Alec's 40gal breeder chronicles!

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the site, as well as saltwater reefing! I've dreamt of having a saltwater tank for a longg time. Recently I bought a saltwater setup from a guy on craigslist that I couldn't pass up! So here's what I'm working with..

40gal breeder tank
Eheim ecco canister (up to 60gal)
red sea prizm skimmer
100 watt heater
1000 gph btwn 3 powerheads
4 bulb T5 light setup - 2 12k and 2 actinic w/ LED moonlights
Homemade stand

I have around 45 lbs live rock and 30lbs live sand. My tank is on the tailend of it's cycling (hopefully!) and has 4 red leg hermits in there that I just added. This will be my very first reef tank. With my lighting, I'll be sticking with softies/LPS until I have a spair $300 lying around for halides (lol) for sps. I've done plenty of research, but I know you can't learn it all reading articles on the internet/books. So I appreciate ANY advice/tips/suggestions or feedback yall have. I hope yall will tag along on and enjoy all this as much as I do!

I'll post a few pix here in a few!

 

Welcome to 3reef.

If you add two more T5HO you will have more than enough light to keep any coral you want and most likely will spend less than on a MH.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

 

Here's a few shots..

 

Welcome to 3reef The 'scape looks nice.

 

2in10- thanks for the welcome! That's what hear about the lights seeing as the my tank is so shallow (16in). My brother (just got his engineering degree) told me he could retrofit a few more bulbs in my fixture no problem! Although, I do want to start slow since it's my first salty tank, and softies and lps seem like a good place to start. But hopefully I can graduate to sps one day the halides comment was more of just a bad joke I suppose lol. Sorry bout that.

 

Like the scape. Many people like halides so we try and just post options because this hobby can be so expensive. No need to apologize for a clean joke. Be prepared for the possibility of being overwhelmed with suggestions, there are no one size fits all suggestions. You will be getting every ones experience when you get suggestions. i suggest also reading up on any that intrigue you so you can make the best informed decision for your situation.

 

2in10- thanks! I was moving the rockwork around for awhile, but I'm gunna stick with that setup. I don't mind all the suggestions! I know What I'm doing to a certain degree, but I lack firsthand experience. So I thought joining this would be great. I never thought i could get so pumped over an aquarium lol. My cycles close to finished so I'm contemplating my livestock "wish list" at the moment.. What kind of tank are you workin with?

 

Great work on the scape. As for halides have you ever thought of doing LED"s at the depth of a breeder, you can get some serious par out of some of the LED's out there, best part fixtures last around 10 years or so + without bulb replacements.

 

Thanks redgambit! I've looked into them, the price seems reasonable but I just haven't seen to many people with them.. At the moment I'm going to stick with what I have, and keep it simple with LPS/softies.