50 Gallon Peninsula Build (formerly known as 40 Gallon Peninsula Build)

[Protandrous niña]

Hello everyone. Even though I am not going to start work on my aquarium for 7-8 months, I thought that I would check in with my current plan/livestock lists and see if there are any recommendations or ideas.
Tank:

• 40 gallon breeder in a peninsula layout (one end will be facing a wall and acting as a room divider)
• 20 gallon tank for the sump

Equipment:

• Protein Skimmer: IOAOI PS-75 HOB skimmer
• Circulation Pumps: 3X Jebao CWP-5000 (two for the tanks, one for mixing up water)
• Lighting: Fluval Sea LED (I know that this light isn't the strongest but I am only going to have a few soft corals and fish, nothing light demanding)
• Heater: 2X 50 watt Fluval heater
• Overflow: Bulk Reef Supply medium overflow box (planning on drilling the tank myself)
• Return Pump: hygger 800 gph return pump
• Activated carbon and polyfilter as needed
• Possibly filter socks or filter foam

40 lbs dry rock
40 lbs dry aragonite sand
10 lbs live rock
20 lbs live aragonite sand

Fish/inverts

• Chalk bass
• Royal gramma
• 2X ocellaris clownfish
• Banggai cardinal
• Banded shrimp goby/tiger pistol shrimp pair
• Firefish
• Skunk cleaner shrimp
• Trochus and cerith snails

Corals

• Mushroom polyp
• Colt coral
• Xenia
• Green star polyp
• Devils finger
• Zoanthids

Thank you

 

[Reefing102]

Looks like a good plan. I don’t know much about the Fluval Sea light so hopefully it’s strong enough as I’m not seeing much in the way of par numbers

 

[griss]

Sounds like a plan. Like Shane said, I question the lighting choice. I don’t know much about the fluval lights but it’s only 32 watts. I would think (I’m not an LED user) you could get something stronger at that price point.

 

[griss]

I’m not sure your budget, but there’s an open box Lominie Pixie 80 (or P80) on eBay for $125.

That would give you 75-80 watts in case you wanted to increase your light intensity. Again, I know next to nothing about LEDs as I’m just starting to research them.

FWIW, I have a 40 breeder and am running a 175 watt 10k metal halide and a 36” 30 watt actinic LED light strip.

ETA: I only know about the Lominie’s as I’ve been looking at their P150. I’m eventually going to run out of metal halide bulbs which no one makes for reefs anymore. So, I’m trying to figure out a budget full spectrum LED.

 

[kharmaguru]

Lighting: Fluval Sea LED

There are some better options that are more future proof if you do some research (when you get the itch for more demanding corals). As an example here's some new old stock that I'm considering a couple of myself. Much higher build quality and intensity for a low risk price.

Euroquatics Angel 95 Watt Aquarium Light | eBay

Does this 40 gallon have a center brace on top? Also a factor in lighting selection, in which case you might prefer two smaller lights to a single big one.

Heater: 2X 50 watt Fluval heater

I would go 2 x 100 or a single 200 but that also depends on where you live.

 

[Protandrous niña]

Thank you, I'll make sure to look into those. I haven't purchased any of the equipment yet and am just in the early phases or research, so everything on my list is flexible. I am definitely going to use the larger heaters now that you point that out, our winters are pretty cold up here.

 

[griss]

We’re here to help. Love your Chalk Bass avatar, one of my my favorite fish.

 

[Protandrous niña]

Update:
Picked up a secondhand non-tempered 50 gallon aquarium this weekend for $50. I decided to get a 50 because it would fit the space better and I will have more volume to play with.

 

[griss]

Nice, can’t wait to see the progress.

 

[Dustin07]

Subscribing!

 

[Protandrous niña]

Just got a box of South Seas base rock. Looking forward to four months of aquascape planning while I wait for the remodel to be done!

 

[Protandrous niña]

Tank is drilled and stand is complete. Next steps: lime wash and leak tests!

 

[Protandrous niña]

Also, there are a couple of small clam shell like chips in one corner. Neither one is very deep (like 1/4th-3/8ths of the thickness of the glass at the deepest point). I was wondering about the best practice for filling these holes (for mostly cosmetic reasons). Would aquarium silicone work?

Thanks for any help

 

[griss]

Also, there are a couple of small clam shell like chips in one corner. Neither one is very deep (like 1/4th-3/8ths of the thickness of the glass at the deepest point). I was wondering about the best practice for filling these holes (for mostly cosmetic reasons). Would aquarium silicone work?

Thanks for any help

Can you post some pictures of these chips?

 

[Protandrous niña]

 

[griss]

I've never dealt with something like that before. I wonder if you could use something like this to fill in the chips?

 

[Protandrous niña]

I saw similar recommendations on other forums. It'd be interesting to see how those kits work on corners, but I'd imagine if I solved that problem something like that would work pretty well.

 

[griss]

I saw similar recommendations on other forums. It'd be interesting to see how those kits work on corners, but I'd imagine if I solved that problem something like that would work pretty well.

Yeah, I was wondering about the corners as well.

 

[Protandrous niña]

Progress!
(also, don't mind the copper pipes in the background of the third picture, that's part of the house's heating system. I'm not running an invert poisoning operation here )

Next steps are siliconing in the weir and baffles, and finishing the return plumbing.

 

[Reefing102]

Looking great!