Custom 40 Breeder AIO

[Sltloser]

Hi All, I thought bit would be fun to share my custom 40 breeder AIO that I set up recently. It's fully up and running right now so I'll bring everyone up to date on my journey throughout the next couple of days, I hope you all enjoy it!

The Build:
With the limitations of living in an apartment, moving, and the fear of leaking water I decided the best course of action would be a moderately sized all in one aquarium that allows me to keep spilled water to a minimum while also enjoying a few small fish and anthozoans along the way. I've always enjoyed the dimensions of a 40 breeder and decided that his would be the best route for me. I've partitioned this aquarium into 3 chambers, the refugium (seagrass bed), return area (with space for skimmer/carbon if needed), and the main display.

With the aquarium being located in a living room space I wanted to be able to block out the light so that guests, roommates, or myself can watch TV or enjoy time with others without the refugium light being a nuisance. To do this I thought I would add Velcro to a few pieces of acrylic to create a shade for the refugium that can be added when needed

Equipment:
125W jager heater
Sicce 1.0 return pump
2 x AI Prime HD
2 x 24" T5
2 x Tunze 6055
Apex Classic Controller
Breakout box (for ATO system)
Power line Adapter set (to hard wire Apex to internet)
AquaKnight A029 (refugium LED)

I know most of this will be overkill for such a small aquarium, but knowing myself there will be an upgrade build within 2-2.5 years. With that in mind I figured I might as well go all in and buy for the upgrade of the future while I'm at it

.

The canopy will house the lighting for the display section (T5s and AI Prime HDs)

I've learned over the years that there are many ways to keep reef aquariums and no one way is the "best way" as long as all the organisms are being kept healthy and happy. I prefer to use a more ecological approach by building up smaller flora and fauna and using them to "filter" the aquarium water. In sticking with that thought process I will have a seagrass bed as my dedicated form of nutrient export. This may not work as swimmingly as I hope so I left space in the return section of the sump for a small skimmer or carbon reactor as needed.

Finally, the first pictures of the build..

 

[Retro Reefer]

Nice! excellent detailed planning on this build.. gotta love a 40 breeder

 

[Sltloser]

Thank you Retro Reefer! I tend to over plan, but I enjoy the experience of looking at all possible road bumps to make sure I can accomplish what I plan .

I got the stand skinned, "floating" canopy installed, and mounted the apex display module. The module faces the door, as you walk into the apartment you see the right side of the aquarium first. The right side will have the display refugium, and return section, which will allow for better viewing when sitting on the couch and at the table.







I installed the canopy with a picture hanging bracket that was rated up to 100lbs, should be more than enough to keep it in place. The pieces of wood and velcro are bump outs so that the canopy stays level, they aren't viewable once the canopy is hung up.

 

[Sltloser]

Small aquarium plumbing is insanely easy, took me 2 minutes to do this. So much better than being scrunched up under an aquarium trying to fit an elbow in an impossible position haha.











And with lights!!

 

[Sltloser]

I added both sandbeds and finished up aquascaping! My thought process on the rock work was to be minimalistic with room for corals to mature. I may add a few pieces to fill it out but for now I'm happy with it. I wanted to give corals the chance to grow into actual colonies instead of just larger frags (which I typically see people do in smaller aquariums).

The right side wall will be utilized for plating corals (acropora, turbinaria,etc .). All of the rocks are glued together so nothing will fall over in the aquarium.

The middle open sand portion will be for a clam(s?) and hopefully a nice fungia.

The remaining island and column are yet to be determined, possible a nicer euphyllia piece and a small assortment of other Stony corals (stylophora, acropora, millipora, platygyra, favia, etc.)

I also made sure to create a base for the liverock with smaller pieces of rubble so any tunneling or burrowing species of fish/invertebrates won't bring any pieces tumbling down.

 

[SammieT]

Very nice, i love the layout and planning

 

[Sltloser]

Flora and fauna added to the aquarium!

The order:
250 amphipods

16oz of copepod mix (5 species: Tisbe biminiensis, Acartia tonsa, Parvocalanus crassirostris, Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus, Apocyclops panamensis)

16oz phytoplankton (6 different types: Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, Isochrysis, Pavlova, Thalassiosira, Weissflogii, Synechococcus)

Seagrass (Syringodium filiforme)

I ordered all of this through rusalty.com. I would highly recommend them if you would like to give an invertebrate boost to your aquarium.

The amphipods came in looking a little rough (there was no heat pack in the box which I found odd) I emailed them and got a response within a few hours. They informed me that they don't typically put heat packs with pods because they can withstand the cold well. I need only acclimate them and they would be okay, after acclimation I think I only saw 1 body floating everyone else took off to hide in the aquarium.

I accidentally cut a small hole in the bag when I put it in to float and quite a few amphipods took off so this is not the entire amount received.



