Sammy's 40 Breeder

[sammy113]

Hi! Today I sold my 1/20 Arctica chiller so now I have money to buy the 40 breeder i want. I will move all my corals to the 40. I'm thinking about using the same refugium from my 16G. Its made out of a 20L AGA.

I want to drill some holes in the breeder for the returns from the sump. I want to slip the plumbing to get nice flow from both sides of the tank. I'm not sure what to do for taking the water down to the sump. I have this options but dunno what will work best.

1. Make some kind of overflow and drill another hole with a 1"~1.5" for the flex hose

2. Make a regular pre-filter and use siphon U tubes, then the hose

I think I want to use a Mag 7. Do you think that will be enough flow for both returns? I don't want to have any power head and stuff in the tank. Well thats all for now. I'll look tomorrow for the tank, probably the pump and some plumbing supplies. Any advice? Suggestions? Toughs? All are welcome! Thanks

[glennr1978]

I'm running a mag7 on the return in my tank. I think it's plenty of flow. Even with a bunch of 90 degree angles mine works fine. I'm seriously considering re-doing the plumbing on my tank with 45's and soft tubing, but then there's the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!".

[sammy113]

Glad to hear everything is going well on yours. I've always liked the shallow tanks and I love this tank's dimensions. Yours was for sure one of my inspirations.

I'm seriously considering re-doing the plumbing on my tank with 45's and soft tubing

I was thinking that maybe soft vinyl tubing is better than PVC plumbing for the returns since I will only use the hard PVC with two 45's in the bulkheads.

Are your still running 1 MH or did you already upgraded to 2?

I got the 24" Sunpod 150W now and don't really wanna buy another new one... I think for now it's going with the 150W hanged from the celling or maybe retro fit it to a canopy.

[sammy113]

Hopefully I'll be getting my 40Br tomorrow. I will also get 2- 1/2" Bulkheads for the return pump and the nozzles with its adapter. A friend of mine has a new 3/4" diamond bit that I need to drill the holes for the 1/2" bulkheads. I was looking how to do the thing without breaking the glass or something and i found a video on youtube about a guy drilling a 20L Tempered glass with a dremel. It ended up breaking the whole glass to thousands pieces. How do I know if the All-Glass 40 BR is tempered glass? And if it IS tempered glass, can I still drill the holes? Otherwise I'll go with the nozzles that comes with the U-tube that fits a vinyl tubing....

[shag26272]

Its not tempered, the back or the bottom. I just did mine a few months back

[sammy113]

OK thanks shag. I'm not sure if I will drill the back or use one of the sides as my back and drill it. Can I do this or its just some walls that I can drill?

[shag26272]

You can drill any part of it.

[sammy113]

Yay! cool. Thanks

[shag26272]

Ditch the Mag 7 for an oceanrunner 2500. Runs much cooler and uses way less power. 49 bucks at premiumaquatics

[msn711]

I run my 40br w/ 2x150w. I used to only have 1 but it left a lot of shadow on the sides. however, it wasn't a big deal at all when I just had softies and a few LPS.

[sammy113]

I don't really wanna spend lots of more money in lighting for this. I was thinking of make some kind of hanging canopy to house the sunpod and add maybe 2-36" PC's or t5 to cover the sides.

[Esper]

i'm not sure where you want to drill this tank, but here's a tip. Don't drill in the center of the long sides, because it will be much weaker than out towards the corners. I found this out the hard way on my 20L when I cracked it by pulling on the overflow plumbing. your tank has thicker glass, but moving any bulkheads over to the corners where there is more support is still a good idea. =) like i said, you may have already thought of this but I had to learn the hard way!

[svvad]

I did exactly what esper said not to do without a problem and I drilled 6 holes in mine in the back glass.

[sammy113]

Thanks for the advice Esper. I do have thought about that. That's why I decided to go with the HOB pre-filter to reduce holes. I'm thinking to drill just 2 holes one on each corner in one of the long sides for the return pump. I'm not sure if drill another 2 more probably a little more close to the bottom for a closed loop. If I go with the closed loop do I need another hole for the pump to get water from or can I place the pump or power head in the sump? Should I use the SCWD Wavemaker for the return from the sump or with the closed loop? Both? I know with a PVC "T" will loose a little flow when the water hits the T so maybe a PVC "Y" with 2 ball valves should work and discard the SCWD. Any thoughts?

[msn711]

I'm not saying you have to buy another light. I'm just saying that if you were going for light-demanding animals, i.e. clams, sps, you will have to be more careful about placement with only 1 MH on a 36" tank. But as always, any planning decisions must FIRST start with what you're planning to keep. I haven't seen anything about what livestock you want. All of the equipment in the world is pointless if you don't need it, unless of course, you're just one of those techie freaks.

[sammy113]

I'm not saying you have to buy another light. I'm just saying that if you were going for light-demanding animals, i.e. clams, sps, you will have to be more careful about placement with only 1 MH on a 36" tank. But as always, any planning decisions must FIRST start with what you're planning to keep. I haven't seen anything about what livestock you want. All of the equipment in the world is pointless if you don't need it, unless of course, you're just one of those techie freaks.

