ViktorVaughn
Community Member
I set up my 40 gallon breeder back on September 3, 2013 putting it at a little over 8 months old. I initially had started a 15 gallon tank in early July 2013 after years of freshwater planted tanks and quickly realized that the size was not going to be nearly enough for the corals and fish I wanted to keep. After a couple months of kicking around the idea of starting a new tank, Petco had a $1/per gallon sale so I jumped on the 40 breeder and transferred everything over. I just wish Petco carried larger tanks than the 55 (hate 55's dimensions) as I am already planning an upgrade within a year or so. My initial equipment consisted of a 2 light coral life T5 light, Reef Octopus BH1000 Hang on Back Skimmer, 3 Hydor Koralia Powerheads (600, 425, 240), and a 150 w heater. The light was the first to go, I quickly realized it wasn't sufficient for keeping coral other than some mushrooms and zoanthids. I upgraded to my current 4 bulb Aquatic Life T5 fixture.
I hated the way all the equipment looked in the tank, between the heater, 3 powerheads, and 2 pumps for my phosban reactor and hang on refugium, it was incredibly distracting and ugly to look at. Wish I would have thought of drilling my tank before I filled it to avoid just this problem and starting it with a sump. Since I did not have the foresight to start with a sump, I had to go the external hang on overflow route. So far, my initial concerns and fears associated with the problems that can arise from HOB overflows are non-existent. I have the CPR CS50 (300 gph) overflow which is different than the traditional U-Tube HOB overflows. It utilizes an air pump to draw the water up over the lip of the over chamber and also start the siphon back up if a power failure were to occur. I have tried simulated numerous power outages and different problems but have yet to get it to fail in the 3 months of operation.
Equipment and Parameters
Light: Aquatic Life T5 4 bulb fixture (ATI Blue Plus x2, ATI Aquablue Special, KZ fiji purple)
Water Movement: Vortech MP10, return flow @ around 300 gph
Filtration: ~50 lbs live rock, Reef Octopus BH1000, Phosban 150 reactor (50 grams changed monthly)
SG-1.026
Temp-77-78 Fahrenheit
pH-8.0-8.2
Alkalinity- 8.7
Calcium- 450 ppm
Magnesium- 1350 ppm
Nitrate/Phosphate- 0 ppm/0.01-0.02 ppm
Progression Pictures and random coral shots
9/21/2013
4/22/2013
10/22/2013
5/02/2014
Random Coral Shots
Guess I'll have to add more pictures a little later I am getting error messages.
I hated the way all the equipment looked in the tank, between the heater, 3 powerheads, and 2 pumps for my phosban reactor and hang on refugium, it was incredibly distracting and ugly to look at. Wish I would have thought of drilling my tank before I filled it to avoid just this problem and starting it with a sump. Since I did not have the foresight to start with a sump, I had to go the external hang on overflow route. So far, my initial concerns and fears associated with the problems that can arise from HOB overflows are non-existent. I have the CPR CS50 (300 gph) overflow which is different than the traditional U-Tube HOB overflows. It utilizes an air pump to draw the water up over the lip of the over chamber and also start the siphon back up if a power failure were to occur. I have tried simulated numerous power outages and different problems but have yet to get it to fail in the 3 months of operation.
Equipment and Parameters
Light: Aquatic Life T5 4 bulb fixture (ATI Blue Plus x2, ATI Aquablue Special, KZ fiji purple)
Water Movement: Vortech MP10, return flow @ around 300 gph
Filtration: ~50 lbs live rock, Reef Octopus BH1000, Phosban 150 reactor (50 grams changed monthly)
SG-1.026
Temp-77-78 Fahrenheit
pH-8.0-8.2
Alkalinity- 8.7
Calcium- 450 ppm
Magnesium- 1350 ppm
Nitrate/Phosphate- 0 ppm/0.01-0.02 ppm
Progression Pictures and random coral shots
9/21/2013
4/22/2013
10/22/2013
5/02/2014
Random Coral Shots
Guess I'll have to add more pictures a little later I am getting error messages.
