40G FOWLR - My first saltwater aquarium

[mpatterson42]

I am in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium (I have a 10G freshwater with a betta).

Why I got into this hobby The boring bit, feel free to skip this paragraph! Last August on a Saturday I got stuck on an "all hands" work emergency outage call for 12 hours. There was very little I could do but I needed to be available just in case. I decided to browse YouTube and came across some random aquarium videos. Since I was a kid I wanted to own lionfish, this is mostly because of them appearing in The Naked Gun (and maybe a little bit with Deuce Bigelow). I had looked into it before, usually after I watched an episode of Tanked, but it just seemed like a lot of work. This time was different and it really got stuck into my head. After looking into it further I realized that while I wanted a lionfish it should not be the first kind of fish that I get. Also, after watching A LOT of videos, I still have never had much interest in corals. About the only ones that appeal to me are torches but the prices of those (along with all the extra equipment) kept me from seriously looking into it. Maybe in the future! For now, I've concentrated my efforts on setting up a FOWLR tank. I mentioned getting interested in this hobby in August, but I knew I had a week long trip planned for October and another for early December, and I didn't think it was a good idea to set up my first aquarium when I couldn't be around for long periods of time. So I decided to hold off on any major purchases until I was back from my December trip (and Black Friday seemed like a good day to make some purchases).

Good deals Because I had several months before I wanted to start up the tank I was able to check Offer Up / Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist daily for good deals. It was hard to resist getting some of the large complete setups but I knew I wasn't ready for that (I saw an amazing 200G complete FOWLR system with lionfish and other predators for $1500!), but I did score some really good deals. I got a 40G breeder tank, drilled with an ESHOPPS overflow box and return line, plumbing that included 3 gate valves, a 20 gallon sump, a stand, and a sicce pump for $125. I ended up replacing the sicce pump with a Jebao because of the humming noise coming from the pump (I tried cleaning it and putting it on a rubber mat but there was still a very audible hum). I also got an Aqua Vitro skimmer for $125 and a Kessil H80 with mount for $80. Most of the rest of the system I bought new.

Equipment
- Tank: 40G 36x18x17
- Overflow: Eshopps Eclipse S
- Stand: Imagitarium Brooklyn Metal Tank Stand, side panels added to hide the sump
- Lights: NICREW SkyLED, it's a FOWLR tank so I went cheap
- Wavemaker: Hygger gyre cross flow pump (HG070-18W)
- Sump: 20G 30x13x13, Fiji Cube
- Rock: Mix of Caribsea Life Rock, coral skeleton, and MarcoRocks in the sump
- Sand: CaribSea Special Grade
- Skimmer: Aquavitro Division 125 Protein Skimmer Simplicity 120DC Protein Skimmer
- Heater: Fluval M200. BRS Titanium Heater 200W. Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 temp controller.
- Refugium Light: Kessil H80
- Return Pump: Jebao DCP Sine Wave DCP-3500
- Auto Top Off: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Stocking Plan
- Ocellaris Clownfish Pair (haven't decided on specific type yet)
- Purple Firefish
- Royal Gramma Basslet
- Diamond Watchmen Goby
- Blue Spotted Puffer
- Mandarin Dragonet (probably captive bred because while I plan to add cocoapods and a refugium I worry there won't be enough)
- Coral Beauty

11/6/2024
Aquarium with stand and sump acquired, I set it up outside to do a leak test and clean it up.

11/16/2024
After making sure the tank did not leak and cleaning it up I moved it inside. My wife didn't want all the sump equipment showing (a reasonable request) so I cut some plywood, painted it black, then used magnets to attach it to the sides, it makes it really easy to take off when I need to get into there.

11/24/2024
Trying to be organized with my power. I got a GFCI adapter and plugged in two surge protectors (one is a Kasa Smart Surge protector so I can control things from my phone) as well as a grounding probe that will trip the GFCI in case electricity starts leaking into the aquarium. There's also a power outage alarm that will alert me if the power goes out.

12/5/2024
OK I was at a swap meet and I found this and I could resist. Maybe this will keep the fish in line, if they misbehave they might end up like this!

12/6/2024
I also found this coral skeleton at my LFS in the "discount" bucket. After bleach curing it for a few days I decided it would be a nice addition to the aquascape

12/8/2024
Aquascape and sand added

Water added in.

