40 Gallon (wide) pics and plans

[NickSmi]

Here is my 40 gallon wide, with about 60 pounds of live rock (gonna pick up probably another 20 as the tank still looks bare). Currently housing a single blue damsel. The tank is going to be a reef tank and is running 216 watts of T5 powa. Tank has been up for 3 weeks.

Here is what I have my eye on stocking wise right now. I'm going for a lot of movement and vibrant color.

Fish

Blue Damsel (already in)
Royal Gramma
Flame Hawkfish
Flame Angel
Magenta Dottyback (Purple Pseudochromis)
Blackcap Basslet
6 line wrasse, or was it 12 line, I don't remember.

Can I keep multiple basslets and dotty backs together? I read not to , but that site also says blue tangs are fine in 40 gallons...

Clean up crew, when I get there. So far no algae blooms and perfect water params.

Thats what I got so far, I might not get some, I might switch someout for others etc. I know I want something interesting thats yellow. Suggestions are VERY welcome.

Cost and Equipment so far:

Sand: Free
Tank: Free
Lights: Marineland T5's 216 Watts $150
Live Rock: $202

Total $352

I'm looking for a skimmer now and I will out in my order for powerheads this Monday. Two Maxi Jet 600's

On to the pic's.







http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8973/p1010002ui2.jpg

Full tank Shot

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/945/p1010001fl1.jpg

From the side.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7286/p1010004vm7.jpg

A shot of the large middle cave area.

[NickSmi]

ugh double post, delete please.

[NickSmi]

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5313/p1010006hg7.jpg

another FTS

[MinnFish]

What are your water parameters? What type of testing equipment? Using tap water or RO? Mechnical filteration? Overflow? Has the tank cycled? Are you using the damsel for cycled or a keeper? Lighting cycle? You might want to rethink your choice of livestock, do some research? Reconsider the powerhead also. Are you planning of keeping corals, if so, what kind? Can i make a suggestion? Don't stock your tank for another 3 weeks. Take this time to dial in your skimmer, powerheads, LR addition research and research and research. The additional LR alone will require an extra 3 to 4 wks. Remember bad things happen in this hobby super quick? Its like NASCAR, one moment your favorite driver is running up front. In the blink of an eye, he or she is sitting on the wall. Waiting for the wrecker. Just my take on things. Good luck and happy reefing.

[asm481]

A 40 gallon tank typically houses up to 8 inches of adult fish. Your wish list is a little long there. My 125 is just about where your wish list is! Use shrimp and such to add color is my suggestion.

[mg426]

Nice looking start. Once you get some coraline algae going it will be a whole differant tank.

[tanker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11108285#post11108285 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by asm481
A 40 gallon tank typically houses up to 8 inches of adult fish. Your wish list is a little long there. My 125 is just about where your wish list is!


And you want to add coral too?? This is almost the load I have in my 100gal. There will be too much nitrates for a reef. You are going to have to cut that list in half (or go FOWLR).
:(

[NickSmi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11107945#post11107945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MinnFish
What are your water parameters? What type of testing equipment? Using tap water or RO? Mechnical filteration? Overflow? Has the tank cycled? Are you using the damsel for cycled or a keeper? Lighting cycle? You might want to rethink your choice of livestock, do some research? Reconsider the powerhead also. Are you planning of keeping corals, if so, what kind? Can i make a suggestion? Don't stock your tank for another 3 weeks. Take this time to dial in your skimmer, powerheads, LR addition research and research and research. The additional LR alone will require an extra 3 to 4 wks. Remember bad things happen in this hobby super quick? Its like NASCAR, one moment your favorite driver is running up front. In the blink of an eye, he or she is sitting on the wall. Waiting for the wrecker. Just my take on things. Good luck and happy reefing.

Water Param's.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-10
PH 8.2
Temp 78

Tap water

There is currently a HOB filter so the water isn't stagnate until the powerhead's come in.

No over flow.

The tank cycled in a short two weeks as all of the live rock was cured upon purchase.

The lights are on for 8 hours, and a 20 watt light is on for about 2-3 hours in the morning and when the tank is about to go to sleep.

You are telling me to reconsider my livestock but are not making any suggestions :)

I have yet to decide what corals I want to keep, as I don't even have my skimmer yet, and I don't think I will be getting my first coral for a few months. Hopefully by then there will be a clearer picture as to what my tank is capable of supporting.

The live rock I buy is cured, so addition is no problem. It comes straight from my LFS's display tanks.



I see that you guys forsee a nitrate problem with my current stocking selection. Maybe I will have to go FOWLR. We will see though, once I reach what will be my full fish load, I will reassess whether my nitrates will be possible to keep at minimal levels.

