2x 20 H or 1x 40 breeder?

[swords]

So I'm getting ready for the time that Petco runs their $1 per gallon sale again - seems like they do it every other month or so. I was curious about what sort of setup you folks think would be best out of the following two scenarios if you had to pick one out of the two for coral only reef rubble/sand and Frag rack style tanks:

 

Option #1 two 20H tanks 24 x 12 x 16 set end to end under 220 W 4x 48" tubes (20,000 lumens) of T5HOs

AC 50 or 70 DIY refugium on each

1 nano powerhead in each

 

 

Option #2 one 40 gallon breeder 36 x 18 x 16 with 2x 96 Watt 33" tubes (16,000 lumens) PL tubes

AC110 DIY refugium

2 nano powerheads I can plug into an old fashioned wave timer power strip

 

Either option will have glass covers & close lights.

 

I can do a dawn/dusk & daylight augmented with some 420 nm Blue LED screw in spot lamps I bought for growing plants a long time ago (in 2007?) so they probably aren't great for growth compared to the expensive focused LED sets they have today, but I'm sure but will make nice night viewing popping colors on the wild color morph frags I want to get. I just thought it was too ridiculous to grow my carnivorous plants and orchids with what seem like "traffic lights" so i never used them. I plugged one each of the red and blue lights in once laughed really hard and then put them back in the box the guy shipped them in! But if I can use the blue ones here it would be worth it to have save them all these years.

 

But what do you guys think tank options #1 or #2?

[1fishmonger]

20H tanks suck. If you're getting 20's - Go with 20 longs. That said, given your two options - I'd definitely go 40B.

[JerseyChick]

40 Breeder!!! Less of a pain in the a$$ in the long run, and easier maintenance dimensions

[skimlessinseattle]

I would go with a 40B as well. I have 2 empty ones atm that I am developing plans for, and am looking forward to setting them up. Any reason your plans were for T5HO on the 20H and only PC on the 40B? I am considering an LED build for my 40B's.

[swords]

Thanks for the input folks, looks like the 40B is popular! Why do people like the 20Ls? 30 inches is hard to fit lights properly aren't they? I like the bulbs to go from end to end and not over and not less if possible, I have 2x 65W PLs (23"L tubes or so) over a 30" L vivarium and I don't like the low light on the ends of the tank.

 

On my light choices for the corals:

I have T5HO & PL fixtures onhand from other vivarium projects over the years, all I have to do is buy some nice coral spectrum bulbs to go in them. But I choose these size fixtures for the options cos they fit well over the tank choices. 48"L T5HOs over 2x 24" L tanks (=48") and the 33" PLs over the 36"L 40B. I'd be wasting a foots worth of light using the 48" T5HOs over the 40B . I'm breeding an undescribed group of red jungle crabs (Geosesarma sp. "red") in a 40B and I hate the fact I'm wasting the lights hanging off the end of the tank without enough lamp space to put another vivarium big enough for any creatures or plant terrariums on the end. The T5 HO lights are nice over the tank I just hate to waste the light.