This 40 Gallon Cobalt is my first ever aquarium. I wanted to develop it as a low maintenance mixed reef tank that focuses on growing and propagating coral frags. I was determined to start with an all in one tank and I am a believer in all in one tanks. The ease of maintenance while maintaining a clean look is a win-win for me. I did not want to have to deal with plumbing or getting on the floor to do my maintenance. I do not want to overstock this tank with fish and I like the fact that my clownfishfish are very active and use the whole tank.

My approach to filtration in the tank is focused on reducing excess nutrients as much as possible. The tank has five chambers:
Two overflow chambers on opposite ends of the tank ? I will refer to them as chamber 1
Both chamber 1?s drain into identical chamber towards the center of the tank ? I will refer to them as chamber 2
Both chamber 2?s drain into a common return area which houses the return pumps

Chamber 1:
This tank comes with filter socks in each of the overflow chambers out of the box. I replaced both of them with media baskets.
Media Basket 1 has the water interact with the media in the following sequence:
1.) Filter Floss ? 2.) Activated Carbon ? 3.) Chaetomorpha (grown using Innovative Marine Chaetomax Light that is mounted to the back of the tank)
Media Basket 2 has the water interact with the media in the following sequence:
1.) Filter Floss ? 2.) Filter Floss ? 3.) Zeolite Blend ? 4.) Chemipure Blue


Chamber 2:
Media Basket 1 drains into chamber 2 that contains four media bags full of Seachem?s Pond Matrix for Biological Filtration.
Media Basket 2 drains into chamber 2 that contains a Tunzee 9004 DC Protein Skimmer

Return Chamber:
Both Chamber 2?s drain into the common return area which contains both of my heaters. One is a Cobalt Neo-Therm 150 Watt heater (I highly recommend this heater. The benefits of this heaters consistency were noticed almost immediately after introducing it). The second heater is a Fluval-E (This heater could not keep up with the demands of my tanks and struggled to keep the temperature in an appropriate temperature range.)