# My 40breeder



## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

i'm just starting to setup my first sw tank. its a 20 long. i went with the 20 l becuase of the shallow depth, i thought the lights would be cheaper. I have to AC 20 power heads. An AC 70(300) that I'm making into a refuge. i'm going to have the coralife mini light over that 18 watts: 10,000K bulb and 03 actinic bulb. 26lbs of live sand, and 23lbs. of live rock. for lighting i think i'm going to go with T-5s. coralife aqualights, my lfs sells them for $40 so i'm think three or four of those at 28 watts a piece would be a good start. 3 would give me 84 watts and 4 would give 112 watts. and i would put two of the actinic bulbs in one fixture and two of the 10,000K bulbs in the other, so i could have the actinics turn on about an hour before the 10,000K. I also have the cpr bakpak with maxi jet 1200. how does this all sound to you salt water experts?

i'll try to get some pics of the tank tonight.


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## fredweezy (May 27, 2004)

so i am guessing this is gunna be a fowlr, what do you plan on stocking with?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

stocking is a long way down the road. i just added some of that live rock today. so its gonna be a while before fish come into play. i think i want to try some corals. i thought with the 112 watts i could do some low to med light ones. am i wrong about that? i am taking this all really really slow. first setup don't want it to crash. saltwater is a scarey thing. i forgot to mention i have this tap water filter


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Sounds like you have done your homework.

Very nice setup.

I would say that a sump would be helpful, though. A 20g is quite small. Although, many people do start out with nano's.

What have you got planned for fish?


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## joefish219 (Feb 8, 2005)

give us a pic yo.

going to sw can be scary and very very very fustrating. good luck with advenmture


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

View attachment 100488

View attachment 100486

well here are two pics, the water is still a little cloudy from messing with the LR. pictures suck but give some idea. i'll get better ones tomorrow when the water is all cleared up.


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## eL ChiNo LoCo (Apr 16, 2004)

What do you use to circulate the water? Would one of those Penguin Powerheads work?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

i have an AC 20 power head on each side, which i'm going to get some type of timer so they go back forth creating surges across the tank, my cpr bakpak moves some water, and my diy AC 70 refuge moves water to


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

looks like it's coming along. keep us posted


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2006)

welsher7 said:


> i have an AC 20 power head on each side, which i'm going to get some type of timer so they go back forth creating surges across the tank, my cpr bakpak moves some water, and my diy AC 70 refuge moves water to


Get a Tunze wave maker


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

should my skimmer be collecting anything now? its been running about a week and i have had nothing in the collection cup.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

welsher7 said:


> should my skimmer be collecting anything now? its been running about a week and i have had nothing in the collection cup.


sometimes it takes a couple weeks. you should also try fiddling with the settings if you aren't getting any sort of skimmate. what sort of skimmer are you running?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

its the cpr bakpak with a maxi jet 1200, i lowered the cup as low is it will go, and i couldn't find anything on the maxi jet to adjust the intake volume,and i have the valve for air intake opened all the way too. with no luck.

well it looks like i might be getting some MH lighting 175w will that be to strong???. it will be a coralife pendant


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

um.... the light would be okay if you had a 14k or 20k. just hang it a little high.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

welsher7 said:


> its the cpr bakpak with a maxi jet 1200, i lowered the cup as low is it will go, and i couldn't find anything on the maxi jet to adjust the intake volume,and i have the valve for air intake opened all the way too. with no luck.
> 
> well it looks like i might be getting some MH lighting 175w will that be to strong???. it will be a coralife pendant


sometimes too much air won't produce good skimmate. give it another week, if you still aren't getting anything then try the air valve at different settings. if you're at least getting some sort of bubbles foaming then it's headed in the right direction. the lights will be okay. like genin said, you can hang it a little high if you're worried about over heating or something.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

cool, thanks for the advice. i'll keep you guys posted on my progress. i'm probably going to get a couple more lbs. of LR tomorrow and put my diy fuge on tomorrow. so i'll post some pics of the fuge and last bit of LR i buy.


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

hey, you need to trun down the air intake on your mj. just an open line will feed to much air and cause the pump to cavitate. This will reduce the flow, and belive it or not the amount of air you are pulling in with the water, due to the lower flow.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

hey thanx rbp 4 135, you were right on the dot with that one. once i adjusted the intake valve i started to get some good bubbles and foam goin. i just figured more air means more bubbles. i still have a lot to learn. 
Thanks, 
Dan


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

bought the last pieces of LR today up to about 38lbs. now and finished the aquascaping with the rocks, also put the diy fuge on today and filled it with some LR rubble. here are some pics., tell me what you guys think so far.
View attachment 100783

View attachment 100784

i also picked up a aqaurium systems natural wave maker and hooked 3 power heads to that to get some good movement. now i just wait for the cycle and then start with some crabs and snails. right??


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Yep sounds good. Dont add any fish. Just some snails. Try some nass snails, and some tiger trocha snails maybe 2 of each to start with and maybe a couple more in a couple weeks.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Very nice so far!


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

nice rock formation. show a pic of the fuge. i also recommend some snails. i like turbo and nassarius snails. the turbo handle the rocks and glass well and those nassarius really get into your sand bed for you.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

Here is an update on my setup. It is now a 40 breeder, with:
- about 90lbs. LR
- a thin layer of LS
- 150w mh hqi (14000K), 28w t-5 actinics 
- CPR bac pak skimmer w/rio 1200
- 4 powerheads, 3 hooked up to aquarium systems natural wave maker
- 15 gallon w/ a dsb
Live stock:
- about 40-45 snails and crabs mixed
- 2 perculas
- hammer coral
- mushrooms
here are some pics
without flash
View attachment 107046

with flash
View attachment 107048

with actinics only
View attachment 107049

hammer coral
View attachment 107050

mushrooms
View attachment 107051

bad and blurry pics of the percs
View attachment 107052


So what do you guys think?


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

jesus, quite an update!!! good job. i like the rock work in the tank. post some pics of the hammer when it really decides to come on out and play.


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Very nice!! Looks like the making of a cool reef!


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

The hammer was just bought and put in yesterday. Should it be open more? I googled hammer corals and all the branched ones I saw were opened like mine. But it was just bought yesterday so I'll give it time to completely adjust. I'll buy some zoas this week. I saw some galaxia and xenia that looked cool too. I'll post more pics later in the week when I have made more progress. Thanks compliments. Its good show my tank to people and have them know the time and effort that goes in to it. 
Thanks, 
Dan


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

nice startup. just give your hammer time and it will fill out. maybe try feeding brine to it.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

moved the rock around agian. this is the last time i swear. i have added some zoas, a bta, and a couple hairy mushrooms. 
here is the front pic.
View attachment 109139

i have lost one clown. the current fish list is one perc, one royal gramma basslet, and one barred goby


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

the rock work looks great! it looks pretty wild, like it wasn't planned, i like that!


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## ICEMAN330824 (May 30, 2006)

welsher7 said:


> View attachment 100488
> 
> View attachment 100486
> 
> well here are two pics, the water is still a little cloudy from messing with the LR. pictures suck but give some idea. i'll get better ones tomorrow when the water is all cleared up.


SIMPLE BUT COOL AND CLEAN LOOKING! NICE!









ICEMAN!


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

an update for july. still waiting to get my sixline and i will be done with the fish. i might pickup some green star polyps this week that my lfs has.

full tank shot 








left side








center








right side








anemone








a decent picture of one of the clowns








pulsing xenia









what do you guys think?


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

wonderful update. that bta really got large. do those hammers expand at all or are they staying contracted all the time? i too am waiting for a sixline wrasse, and then i'll be done with my fish stocking.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

yea the bta is huge now, but the clowns haven't hosted it yet. its driving me crazy. the hammer hasn't come out anymore then what you see. any suggestions on how to get to it open? and thanks for the compliment.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

remember how i had that lta in my tank, they never hosted that. i think that sometimes it just takes them a really long time to host, but don't give up hope, lol.

as for the hammer coral, is it in a spot of very high current? IME, high current makes them contract and when their is a moderate to easy current on them they will expand greatly. See if that helps a little.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

i will try moving it today. i wanted to leave it in one spot and not fiddle with it so it could adjust. i'll will move it and see what happens. thanks for the info.
thanks,
Dan


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

Great looking tank


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

no prob Dan. post when you move it and let us know if that helped at all.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

nice sw tank...really makes me think that i should attempt a reef tank







...







BTW


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## Cichlid_Keeper (Mar 30, 2006)

it came out looking really nice. keep up the good work

CK


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