The seagrass planted well and looked great! (The mesh net is from the amphipods bag, I transfered it with some amphipods for the fuge to have as well).



I only put half of the bag of copepods in the aquarium, the other half I added to a glass jar I had so I can culture them. I'll split the culture every week or 2 and keep it going as long as I can.

 

[Quietman]

Very nice....love the offset canopy!

 

[Sltloser]

As is to be expected the first algae bloom came through. I picked up 6 x red banded trochus snails, 3 x turbo snails, and 1 fighting conch. They are absolutely having a blast eating the algae haha.



The seagrass has been doing very well, I followed this little shoot for a week and I'm amazed at it's growth.

Feb. 23rd


Feb 25th


Feb. 26th


Feb. 28th

 

[Sltloser]

Over the following week the snails pretty much wiped the aquarium of algae, I let them clean the glass as much as they could and then scraped off what was left from the viewing panels.



I was also able to get the two T5s installed. I'm going to clean up and hide the wiring when i get a chance.

 

[Sltloser]

Finally we're up to speed, over the weekend I attended reefstock Denver and had a blast meeting different vendors and getting some great deals! I officially have my first livestock added to the aquarium . I currently have the AI PrimeHD's on the acclimation setting so this isn't what they will look like in full lighting.

1. WWC blue/red favites


2. WWC Pavona (encrusting growth form, extremely orange under blue lighting)


3. Jason Fox Raja Rampage Chalice


4. WWC Pink Tabling Acro (they couldn't remember which one it was exactly).


And finally, my pod culture is doing phenomenal, look at all those guys! I'm currently feeding them approximately 5ml of phytoplankton when the water is clear, and splitting them (50%) about every week.

 

[Sltloser]

Very nice, i love the layout and planning

Thank you SammieT, it's been a blast setting up an AIO aquarium!

Very nice....love the offset canopy!

I appreciate it Quiteman! I still need to hide some of the cables but being able to easily remove the canopy when I need to access the tank is extremely helpful, I'm glad I didn't go with a fixed canopy.

 

[TheWB]

I love what you’ve done so far. Following along.

 

[Sltloser]

I love what you’ve done so far. Following along.

Thank you, I appreciate it! I think the next steps will be formulation of a feeding plan (frozen/freeze dried/gut loaded brine/phytoplankton), add more corals and inverts, and top it all off with some fun fish. I haven't made any solid decisions on fish so I'm always open to suggestions!

 

[TheWB]

Thank you, I appreciate it! I think the next steps will be formulation of a feeding plan (frozen/freeze dried/gut loaded brine/phytoplankton), add more corals and inverts, and top it all off with some fun fish. I haven't made any solid decisions on fish so I'm always open to suggestions!

Sounds like a solid plan. Fun fish are kind of subjective. I’d say a nice colorful fairy or flasher wrasse that is suitable for the space you have available would be a nice centerpiece. How much space is in the main display area?

 

[Sltloser]

Sounds like a solid plan. Fun fish are kind of subjective. I’d say a nice colorful fairy or flasher wrasse that is suitable for the space you have available would be a nice centerpiece. How much space is in the main display area?

Very true, I've got approximately 30 gallons in the display.

I've been spitballing a list of possible fish:
Tailspot blenny
Firefish (helfrichi)
Neon goby
Royal Gramma
Jawfish
Cherub pigmy angel
Spotted coral croucher (pair)
Jester goby (x2)
Red stripe goby

 

[TheWB]

Very true, I've got approximately 30 gallons in the display.

I've been spitballing a list of possible fish:
Tailspot blenny
Firefish (helfrichi)
Neon goby
Royal Gramma
Jawfish
Cherub pigmy angel
Spotted coral croucher (pair)
Jester goby (x2)
Red stripe goby

I like a tank with lots of small fish so I think you have a lot of good choices there. Royal Gramma is a personal fave even though I don’t have one right now, I think I’m at my fish limit. Green Banded Gobies would also be worth checking out.

 

[Sltloser]

I like a tank with lots of small fish so I think you have a lot of good choices there. Royal Gramma is a personal fave even though I don’t have one right now, I think I’m at my fish limit. Green Banded Gobies would also be worth checking out.

I agree, I think it's more appealing to have a larger number of small fish instead of a few larger ones. I really like the green banded gobies, thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Sltloser]

O I almost forgot to mention that I picked up 2 more frags on Friday. A local fish store was having a Friday the 13th sale where select frags were only $13. I was just going to pick up water buuutttt I couldn't pass that up.

Dragon soul favia (has a little algae growth on it):

And a random green acro (mother colony looked good):

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Love the build! How do you like the fuge light? I've got the same light on my marine giant hermit crab tank but have never tried to grow anything with it. Also you mentioned possibly adding a skimmer to your return section. If the water level fluctuates that could affect skimmer performance.