This post is actually coming a bit late. I set my tank up in the beginning of April, but I've been directing my time and energy towards setting it up. Apologies for the food blog length description of my tank. I've always wanted to do a build thread (and somewhat relatedly, wanted to start a food blog when I was younger), but I didn't know if anyone would engage with the content I'd create. When planning this tank, I really appreciated the build threads people have made here. There's also something cool about seeing build threads from others who have the same tank.
After a five-year hiatus, I decided to get back into the hobby. I have a lot of experience with freshwater and not as but with saltwater. I had a 10G tank for about 2 years, with a pair of clowns and softies, but it wasn't the right time in my life. After an ATO failure led to my corals dying, one of my clownfish terrorized the other to death, and I had to move a few times. So I left the hobby.
In March of this year, I decided to get back into the hobby and started to cycle a few pounds of dry rock in an old 5G I had laying around while I looked for something bigger. It was an old Fluval AIO peninsula style sitting in my parents basement, which I used briefly before getting the 10G. The pump and plumbing was lost to time. With a few pieces of rock (including a small one from my LFS' display tank), a water pump in the main display, and a few bags of filter media I was off to the races. While the 5G looked inhospitable, the plan was to cycle some rock and filter media, so that my new tank could have fish earlier. I was used to the 3-4 week cycles we used to do for freshwater back in my day and eager to cut that down as much as I could.
I was really torn between a 20G and a 40G. The 20G is just twice as long as the 10G I had before and I was close to getting the 20G. The plan was going to be that I was going to do mainly fish. I built a fish stocklist from watching youtube build videos for 20Gs and came up with the following: pair of clowns, yasha-shrimp pair, and a pink streaked wrasse. I also knew that I wanted a sixline wrasse. Setting aside potential aggression for moment, their colours and the way they swim gives a kind of energy that I like seeing in tanks. But a pink streaked wrasse could perhaps scratch that itch.
I was very close to getting the 20G. I even pre-ordered it (they just arrived in Canada in April). Anything bigger was intimidating and could consume whatever free left I have, or so I though. I even had a stock list I put together based on build videos from youtubers who had a 20G IM.
I want to just get into the build portion, so I won't get too much into why I decided to go with a 40 over a 20, but one of the main reasons was that I wouldn't be as restricted for both fish and coral options in a 40G as I would a 20G. Another reason is that I want to enjoy the process of creating. The 40 allows for much more creativity.
In the first week of April, I picked up my tank, added 40lbs of sand, arranged my few pounds of cycled rock, filled it with water, and dosed a small amount of ammonia I had left. The test kit showed just a bit of ammonia that night. When the water started to clear that evening, I dosed half a bottle of turbostart and ghost-fed. Within a couple days, the salifert test kit came back clear. The photo I've attached is from the first night. There is more rock in the filter chambers.
For corals, I want to do a LPS tank and softie tank with maybe some lower maintenance SPS.
Planned fish stock list:
(1 and 2) Clownfish pair
(3) Yasha-shrimp pair
(4) Longnose hawkfish
(5) Sand sifting fish or a blenny
(6) a wrasse, likely a sixline
This is my current equipment list:
- IM 40L and white APS stand
- One AI prime: I'm planning on adding a hydra 32 and potentially upgrading the prime
- 40lb fiji pink sand
- inTank media and IM media caddy , the latter came with the tank
- Mightyjet
- Aquael 150W
Planned upgrades:
- Flow improvement: I want to get a wavemaker or powerhead with an external cable. My only option might be the vortechs for the external cable
- inTank refugium and tunze chic light: mainly to help maintain my pod population
- Coral viewer lens for my phone. Ideally I could also attach this to my laptop. My tank is in my office and it would be nice to be able to attach the lens to my laptop camera, so I wouldnt have to play around with the light settings during the workday.
I've actually already added fish and some coral. I was planning on adding a rockscape before fish, but I watched some rock design videos and knew it would take a few weekends of work, so I've added some fish already. I'll update those shortly.
After a five-year hiatus, I decided to get back into the hobby. I have a lot of experience with freshwater and not as but with saltwater. I had a 10G tank for about 2 years, with a pair of clowns and softies, but it wasn't the right time in my life. After an ATO failure led to my corals dying, one of my clownfish terrorized the other to death, and I had to move a few times. So I left the hobby.
In March of this year, I decided to get back into the hobby and started to cycle a few pounds of dry rock in an old 5G I had laying around while I looked for something bigger. It was an old Fluval AIO peninsula style sitting in my parents basement, which I used briefly before getting the 10G. The pump and plumbing was lost to time. With a few pieces of rock (including a small one from my LFS' display tank), a water pump in the main display, and a few bags of filter media I was off to the races. While the 5G looked inhospitable, the plan was to cycle some rock and filter media, so that my new tank could have fish earlier. I was used to the 3-4 week cycles we used to do for freshwater back in my day and eager to cut that down as much as I could.
I was really torn between a 20G and a 40G. The 20G is just twice as long as the 10G I had before and I was close to getting the 20G. The plan was going to be that I was going to do mainly fish. I built a fish stocklist from watching youtube build videos for 20Gs and came up with the following: pair of clowns, yasha-shrimp pair, and a pink streaked wrasse. I also knew that I wanted a sixline wrasse. Setting aside potential aggression for moment, their colours and the way they swim gives a kind of energy that I like seeing in tanks. But a pink streaked wrasse could perhaps scratch that itch.
I was very close to getting the 20G. I even pre-ordered it (they just arrived in Canada in April). Anything bigger was intimidating and could consume whatever free left I have, or so I though. I even had a stock list I put together based on build videos from youtubers who had a 20G IM.
I want to just get into the build portion, so I won't get too much into why I decided to go with a 40 over a 20, but one of the main reasons was that I wouldn't be as restricted for both fish and coral options in a 40G as I would a 20G. Another reason is that I want to enjoy the process of creating. The 40 allows for much more creativity.
In the first week of April, I picked up my tank, added 40lbs of sand, arranged my few pounds of cycled rock, filled it with water, and dosed a small amount of ammonia I had left. The test kit showed just a bit of ammonia that night. When the water started to clear that evening, I dosed half a bottle of turbostart and ghost-fed. Within a couple days, the salifert test kit came back clear. The photo I've attached is from the first night. There is more rock in the filter chambers.
For corals, I want to do a LPS tank and softie tank with maybe some lower maintenance SPS.
Planned fish stock list:
(1 and 2) Clownfish pair
(3) Yasha-shrimp pair
(4) Longnose hawkfish
(5) Sand sifting fish or a blenny
(6) a wrasse, likely a sixline
This is my current equipment list:
- IM 40L and white APS stand
- One AI prime: I'm planning on adding a hydra 32 and potentially upgrading the prime
- 40lb fiji pink sand
- inTank media and IM media caddy , the latter came with the tank
- Mightyjet
- Aquael 150W
Planned upgrades:
- Flow improvement: I want to get a wavemaker or powerhead with an external cable. My only option might be the vortechs for the external cable
- inTank refugium and tunze chic light: mainly to help maintain my pod population
- Coral viewer lens for my phone. Ideally I could also attach this to my laptop. My tank is in my office and it would be nice to be able to attach the lens to my laptop camera, so I wouldnt have to play around with the light settings during the workday.
I've actually already added fish and some coral. I was planning on adding a rockscape before fish, but I watched some rock design videos and knew it would take a few weekends of work, so I've added some fish already. I'll update those shortly.
