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Result of my addiction- 40B Build

9K views 64 replies 13 participants last post by  hunterlook 
#1 · (Edited)
Video as of 3/24/13: https://vimeo.com/62389823

Hey folks, i'm just making this to keep track of my progress on this tank. I got into this hobby not too long ago and started out with a regular 10G and went from there. It quickly grew on me and before I knew it, I was at the LFS waaaaay too often. Now i'm just plain addicted to it and had to have a bigger set up hence this 40 breeder!

Found the tank on craigslist for a steal, came with an Emperor 400 filter that had pretty much never been taken care of, a 100W Ebo Jager heater, some substrate and a few hardscape items. I got it home, cleaned the h*ll out of it and set it up and to my dismay, the Emperor 400's motor was basically shot. This didn't upset me too much as it gave me a reason to start getting new equipment for it!

I went out and bought a Fluval Aquaclear 110 filter (wanted a canister but it's a bit out of my budget right now) but I was VERY surprised at the quality and performance of the AC 110, I couldn't be happier! I also picked up a glass top for the tank and order a 36" Finnex Fuge Ray which should be here tomorrow (didn't go with the Ray2 because I'd prefer running pressurized CO2 with it and I'm only able to run DIY for now).

This weekend I'll be building a stand for the tank and getting it situated in the living room then moving everything from the 10G over to the 40B.

On to the pictures!

Tank with the POS filter and versa top.


The first AC110 I bought :( I had to drive a town over to exchange it for a new one


The working filter, I absolutely freakin LOVE this thing. Look at that water flow!


Threw my 10G hood on top for fun along with a few of my Danios. Those rocks are in no way a scape, just placeholders for now.


This is my 10G that contains everything I'm bringing over to the 40B. The 10 will be converted into a hospital tank.


I'll be making a trip to the LFS this weekend as well to stock up on more plants. I am also expecting some of the BEST guppies I've ever seen from Artbystef who's done wonders with breeding them and some trimmings from DarkCobra. Some of the nicest people I've met through these forums.

I'll update as I go and please feel free to post comments, concerns and words of wisdom, thanks.
 
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#6 ·
Got my package today! Lighting is taken care of now but the only thing I'm worried about is excessive light refraction from the condensation build up on my versa top, has anyone had issues with this?

Stand will be done this weekend, I'll update as I go!

Time for pictures :)











Sorry, I was being tackled by my dog during that last photo :hihi:
 
#9 ·
Very nice! Shoot me a link to your journal if you have one, I'd like to check that out.


Man I'm digging the light I may have to go with that instead of buying another t5 model.
You really should! The price point is in the same ballpark, no cost of bulb replacements and the lighting is absolutely gorgeous. What I'm most impressed with though is how evenly the light is spread throughout the entire tank.

Also, the moonlights at night look SO cool :icon_bigg
 
#16 ·
So I got the stand built today, it's still over at my dads house so the stain has time to dry. I came home after a whole day of doing then and started to try and get my tank running to set up tomorrow. I spent an hour catching the danios in there to put back in my 10G, moved a few plants out and took the hardscape items out. After that, I added a bit of some organic soil to the tank to cap with sand but it had wood chips and all sorts of other crap in it! I specifically asked the lady if it had that and she said no but she lied...anyways, I spent another hour scooping all of the gunk I could out of the tank. I then decided to just add sand and pick up a couple bags of eco complete tomorrow to cap everything. Well no matter how well I rinsed the sand, my entire tank is a sand dust cloud now so I plugged my filter back in hoping it clears everything up along with a 100% WC tomorrow. Anyways, I'm exhausted and a little frustrated at how everything went with the tank, please feel free to point out what I did wrong and if you think capping the sand with eco complete should be ok.

I took some photos, enjoy.

Pops laying out the frame while I cut all of the wood.






