Casey's 40 breeder

Well, I said my introduction last month and I am finally able to post to pics of my 1st tank build.

Be gentle with the comments, I'm still learning.;D

 

I built a custom stand for the tank, finding a 40b stand is very difficult, and expensive. Also built it so if I decide to go with a sump I have all the room I need.

 

Looks like a great start. What are your plans with it? We need details! Lights? Equipment? Stocking plans?

 

Added the water, 40lbs of onyx sand, 40lbs of base rock (at $0.90/lbs) and 5 lbs of live rock.

Born 3/21/10!

Also added the koralia 1 powerhead, and aquaclear powerfilter

 

Looking good.. Cant wait to see the progress..

 

I found out that painting a tank is really a pain so I went to Wal-mart and bought Insta-Cling static window film for $15. I think it looks better then paint and best of all, if I need to look behind the tank I can pull it off, snoop, and put it back on.;D

 

It took the tank about 3 weeks to get all of my levels good... ammonia & nitrite at 0, nitrate at >5 (I think I am color blind because that and ammonia is tough for me to read!) ph at 8.3, calcium at 400 (a little low), and dkh is ~9. I waited another week and piked up some company at the LFS.

 

Looks great! I really like the sand. I thought about going with black, but I couldn't find any readily available and was too anxious to set my tank up.

 

Very good start

 

My lights finally came a couple of weeks ago. I decided to go with AquaticLife 4x39 T5. The lights are so quiets, my tank temp hasn't gone up, and everything is set on a timer. The lights are so bright that I dont have my livingroom lights on anymore.

I also built a algae crate out of some egg crate to help out the tank (no sump for now). My craps hang out all day in it and my clowns kick them out when its bedtime.;D

I also had to rearrange my rooks because my goby & shrimp pair decided it would be cool to dig their home in the far back of the tank away from everyone.:-/