I know what you are saying. I just wanted to let all know that I want to keep it cheap. And I do said what I was going to about livestock etc. In my sig its the link to my tank thread so there is all my livestock.

Hi! Today I sold my 1/20 Arctica chiller so now I have money to buy the 40 breeder i want. I will transfer al my corals to the 40. I'm thinking about using the same refugium from my 16G. Its made out of a 20L AGA.

[glennr1978]

Glad to hear everything is going well on yours. I've always liked the shallow tanks and I love this tank's dimensions. Yours was for sure one of my inspirations.

 

I was thinking that maybe soft vinyl tubing is better than PVC plumbing for the returns since I will only use the hard PVC with two 45's in the bulkheads.

Are your still running 1 MH or did you already upgraded to 2?

I got the 24" Sunpod 150W now and don't really wanna buy another new one... I think for now it's going with the 150W hanged from the celling or maybe retro fit it to a canopy.

I dont think I am going to add another mh to my system. I like the set up I'm currently running with one 150w mh, and one 32w actinic pc, and one 32w daylight pc (I'm using the stock pc's from my old aquapod).

 

The pc's really make a big difference in my tank. I would say that just the 150w mh alone isn't enough light over a 36" tank, there would be to much of a spot light effect.

 

As far as plumbing goes, if I could do it all over I would have used soft tubing. Honestly though my tank seems to have plenty of flow just the way it is so I doubt I will change it. The only thing is I still have some micro bubbles, not nearly as much as I had at first but there is still some. They are coming from the closed loop I am running. I may eventually re do the plumbing on the closed loop to try to get rid of all the bubbles.

[sammy113]

So i finally got my tank! I'm not really sure if i want to drill it this tank was so hard to find in PR. Only one fish store carries it from lots I have here. Anyway they got 2 40BR cause they made special order and they were going to use them for display. They change their mind and here it is. Its All Glass, I think perfecto doesn't make 40 BR. It cost me $110. Thats why I don't wanna screw all this. I don;t wanna mess with that glass and a diamond drill bit. I was thinking in those return "U" tubes with the nozzle rather than drill it. I'll be buying the wood for the stand very soon and start with the stand and Sump. I'll be making a new sump and left the other running with the 16G. I was thinking about new fish.... I already have a clown,sixline, lawnmover blenny,pigmy angel. Probably get rid of the blenny and get a few chromis. Tiny ones. I will also like a sailfin tang. What do you guys think? I saw a vary small sailfin like 1.5". How many fish in a 40br+20L sump?

[msn711]

Well, that depends on what corals you want to keep and how high you are willing to let your nitrates go. In a soft coral tank where nitrates won't be a big deal, I probably had 4 medium sized fish and a snowflake eel w/o the 20L sump. Back then, my nitrates were around 15-20ppm.

 

Now, that I'm concentrating on LPS corals and trying to keep some SPS, I want to keep my nitrates under 5. I currently have a GSM clown and a pair of C. pylei fairy wrasses, all medium sized fish. I also have the 20L sump under their now. And my nitrates are 0-2ppm.

 

So realistically, I would say 3-4 medium sized fish, more if you're talking smaller fish like gobies. And maybe more if you have more LR than I do. I've got about 50-60 lbs. Oddly enough, I had a spike in my water params when I added the pylei pair. So I like to add my fish before I get into any expensive or sensitive coral. I lost a purple acro to that episode.

 

Sorry for rambling, but with the fish you have, or even getting rid of the blenny and adding a few chromis, I'd be hesitant to put much more unless it was a softy tank. In that case, I really don't think it would matter unless the fish are territorial.

[sammy113]

Thanks for the input msn. I'll try to keep my bio load as low as possible even if it is a softies tank. I'm going to start the stand for the tank tomorrow I think and this is what I'm planning to do.

I'll be making a door for the front too.

[shag26272]

Forget making a door, My stand for my 40 looks identical to yours, I bought a an oak door for 9 bucks, email these people with the size you need, its cut for euro hinges already

http://stores.ebay.com/DOORSANDPULLS_Cabin...3QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

[sammy113]

Wow thats a nice door. I definitely want the euro hinges. wanted the door and the rest of the stand "plain" as clean as possible. Thanks for the link

oh and BTW I just came from the movies and watched Transformers. Best movie ever! wow that was amazing!

[glennr1978]

Your tank and sump set up looks exactly like mine!!!

[sammy113]

Your tank and sump set up looks exactly like mine!!!

Damn yea.. I'm not copying it! lol Your tank was a inspiration for me. I really like the dimensions when I saw your thread. I've Never seen one before. Also I like the look of the clean stands without all that fancy stuff in the corners and stuff... So mine is going to be something like that. Plain walls and door (not sure if do 1 door or divided to 2 doors) and black laminate I think is called in english?

[glennr1978]

Damn yea.. I'm not copying it! lol Your tank was a inspiration for me. I really like the dimensions when I saw your thread. I've Never seen one before. Also I like the look of the clean stands without all that fancy stuff in the corners and stuff... So mine is going to be something like that. Plain walls and door (not sure if do 1 door or divided to 2 doors) and black laminate I think is called in english?

Wow, thanks!!