aftershock's 40 gallon breeder

aftershock

Reefing newb
so picked the nicest day of the week to stay inside and set up my tank. using a 40 gallon breeder my pledgebro and fellow forum user PringlesLFE gifted to me and ordered all the equipment and ready to get it rolling. here's the equipment list:

36" fishneedit.com T5-HO fixture (4x39watts)
2x koralia evolution 750gph
rena smartheater 200 watt
aquaclear 110
bucket of instant ocean salt

i know the light fixture limits the corals i can keep, but due to my budget it was the best i felt i could afford. given the price, i probably can only buy zoas and mushrooms anyway so i dont tihnk it should matter much. either way, thats a ways down the road. this si goign to be a slow build. i plan to get all the required equipment, then add on piece by piece as paychecks come in, which for a grad student, isnt a lot.

two questions:

1) are the 2 koralias going to have too much flow? i was planning on 2 koralia 2's but when i shopped around and saw the evolution 750's for cheaper i picked them up instead. i was tihnking of keeping one and returning the other.

2) out of convenience i was planning to mix the water in the tank then pouring in the sand. i was wondering if that will result in a never settling dust cloud or if it will be fine.

i want to thank you guys ahead of time for any help you give and that i will definitely need and i cant wait to get started. now time to watch the world cup opener.
 
Hi Aftershock!

I have a 46 gallon with either the same or a similar light fixture (36" 4 - 39W t5's) and I've been able to keep any corals I've ever added to the tank (soft corals, polyps, lps, sps...it's all been fine), so don't give up hope! ;) I just would steer away from clams and the sorts that require A LOT of light.

I wouldn't return the Koralia until you have the tank set-up. Once the tank is set-up, add 1 Koralia and see if you think it's enough flow - if it's not, add the other Koralia - if it is enough flow, return the Koralia. Just to give you an idea, I have 3 Koralia's in my 46 gallon. My 2 main Koralia's are about equivalent in gph to the Evolution 750, and I have them on opposite sides of the tank pointing at each other. The third Koralia is just a Korlia 1 to help give some flow to a dead spot in the back of my tank. Flow is GOOD!

I don't see a problem with mixing the water and then adding the sand. IMO, your going to have a dust cloud either way, so do what you want.

Good luck! :mrgreen:
 
Welcome Aftershock

To start with, that lighting is providing you with 3.9 watts per gallon, so technically you can have whatever you want in your tank :) So I wouldnt worry. Clams should be fine as well, but that is the borderline for them.

I'd say take 2 Koralia 2's and that is a good amount of flow. As yote says, as long as the sand isnt suspended, it isnt too much flow.

You can put the sand in after and it will eventually settle. So put them in in whatever order you want. Its not a problem.
 
thanks you guys. so i bought 20lbs of sand that gave me a little less than 1" which is what i was aiming for. filled the tank 3/4 of the way up and now its time for live rock. my plan was to find some on craigslist from guys taking down their tanks that i see every now and then, but craigslist has failed me. tomorrow i'm going to head out to a lfs to chhhck teir quality of live rock, if it isnt bad, i might buy half of it now because i'm anxious to get the cycling started. hopefully a cheaper supply will show up for the other half. do you think i should throw in some fish food just to start the cycle while i find quality (and affordable) live rock?

to make you guys happy, here are some pics:

fts still cloudy from sand
p1010323.jpg


top view showing powerheads and filter
p1010324.jpg


picture of my dad's ~120 gallon gold fish tank
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my dad got that tank when i was roughly 8 years old and it has been a arowana/aggressive freshwater tank, a freshwater tropical community tank, a saltwater FO, turtle terrarium, then now a goldfish tank as my dad wants a low maintenance tank.
 
here they are again


fts still cloudy from sand
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top view showing powerheads and filter
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picture of my dad's ~120 gallon gold fish tank
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concerning liverock, i was deciding between waiting for an affordable supply to buy my live rock, or buy them little by little as to not break the bank. in the mean time, to start the cycle, would it be smart to add fish food?
 
got 2 pieces of live rock in totaling 12 pounds. here's a pick.

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got some hitchhikers on the rock too. been spending most of my time at home sitting in front of the tank staring at rock, hoping something crawls out. have seen probably a dozen tiny brittle stars crawl around the rock. they are about a half an inch at most in diameter with legs stretched and brown with darker brown bars on their arms. too small to get a nice pic.

found some 2 zoas on one rock. here's the bigger of the two.
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on the other rock is a piece of kenya tree. after bringing home the rock, it has shriveled to a fraction of its size. i hope it opens back up but here it is now.
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checked the water parameters as well.
pH= 8.3-8.4
ammonia= 0.25ppm
nitrite= 0ppm
nitrate= 0ppm

nitrate are at 0! guess i'm ready to start adding fish. i'm joking. guessing this means the tank hasn't started cycling yet? got the rock yesterday.
 
Haha! Yup your right cycle is just beginning. You might want to check around to see if there is a local reef club in your area. In know here in Houston there is one with a dedicated website and I see people that are braking down tanks and selling live rock for about $2 lb all the time. IMO if you are planning to buy all live rock you don't have to worry about adding anything else to start the cycle. But if you are going to be adding quite a bit of base rock it would probably speed things a bit by adding a little fish food.
 
yeah, i just read that about the kenya tree last night after posting. if i do decide to kill it, what would be the best method? go right in with a razor and slice? will it be much harder later?
 
Pull the rock out, get a blow torch..just kidding..

Pull the rock out, and scrub the Kenya off real good.
 
the light from fishneedit.com came in. as i have never owned a top quality light fixture, only standard freshwater fluorescent fixtures, i cant comment too much on the quality, but it works. the case if a light aluminum, but the fixture seems solid. the "glass" covering the lights is plastic though, as are the legs holding the fixture up. in terms of the company. they shipped the day after i ordered and it arrived right on schedule. they include 4 free bulbs and allow a choice. I ordered it with two actinics and two bulbs at 10000K. unfortunately, the 2 daylight bulbs i received are 14000K. i'm not sure how i like how blue the tank is..

here are some pics of the fixture.

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everything seemed to come alive on the rock with the addition of the light. here are some really nice green zoas.

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not sure what this is now since its under light. could it be a small brown zoa?
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finally, i tihnk one of my rocks is still covered with apaistia.

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