think it would be worth while, its a lot easier to use.

i stared everything dry so no live rocks. the tank was running for about 2 months fishless and lightless with bottle bacteria and ghost feeding. and the 4 fish i have as of now were introduced one every weekend.
ill get an ammonia test just in case anything goes wrong in the future


anyone have any idea about the skimmer?
how long does it usually takes for micro bubbles to disappear?

thanks

 

[ReQuackulous]

Is your protein skimmer in the first chamber?

 

[amirk48]

theres only one chamber for equipment
first small chamber with a filter sock, than equipment chamber, then a bubble trap to the return pump chamber

 

[amirk48]

small change of plans..
as much as i liked the rimless look, the light spill was just blinding. especially when the tank is right next to the TV and you'd look into the leds while sitting on the couch. that was pretty much a deal breaker with the wife.
so ive spend last weekend building the new tank canopy and heres what i came up with.

overall the tank looks good, I had a minor diatom outbreak that went away followed by a nasty green film algae outbreak that also seems to slowly disappear.
the sps frags i got a couple of weeks ago looks fine, i cant say i see any growth yet, and the purple stylo seems to be losing some color, but ill give it time. the zoas are multiplying so that's good.
theres some hair algae (i think) that came with the zoas frags but as of now its growing only on a couple of plugs.. ill get a CUC soon and hopefully they'll take care of it.
if anyone knows what will eat this kind of algae please let me know