40 Breeder Reef Build

[sherief.elsayed]

Nice start.



On my 40 breeder now I have 2 850's and 2 425's controlled by my ReefAngel controller. The 825's are on during the day randomly on/off 25 - 60 seconds. They shut off at 2000 and the 2 425's kick on doing similar rotations. I figured at night things are usually calm in the ocean so this gives them a break.



I'm not a huge fan of the larger power heads in the water and may eventually get the new gyre 130. We'll see.

You won't be disappointed, just got mine on my 90
Gallon and that little guy pushes water. Not as customizable as the mp models, but great in many other ways. Put away the 3 pumps that I had and seeing how it goes. So far it's pretty awesome!

 

[Cdodge1]

Reminds me of my old 40B, almost the same rockscape! Looking forward to see how this turns out!

 

[spkennyva]

Nice system! I wish I had gone with a bigger sump like you're using. I have a very similar system and agree with everyone that you don't have enough flow. Here's my system:

40B with 15 gal custom sump

• SCA 302 skimmer
• 2 165 watt Chinese led fixtures
• GFO and Carbon canisters
• Mag 9 return pump with a custom spreader bar positioned at the bottom behind the rock to get flow up underneath the rocks.
• In-tank flow: 2 Koralia Evolution 850GPH and one old school 802 powerhead
• filter sock (cleaned at least twice per week)
• 2-part alk and calcium dosing
• RO/DI for everything
• custom ATO

So, as you can see, I have a lot more flow than you and its really not too much, so seriously consider alternate ways to increase your flow.

My system has been running for 18 months and I found that a sand bed was a real pain and led to problems. I recently removed it and things seem to be improving.

I also think that your lights should grow anything you want. Just research bulb selection.


Good luck!

 

[Darth_Tater]

Wow, thanks for all the recommendations! It gave me lots of things to research during my very boring day at work yesterday (don't tell the boss!).

I have been convinced to go for a skimmer, probably the SCA 301 as has been recommended a couple times. All the reviews I read seemed very positive. Any serious reliability issues with these anyone knows of?

I'll get more flow before adding coral. Either two Jebao RW8s or one of the XF130s if I can afford it. Those gyre generators look pretty awesome! I'm hoping to make a completely unrelated major purchase this afternoon that I've been planning for a while, so I'll see what the bank account looks like after that.

I'm seriously thinking about removing the DSB from my sump and just having rock and algae. It would add a good 5 gallons to system capacity and give me more room for equipment and if I re-plumb the drains would hopefully mitigate my "bubbles getting stuck in the return pump" issue by giving more time for the bubbles to reach the surface.

I still think there is something wrong with my siphon. I've got a 1 inch drain pipe with the ball valve wide open on siphon and it's not keeping up with my return pump. I also get a popping noise from the bulkhead if the water level in the overflow gets lower than the top of the bulkhead (sounds like something sucking air through a gasket). Any suggestions?

 

[jeffdenney]

I run a 40b with a 20g sump...

I have two rw4's wish i would have gotten 8's..
Jebao dc9000 return at 90%
Swc180 skimmer
Fuge has live rock, no sand
Bean animal overflow
153w of diy led controlled by typhon board+ 2 39w t5ho
300w heater
Jbj ato

I have some zoas, disco mushrooms, gsp, and a monti cap that i got for free..

All coral are doing pretty well. I dose cal,alk, and mag very small amounts after wc.

I dont have any fish yet because im piecing together tank transfer method equipment...

You can find tons of great deals on used equipment in the sale section...
I got my swc 180 for $120!!

 

[HM3105]

I still think there is something wrong with my siphon. I've got a 1 inch drain pipe with the ball valve wide open on siphon and it's not keeping up with my return pump. I also get a popping noise from the bulkhead if the water level in the overflow gets lower than the top of the bulkhead (sounds like something sucking air through a gasket). Any suggestions?

Any chance we can get some pics of the return setup including the overflow box?

Also, what size pump do you have I can't seem to find the specs for a Quiet One 8000.

 

[FraggledRock]

wow! nice aquascape on that first shot!

 

[Darth_Tater]

wow! nice aquascape on that first shot!

Thanks! I'm quite fond of it.

Any chance we can get some pics of the return setup including the overflow box?

Also, what size pump do you have I can't seem to find the specs for a Quiet One 8000.

How do I get it to show who said the quote and which post it's from?

I fibbed, it's a Quiet One 3000 pump (graph from Drs Foster and Smith website). It has adjustable flow and is on full right now (Q1 curve):

All pipe is 1", bulkheads are also 1". The emergency line has the air tube attached at the top (that for some reason I just noticed has water sitting in it... luckily not flowing water). I had to use irrigation elbows inside the overflow since regular 1" 90s were too wide and wouldn't fit. Debated taking the siphon elbow off inside the overflow. The drain lines are sitting 1.5 - 2 inches below waterline in the sump right now. Any lower and they are above water when the system restarts and then the siphon won't start.

And here is picture overload! Apparently you can only attach 5 per post...

 

[Darth_Tater]

All of the little bubbles you see in the sump are coming out of the siphon line. If that's normal then it's fine and I'll figure something out, but it doesn't seem like it should be normal to me.