Put an arch in to add some character to it (remember this is an uber budget build so no fancy trim for now)


Ran out of ply wood so we just used to cut out piece for the back panel, you can't tell when you're standing or sitting on the couch :icon_lol:


Got it stained, now it's drying. Turned out much better than I expected and cost me around $45! I'll be adding a middle shelf and/or doors later on.


10G is my plant holding tank for now :p


Thanks for checking in! Hopefully tomorrow goes much smoother.
 
#17 ·
Finally, got to check out your journal! And subscribed.

Given the 10, I'm sure the 40B is going to be spectacular. It's great you're able to work with your dad on the stand. I have a love for woodworking, but don't get to do it often.

Hopefully the fish and plants will arrive tomorrow as expected, and in good condition. A few hours after shipping, we saw a USPS freight truck being towed, and nervously joked about it being the one with our package! :eek5:

I don't know if you were planning on using CO2 in any form. The Aquaclears make good diffusers, and can work almost like a reactor after a few minor tweaks. For the large ones, it doesn't seem to noticeably affect the bacterial population.

Stef also slipped in a couple more plants, a bit of anacharis and a baby Marimo. Anacharis is usually very sensitive to Excel, but ours is fully acclimated, and will even shrug off overdoses.

Looking forward to more updates!
 
#19 ·
Haha imagine if it was actually the truck!

I do run CO2 but it's only DIY. It worked great on my 10G but now I tooke the same set up and threw an extra bottle onto it and it can't seem to get going for some reason. I've been tinkering with it for 2 hours, hopefully I can figure it out soon.
 
#18 ·
Everything is pretty much set up for now. For some reason my DIY CO2 isn't working, I'm assuming there's a leak somewhere and it's getting aggrivating but I'll continue to work on that.

Best part of today was my package from ArtbyStef and Darkcobra! Stef has done wonders with breeding guppies and the ones I received from her were nothing short of amazing. On top of a couple males and a few females, she even threw in some fry to help me learn how to raise them! I also received a buttload of plants from darkcobra and they were fantastic. The colors with rich and they were packaged extremely well with no chance of dehydration.

I took pics throughout the day so I hope you enjoy!

p.s. if you can give me pointers on how to check for leaks on my CO2 or how to actually get it running properly again please don't hesitate.

Water is still a bit cloudy but I have some cotton type media in the filter, hping this helps over the course of the next few days.




Goodies!




Fish were in perfect condition upon arrival.




Made my life so much easier. Each plant was wrapped in a soaked paper towel and labeled


Look at those tails! The dorsals are high as well with great coloring.






I couldn't be happier with the fish and plants, just wanna thank Artbystef and Darkcobra for their generosity and help along the way. I highly recommend contacting them if you have any questions and DEFINITELY if you want some of the best looking guppies around!
 
#20 ·
Thank you Hunter!
You helped me out by practicing my fish shipping abilities and your reports.
It was my first time, and I have had some disappointing experiences receiving fish by mail, so I was nervous. (Especially nervous about the heat pack thingy after getting a boiled betta in the mail)
Lots of luck, and hope all goes well with your tank in the future. And...Ha! Guppies are non returnable. They are the gift that keeps on giving. And giving...and giving... (actually, I'm quite proud of the strains I've been working on)
-Stef*
 
#21 ·
Woot! :bounce:

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to see everything happy, including you!

Now about this CO2 business. :hihi:

I'm sure you already know about spraying soapy water on seams, or immersion in a tub/bucket, to detect leaks. (If not, now you do!)

I'm thinking the prime suspect is the Ragu lid. Not sure that will reseal gas-tight once opened.

The places where tubing enters lids is also a common leak point. There's a trick I use for this. Not sure where it originally came from, but it doesn't seem to be in common use these days. So I detailed it recently on this thread, starting with my last post on page #2, and a diagram at the top of page #3. Pulling on the tubing is what normally causes a leak. But this works like a Chinese Finger Trap - pull and it only seals tighter. And also like that trap, it can be released with a moderate push. Have not had a single leak of this nature since I started using it years ago.