Sump ready to go (please excuse the mess of cables)

I'm planning to start the cycle tomorrow (waiting for the water to clear and warm up), I have Fritz TurboStart and Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride. Before adding any fish I'd like to get chaeto and copepods in the refugium as I do plan on adding a Mandarin Dragonet at some point.

It's really exciting to see everything coming together!

 

[Peace River]

It looks like you are off to a good start! Congratulations on the new adventure!!!

 

[ElVeeShreck]

I am in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium (I have a 10G freshwater with a betta).

Why I got into this hobby The boring bit, feel free to skip this paragraph! Last August on a Saturday I got stuck on an "all hands" work emergency outage call for 12 hours. There was very little I could do but I needed to be available just in case. I decided to browse YouTube and came across some random aquarium videos. Since I was a kid I wanted to own lionfish, this is mostly because of them appearing in The Naked Gun (and maybe a little bit with Deuce Bigelow). I had looked into it before, usually after I watched an episode of Tanked, but it just seemed like a lot of work. This time was different and it really got stuck into my head. After looking into it further I realized that while I wanted a lionfish it should not be the first kind of fish that I get. Also, after watching A LOT of videos, I still have never had much interest in corals. About the only ones that appeal to me are torches but the prices of those (along with all the extra equipment) kept me from seriously looking into it. Maybe in the future! For now, I've concentrated my efforts on setting up a FOWLR tank. I mentioned getting interested in this hobby in August, but I knew I had a week long trip planned for October and another for early December, and I didn't think it was a good idea to set up my first aquarium when I couldn't be around for long periods of time. So I decided to hold off on any major purchases until I was back from my December trip (and Black Friday seemed like a good day to make some purchases).

Good deals Because I had several months before I wanted to start up the tank I was able to check Offer Up / Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist daily for good deals. It was hard to resist getting some of the large complete setups but I knew I wasn't ready for that (I saw an amazing 200G complete FOWLR system with lionfish and other predators for $1500!), but I did score some really good deals. I got a 40G breeder tank, drilled with an ESHOPPS overflow box and return line, plumbing that included 3 gate valves, a 20 gallon sump, a stand, and a sicce pump for $125. I ended up replacing the sicce pump with a Jebao because of the humming noise coming from the pump (I tried cleaning it and putting it on a rubber mat but there was still a very audible hum). I also got an Aqua Vitro skimmer for $125 and a Kessil H80 with mount for $80. Most of the rest of the system I bought new.

Equipment
- Tank: 40G 36x18x17
- Overflow: Eshopps Eclipse S
- Stand: Imagitarium Brooklyn Metal Tank Stand, side panels added to hide the sump
- Lights: NICREW SkyLED, it's a FOWLR tank so I went cheap
- Wavemaker: Hygger gyre cross flow pump (HG070-18W)
- Sump: 20G 30x13x13, Fiji Cube
- Rock: Mix of Caribsea Life Rock, coral skeleton, and MarcoRocks in the sump
- Sand: CaribSea Special Grade
- Skimmer: Aquavitro Division 125 Protein Skimmer
- Heater: Fluval M200. Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 temp controller.
- Refugium Light: Kessil H80
- Return Pump: Jebao DCP Sine Wave DCP-3500
- Auto Top Off: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Stocking Plan
- Ocellaris Clownfish Pair (haven't decided on specific type yet)
- Purple Firefish
- Royal Gramma Basslet
- Diamond Watchmen Goby
- Blue Spotted Puffer
- Mandarin Dragonet (probably captive bred because while I plan to add cocoapods and a refugium I worry there won't be enough)
- Coral Beauty

11/6/2024
Aquarium with stand and sump acquired, I set it up outside to do a leak test and clean it up.

11/16/2024
After making sure the tank did not leak and cleaning it up I moved it inside. My wife didn't want all the sump equipment showing (a reasonable request) so I cut some plywood, painted it black, then used magnets to attach it to the sides, it makes it really easy to take off when I need to get into there.

11/24/2024
Trying to be organized with my power. I got a GFCI adapter and plugged in two surge protectors (one is a Kasa Smart Surge protector so I can control things from my phone) as well as a grounding probe that will trip the GFCI in case electricity starts leaking into the aquarium. There's also a power outage alarm that will alert me if the power goes out.

