Western_reefer
Reef keeper
Hello everyone! I'm currently in the plans of upgrading from my 28 gallon nano cube to a 40 gallon breeder DT with a 30 gallon Breeder sump/fuge/frag tank. The tank will be a mixed reef, SPS/LPS/softies/lots of NPS animals. Most of the NPS stuff will be in overhands/darker areas and under Photosynthetic Corals probably. DT will have 2 x EcoTech Marine MP10 Vortech Propeller Pump w/ EcoSMART Driver, one on each side. Not sure on the skimmer, but I was leaning toward something like SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer. I was thinking about adding ozone, but still doing research about it, so, I'm not sure on that yet. I was thinking about going with as much dry foods as possibly so I could limit the size of a mini frig if needed and use a dry auto feeder for the dry foods. DT lighting will be T-5s/LED's, 4 x 39 watt T-5s with 36" TEK2 T5 Reflectors with Clips by Sunlight Supply and 16 x Cree® XR-E Star LED's. This is what I was thinking about doing for feeding to limit algae growth, to keep SPS happy, and what not. While the DT lights are on(probably like 8 or so hours a day, not sure yet.) feed the tank like 3-4 times while the lights are on and while all the filtration is running, but, when the lights turn off, turn off the carbon reactor and skimmer for the night and turn it back on in them middle of the night for an hour/few hours then turn it back off then turn all the filtration back on like an hour before lights turn back on or something like that, still planning it all out. I was thinking about getting 3 X micron sock filters and put them on a rotation devise, like, just before the lights turn on, an atuomatic system will put a filter sock in front of the drain, so all the water draining into the sump will be filtered, then when the lights go out and the auto feeders start pumping food into the water, the auto sock thing will remove the sock so the water wont be filtered anymore and a new sock will be put in every day so the food clogged in the sock wont foul the water, then ill clean the dirty stocks and replace/repeat. Reason I was thinking about doing the auto filter sock thing is to clean up the water faster when the lights turn on. Thoughts on this idea? The build will be slow and I don't plan on adding NPS stuff for at least 6 month since the tank was set up. Well, I will add a few NPS in the beginning, but the NPS stuff that does not require lots of feedings, probably things like Sun corals, dendros, feather dusters(not feather starfish lol), and such. Anyone got any suggestions on a skimmer I should get, if I should add ozone, or any other filtration/equipment I'll need? Oh, also, I plan on adding auto dosers for cal/alk/mag/top off/liquid NPS foods later on. On the sump, the fuge will be in front of the skimmer and behind the return pump to get as much pods/micro funa into the DT. I also might add a 5 gallon bucket remote deep sandbed if needed/will add benefits? The DT will have Pukani live rock and 3 inches of grey sand.(about 80 LB of sand) I plan on cooking/dipping the pukani live rock I get to make sure I don't get any pests and what not. Here are a few plans I drew. If I'm missing anything or should change anything, please, let me know and share your ideas/opinions. A 40 breeder is 36"long x 18"wide x 16"high and a 30 breeder is 36"long x 18"wide x 12"high. Sorry about the crazy long post lol.
Sump.
Lighting.
Sump.
Lighting.
