40b AIO

[Hunna]

Going to try and actually keep this tank build updated. We will see if that actually happens though!

Tank: I traded @Fishy_Mcfish some frags for this 40b with what looks like a DIY AIO siliconed into the back. It cleaned up nicely for a used tank.

Stand: I couldn’t find anything local, within reason, so I ordered This one off Amazon. It’s sturdy enough, and will allow me to set my little Eshopps Deskmate back up underneath it, once everything is moved over and settled in.

Lighting: this won’t be ideal to start. I’ll be using an AI Prime 16 HD on one side, and a Kessil a80 Tuna Blue on the other. I have a second 16 HD but it’s on my bedroom tank (that is starting to fill in) and I don’t want to downgrade it to the Kessil. I’ll have the higher light demanding corals on the side with the AI and the less demanding ones on the side with the Kessil. I do plan to replace both with something better suited for this size of a tank, so if anyone has anything available please lmk!

Filtration: super simple to start with just a return pump with double RFG nozzles, filter pads cut to fit the DIY “filter cup”. I have tons of rubble/sponges/bio balls/etc for biological filtration that will be going into the various back chambers. Maybe one day I’ll have the extra money to get a roller mat or nano skinner.

Water movement: just a single jebao slw for now. Will most likely be adding something else once I figure out how things will flow once fully set up and filled with corals and frag racks.



Super simple scape to start. I plan on using the shelf rock to grow out SPS. I have rocks in the other tanks that will be moved into this one once it’s time to move everything. I’ll again be making a “mushroom corner” wherever the least flow is. This tank is primarily going to be used for growing things out, which is why I’m not building a crazy scape for it.

Between the ~30lbs of live sand I got from @Jikkermanccini yesterday, and all of the bio filtration in the WB 25 and Deskmate, and all of the live rock in both tanks, I’ll easily be able to skip the cycling process. Just waiting for sometime next week when I don’t have my 3 year old, and can get some saltwater from @scuba steve ’s shop, and it will be time to make the move!

 

[Fishy_Mcfish]

Looking good! You cleaned it up really good! I mean I did most of the hard work before though so I made it easy on you but seriously you did a lot more cleaning and it looks almost new!

 

[Hunna]

Looking good! You cleaned it up really good! I mean I did most of the hard work before though so I made it easy on you but seriously you did a lot more cleaning and it looks almost new!

You knocked it all loose for me

 

[Fishy_Mcfish]

You knocked it all loose for me

Did I ever send you the before pics?

 

[Hunna]

Did I ever send you the before pics?

You sure did

 

[Fishy_Mcfish]

View attachment 97475
You sure did

Yep! It was covered in coralline algae

 

[Hunna]

Got everything moved over and into the new tank! Not enough time to start placing the SPS onto the shelf rock, so that will be left for another day. Still some rearranging to do, and I’m going to end up moving my little Deskmate to the shelving underneath it, to clear up my living room some more.

Big thanks to @scuba steve for filling up some buckets with water for me, to speed up the process. It takes me ~3 hours to mix 5 gallons with my current set up, so there’s no way I could have made that much water in a timely manner.

 

[scuba steve]

Lookin great! Happy to help as always

 

[Hunna]

Not ideal, but it’s working! Everything in the tank is happy so far, other than 1 hammer that was recently moved in from my bedroom. The badly injured dottyback is just about fully recovered, which is a huge relief after not seeing it for over 4 days after adding it into the tank.

I need to find a way to mount the big Duncan colony onto the rock structure it’s next to, and get it up off the sand bed. I think I’m going to have to use some coral putty to do that though, as it’s too big for just super glue at this point.

A few shots from around the tank yesterday and today, after figuring out manual white balancing finally:

 

[shanepike]

Great shots! What did you use?

 

[Hunna]

Thanks! I used an Olympus TG-5 I found on Marketplace for $200 a while ago. Has a built in microscope mode, so no need for macro lenses, and is waterproof up to 15m. The mushroom and zoas pictures were taken from inside the tank.

 

[Hunna]

Snagged this before mounting the Duncan onto the rock.


I got some coral putty and mounted the Duncan right next to where it was. Now that it’s up off the sandbed, I’m hoping those lower heads will bounce back. Neither clown was really interested in the Duncan yesterday after I moved it. They were in it this morning though, so it didn’t take them long.


Having more space is allowing me to try and get some of my 3”-4” mushrooms to come off the frag plugs/rubble they are holding onto and refusing to let go of. This one is so close to starting the move onto the tile.


The Nuclear Sunset disco is almost fully onto the printed tile it’s sitting on, and I just moved my giant, green, hairy mushroom onto a 4” tile to start the process.

The only 2 things not doing well in here currently, are hammers that came from my bedroom tank. Where I think my sexy shrimp have been picking at them. I’m hoping they will be able to recover in a larger, more stable (my kitten can’t mess with this tank like he can the others) environment.

 

[Hunna]

FTS:


Everything in here is doing great. The hammers are starting to slowly bounce back thankfully. All the SPS are fluffy and doing well still, which is a first. The mushrooms on tiles are starting to slowly crawl off the frag plugs/rubble they are stuck to and onto the tile. Only thing this tank needs now is better lighting.

Some quick shots around the tank

 

[Hunna]

My first round of fragging the forest fire digi went well, so I decided to make 1 each of my rainbow stylo, birdsnest, and purple stylo to see how they do.

 

[Hunna]

Newest addition to the tank, thanks @dball711 !

First attempt at a “non-beginner” SPS, so fingers crossed

 

[Hunna]

The newest round of forest fire digi frags have all fully recovered, have polyps out all over, and are starting to show new growth. The back row is also doing well, although the rainbow stylo isn’t doing as well as the other 2. Most likely due to how little of a chunk broke off when I tried fragging it.


The SPS rock shelf/table I made seems to be working great so far. All 5 seem to be happy,
Including the acro.

I mounted my skittles bomb cyphastrea to the back wall, and it also seems to be quite happy with lots of new growth around the rim.

 

[Hunna]

I finally got the mother Nuclear Sunset disco off the original frag tile and onto the 3D printed one completely. She left 6 babies behind in the process. I’m going to let the main 4 grow a bit bigger before cutting them and selling them, should be ready in a few more weeks!

 

[Hunna]

One of my blue leg hermits just spawned and I was able to catch some of it! These things are tiny. Even in microscope mode, my TG-5 had a hard time focusing on them. The red in the pictures is a piece of red Sawblade macro algae, to try and put it into perspective how little these guys are.

 

[Hunna]

2 weeks in with this acro, and so far so good! The red has gotten darker and spread onto the base, with more polyps on the base as well.

 

[Hunna]

Newest additions to the tank! I’ve wanted stratosphere since shortly after starting this hobby, but never felt confident enough to risk it. This tank has been thriving though, so I felt it was time to give it a shot. I also picked whatever these other ones are up while I was there, they caught my eye and look like a mix between magicians and salted agave or something. Well worth the 45 min drive for me, thanks @Xemreef