Should you find a leak and want to fix it quickly, especially if it's a lid-to-bottle leak, glopping rubber cement all over the seam is usually a "good enough for now" repair. Dries fast and can be removed easily later if needed.
 
#22 ·
I did soapy water with no luck, i'll try the submerged technique tomorrow.

As for that linked thread, that idea is GENIUS! Are those things usually sold in pet shops or would that be something I'd have to order online? I'm really getting desperate at this point, I don't want the plants dying :icon_neut

Also, is there something else you'd suggest as a bubble counter? I have some mason jars that have the standard 2 piece lid, would those be air tight after applying the lid?
 
#30 ·
For a 2L, I add 1.5 cups sugar, 1 tsp. baking soda, and (for about two week runtime) 1 tsp. Fleishmann's Active Dry (not fast rise), in that order. Then add lukewarm water to within 2.5" or so of the top, and shake the dickens out of it.

Almost nothing is critical, and I don't see anything wrong in your recipe. The only total recipe failure I've had is when I tried only 1/4 tsp. yeast in an attempt to get very long, slow production.

Rio 200, hmmm... Are you running CO2 into the venturi normally used for aeration? I have a Rio 50 used as a diffuser, and it does something weird. Instead of drawing in through the venturi, it pumps out. If the tubing is disconnected from the check valve, and held above the top of the water level, it'll shoot water a foot straight up into the air. It's enough back pressure to prevent any CO2 from coming out for a few hours when a new bottle is attached - during which time the check valve is locked tightly shut. If this is going on for you, it might take longer with the extra air space in your bottles.

Keep at it. Separate and test every part of the system individually. You will eventually find out what's going on.
 
#31 ·
You were spot on with the yeast amount, I upped my dosage and it finally activated. My set up is finally working and it's building up the pressure now to get to 1 bps, I'm at about 1 bp30s right now.

As for the Rio, I drilled a hole on the bottom, slatted intake cover and I'm just running the airline up into that. Mine didn't come with the venturi impeller adapter so that wasn't an option. I always thought the little outlet adapter you're talking about was just for that weird silencer thing that the pumps come with?

Thank you for all the help yesterday and today, I never expected DIY CO2 to be this much of a hassle! My final product was a 2L apple juice bottle, gatorade bottle bubble counter and my Rio pump. I managed to snap my check valve in half today pulling old airline off of it so i'm risking no valve right now :eek:
 
#34 ·
Brewers talk about something called a "stall", when the nutrients in the brew are too little and diluted to maintain a viable yeast population.

In pure sugar water, the only truly nutritious thing is the yeast itself. :) So I suspect it's kind of the same thing. I've had success with 1/2 tsp., but haven't otherwise tested the lower limit, except for that one failed 1/4 tsp. attempt.
 
#45 ·
Are all those bubbles from the pump/diffuser? If so, I take back what I said. :redface:

Churning CO2 bubbles around is good and helps dissolve it. It just looked like from the video that the Aquaclear was pushing air bubbles from the surface into the water, which is bad.
 
#46 ·
No you were right, those are from the aquaclear lol. I moved the pump to the front of the tank so it avoids the filter's flow now. I'm finally seeing an Increase in my KH which is at about 3dh with pH around 6.75. Everything is stable and I'm getting some great growth.

I did however read your post about trimming grasses/swords and that they won't grow back but shoot new stems instead and I had made that mistake with my Jungle Val. It's taking longer than I'd like for those to grow back in but once they do, the tank will look much better.
 
#47 ·
So the more I look at my tank, the more the left side bugs me. I think the large slope on the right side makes that side more appealing. The back left has a lot of Jungle Val that's hard to see because I trimmed it way down to promote fresh growth. I'm hoping when that fills in, it will even out the scape but I'd like to get some suggestions from you guys in regards to any hard scape items I should move/add or plants to add possibly?

Note: I do plan on carpeting the front with DHG but I'm thinking maybe some mid ground plants for the space in front of my Ludwigia Repens might help.

Thanks for any help!
 
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