Jake's 40g Breeder Reef Build

[Jake337]

Hey everyone, so after some hard decisions and thinking, I've decided to break down my 55 reef to a 40 breeder. Because of college starting this fall, I wanted to go with something a bit smaller. The good thing is that university is only 25mins away and i'll probably be commuting my freshman year. I wanted to go with a 30g breeder, but couldn't find one anywhere; and with the petco $1/1g sale going on, 10g more isn't too bad. I went with a breeder because i love tanks with width. The 55 has very little width to my taste and going with something wider gives me ideas for rockscapes that I couldn't do in the 55. I'll probably be heading to petco tomorrow and purchase the tank. I ordered my led taotronics today and will be getting them probably next week. For this tank, Im going to try my hands at sps for the first time. Ill be transferring over my livestock over once i cycle the tank a bit. Fish i have now are 1 midas blenny and 2 clowns (1blk 1 orange).

As for the transferring part, i would probably need some guidance from your guys. I would like to reuse my sand in my 55, would this be fine? And how long would i need to recycle the 40b before transferring like the rbta over?

Will be updating this thread once i start getting things in!

 

[Mebbid]

Hey everyone, so after some hard decisions and thinking, I've decided to break down my 55 reef to a 40 breeder. Because of college starting this fall, I wanted to go with something a bit smaller. The good thing is that university is only 25mins away and i'll probably be commuting my freshman year. I wanted to go with a 30g breeder, but couldn't find one anywhere; and with the petco $1/1g sale going on, 10g more isn't too bad. I went with a breeder because i love tanks with width. The 55 has very little width to my taste and going with something wider gives me ideas for rockscapes that I couldn't do in the 55. I'll probably be heading to petco tomorrow and purchase the tank. I ordered my led taotronics today and will be getting them probably next week. For this tank, Im going to try my hands at sps for the first time. Ill be transferring over my livestock over once i cycle the tank a bit. Fish i have now are 1 midas blenny and 2 clowns (1blk 1 orange).

As for the transferring part, i would probably need some guidance from your guys. I would like to reuse my sand in my 55, would this be fine? And how long would i need to recycle the 40b before transferring like the rbta over?

Will be updating this thread once i start getting things in!

Downsizing a tank poses a lot less issues than upsizing. The age of the tank is all in the substrate, rocks, and water which you will be keeping so there shouldn't be any issues with the transfer.

The substrate is the hardest part, if it's a DSB then there will definitely be some issues with transferring it over. If it's a shallow sand bed you should just be able to scoop it out into the new tank.

As for performing the switch, pull everything out and keep it in rubbermaid totes of water. The fish and corals should be kept in a heated container just to be on the safe side. Add old tank water to new tank. Do your rockscape, then begin temperature acclimating everything then viola all done.