Btb72's view of the reef.

[btb72]

Hey all! I have been in the planning stages of putting back together my 120g tank but due to remodeling I have been forced to redesign my tank, while still using equipment that I had for a 120g. Instead I decided to buy a 40g breeder at the $1 per gallon sale. My goals for this tank is to be primarily sps dominated with a few select lps (hammer etc) and a clam or 2.
Equipment list:
Tank- 40 gallon breeder 36x18x17
Sump - 20 gallon long
Lights- 2x radion gen 1 with t5 supplement (haven't bought t5 retrofit yet)
Skimmer- reef dynamic 135
Return- waveline 6000 (turned down and then some)
Dosing pumps- brs 1.1 x3 dosing bed 2 part and mag
Powerheads- I'm not sure what to use here. The powerheads I have are way to strong for this tank. I'm thinking about the new icecap gyre.
Overflow- ghost overflow 1200 gph with bean animal overflow

I just finished building the stand and canopy, now I need to paint it and install
Doors. Waiting on the overflow and doors to arrive and then I'll start the plumbing. Hopefully I can have water in the tank by the end of the month!0

 

[mcgyvr]

Sounds like a good plan.. I really enjoy my 40b mixed reef (no sump)..

 

[btb72]

Here is the final product of the stand/canopy

 

[btb72]

Not sure why it's sideways. Need to open up my photobucket account again

 

[tmantaylor18]

fixed it for ya

 

[Reefer40b]

Love my mixed reef 40b and 20L sump combo, perfect in my opinion.

 

[btb72]

fixed it for ya

Thanks! Ya can't wait to get the doors in and put those on and paint the sucker!

 

[btb72]

Well just sold off all of my radions, going to get a 6x39 ati t5. I'm just trying to decide to get either the dimmable or non dimmable unit. The unit will be inside of a hood about 9 inches off the water so won't be able to lower/raise to adjust par intensity. Any suggestions would be great. Never had a t5 unit before.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

I really feel like T5s are such a "non harsh" light, lacking the hotspots of LEDs, that it is hard to induce photo inhibition and bleaching. You can just reduce the photo period if things are too high, but I think you'd be fine. I have some acros (the real light-loving ones) about 10" from might light in the water. They have really started to color up since switching from LED.

I am building a tank right now and am leaning against a canopy because I have heard of performance problems with the T5 fixture when overheating. Have you seen many people running ATI fixtures in hoods successfully?

 

[btb72]

The hood would be completely open on the top and back. So airflow wouldn't be a problem. Especially since I think I am going with the 24" version. Plenty of freedom all around the fixture.

 

[btb72]

Goodies arrived today! My ati 6x24 and my spears fare valve so I can finally paint the stand and drill the aquarium for plumbing!

 

[btb72]

Update time...
Finished painting the stand, plumbing, and organizing the equipment. Now I am cycling the tank. Ordering fish soon to quarantine for a few weeks and finally happy to get a tank again. Been way too long (5 years I'm guessing now..)




And here is my old 140g corner tank I grew up with


I learned a lot from this tank on what not to do haha.

 

[Reefnub]

Nice looking aquascape!
It might look even better if you pull that big rock on the left a few inches out to separate it and create a channel.

 

[btb72]

Nice looking aquascape!
It might look even better if you pull that big rock on the left a few inches out to separate it and create a channel.

Thanks! I sorta had a vision and put the rocks in and it came out pretty much how I was wanting. The ghost overflow really helps with aquascaping. But you can't tell but there is a channel on the left side also. I like having caves and tunnels for the fish and to add depth to the tank.

 

[Reefnub]

Thanks! I sorta had a vision and put the rocks ina me it came out pretty much how I was wanting. The ghost overflow really helps with aquascaping. But you can't tell but there is a channel on the left side also. I like having caves and tunnels for the fish and to add depth to the tank.

Yeah, you did a really good job with the limited space. :thumbsup:

 

[btb72]

Thanks

 

[reefmutt]

Wow! Nice job on that cabinet and nice scape!
Looking forward to seeing his baby grow.

 

[btb72]

Wow! Nice job on that cabinet and nice scape!
Looking forward to seeing his baby grow.

Thanks! I am qt the fish right now and am probably going to order the corals in a couple months let my tank mature a little before adding sps to it. This will be my first sps tank so I am sure I'm going to be struggling here or there. Hopefully in the 7/8 years of stalking this forum I've picked up from everyone here to make sure it goes off good. Being an airline pilot i have had to plan accordingly with my schedule of being gone for 4/5 days at a time. Thankfully my wife knows enough of what to do but asked me to automate pretty much all of it. I obliged that request (I don't think she realized how much all the toys cost haha)

 

[reefmutt]

A wife who asks you to automate as much as possible is a keeper in my books!

 

[hbrochs]

Beautiful job so far!

Just a thought for you.
I have the ATI Sunpower and one of the nice features is the ability to easily tweak the height of the fixture when it's hanging. I bet you could run a bar across the top of your canopy and hang it from the bar. Also, you could hang it from the ceiling and let it float inside the canopy. When you want to take the canopy off to get in the tank for maintenance u just zip the light up and the canopy should be much easier to move.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk