My 40B journey

[impur]

I am going thru a process of ridding my tank of hydroids, and the next step in that process will be putting up a temporary 40 breeder to house all my corals and livestock after it goes thru a dipping routine. So I figured I would start up a journal for this tank since its always fun to share.

We start out with a standard 40 breeder tank. A friend of mine built me a real basic stand, and I added the front and sides to it. Next up was working out the overflow, so i drilled 2 1" holes in the back and made my own glass-holes type overflow box

Lining it up

Template so the bit doesn't dance across the glass

Water to keep things coo

Not perfect but it will work

Leak test

 

[impur]

I ended up having to get larger gaskets for the bulkheads and siliconing one in place but oh well, just a temporary tank.

So I added 1 piece of LR from my biocube, which houses corals that have already been thru the dipping routine and are hydroid free. I also added about 30lbs of dry rock and a tupperware container full of sand for my wrasse. I am going to cycle this tank with Dr. Tim's One and Only in hopes of getting the cycle done quicker. On saturday I added ammonia to the tank, bringing up the concentration to 2ppm. Then I added the Dr. Tim's

Went to 6 different stores but finally found some pure ammonia at True Value hardware store

Then I went to work on the lights. I plan to light this tank with 2 Orphek PR-25s, and I hope it will be enough light. The par38 holders that clamp onto the tank are what i wanted, but they are $35 + shipping each and this is a temporary tank, so i made my own!

2 19" microphone goosenecks and clamps - $15 shipped

The threading is wrong and too large, so i just jammed a locknut into it and some epoxy to help hold it

I had to drill a hole for the wire to exit the clamp

And done

 

[impur]

So the clamps weren't strong enough, so I removed them and just screwed the base of the gooseneck to a piece of wood anchored to the stand

I even tried screwing the clamps straight to the holder

But this worked perfect in the end

 

[impur]

Sunday evening I tested ammonia and nitrite. Ammonia had come down to 1ppm in 24hrs and I had no detectable nitrites. I added 4.25ml of ammonia per the instructions from Dr. Tim's, which is half of what I originally dosed to get a concentration of 2ppm. Hopefully the cycle is done by the end of the week and I can start my dipping and transferring

I will get some more pics this week

 

[tcreeftank]

Great build! I always get nervous when drilling a tank but it looks like your went pretty smoothly.

 

[impur]

Thanks! Yah its really pretty easy, just gotta go slow. I've drilled about 10 holes total now and these came out the worst of all of them go figure :lol:

 

[revsgirl]

Lookin' good!

 

[DeclareYrWar]

Looking good so far, you're pretty much right at the point I am with my 40 breeder I just started. Keep us updated

 

[impur]

Thanks Do you have a thread going on yours?

Ammonia was down to 1ppm so i added another 4ml.
Nitrites were .5ppm

Dr. Tim's one and only was able to cut the ammonia down by half after just 2 days. I'd say this stuff works!

 

[LVE]

Lookin great so far!

 

[Mike171]

looks great so far! I as nervous when drilling my 120! but went smoothly. know have to drill a 10G to link my sump/fuge together. I'll be following along.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Looking good!!! I can't wait to see how the tank progresses!!!

 

[rajkovich207]

Upgrading from the BC already!?! Lol just kidding! Watch that Tupperware for cyano, I have a small on in my QT and the walls make flow weird and is causing a slight cyano outbreak in it. Good luck and will be following here as well! Also what size tank are you actually upgrading into?

 

[impur]

looks great so far! I as nervous when drilling my 120! but went smoothly. know have to drill a 10G to link my sump/fuge together. I'll be following along.

Yah its not bad once you just jump in and do it. 10gal is thin be careful!!

Looking good!!! I can't wait to see how the tank progresses!!!

Thanks!

Upgrading from the BC already!?! Lol just kidding! Watch that Tupperware for cyano, I have a small on in my QT and the walls make flow weird and is causing a slight cyano outbreak in it. Good luck and will be following here as well! Also what size tank are you actually upgrading into?

haha nah the BC is going to stay up. I am going to take down my 60gal cube, move everything into this 40B, then I will be putting up a 93gal cube. Thanks for the info on the tupperware, i'll keep an eye on it. Hopefully won't be a problem.

 

[impur]

Well I think my cycle is just about over. Any ammonia added is gone within 24hrs, nitrites are barely detectable and nitrates are .5ppm. So about 9-10 days using Dr. Tim's One and Only. I am going to give it until this weekend to be sure though, then I will be doing some dips and adding the first few corals. I have been thinking about adding a damsel or some sort of smaller hardy fish to help keep the ammonia up, or i guess i could just add small bits of food every few days too.

I need to get an ATO setup on this tank, I forgot how much of a pain in the rear topping off daily by hand is. So today I ordered a couple float switches and an aqualifter off amazon. I'll pickup a relay for it at Radio Shack and get that all setup this weekend as well. I had planned to buy a JBJ or Tunze, or maybe even one of the completed units from autotopoff.com, but dang the cheapest it would be is around $60. And I still would need to buy a pump. I can make my own that works just as well for about $40 for everything so thats the route I went.

2 float switches = $9.52 (I saw some for .55 cents, but I can imagine the quality on those ones)
aqualifter = $16
relay = $9
extension cord = $1
project box = $5

So this weekend the fun begins! I can't wait to see the corals under these Orpheks!

 

[Electrobes]

Looking forward to seeing more, fellow 40Br!

 

[coder35]

tagging along

 

[impur]

Well I started getting some nitrate readings so I guess I was a little ahead of myself on the cycle. Should finish up this week though and I can hopefully start adding corals this weekend

 

[impur]

Still have nitrates for some reason. I've done 2 WCs and added a CUC. Also added a small zoa frag since it came free with my CUC from reefs2go.com. I made a new top using the clear plastic netting material, added a temp controller, a filter sock, mounted the power strips better, and fired up my skimmer.

Not much to look at but here she is so far

 

[AsphaltPays]

Looking Good!