UPDATE. 40G DIY in-wall. Livestock Suggestions?

[Cichlid Dad]

UPDATE SUMP SILICONE

Got a few comments on the white silicone. Ordered some aquarium safe silicone in order to be safe.

Scraped as much of the old silicone as I could, completely covered any remaining silicone in the aquarium safe stuff.

This time I used acrylic to create the baffles. I know silicon doesn’t bond to acrylic, but hopefully I use enough to keep everything in place with friction. We shall see!

Don’t mind the silicone mess! I will clean it up with a razorblade tomorrow!

Awesome! Looking good. You will have piece of mind. I don't care what anyone says reef safe silicone only in my tanks

 

[Dan0504]

UPDATE: Sump build day 1

After allowing silicone to cure for 72 hours, I began to reconstruct the sump. I will be adding a DIY refugium to the middle compartment. Also planning to add a filter sock holder, protein skimmer, and reactor soon.

So far I have only added bio media to begin the cycle now. Including, plastic bio balls, ceramic bricks, and the pack of biospheres from BRS

Here is the salt I went with.

And bacteria to start the cycle.

 

[Dan0504]

UPDATE: Aquascape and Cycle

So after much debate on the bare-bottom look, I added 30 pounds of Pink Fiji live sand.

It’s FOWLR tank. I wanted a very natural looking Aquascape. With minimal rock. So the sand was necessary. This also reminds me of scuba diving off the Florida coast.

I feel like I got exactly what I was going for. A lot of the base rock is still covered in sand, but I think over time it will shift nicely.

Added some frozen foods and a few inverts to start the cycle. After much thought, I decided not to do any fish while the tank cycles.

Here is the species of crab and snail. I did 10 of each.

 

[Dan0504]

UPDATE: 1 day after adding inverts, sand and bacteria

 

[Dan0504]

2 Month Update!

Tank is cycling nicely and there is a lot of healthy algae growth. I even started to see some coralline algae this week! Happy to hear your comments as always!

Algae closeups

 

[Dan0504]

6 month update!

Finally installed some lighting. Went with one AI blade 30”. I think this should be sufficient for the GSP and Xenia for now. I also moved the old fishtank LED light to sit overtop the sump. This will allow me to build out the Chaeto refugium next.

Running a lighting schedule I found on Treasure Reef’s YouTube. Here are some pictures of the tank today.

LOOKING FOR LIVESTOCK SUGGESTIONS NOW!

Current stocking;
LIVESTOCK
1 Clown
1 Firefish
1 fancy shrimp
10 hermits

SOFTIES
2 GSP
2 Xenia

Can you help? Interested in adding a "signature fish" to complete the stocking. Like a dwarf angel or snowflake eel maybe? Need suggestions!