My 40 Breeder

[ecvernon]

After i broke down my 90 gallon tank i was planning to get a 120 when i moved, but that did not happen So i went with the 40 breeder.

This time i am gonna take this tank build slow and try not to go to fast so i wont have to "upgrade" later.
Any opinions are more than welcome!!!!

EQUIPMENT

1.40 gallon breeder
- need to get drilled two holes for 1 inch bulkheads(i am using a sump with dual intake)
-overflow box from custom king
- need to get drilled two holes 3/4 inch bulkheads for returns
2.black pine stand- got on craigslist 60 bucks
3. 40 pounds marco rocks-- curing in rubbeer maid right now. ammonia is like 15-20 ppm!!!off the testing charts
- gotta get epoxy and zip ties so i could do aquascaping
4. 36 inch 6 bulb tek light
5. loc line for returns
6. 30x15x15 sump built by custom king(tried to sell it but sell fell through so making use of it)
7. Aqua c ev 180
8.jbj auto top off
9. need to get ro pump booster too much water being wasted
10. 40 pounds carib sea live sand
11. i have an ehiem 1262 not sure if it will be too strong..
12. koralia 2,koralia3, maxijet with flow mod(not sure which of them i will use or need but i have options)
13. need to get a chiller for 40+ gallons
14. need to get a aqua controller jr


dont know what else i am missing any suggestions let me know

 

[ecvernon]

pics of what i have right now

pics

 

[ssmtcarlo]

Hay i have the same tank and lights setup. I dont think you will need a chiller i dont, just mount a fan over your sump and hook it up to the acjr. Works fine for me.

 

[ellebelle]

Depends on how warm your place gets. I definitely need a chiller on my 40Br.

 

[Dj Orion]

Depends on how warm your place gets. I definitely need a chiller on my 40Br.

I went to this guys house and his room was like 120 degrees. I couldnt believe that no chiller was hooked up. But supposively it stays cool.

 

[ecvernon]

lets get ready for waterr!!!!!

i drilled my own tank and i aint break it!!!!!Took me a while but no cracks. i drilled the two holes about 1/4 inch off mark from what i planned. But it actually worked out because it gave me better clearance for the unions/ball valve i went with. got the diamond hole cutters from ebay and they worked really well:groupflip

 

[ecvernon]

now time for paint

got me a can of satin black paint for the back. Also cut some egg crate so the rocks wont rest on the bottom of the tank.

 

[ecvernon]

fresh water leak test

time to see if this baby can hold water!!!! filled it up at 11pm its now 3am and no leaks. imma let it run with fresh water for a while to make sure everything is ok

 

[bigsink]

Nice job. You do excellent work.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Great Start! Whats the black jar looking thing in the main tank?

 

[ecvernon]

its fiji mud refugium booster. i was using it to hold the egg crate and the tubing that was filling up the tank down....as far as the product i dont know how it will work its my first time using it.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Cool! I thought that was sand for a second

Love the size of the tank, have the same thing myself .

 

[ecvernon]

yea its a great footprint. I have had a few tanks the only difference im trying to make with this one is my planning. I am taking things a lot slower than i usually would and so far its paying off. The next steps are to get the ESV fingrade sand from HOF. And also to figure out what i will use to secure the marco rock for my aquascaping. And to learn how to program that damn Aquacontroller jr. lol

 

[nanoreefer22]

For the rocks why not use acrylic rods to places the rocks together? I did it in my tank and it worked out great! Drilled on angles and created large overhangs and such. I used half inch rod and so far its been great and you can barely even see it.

I also see in your first post you havent decided on a powerhead for the tank. I'm running a Korolia #3 and it's perfect for a tank of softies/LPS. There was just one dead spot under the korolia so i added a small aquaclear and the flow is great. If you're going to do SPS maybe a pair of #3's.

 

[ecvernon]

cool thank you for the input nanoreefer22
i wanted to do a mixed reef probably mostly lps though.
The rods sound like a great idea
where did you get the acrylic rods? And if you got it from a place like home depot or lowes what department?

 

[nanoreefer22]

I got the rods from a friend (tonyscoots) on the board. I'm not sure where he got them, shoot him a PM and he should be able to help you out there. If you're doing mostly LPS i honestly think you'd be fine with a Korolia 3 and your return pump.

 

[ecvernon]

rocks and sand

I finally got around to aquascaping using pvc rods i got from HOF. and i got ESV fine white sand from them as well. I love this sand it kinda looks like sugar lol

Now next step is to run some test to see where my cycle is at

 

[nanoreefer22]

Looks Great!!!

Only think I would consider is lowering the aquascaping on the left side of the tank. It looks like its to the surface of the water, which means coral will have very little space to grow and thats gonna be a pretty high light spot.

 

[ecvernon]

tank has cleared up and all tests are a go

tested tank are levels are ok
im trying to restrain myself from getting a whole bunch of stuff at one time to fill the tank

 

[House of Laughter]

ec, looks awesome - take your time - real estate runs out fast in a 40 breeder.

Congrats, great job and good luck

House