planning 40 breeder sps only. thoughts and opinions appreciated

[PeTe PoLyP]

Just picked up 2 40 breeders at the dollar per gallon sale. So the first step is complete! I was extremely irritated by how this works though. Apparently they treat this sale as an instant manufacturer rebate and stick you with the non sale price tax. Purchase of $80 had taxes of $20.70. Kinda seems illegal, but on the other hand 2 40g tanks for $100 isn't bad.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

More progress... This is chuck from Reef Escapes llc. drilling the first hole successfully. Now its my turn....

 

[Jettareefer]

Pete polyp I run a 20 gallon sump with a reef octopus nwb-110, heater, a mag 7 return I have found space is very limited. With that said I never added baffles or an area for a refugium, but I want Marco algae for nutrient export. What I did was employed pool skimmer basket to put cheato in it with a light above. It work great it's not the prettiest contraption it is functional. Also if your looking a for a decent overflow box glass holes sells complete kits I have used and recommend.
-Addison

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

That's an excellent idea. However, I decided to use another 40 gallon for a sump. Also, I have a local guy who builds overflows, and baffles sumps. I'm going to have him custom build the overflows. Drilling the tank was successful, this was my first attempt at it. I was actually looking at that same skimmer as an option last night. I'm still undecided on any equipment.

 

[Jettareefer]

The reef octopus skimmers a great for the money, I am glad the hear your first drilling experience went well . I have always had good luck with going slow with torque setting on my drill as low as possible! I look forward to seeing more progress.
-Addison

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

The octopus is an option and they are very affordable. I'm still exploring options and would like to find a skimmer that will be the best fit. The problem I'm having is the only skimmers I have found so far are way overkill or less than what I'm wanting. I would like to find one with about 600lph air draw. Everything I have found is around 400-450, and the next size up is 900. I want the skimmer to run efficiently. I'm afraid 900 will be too much and will have lots of downtime.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

How about a reef octopus 1000lss? Would this be too much skimmer for me?

 

[ridetheducati]

1000 will be too big for 60 gallons of water volume.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

The nwb 110 and the hang on back bh90 have lots of similarities. I have read some about the reef octopus, and from what people say, there are better skimmers available. I have been looking at a bubble magus. I'm by far a skimmer expert, for I really know nothing about skimmers. Any suggestions to lead me in the right direction is appreciated. I have not ruled out reef octopus.

 

[small_polyp]

Smaller bubble magus curve5 or a 7..i run a 7 on a 40 breeder n 20 gallon sump...tune it well and itll suit ure purposes

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

What if I decide to go ahead and use biopellets? Should I use a larger skimmer? I have thought about them for a few days. Negative reviews are what is keeping me from pulling the trigger. But then I think back at the horror stories about bioballs etc. sure if you don't care for them properly and are not very experienced you will have problems.

 

[Jettareefer]

Personal experience with biopellet is they can be tricky but it really depends on your bio load to be honest. I have a barebottom tank with the following fish in my 55 purple tang, clown fish, Swiss gaurd basslet, menuluris wrasse, 2x bartlets anthias, possum wrasse, and yellow finned fairy wrasse with now issue and far as water quality goes and I feed heavy.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

So you have 20 some odd inches of fish in a 55? The thing that appeals to me about pellets is the ability to have minimal live rock and sand.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

What I'm having trouble with is having lack of nutrients. For the first year my tank had 0 nitrate. After moving the tank I started to see a little bit (0.5) When this happened my acro, which had no color and very little growth started to grow and color up rapidly. So I'm having a hard time understanding how these low nutrient systems work. The pictures attached are all of the same coral. The first picture was march of last year, the second was 11/19 after the move and after I noticed color. The last picture was taken 11/30. The tank was moved on 11/13. So this transformation was only about 2 weeks.

 

[yano]

The octopus is an option and they are very affordable. I'm still exploring options and would like to find a skimmer that will be the best fit. The problem I'm having is the only skimmers I have found so far are way overkill or less than what I'm wanting. I would like to find one with about 600lph air draw. Everything I have found is around 400-450, and the next size up is 900. I want the skimmer to run efficiently. I'm afraid 900 will be too much and will have lots of downtime.

Tunze DOC 9410 or Delted 1455 are 600lph air draw, and the new BK Double Cone 150 too (more expensive this).

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

how about the bubble magus NAC 5.5? This seems like it could be a good fit for what i want. The only thing I'm not sure about is the needlewheel. Don't these typically have wear over time and lose efficiency?

 

[Ssteve]

I'd recommend getting two wp10's now that they are available. I have one 25 in a 57g opposite a koralia 600 and it's boarder line too much on its lowest setting on else. I think two 10's would be way more than enough for a 40b.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

I currently have one wp-25, one seio superflow 620 and a hob @ 175gph on my 29g. I can't run it on else. I have to use it on the pulse mode. I estimate the flow in that tank somewhere around 1600gph (600 for the seio, 175 for the hob and at the least 800 for wp-25) Putting the seio back into the tank pointing back at the wp-25 from the opposite side allowed me to turn the speed to 1. This will be an sps only tank so extremely heavy flow is not an issue. Although, this is the reason I decided on the barebottom. I think the rating on speed 3 is 800gph, so that would be a 40x per hour turnover.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

So I'm comparing the reef octopus nwb110 and the reef octopus bh90. They have the same pump, and are practically the same thing. The bh90 is a hang on back, the nwb110 is an in sump. This might be the choice I make. I have read some bad reviews about the bubble magus NAC 5.5. Even though I feel the bubble magus would be a better for for me, I don't want something thats going to constantly break.

 

[J_looney4]

So I'm comparing the reef octopus nwb110 and the reef octopus bh90. They have the same pump, and are practically the same thing. The bh90 is a hang on back, the nwb110 is an in sump. This might be the choice I make. I have read some bad reviews about the bubble magus NAC 5.5. Even though I feel the bubble magus would be a better for for me, I don't want something thats going to constantly break.

I have a 40 breeder mag 9.5 nac 3.5( think it's a little small) and external overflow. I'm running biopellets and minimal live rock no fuge.
Pic of the overflow