Setting up 40g reef tank

[kyle]

[I'm a newbie. My wife surprised me with a 40 gallon hex salt water tank for Christmas. She was told at the time of purchase that we couldn't do corals in a tank that small but subsequent conversations and research suggest it is possible.

The tank has been up 7 weeks. It holds 3 blue damsels, 1 percula, and a sand-sifting Gobi. At 6 weeks, the tank had successfully cycled and we added 21# of precured live rock. The rock looks great but rather sparse. I'd like to add at least another 20# but would like some guidance. We're using a CPR BAK-PAK dual pak filtration unit and 2 AQS 600 powerheads.

I want to get the rock established and then add some coral but not sure how much coral the system can safely support. Are there any rules of thumb; ie so many #s of rock per gallon should I add and then how many coral can be safely sustained? Thanks for your advice!]

 

[grim-bob]

[You can have a good bit of coral and variety in a tank that size. I have a 29G and keep several different leathers (2 of them decent sized for a small tank), lots of mushrooms and zoos, LPS and SPS. What you can keep will depend on several things.

What kind of filtration are you doing (i.e. sump w/ skimmer, fuge, etc)?
What lighting is on the tank?
How much water flow is there in the display?

Many of the easiest corals (mushrooms, zoos and leathers) will thrive in lower light and lower flow conditions. You could start with a few mushrooms and zoos and see how they work out. Post a few more details and we can give more recommendations.]

 

[melev]

[1 lb to 1.5 lbs per gallon is the general rule.

What I did a few years ago was buy one coral at the LFS. Since you are in contact with the club, you are ahead of the game. You can buy a frag or two from someone here, and put those in your tank to see how they fare. Watching them closely, you'll be able to see if the tank is able to support them yet or not.

After all, it is far nicer to test your system with a $10 frag than a $60 coral, right?

It will take between 6 and 9 months for your tank to mature. At that point, you'll be able to add corals with less trepidation, because you'll be used to your tank and its particular needs. It really is best to let a tank stabilize for a while before tackling corals, but I've seen people add them sooner with good results.]

 

[kyle]

[@grim-bob wrote:

Thanks for the responses....

1) Filtration is via a CPR BAK-PAC dual Pak filter. It is a hang on unit with two counterflow protein skimmers and a central biological filtration chamber. The manufacturer says it is rated for 100 gallons. It was probably overkill for a 40G marine tank but I'm hoping it will be fine for a reef setup.

2) Just a single 24" fluorscent bulb.

3) Two AQS 600 powerheads; one placed at the top of the tank and the placed at the bottom of the tank. I'll post their gpm rating once I find out the information.

It's clear at this point that I need more rock and so that's what I'll do immediately. I do want to add additional fish (Yellow Tang / Flame Angel) but I was thinking I needed to get the corals established first. I may just start with the beginner corals and then go ahead and add the fish in a month or so.

Since the live rock is pre-cured, how quickly can I start adding stuff to tank? TIA!]

 

[chrisrush]

[If you want to keep anything other than low light corals, such as mushrooms, etc., you may want to look into upgrading your lighting.

A Yellow Tang will not work in a 40 g Hex. Not enough room, most tangs require at least 4' of swimming space.

Better to overskim than underskim.

You may be getting close to your limit on fish, since you already have 5 in a 40. Did you add all these fish before the tank was fully cycled?

Chris]

 

[kyle]

[@Olaggie01 wrote:

The fish were added day one. A well known LFS spec'd-out and setup the tank for my wife. I walked into my office one morning and it was there. I know they "seeded" the tank with bugs when they started it up. Not sure if the ammonia spiked but water tests at 3 and 4 weeks showed high nitrite. At 6 weeks all was fine and that's when I started adding live rock.

I'm very disappointed to hear your advice on the yellow tang. When you say "4' of swiming space", do you mean that the tank needs to be at least 48" wide?]

 

[kyle]

[The 2 power heads are Maxi-Jet 600s. Each is rated at 160 gph. That would imply that together they pump a tank volume every 7.5 minutes. That seems like a pretty high rate but then again I have no knowledge of what's really required.]

 

[kyle]

@Olaggie01 wrote:

[The lighting is currently a single 18" 15-watt "All-Glass Aquarium" bulb. I know it's pretty marginal. I'm hoping over time to get some advice from yall on what's appropriate for setup. Thanks again for all the advice.]