Gotta go to work

:(

[NickSmi]

I thought about this at work, and I came to the conclusion that I simply don't think even the heavy stocking list I compiled will give me enough nitrates to really prevent me from successfully keeping corals, I base this on past experiences where I've kept two very large fish, length and width wise in this very same tank (Jack Dempsey, monster feather fin) without letting my nitrates rise over over 20ppm. With a responsible water change schedule I really think this is possible.
Now I'm not going to completely go agianst you're advice and your experiences, but rather I'm going to do a bit of an experiment. I am going to stock this tank with those fish I mentioned (for the most part) over the course of a few months, letting the bacteria colony size expand with the bio-load. I will in this time also pickup a skimmer. During all of this, I am going to meticulously test my nitrates and graph my results to figure out the true bio-load of this tank. If my results show that my tank is not able to cope with the load well enough to sustain corals, the load will be lessened or the tank will be converted into a FOWLR. Through my experience's and from what I've seen done I think my stocking list is attainable and realistic.

Anyway, I hope to be picking up my tanks second inhabitant Thursday. Right now it looks like its going to be a Magenta Psuedochromis or a Royal Gramma.

The tank looks good, seeing a little bit of brown diatom algae, but not a significant amount. Blue Damsel is really growing on me, very outgoing fish and his blue is very vibrant.

[uscharalph]

Cool. I like that wide config.

[tanker]

If you go FOWLR then your stocking level is OK (IMO still a little high). Coral is MUCH more SENSITIVE to nitrates.

IMHO--I would ditch the angel, and the blackcap (both just to lower the BIO load).

[zma21]

Uh..you're definitely going to need more water movement than two 600's.

I have three 1200's in my 40 cube and it's still not enough.

[meco65]

Go for it and let us know how it works. And you can keep the nitrates down with good water change habits, may have to change 20% weekly but it can be done. Good luck.

[NickSmi]

Skimmer is as good as purchased. Getting a good deal.

As for ditching the angel, that is a very big possibility as all the flame angel's I've seen in perosn aren't that appealing to me.

The two 600's are sort of temporary ;) pending on whether the mod works out.

I am very responsible with my water changes, and on a tank this size they are barely any hassle at all :)

[NickSmi]

Alright everyone, I need a CUC, I'm sick of algea and its only been in my tank a few days, skimmer is gonna be on tomorrow. What sort of clean up crew (size and variety) should I get for this sized tank?

[Vinnie71975]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11140176#post11140176 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NickSmi
Alright everyone, I need a CUC, I'm sick of algea and its only been in my tank a few days, skimmer is gonna be on tomorrow. What sort of clean up crew (size and variety) should I get for this sized tank? about 20 various Snails and About 5 to 10 hermit crabs should do it

[mg426]

Go slow, enjoy the hobby. Best of luck to you.

[NickSmi]

Alright, little update.

FINALLY have my powerhead's coming in. I got 2 penguin ones with 175 GPH.

The skimmer has been purchased and installed (coralife SS660)

Brown Diatoms have been fought off for the most part.

Recent pic (re-aquascaped 5 min's ago)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2462/p1010009xz8.jpg

Next, I have adjusted my stocking list plans.

Blue Damsel (already in)
Royal Gramma aqua cultured (ordering monday)
Orchid Dottyback aqua cultured (ordering monday)

Next addition's after tank/wallet adjusts
6 line wrasse
Fighting conch

Possible addition's include these fish. I'm not adding them all, but maybe one, or a few.

Lemonpeel angel
Flame hawkfish
so far

[spinninmidwater]

wow, your 40g looks much bigger than mine... haha. the brown algae is usually just a phase for new tank so don't get frustrated .... yet .... u'll have bigger problem ahead of u like cyano and hair algae. those are real suckers. in my 40g tank, i'm keeping a number of corals with 6 fishes, simillar to your stock list. i'd like to agree with those guys that the bioload is a bit on the heavy side and i've been fighting a bit of nitrate issue. then again, most of my corals are doing fine with sometimes no3 around 50. just not a tank for sps and other sensitive corals. JME

[jar05g]

I would be a little careful with the angels. You said you wanted to do a reef tank...angels have been known to nip at soft corals. It's usually hit or miss with the angels on if they bother your corals or not.

[PJsStuff]

IMO you should have no problem with those fish in there. I have 20 fish in my 75gal tank and who knows how many corals and inverts.
Got
1 yellow tang
2 goby's
5 clowns
6 damsles
2 fire fish
1 scooter blenny
3 others that im not sure on the names.

