New 40 gallon breeder set up help

sleeperls · #1 12/08/2007, 10:21 PM

Ive had bigger reef's in the past with not the best in equipment. Anuf to get by with. I got tired of trying to keep the 125 going after 2 years so i downgraded to a 12 gallon 48w nano i had. After a year of that it is time to have a nice decent sized tank again. Got a great deal from crapco on it so i decided why not.

So here is the plan.

lighting 250 mh pendent with two vho antic's 12 inches from water for good distrabution. No center brace on tank.

sump is a 20 gallon i had on a old 55 gallon set up. works well for what is was even with the old cpr backpack with a modded mj1200.

sand caribsea fiji pink 50 pounds in display and the rest in sump. I'm goin for a deep sandbed in the sump so whatever it takes.

rock dont know yet

Now here is what i need help with. Ive got plenty of powerheads but i want to keep as much open as possable this time with good flow for softy's lps and maybe some lower end sps.

the return is going to be a mag 5 that ive had for years. But i'm going to split it with a pipe going to each corner and then pointing 45 degree's to the center of the tank. What do you guys think.

pic's of tank, stand, really dirty sump and a really dirty overflow

my old pos 125

yellowwatchmen · #2 12/08/2007, 10:39 PM

Welcome to the 40 breeder club. Yes you can split the mag 5 that is what Mr.spiffy did.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1161342
What made you decide on douing an overflow instead of drilling the tank?

sleeperls · #3 12/08/2007, 11:56 PM

because i already have it and dont trust myself drilling the holes.

I did it once in a custom made 55 gallon that had the same size thickness of glass that a standard 125 comes with. I've never had any issues and makes plumbing really easy. I'm going to mod the stand a little and built a canopy for it. Dont want the lights just hanging as cat toys.

The 40 just seems like it will be nice and easy to set up a small reef with a mix of tonga shelf, fiji, and maybe some marshall. dont quite know yet. I prefer getting a little base rock and then picking a nice peice up if i see one i like at the store with good life on it.

I'm not going for anything fancy. Just something easy to maintain and the room for more than one clown fish.

fambrough · #4 12/09/2007, 04:12 PM

Yup. Your plan is fine. Only thing I can think to mention is that the overflow you pictured will not keep up with the mag 5. Make sure you install a valve on your return pipe before the split so you can throttle back the mag. My only other thought is that you do not need 250 watts MH over a 40 br. It is shallow enough that a 150 or 175 would be absolutely fine for softies and LPS. I actually think the 250 might be too much. On the other hand, if you already have the light, rock on. Also, you will need some flow in the tank in addition to the return lines. I've got three Maxi jet 900s on a wave maker power strip in my 40. I don't mind them, but that's just me. Ok so that was three things. I will watch for your progress. Best of luck.

sleeperls · #5 12/09/2007, 09:05 PM

yeah alot of this stuff is left over from old tanks. So im trying to make the most out of them. Plus with the single mh itll just be high off the water anyway so it can get decent light over the whole tank.

I had the overflow on my 125 and the mag 5 kept up with it fine. It was actually perty well matched. but i wont have near the amount of plumbing either. No mater what im putting valves on everything.

as for flow Ive got i dunno prob 5 mj 1200's a few 900's even a couple 400's I really dont want a bunch of stuff hanging in there and since im not drilling I'm hoping with two of the Koralia #2's im not sure yet. Id really like to add a wavemaker to this set up so i dont know. I just know i am done with maxijet suction cups.

I keep actually thinking about buying a tek 4 bulb t5 setup. I'm so all over the place its sad. I'm just happy to be back in a tank i can do something with. Just cant beat the shimmer of a mh tank.

Snowboarda42 · #6 12/09/2007, 10:18 PM

Welcome to the 40B club.

Personally, I'd stick with Metal Halide. You can stick with the 250W, you just need to keep it high off the water and maybe cut back on the photoperiod. Since you're doing a Canopy, look into a T-5 Retrofit Kit as well and get the best of both worlds. I wish I did this.

As far as powerheads go, get the Koralia 2's. I have 2 of them and I love em. Those alone will give you 30x Turnover (600gph each), plus the return pump will add a little more as well.

Since you're at this stage, I would get rid of the 20 Tall and get the 20L. Its MUCH easier to work in under the stand, and you can have a refugium, room for a bigger skimmer, and your pump will still fit. I would go overflow->Skimmer->fuge->return. Definitely go with a refugium of some sort, you won't regret it.

As far as Skimmers go, what are you going to get?

fambrough · #7 12/09/2007, 10:29 PM

Well, sure sounds like you know the drill.

I guess the interesting part will be to watch this thing come togther. What are your stocking plans specifically? The 40 is such a great, easy tank. Please update your thread as you move forward.

Cheers,
Ben

sleeperls · #8 12/10/2007, 12:17 AM

i know it sounds cheasy but the skimmer works well with the sump setup design just a modded cpr backpack that i used to run this sump and the skimmer on my old 55 gallon. The skimmer is on the far left side easy to maintain and adjust if needed, With the over flow drain split into a y and a gate valve on the skimmer side so it stays in that chamber longer. This gives me the room for id say 10-12 gallon refugium on the far right side of the sump with a deep sand bed. It takes a little tuneing but once its tweaked right both sides work very well for me.

On a side note Ive already got it. It has worked for me in the past why change it.

One good thing about owning different sized tanks over the years. Lots of leftover parts.

As far as stocking very very light

Mainly softy's some lps, and i want to try my hand at some lower end sps once i get the tank up and running and stable.

as far as fish

Every time i had to move i sold all my live stock. But on this last move i kept one clown and she is now about 2 years old. She is the only clown ive had that has hosted a bta that was tank raised. Other than her i'm not quite sure. I want this tank to be right so prob other species that you would find along with the clown in the wild but more research needs to be done as i have done none as far as that goes. But a nice rbta will be in there for sure.

Normally ive always just had clowns a tang or two, a blennie, cleanershrimp, and clean up crews.

The key to this tank is low matinence high enjoyment. In the end it'll prob be dominated by softies so even if i let the water quality go for a while i know everything will be allright.

It will take me a while to get everything going. I'm going to run a new outlet just for the tank to the free spaces i have in the new eletical box.

Plus its winter and i hate building things outside when its 0 degree's.