 

[chrisrush]

[

So the LFS added "bugs" and then 6 weeks later you added the LR? This is a bit backwards. What else was seeded along with the bugs? Live Sand?

Lights:
If you want to keep everything and have a light to upgrade to later, go w/ a 250 w MH. It will probably be overkill for right now, considering what you want to keep, but at least you'll have it if and when you decide to upgrade.

Powerheads:
Most people shoot for a turnover of around 10-20x per hr. You could probably get away with what you have for the time being, but eventually you might want to look into a 3rd powerhead.

Tang:
Most people will recomment at least a 75 gallon tank for a yellow tang. They can live in smaller tanks while they are younger, but they will eventually need a larger tank. When I said 4' of swimming space, I meant 48" long, at least.]

 

[kwl1763]

[Wow they started you off with some iffy recommendations/practices! No worries though, sounds like everything is OK.

Totally agree on the Tang. Just start planning for an upgrade! No seriously even though the yellow needs probably the least amount of room the 4 ft of swimming space rule is pretty good for a yellow! I also agree that your bioload is already pretty high but adding the flame as your last will probably be OK. But no more!!! I would also suggest waiting a couple months to let things stablize alittle more as these fish are pretty picky and not the hardiest things in the world!

More circulation is never a bad thing but the lighting I would say is the most immediate need. You will be able to keep only a very very few corals (mushrooms and the non light dependant ones(aka sun coral)) under that light!

Start looking at tanks and seeing what kind of stuff you want to keep. If you say everything then I agree you need to go ahead and bit the bullet and upgrade to Metal Halide. One would do fine over that tank. It needs to be at least 8" or so over the water so a canopy upgrade may also be in the picture. If your not interesting in keeping some of the light hogs like SPS and clams you can get away with T5s, PCs or VHOs which will be cheaper and only need to be a couple inches form the water.

I'm very curious as to why anyone would tell you he size was the limiting factor in keeping corals! You can do it in 1G! Water quality, lighting, circulation are all limiting but you can have a killer 40G coral tank if it is setup correctly.

Another thing I would do is to slowly start removing the biomedia from the CPR (maybe 20% per week). This stuff will eventually become a nitrate factory that will produce unacceptably high nitrates for corals.

Oh ya and on the rock it is really a personal preference. Rock does perform some biofiltration of the water so logically more is better but you have to balance this with leaving swimming room for your fish and growing room for your corals.]



Edited By kwl1763 on 1108049806

 

[chrisrush]

[

Good call on this Keith. I forgot to respond to that.

Maybe she was told this b/c of the light and flow in the tank. But I agree w/ Keith, people have had some great luck w/ nano tanks.

BTW, make sure you have something to keep your specific gravity and temperature stable. I didn't read anything about this in your original post.

Chris]

 

[kyle]

@Olaggie01 wrote:

Good call on this Keith. I forgot to respond to that. ]"]
[I'm confused by this statement. We're talking about the blue filter mesh in the center chamber, right?

Isn't the amount of nitrate produced directly related to the amount of ammonia/nitrite in the system? How else are these materials to be scrubbed if not by biologiocal filtration? I thought the mesh served as a host for the bacteria just like the sand bottom.

Isn't too much nitrate is a function of too much ammonia entering the system? What am I missing? TIA!]

 

[melev]

[The problem is that the mesh collects a lot of detritus. You can extract it each time you do a water change and shake it out well in your bucket of waste water, but you'll lose the little pods, crabs, snails and starfish right down the drain.

Just remove it as you don't need it. Rather than having one more thing to deal with, save yourself the hassle and avoid one more thing that can generate nitrates over time.

None of my systems have ever had any type of pad/sponge/bio-anything in the system, and the water looks quite clear.]

 

[kyle]

[Okay guys. I'll start to gradually remove the mesh as suggested.

I'm still struggling to understand just what I can expect to achieve in a tank of this size. I'm going to add another 20# of live rock and then pause to ponder my options. Sounds like, other than the fish net, pretty much everything my wife was sold is inadeqaute for anything beyond a pair of goldfish. :very sad:

Please be patient with my questions. Thanks!]



Edited By kyle on 1108176374

 

[melev]

[It happens. Try this page:

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm]