30 gallon breeder?

[bunsmonkey]

i was wondering if a 30 gallon breeder, with its dimensions being 36 x 18 x 12 and i plan on doing a DIY back wall, overflow, fuge and return similar to aquapod, making the display dimensions about 36 x 15 x 12. well anyway my question is will 12 inches be high enough? i plan on using a current usa orbit fixture, probably the 36" with the 96 watt dual daylight & dual actinic. im still looking at some of the satellite fixtures too though. cant make up my mind on the lighting yet. any and all feedback would be great. thanks alot.

 

[YodaHart]

Yes. I think the 30 gallon breeder is the perfect reef tank. I had one once but didn't have the money to set it up. Now I wish I kept it.

 

[bunsmonkey]

so do you think that light fixture would be ok, or would you go with something else? i am also going to run a remora skimmer on it, and a mj 1200 for my return. i just hope my plans on paper work the same as in water. thanks for the reply.

 

[kaserpick]

Dude! Bunsmonkey, that's the same setup I use right now! I love it. I have taken 6" off the back though. I'm also using 96w actinic and 65w 10k PC's (cheap odyssea light). I'm only keeping softies and some LPS corals. Everything is doing great and growing fast. It works great. Here are some shots:

Here's the initial setup during january:

Here's the tank a week ago:

Hope this helps. I'm not skimming right now cause I've only got a six-line wrasse and three shrimp.

Thumbs up!
Kaserpick

 

[bunsmonkey]

great looking tank man. where did you get your rock? so you think i could take 4" off back for my wall, and overflow? i want to run a remora skimmer on mine too. thanks for the pics man it looks great.

 

[kaserpick]

Thanks for compliment man. I got my rock from www.etropicals.com. I think 4" would give you plenty in the back and plenty up front. Let me know how everything goes and if you have anymore questions.

Thumbs up!
Kaserpick

 

[jyoon951]

i've got both 30 breeder and 40 breeder i used to use for turtles. i would prefer the 40 for the extra depth. the 30 just looks to shallow for me. also, you get the extra water volume.

 

[4MB]

I have a 30 breeder thats been up and running between 5-6 weeks. I have the light ficture that you are planning to use also. Here is a pic of what it looked like as of this afternoon.



Just added the toadstool the other day. That has 29 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs live sand. Eventually the center will get filled in with some more live rock to make another cave or two. Also planning on making a mushroom garden in the front section with some ricordia.

 

[bunsmonkey]

very nice!!

 

[4MB]

I hope that gives you an idea about how the height is going to look. I know in the center I can build up another 3 inches or so. Theres also probably 2 inches open behind how the rock is piled up and you can see that there is still a lot of open space in front.

 

[bunsmonkey]

yeah it looks good, does your light look pretty blue because in the pic it doesnt, but i seen a pic with those lights on another tank, and it had a good blue look to it. i thought maybe the picture maybe isnt doing it justice. i really like the arch piece on the left. very cool. man i cant wait, this wait is killing me. i have to sell my house first because i dont want to set up, then move. anyway thanks for the pics, looks great.

 

[4MB]

Later today Ill take a pic with the actinic lights on. And then with both.

 

[4MB]

Heres that pic I said I would get on here.



Just added 2 more pieces of live rock. It was some really light rock as it was only 5.5 pounds for those two pieces. And I think I have to go back tonight or tomorrow to get another piece to tie the top part all together.