40 Breeder Build

Did a water test to see if the overflow leaked through any of the joints. Looks good so far.


I will be using this sand in combination with the 25-30 pounds of established sand that is already in my 29G




Some of the fittings and the masonry bits I will be using to drill holes in the rocks for frags and support rods.












I am pleased so far. I am a little upset my silicone job didn't come out cleaner but the size of the box made it impossible to get good angles for sealing the inside nicely. The outer beads look better but not perfect. Tank is still a little dirty from the powder left over from drilling the tank as well as a few little spots of silicone I need to clean off. I still need to paint the back and get the plumbing figured out which will be a little challenging since the stand I will be using has my running 29G reef on it.
 
I did a similar setup for my 40 breeder except I drilled the bottom and put a corner overflow with grey acrylic. I also added a center brace because I noticed when the tank was full it bowed out almost 1/4".
 
I've heard about some 40 Breeders bowing and I am a little concerned. I am thinking of adding some glass bracing to the top of the tank if it's excessive but I am not even sure how I would go about doing that.
 
Leak test underway. I am filling it directly with my RODI on a very solid work bench. I have nowhere else to leak test it. I plan on leaving it running for a few days then setting it up later in the week.

On a side note the bench is not perfectly level, will that be OK for a leak test? Should I stop filling it?



 
Looks like it was about a 1/4" lower on the right side of the bench. It is now completely full and has been holding water for about 12 hours. I am a little worried about the not so perfect workmanship of the Tetra 40B but so far it's OK. 40+ gallons of water on the floor is my nightmare.
 
I just finished plumbing a tetra tank that i drilled and setup for someone, and we noticed bubbles in the seems of the tank, is that what you are seeing too, when you say the "not so perfect workmanship"?
 
I have not noticed bubbles in the seams of the tank but I will look more closely.

It's more about noticing that the panel alignment isn't so great and there was a small 1/8" spot at the top of one of the seams where the silicone could have been a little better. I squeezed some silicone into the spot and I was happy with what it looked like.

Funny you should mention the bubbles because I found threads discussing a similar issue with Aqueon brand tanks from a few years back. I am going to try and take some pics of my seams when I get home. I really hope they look OK. I feel like I am obsessing over this build a little much but I want to be safe.
 
nemosworld said:
Looking good.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment.

I just realized I never commented on whether or not there were bubbles in the silicone on the tank. I checked while it was still full and there was nothing of note in any of the seams. Is the tank you setup still doing fine?
 
Just wondering, other than cool factor, why did you go through the added expense, materials, time, and worry of ding for the returns? I see this done a lot and just plumbing over the top and then using a little less locline (less $) for the return nozzles seems the better way.
Also, wouldn't a C2C single pane on an angle and only 1" from a many times drilled back glass and external overflow box give the best of all worlds? Only issue is drilling several more but smaller (but easier to drill) holes?
Let me know, btw, I'm just getting back into the hobby after about 8-9 yrs away so I've obviously missed out on a lot of DIY advances over the years.
Bill
 
citrusreefer said:
billzie
could you elaborate a little? I'm just trying to picture what your saying
Click to expand...
If you're referring to the C2C, in the back glass instead of drilling 3 large holes for the beananimal and having a "L" shaped C2C taking up a lot of in tank space, why not drill many smaller holes across the too back glass and use a "\" shaped single pane C2C that might only take up about 1" of tank space across the top and then attach an external box across the outside of the back with the beananimal.
Does this make sense? I'm sure it's been done and talked about here I'd think, I bought a custom tank similar to this almost 9 years ago, but without the C2C and with traditional dursos in the attached box. If what I'm saying is sound and been done, I plan to add the "\" C2C and add the third hole to the extern box for the beananimal.
Let me know, thanks, Bill.
 
@billzie: on the beananimal safe and silent overflow thread there are people who do just what you are suggesting. I am planning on doing the same on my next build late this coming summer.

@JRR1285: it looks good! I haven't had a tank in about 9 months now due to a move and I'm really jonesing for a reef fix :). I'll just have to keep living vicariously through all you reefcentral people until I get to set up my next system in August... BTW, I don't think you need to worry at all about your seams for your internal overflow box. They won't be holding any weight so there is virtually no chance of them failing. Also, are you going to build a cover for the overflow box? If not, how will you prevent it from growing a bunch of algae?
 
billzie said:
If you're referring to the C2C, in the back glass instead of drilling 3 large holes for the beananimal and having a "L" shaped C2C taking up a lot of in tank space, why not drill many smaller holes across the too back glass and use a "\" shaped single pane C2C that might only take up about 1" of tank space across the top and then attach an external box across the outside of the back with the beananimal.
Does this make sense? I'm sure it's been done and talked about here I'd think, I bought a custom tank similar to this almost 9 years ago, but without the C2C and with traditional dursos in the attached box. If what I'm saying is sound and been done, I plan to add the "\" C2C and add the third hole to the extern box for the beananimal.
Let me know, thanks, Bill.
Click to expand...

I thought about doing an external C2C but settled on this because I thought it seemed easier and I was new to adding pieces of glass to an existing aquarium. Will most likely go external next time.

gaberosenfield said:
@billzie: on the beananimal safe and silent overflow thread there are people who do just what you are suggesting. I am planning on doing the same on my next build late this coming summer.

@JRR1285: it looks good! I haven't had a tank in about 9 months now due to a move and I'm really jonesing for a reef fix :). I'll just have to keep living vicariously through all you reefcentral people until I get to set up my next system in August... BTW, I don't think you need to worry at all about your seams for your internal overflow box. They won't be holding any weight so there is virtually no chance of them failing. Also, are you going to build a cover for the overflow box? If not, how will you prevent it from growing a bunch of algae?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it so far.

We were actually talking about the silicone in the tanks main seams as made by Tetra. It seemed OK to me and held water for a few days so I am confident it will be fine. The overflow itself is not going anywhere, it is attached with Dow 795.

My main worry now is that the stand I will be using is not strong enough but that is almost definitely me being paranoid. It has been holding my 29G for over a year and is a rock structurally.

Cdodge1 said:
Love 40 breeders! I have one myself. Looks great so far!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have some new pictures and I am thinking of moving it all over today. I need to mix some water up and get some things figured out first though.
 
I forgot to answer about the top/lid for the overflow. Definitely have considered it but I have not made one yet. Will look into it.

Currently rinsing 40 pounds of sand for the tank. What a pain.




Plumbing is done except for the last 45 elbow and piece of pipe to place it below the water level. I may or may not glue it depending on if it works or not.

 
It's up and running but not without issues of course. A few of my bulkheads were leaking which I did manage to fix. The other issue was that I had a hard time keeping the temp in the tank and sump up so now I am waiting for that to equalize before I add the corals and fish back. I kind of regret doing it right now but hopefully I can get it all in order.
 








It is so quiet all regret is gone. I still need to install the airline in the secondary line but I will do that tomorrow. I have an idea for an internal airline that will be less visible because I don't want to see it sticking out of the top of the "T".

Please excuse the hair algae on the frag rack and the terrible aquascape. I just wanted to get everything safe into the tank. The haze subsides every hour. I really rinsed the sand well but when I added the sand from the 29G it had a ton of small particles in it that blew all around the tank.
 
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