12/5/2024
OK I was at a swap meet and I found this and I could resist. Maybe this will keep the fish in line, if they misbehave they might end up like this!

12/6/2024
I also found this coral skeleton at my LFS in the "discount" bucket. After bleach curing it for a few days I decided it would be a nice addition to the aquascape

12/8/2024
Aquascape and sand added

Water added in.

Sump ready to go (please excuse the mess of cables)

I'm planning to start the cycle tomorrow (waiting for the water to clear and warm up), I have Fritz TurboStart and Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride. Before adding any fish I'd like to get chaeto and copepods in the refugium as I do plan on adding a Mandarin Dragonet at some point.

It's really exciting to see everything coming together!

I’m new at this hobby also. Your Tank and aquascaping look great! Best of luck.

 

[mpatterson42]

I've had a 3D printer for about 8 years now, I'm always excited to print things out that have a purpose rather than something cool looking that sits on a shelf. So far I've done a few things. Everything is printed in PETG.

ATO Lid
My ATO reservoir is a 5 gallon aquarium, I wanted to prevent evaporation and also keep as much dust out as I could so I printed a lid with just a small cut out for the power and tubing. The whole aquarium gets covered by a cube shaped piece of furniture so it's not visible.

Kessil Shade
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5910873
I want to try and prevent the refugium light from shining in the skimmer or return chambers, the baffles of the refugium are blacked out but the light shines above and still leaks into the other chambers so I added this shade. It helps a bit, but I might print another one that's taller because there's still some light leakage.

Copepod Suites
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4808298
I'm hoping my copepods will take up residence here, I'll try and shake them out into the display tank every week or so.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I am in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium (I have a 10G freshwater with a betta).

Why I got into this hobby The boring bit, feel free to skip this paragraph! Last August on a Saturday I got stuck on an "all hands" work emergency outage call for 12 hours. There was very little I could do but I needed to be available just in case. I decided to browse YouTube and came across some random aquarium videos. Since I was a kid I wanted to own lionfish, this is mostly because of them appearing in The Naked Gun (and maybe a little bit with Deuce Bigelow). I had looked into it before, usually after I watched an episode of Tanked, but it just seemed like a lot of work. This time was different and it really got stuck into my head. After looking into it further I realized that while I wanted a lionfish it should not be the first kind of fish that I get. Also, after watching A LOT of videos, I still have never had much interest in corals. About the only ones that appeal to me are torches but the prices of those (along with all the extra equipment) kept me from seriously looking into it. Maybe in the future! For now, I've concentrated my efforts on setting up a FOWLR tank. I mentioned getting interested in this hobby in August, but I knew I had a week long trip planned for October and another for early December, and I didn't think it was a good idea to set up my first aquarium when I couldn't be around for long periods of time. So I decided to hold off on any major purchases until I was back from my December trip (and Black Friday seemed like a good day to make some purchases).

Good deals Because I had several months before I wanted to start up the tank I was able to check Offer Up / Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist daily for good deals. It was hard to resist getting some of the large complete setups but I knew I wasn't ready for that (I saw an amazing 200G complete FOWLR system with lionfish and other predators for $1500!), but I did score some really good deals. I got a 40G breeder tank, drilled with an ESHOPPS overflow box and return line, plumbing that included 3 gate valves, a 20 gallon sump, a stand, and a sicce pump for $125. I ended up replacing the sicce pump with a Jebao because of the humming noise coming from the pump (I tried cleaning it and putting it on a rubber mat but there was still a very audible hum). I also got an Aqua Vitro skimmer for $125 and a Kessil H80 with mount for $80. Most of the rest of the system I bought new.

