40 Gallon Breeder reef tank build...

M

mmittlesteadt

New member
I'm new to the forum, but after a brief introduction here, I am starting a thread to show progress on my 40 gallon breeder tank.

I don't have room for a larger tank, so I realize I have to keep the size in mind regarding stocking. I am taking my time with this. While I am accumulating the necessary equipment, I am fixing up a cheap All Glass stand and building a canopy for it.

I already have an Eshopps PSK-100 Skimmer, a BRS 4 stage 75g/D RODI and a dual 3 foot flourescent light fixture. I plan on adding two more LED light strips as well and a powerhead among many other things.

Below is a pic of my refurbed stand and canopy. The stand had no lip around the top edge to frame in the tank bottom, so I added that as well as more trim along the bottom. The canopy does not have a lid to open, but it is very lightweight (though braced) and easily lifts off to work with the tank. The entire stand and canopy will be painted black and then faux finished to look like dark red/maroon granite.

I plan on only keeping soft corals, inverts and a few fish. I'm kind of new to reefkeeping so I'm reading up, asking lots of questions and taking my time.

cabinet.jpg
 
noj3333 said:
Good start so far... 40 gallon breeder is a very good tank for a reef.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have a 65 gallon tank, but I don't like the height of it and don't have the room for anything larger at this time.

I thought the 40 breeder was of sufficient size to provide some water stability and giving me room to create a small reef...without breaking the bank...or my marriage. LOL. Although my wife is very supportive and loves the look of reef tanks.
 
you should think about drilling the tank for an overflow, and adding a sump (unless I just can't see the overflow in the pic).
 
I agree about the 40b.
Using one a QT for the survivors of an ich outbreak in a 125 I purchased up and running.
Every day I think this has great dimensions for a reef.
Hmmmm, what would the wife say ........
 
noj3333 said:
you should think about drilling the tank for an overflow, and adding a sump (unless I just can't see the overflow in the pic).
Click to expand...

I'm going to forego a sump. I plan on adding a HOB power filter, but it will only be used for things like phosphate absorbing packs, or activated carbon, etc. The protein skimmer will be my filtration.

I thought about a sump, but really it's just overkill and difficult to manage in the cabinet I have.
 
Here's a few updated progress pics of the stand and canopy. I'm just painting them gloss black now before faux finishing them.

Note that it looks like there is plenty of room for a sump, but the center braces are really more in the way. This is just a cheap All Glass stand. It is solid and will hold the tank just fine...I just wanted to dress it up more and add a canopy.

The stand with doors off...

stand.jpg


The doors. Note they are the slotted boards of those cheaper AG stands...

doors.jpg


Because of the slotted doors, I created a similar pattern in the canopy front...

canopy.jpg


These will be treated with a dark red faux finish so they look like dark red granite.
 
Nice, just started a 40 breeder build myself. I decided to go with a sump for my 3rd salty tank ever. I'm using a 20 long for the sump.
 
mandarin_goby said:
Nice setup, I'll be following! I love the dimensions of 40bs.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I do too. I can't have a much larger tank. And I do have a 65 gallon that has an identical footprint, but for a reef I prefer the lower height of the 40 gallon breeder.

I might possibly setup my 65 gallon as a freshwater tank for Discus, or maybe even a saltwater FOWLR...but that's in the future.

For now I really love the width and depth (front to back) of this 40 Breeder.

I got the first step of the faux finish painted on over the black of the stand, canopy and doors. Here's a few pics in poor lighting...

Canopy close-up...

faux1.jpg


Stand at a distance (sans doors)...Note the added trim to the top and bottom of the stand (you can see the trim added to the stock black stand at the top of my thread)...

faux2.jpg
 
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We have new carpeting coming in this week (hopefully within the next couple of days) so I'm hoping to get this all set up in the newly remodeled living room this week yet.

Then I can start thinking of actually doing something with the tank itself. We just got some new rock in (not live rock) so I can start playing with aquascaping soon.
 
Finally got the stand and canopy built and painted. The new carpet is in and after a bit of furniture moving the tank and stand are now sitting, ready to go. It's all level (with a little bit of shimming, but not much).

I'm going to take my time planning some aquascaping with some rock shelves that are coming in, so I'll just keep reading meanwhile. No rush to get water in it. Just taking my sweet time with it.

Here's a pic of the new tank, stand and canopy...

ec.jpg
 
Very nice! I am running a 40B as a reef and love the size and room of the tank. One word of caution would be that if you are going sumpless, keep an eye on the build up of organics and 'stuff' on the water surface. You'll be surprised how much can build up and block some light into the tank.
 
fraggin corals said:
Very nice! I am running a 40B as a reef and love the size and room of the tank. One word of caution would be that if you are going sumpless, keep an eye on the build up of organics and 'stuff' on the water surface. You'll be surprised how much can build up and block some light into the tank.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm going to be running an Eshopps HOB PSK100 skimmer, a HOB power filter (circulation only and if necessary act. carbon, phosphate removal, etc.), a 1000gph circulation pump.

I also will not be adding very many fish to this. I'm more interested in all the other creatures. This will not be a tank packed with too much of anything. I want it to look like a huge tank by maximizing positive and negative space, rather than overstocking it.

This is a quick sketch of my aquascaping idea thus far...lots of shelves in kind of a spiral staircase, which will add more hiding spots and places to put coral without crowding the tank with lots of rock that would create dead spaces. Of course it will change once I get the rock and see what I have to work with. Realistically, there won't be that many shelves...this is just an idea in progress with this sketch being the first one that came to mind. I won't even put the rockwork in my tank until I have it planned out very well. My idea is to provide maximum filtration and circulation, but a minimum of life requiring it.

reefsketch.jpg
 
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I like your aquascaping plan. Open with lots of potential for coral placement.... plus shadows and hiding spots. Nice.
 
Thanks. I'm really liking this rock design (I found here) as the base, but want to add some spiral staircase shelves around it. Kind of a mix of this pic and my sketch.

this.jpg
 
I played around with that pic in photoshop and came up with something like this. It will be more open than this, because I think the one on the right is still too chunky. I'll open it up more and add more hollows and tunnels throughout it.

design.jpg
 
My tank still sits empty while I plan this out. My LFS (which happens to be in an Ace Hardware where I run the Frame Shop and get everything at cost...;)) is getting me some customized shelf rock, made to order for me from Bulk Reef Supply.

I'm still waiting on my RODI system from there as well (should be in this week). I'm in no rush to even fill my tank with water. I'm just enjoying the process as this takes shape. Being an artist, aquascaping is my favorite part of the whole thing. I used to do it a lot with FW planted tanks too...thinking about how the plants would grow out and what it could look like down the road. This design has to also take into account what the corals will look like, so I'm still researching different corals now as well.
 
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