[HABS#1]

Nice job so far I am at the point where almost all the fish we want are in next we are going with some corals after x mas.

[Bmgrocks]

I wouldn't mix the Dottybacks with ur Royal Gramma, You'll end up with dead fish...

[jadeguppy]

Blue damsels can be aggressive and a 40g doesn't give them a lot of area to pick different territories. Keep and eye on them. I too love flame angels, but angels have a reputation for nipping corals. Depending on the corals, many reef keepers try to keep the nitrates at 0ppm. you may want to stay away from sps if you have high nitrates. I'm not sure if a conch is reef safe. At the least I would be concerned with it knocking over the corals. Zoanthids and leathers will probably be fine in there. SPS might be fine under the T5's (w/ individual parabolic reflectors preferred), but need pristine water to thrive. You many want to look into installing a refugium and sump under the tank. This will increase you water volume, help keep the water cleaner, provide for a constant water level in the tank, and give you a great place to do top offs and add other additives. As you add more corals you will need to keep the calcium and alk. levels up. They will deplete the limited supply in the water. Good Luck.

[Flybynight]

That is going to be a nice setup. Let me know how you like the long tank. How long and tall is it?

[jadeguppy]

40g longs are 48" long, 14.5" front to back and 16" top to bottom. I have the same size. :) The nice thing is that they have the same footprint as a 55g so upgrading isn't a problem.

[Flybynight]

Nice, Sounds like when/f you upgrade you will have a nice frag tank.

[NickSmi]

Thanks for the responses guys. Got some updates.

Bought some more live rock from a local reef keeper who frequents RC :cool: He also threw in 5 hermits for free. Really nice and cool dude. Screen name on this forum is Yamaha Dan.

Anyway, I got about 27 pounds of live rock from him, putting me to about 87 pounds :eek: along with like 6 pounds of base rock. I think im done with LR finally :D

Today I came home and tested the water to find perfect results. The rock was very well cured. I observed my reef and found some cool stuff. Among which was a hitchhiker. I need help identifying this (http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5365/p1010026vq4.jpg) little guy.

Is he good or bad?

Anyway, the tank is looking a lot better in my opinion with more live rock. Here is a full tank shot, sorry about the poor quality, im working with a 50 dollar 4 MP camera. (you have to admit, that worm pic was pretty impressive with he crud I'm using :D )

Full tank shot (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1079/p1010030hz2.jpg)

I'm really excited about this tank, I think I got just the right sized tank to learn on. I'm already craving a bigger tank, but I'm more than satisfied with this tank so far.

Power heads and more salt are finally arriving this week. Ordering the Orchid Dottyback and Royal Gramma tomorrow. I am not ignoring your warnings, if I see it isn't gonna work out (likely) my girl friend will just inherit the royal gramma. I am banking on the chance that introduced simultaneously the fish will end up tolerating each other, but if they don't, the royal gramma will just have to accept his new home in my girl friends 120 gallon reef.

It was pretty cool, my little brother and sister spent 45 minutes in front of my tank exploring the caves, and interesting "sea" bugs that reside in my tank. They were very interested about the nitrogen cycle and the advantages of Coraline algae, hermit crab molting and sea Anenomes among other things. I was very surprised about how much they already knew. My little brother could flawlessly name every one my damsels fins by its proper scientific name. My little sister, after my little Coraline lecture later interrupted me from my midterm study session to point out (correctly) that my hermit crabs shells had Coraline on them. She then asked if the hermit crabs could spread the Coraline around inadvertently like how bees pollinate flowers.......

Needless to say, I was very impressed and throughly encouraged by
intelligence and interest in the hobby by my 7 and 9 year old siblings!

Anyway, enough procrastinating. I got some last minute cramming to do if I want to get a good grade in this economics class :(

[amazd]

Ahh, the adventure of live rock hitchhiker spotting begins. It will become an obsession! Looks like some sort of bristleworm. Careful touching those guys, they hurt, so I'm told. Anyhow, nice tank setup. You chose well (low profile tank)!

[NickSmi]

Well just ordered my fish. I got the orchid dottyback, but the royal gramma was out of stock! So I guess my experiment is not going to happen after all. I also ordered a single scarlet hermit to get me over the total to qualify for free shipping :rolleyes:

I stopped by the LFS today also in between classes. They got in 5 very nice sixline wrasses. They are selling them for 18 a pop. So I am going to pick one up most likely this saturday.

MONEY PIT!!!

[NickSmi]

Orchid arrived wide awake and really feisty. I received 2 hermit crabs, when I ordered 1, one of them was out of his shell and dead though.