CWebHokie
New member
The dual 40 gallon breeders project has been in progress for a while, so I decided to post some pics. (Right before I slide a 75 gallon in place of one of the 40's) It is far from done but I have made a lot of progress, with a lot of time, money and an immeasurable amount of help from Matt (manderx).
For those not up speed, I wanted to have 2 identical sized tanks, hooked up to the same 30 gallon sump with different lighting on the 2 tanks. The first tank, which is pretty much done, is the softie/LPS/zoanthid tank. This 40 breeder is lit by a 36" Aquatinics T-5 fixture. (Awesome unit by the way.) The other 40 breeder, which is nowhere close to done, is going to be the SPS dominant tank. This was to be lit by 2 175 watt metal halides and 2 3ft VHO's. That was until I came across a free 75 gallon. (SCORE!!!) So, now I have decided to slide out that 40, toss the 75 in the mix, use the same lighting and rock out. I just need to drill the 40, and build another canopy for the lights. (I never finished the 1st canopy.)
Things have been rolling right along lately though. I finally got my skimmer, a Tunze 9010. (Thanks to HOC @ UA in Salem) This is an awesome skimmer as long as you don't have an overloaded system over 125 gallons give or take. It is very small and produces a lot of nasty goodness. (If that makes any sense...)
I got my Aquacontroller Jr. about a month ago. I still haven't setup all of the features but hope to this week. About 300 bones gets you the unit, the DC-8 (an 8 plug controlled surge protector), the temp probe, pH probe, & serial cable. This is an all in one box that can control everything from temp, ph, lights, powerheads to auto topoff. It seems like a lot to spend on one item till you realize how many eggs you can put in that one $300 basket.
I am still waiting on the pair of 6055 nanostreams with the controllers. (That may be a while, since Tunze is having troubles rolling them out.) I have a feeling that this will be an effective solution for those that want the performance of a Tunze Stream that do not have a tank big enough to house one.
Now to the pictures... I apologize up front for my photos, they are the best I could get with my Kodak Easyshare. Who has the money for a DSLR when they are dumping all their extra cheddar into a tank??
Here is the layout of the tanks. My apartment is weird. The T-5 tank sits directly in front of the toilet in my extra bathroom & the MH SPS tank is in the master suite/ poker room/ equipment storage room, with the sump sitting in between the two.
Here is the mostly done, softie/LPS/zoainthid T-5 tank.
Here is the SPS tank, which will be switched out for the 75. I do not have the metal halides on it yet. It is really just some rock, sand, a scopas tang and some frags from the other tank that were having algae issues. (The tang is an awesome picker.) The tank is currently lit by my 96 watt PC. (Can't believe I have used that P.O.S. for as long as I have.)
A couple of pics of the skimmer. I love this undersized beast.
After about 3 hours in the tank.
Just dumped tonight, about 5 days of nasty nog. (This mess smelled like pure feces.)
I will post some more pictures in a few minutes, this post is getting kind of long...
For those not up speed, I wanted to have 2 identical sized tanks, hooked up to the same 30 gallon sump with different lighting on the 2 tanks. The first tank, which is pretty much done, is the softie/LPS/zoanthid tank. This 40 breeder is lit by a 36" Aquatinics T-5 fixture. (Awesome unit by the way.) The other 40 breeder, which is nowhere close to done, is going to be the SPS dominant tank. This was to be lit by 2 175 watt metal halides and 2 3ft VHO's. That was until I came across a free 75 gallon. (SCORE!!!) So, now I have decided to slide out that 40, toss the 75 in the mix, use the same lighting and rock out. I just need to drill the 40, and build another canopy for the lights. (I never finished the 1st canopy.)
Things have been rolling right along lately though. I finally got my skimmer, a Tunze 9010. (Thanks to HOC @ UA in Salem) This is an awesome skimmer as long as you don't have an overloaded system over 125 gallons give or take. It is very small and produces a lot of nasty goodness. (If that makes any sense...)
I got my Aquacontroller Jr. about a month ago. I still haven't setup all of the features but hope to this week. About 300 bones gets you the unit, the DC-8 (an 8 plug controlled surge protector), the temp probe, pH probe, & serial cable. This is an all in one box that can control everything from temp, ph, lights, powerheads to auto topoff. It seems like a lot to spend on one item till you realize how many eggs you can put in that one $300 basket.
I am still waiting on the pair of 6055 nanostreams with the controllers. (That may be a while, since Tunze is having troubles rolling them out.) I have a feeling that this will be an effective solution for those that want the performance of a Tunze Stream that do not have a tank big enough to house one.
Now to the pictures... I apologize up front for my photos, they are the best I could get with my Kodak Easyshare. Who has the money for a DSLR when they are dumping all their extra cheddar into a tank??
Here is the layout of the tanks. My apartment is weird. The T-5 tank sits directly in front of the toilet in my extra bathroom & the MH SPS tank is in the master suite/ poker room/ equipment storage room, with the sump sitting in between the two.
Here is the mostly done, softie/LPS/zoainthid T-5 tank.
Here is the SPS tank, which will be switched out for the 75. I do not have the metal halides on it yet. It is really just some rock, sand, a scopas tang and some frags from the other tank that were having algae issues. (The tang is an awesome picker.) The tank is currently lit by my 96 watt PC. (Can't believe I have used that P.O.S. for as long as I have.)
A couple of pics of the skimmer. I love this undersized beast.
After about 3 hours in the tank.
Just dumped tonight, about 5 days of nasty nog. (This mess smelled like pure feces.)
I will post some more pictures in a few minutes, this post is getting kind of long...