Equipment
- Tank: 40G 36x18x17
- Overflow: Eshopps Eclipse S
- Stand: Imagitarium Brooklyn Metal Tank Stand, side panels added to hide the sump
- Lights: NICREW SkyLED, it's a FOWLR tank so I went cheap
- Wavemaker: Hygger gyre cross flow pump (HG070-18W)
- Sump: 20G 30x13x13, Fiji Cube
- Rock: Mix of Caribsea Life Rock, coral skeleton, and MarcoRocks in the sump
- Sand: CaribSea Special Grade
- Skimmer: Aquavitro Division 125 Protein Skimmer
- Heater: Fluval M200. Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 temp controller.
- Refugium Light: Kessil H80
- Return Pump: Jebao DCP Sine Wave DCP-3500
- Auto Top Off: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Stocking Plan
- Ocellaris Clownfish Pair (haven't decided on specific type yet)
- Purple Firefish
- Royal Gramma Basslet
- Diamond Watchmen Goby
- Blue Spotted Puffer
- Mandarin Dragonet (probably captive bred because while I plan to add cocoapods and a refugium I worry there won't be enough)
- Coral Beauty

11/6/2024
Aquarium with stand and sump acquired, I set it up outside to do a leak test and clean it up.

11/16/2024
After making sure the tank did not leak and cleaning it up I moved it inside. My wife didn't want all the sump equipment showing (a reasonable request) so I cut some plywood, painted it black, then used magnets to attach it to the sides, it makes it really easy to take off when I need to get into there.

11/24/2024
Trying to be organized with my power. I got a GFCI adapter and plugged in two surge protectors (one is a Kasa Smart Surge protector so I can control things from my phone) as well as a grounding probe that will trip the GFCI in case electricity starts leaking into the aquarium. There's also a power outage alarm that will alert me if the power goes out.

12/5/2024
OK I was at a swap meet and I found this and I could resist. Maybe this will keep the fish in line, if they misbehave they might end up like this!

12/6/2024
I also found this coral skeleton at my LFS in the "discount" bucket. After bleach curing it for a few days I decided it would be a nice addition to the aquascape

12/8/2024
Aquascape and sand added

Water added in.

Sump ready to go (please excuse the mess of cables)

I'm planning to start the cycle tomorrow (waiting for the water to clear and warm up), I have Fritz TurboStart and Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride. Before adding any fish I'd like to get chaeto and copepods in the refugium as I do plan on adding a Mandarin Dragonet at some point.

It's really exciting to see everything coming together!

Following along! Your tank looks great!

 

[mpatterson42]

I started cycling on 12/9. I added 2oz Fritz TurboStart and 10ml of Dr. Tim's Ammonia Chloride, which should've brought my ammonia up to 2ppm. Testing a few hours later my Salifert kit still showed essentially 0ppm ammonia. I made a thread on it and in the end decided to not trust Salifert and just stick with a basic API test for ammonia. Since then my ammonia has gone down to almost 0, although my nitrites are reading at over 4ppm.

The system is probably OK to put fish in, but I want to let it cycle for longer to hopefully bring the nitrite numbers down.

Water parameters:

In the meantime, I've placed an order of chaeto, galaxy pods, and phytoplankton from Algae Barn, so that should be here in a few days. I'd like to give that a day or so to settle but I'm hoping to buy some clownfish soon!

 

[mpatterson42]

Copepod and chaeto delivery from @AlgaeBarn

I printed a new shade for the Kessil refugium light to cut down on the light spilling over to the skimmer and return chambers.

Nitrites are dropping as well, between 0.5 and 1ppm. I noticed a pretty big drop in nitrates too but I think that's because the presence of nitrites were messing up my nitrate tests. Ammonia is at 0 now. I'm hoping to do a water change tomorrow and then pick up a couple clownfish on Saturday.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Copepod and chaeto delivery from @AlgaeBarn

I printed a new shade for the Kessil refugium light to cut down on the light spilling over to the skimmer and return chambers.

Nitrites are dropping as well, between 0.5 and 1ppm. I noticed a pretty big drop in nitrates too but I think that's because the presence of nitrites were messing up my nitrate tests. Ammonia is at 0 now. I'm hoping to do a water change tomorrow and then pick up a couple clownfish on Saturday.

That shade for your Kessil looks great!

 

[mpatterson42]

That shade for your Kessil looks great!

Thanks! It looked a little silly when I first put it on (I kept thinking of Abe Lincoln with a 6 foot tall top hat) but it does a good job of keeping the light in the refugium.

I did a 50% water change yesterday and tested the water today, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 1.3 nitrate, .17 phosphate.

I went to my LFS and picked up two clownfish, a percula and a Darwin, meet Cheeto and Pepper.

 

[mpatterson42]

I added in a purple firefish yesterday, he immediately went and hid in the rocks.

Little does he realize his butt is hanging out the back side.

 

[mpatterson42]

Now that the firefish has been in there for a while he's much more active and less likely to suddenly swim into his cave so that's exciting!

I've had a bit of algae and what I think are diatoms on the sand bed so I decided it was time to add some clean up crew. I have to be careful because I'm planning on getting a blue spotted puffer in the future, and most shrimps and crabs will be a quick meal. I decided on an urchin, conch, and two turbo snails. They may still end up being puffer food but for the moment they're doing a great job of keeping everything clean!

A few days later I also got a royal gramma. Still pretty shy but I've been able to nab a few pictures!

Also, the conch would like to know why everyone keeps getting on top of him.

 

[mpatterson42]

This is Chuck! He's a diamond goby and he enjoys munching on the sand (as long as people aren't around anyway!).

I had a round coral skeleton on my sand bed, he ended up covering it in sand and digging under it to make a burrow.

Things have been going pretty well other than an outbreak of aiptasia that I'm dealing with. So far removing all of the rubble rock from the sump (I just replaced it with other rubble rock I had) seems to have done it but I'm fully expecting it to come back.


I do think it's important to acknowledge failure as well as success so I'm going to tell a story.

Unfortunately Chuck was not the first diamond goby I added to my tank. Several weeks prior I was at the LFS and I purchased a diamond goby. He was very jumpy and difficult to catch. I know gobies can jump, but I wasn't too worried because I have a glass lid covering 90% of my tank and the other 10% is egg crate and just assumed most fish wouldn't be able to get through that. I took him home and started acclimating him. He continued to be very jumpy, especially when I got close with a cup to remove some of the water from the acclimation bucket. He jumped so high he got out of the bucket and ended up landing in my sump area, between the sump and the side of the stand. It took a good 30 seconds to get him out, I made the decision to immediately put him into the aquarium as he was clearly stressed by this whole process. I saw him go to the very bottom of the tank, take some very big breaths, and then swim into the rock work.

I immediately turned off the aquarium light and the lights in the room its in to give him time to acclimate. The next day I looked around for him but didn't see him. The sand bed didn't look disturbed at all, so I figured he was still freaked and hiding. A few more days go by and I still don't see any sign of him. I started testing for ammonia thinking he might have died but I don't detect any, I also looked all around the aquarium stand but can't find a body. My CUC is also not congregating in a single area either. After a week of no sign of him I used an acrylic rod to poke around the sand bed and find nothing. I'm pretty convinced by now that he's gone.

My best theory is that he was able to jump out, either through the egg crate opening or he jumped hard enough the egg crate just lifted up. I think my cat might've eaten the body as well. He started throwing up hairballs around this time. It's not uncommon for him to do this, but it was like a hairball every day for a week.

I was very sad, this is the first fish I've had that died. I decided to give it one more try and if the same thing happened I would just give up on gobies, so I went to the LFS and got Chuck. Fortunately while he is very shy I didn't have nearly the amount of trouble of getting him acclimated as I did the previous diamond goby. He did swim around the top of the tank for quite a while after adding him to the aquarium, making several lunges that looked like he was going to jump out. I've never actually seen diamond gobies swimming around the water column, they're always on the sand bed, I know they can swim and I started worrying he was going to jump out as well. Luckily I had some mesh from a previous project and I wrapped the mesh around the egg crate, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to get through that.

It was about a week before I was able to spot Chuck in the aquarium, but he was clearly busy with sand sifting because every morning the sand was rearranged. Now he doesn't mind if I'm around the aquarium and even swims around eating whenever I feed the other fish.

 

[Oldsman]

Really nice progress on your tank! Love the scape w the old coral skeleton, is that blue coral?
I'm stocking up supplies for a 40 g now, hopefully it'll get wet by March 1st

 

[kingranch2003]

It's so rewarding to start something new. This hobby is definitely worth your focus. Remember, this community is here to help you.

 

[mpatterson42]

Really nice progress on your tank! Love the scape w the old coral skeleton, is that blue coral?
I'm stocking up supplies for a 40 g now, hopefully it'll get wet by March 1st

Yeah, there's a little bit of blue on it, but it's starting to get pretty covered in algae right now. I thought about doing a muriatic acid to try and get more of the blue to come out but decided I didn't want to mess with it.