Little Poseidens 40

[Reddog170]

Well after helping out with a tank change last Saturday i bought her old 40 gallon breeder and Reef Octopus skimmer for $50. My 7 year old is so excited. He has proven that he can maintain nano tanks quite well. He does his own water changes, testing and basic maintenance himself. This will be his biggest reef. I am loving it. He so enjoys the reef tanks and even knows most of the scientific names for the fish he likes.
This is what is going on right now. We are building a stand and sump. Most of the plumbing that will be needed came with the tank. I will give him a return pump, and a couple media reactors to get him going. I drilled a second 10 gallon tank to use for a refugium.

The skimmer still has coraline on the inside, no idea how to remove it.

 

[TylerHaworth]

A vinegar bath will get rid of the coralline... if it really bothers you

 

[Reddog170]

Well I got the skimmer cleaned out, and figured out exactly what a mesh mod is and what it does. A small accident resulted in the back glass getting cracked. Good thing Petco was doing a tank sale. Got a new tank, had it drilled the same as the old one, or close. Have the refugium set up, test running reactors and skimmer now. Little Jon is learning more and more, and having fun doing it. Took him to a new store yesterday where he picked out the light he wants for it, a 6 bulb T5 set up with LED moonlights. When they get more in sock we will pick it up, but no real hurry. He has also been lying out the rock to see just how the aqua scape is going to look. He want to keep it low enough that nothing comes out of the water should the return pump stop for any reason, and he want plenty of caves and hidey holes for the fish as well. I have been building the stand and canopy, still have the trim to do but pretty much done.
I figure the tank will have water in it within the next day or so, started mixing it tonight. Just wanted to update this, Shaun

 

[shark32]

That's great that your son is going to have his own tank!! Good luck with it!

 

[GlassMunky]

7 year oolds got a bigger reef than I do! lol. thats awesome that your kids into it. great family building activity

 

[Reddog170]

Well here is how the tank sits now. The display, a 40 breeder is lit with two 400 watt halides and a PC light for atinic (temporary) a 20 tall for the sump and a ten for the fuge. About 75 lbs of live rock. We did this as a transfer from my 20 gallon holding tank and his nano. The move to this tank went very well. Two of the three nems handled it very good. The third one is pouting and refuses to alow the clown in. It will come around. All in all it went almost exactly as planned. Still have a couple things to work on. The halides put a lot of heat in the tank so I set up some fans to export the heat, Jon came up with the idea of tying the fan into the timer for the lights so the fan only runs when the halides are on. We also have two heaters on another timer to only be active when the lights are off. Jon and I are working on stocking likes. Corse we will not be adding anything else until springfest in April.
Just wanted to update things, Shaun and Jonny. Smile and have a Great day

 

[Reddog170]

Well a few days later and nothing but good news. All my nems have come round and look great. SPS is opened and has good polyp extension and I have NEVER seen frogspawn open that big. Zoo's no longer stretch out for light and the clown is way less agressive. All is good in there. Hopefully I can get some pics up soon. Shaun