 

[Darth_Tater]

Any chance we can get some pics of the return setup including the overflow box?

Also, what size pump do you have I can't seem to find the specs for a Quiet One 8000.

Ha! I figured it out.

 

[footyreefer]

Do you have room in your sump for the SCA 302?

 

[Darth_Tater]

If I pull out the DSB like I think I will it probably would fit, but won't that be complete overkill?

 

[itzonlithai]

If I pull out the DSB like I think I will it probably would fit, but won't that be complete overkill?

The SCA 301 should be fine. The 302 would be overkill, but some people like oversized skimmers due to a heavy bioload. If you don't have the bioload to support the skimmer, it'll be very inconsistent.

 

[footyreefer]

The SCA 301 is rated for 65 ish gallons. The 302 is rated for 150 or something like that. I always recommend going a little bit bigger.

 

[Darth_Tater]

Ok, time for a short update. I've added some snails and 3 little hermits as a clean up crew. Will mostly stick to snails, the hermits are just there because I like inverts! Nitrites never spiked again after adding them and with a 10% water change on Saturday my nitrates dropped below 5.

I plan on another 5% water change this Friday and I'll probably buy my first saltwater fish! Will see how the bio handles that and then if things are good think about trying to find a Pajama Cardinal Pair, and then maybe look for some softies or Zoas to add while waiting for the sand bed to be mature enough to add a goby (all subject to how out of control nitrates get without a skimmer of course). I plan on adding Zoas down right in front of where my two powerheads are currently so hopefully they'll have enough flow until I get more water movement. Do Zoas need to be attached to rock or will they be ok on the sand?

I purchased my new toy last week and between that and paying off my student loans last month my savings account is looking kinda small. I'll let it recover for a month or two and then still planning on additional water movement and a skimmer. I think this thing was worth making the tank wait a bit though:


Also, anyone able to ID this? It came in on some live rock I bought off a guy that was tearing down his tank. I'm afraid it's bubble algae but I've not been able to find a picture of bubble algae that is this light in color...

 

[koko maung]

If you got SCA 301, can you share your experience? Is it noisy? I will be setting up 40B in my bed room so I need a quite skimmer.

 

[Darth_Tater]

Well, another update.

Good news first, I bought my first saltwater fish! A firefish. It's been in the tank since Saturday afternoon and has been hiding most of the time, but I did get it to eat a few NLS pellets. After being in there all weekend I've still got 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates.

And now for the not good news, I think I've got bryopsis. It should be starving since it doesn't have any nitrogen source, but it won't go away. The snails took a big chunk out of it before it got long but can't do much with it now. Luckily I was waiting until today to try to find some cool zoas, so there's nothing photosynthetic in the tank, so I'm thinking about trying a blackout for a few days. Anyone try this method before that's had success? In freshwater planted tanks it only took a few days so I'm thinking maybe a week just for good measure. I can put the macroalgae in a separate container with a light on it during the blackout.

Also on the not so great news, I think I'm going to end up getting a different pump. This one is starting to drive me insane. Thinking about the Eheim 1260. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks in advance for the input!

 

[Darth_Tater]

If you got SCA 301, can you share your experience? Is it noisy? I will be setting up 40B in my bed room so I need a quite skimmer.

I haven't bought one yet, but there are lots of reviews on it that say it's very quiet.

 

[Darth_Tater]

Ok, time for an update I guess. I got my new pump and the Maxspect XF130. Both are working great, and the loudest thing on this tank is now the computer fan in the light!

The XF130 is not quite what I was hoping, but I think it will work great in the setting it's in now. Pulse mode at about 60% power, 3-ish second pulses. Not enough current to blow sand, but enough to create some really good turbulence.

My firefish really appreciates the new Eheim pump. The old pump was creating so much vibration it never came out of it's hiding spot. I'm honestly surprised it's still alive since I've only been able to feed it about once a week until yesterday.

I'm going to continue running without a skimmer unless I see a reason not to. Oh, I also pulled the DSB out of my fuge (not as easy as I'd hoped, even with a really powerful shop vac) which added a good 5 gallons of extra water.

So now for some terrible cell phone pics of new acquisitions! Any confirmations on ID would be appreciated.

I believe this is a Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoa. There's also an Acan at the top left I got for free so figured I'd give it a try:



Gold Dust Paly:



Favia/Brain/War Coral? It's cool whatever it is!



Maze Brain:



Sunny D Paly:



Birdsnest:



Green Hammer. I may have to move it into a lower current area. It's only been in the tank for a few hours, but everything else has fully opened:



And a current FTS:



I also have a hitchhiker I believe is a Ricordea.

I'm debating changing my bulb selection in the light fixture. It's currently a 10k, Actinic, Actinic, Actinic, Pink Freshwater (to try to make the reds pop a bit more). As you can see from the pictures, the pink adds a LOT of pink.

You can also see from the FTS that I'm still battling algae. It seems to be shrinking instead of growing, so hopefully it was just a case of new tank syndrome!

 

[MizTanks]

40 Breeder Reef Build

Hmmmm kinda strange. I too have the XF-130 on my 40B, placed like yours. No way can I go higher then 30%. At 40% almost blew the water out of my tank.