Zach Smith
Active Member
Ok so here goes a little about me. I'm that guy that is all or nothing and nothing can be done in moderation or easing into it so to speak! I know what you all are thinking but I learned the hard way that patience is a must in this hobby! I still struggle with it which is why I'm now building a 40 breeder 2 months after getting back into the hobby and 3 tanks later! I had 20 tanks at one point in time prior to going to the dark side. I use to breed discus and that was rewarding and challenging both at the same time. About 4 years ago I got my first saltwater tank. I went with a marineland 75 rr. Overall it was a nice tank but between work and life I ended up selling my home moved into an apartment and sold all saltwater and fresh equipment in 2016. Fast forward to January of this year. I was probing around on some old Facebook pics and saw my tanks. I was just reflecting on some things in my past and it just dawned that it use to be my hobby that occupied a lot of my free time. As I'm sure this can go for others. I said if I had a tank maybe it would keep me out of trouble..So found a 7 gallon Waterbox aio on Craigslist for 100 bucks. Came with return pump, aquarium, media, and 18w nemolight. I said I was gonna do a couple zoas, maybe some mushrooms and cleaner shrimp.
Above is the AIO as it sat as of last week..then I realized petco is doing their dollar per gallon sale! So if I could score a 10 gallon which is 3 more gallons than this 7 gallon overall volume while increasing my DT area I'm in.
So posted the aio on fb for 60 bucks. Ended up getting 2 pieces of acro from a fellow guy on a group I'm in. So now I have my 10 gallon in place of the aio currently I have a cobalt 50w heater, fluval 20 gallon hob filter, Rio 180 pump for extra circulation. The selected occupants I currently have in there are my 2 maroons that I'm trying to get to bond. The struggles real! But it's getting better.
I have a video of anyone can walk me thru that..So to the current Dt it's a 20 long that I purchased 2 months ago which I love lagoon/shallow tanks. I pulled the rim off eurobraced it 3/4 return line 1" drain. I have two ai prime hd on the brs ab+ schedule. Down below I have an eshopps nano refugium that has dragons breath macro 150w aqueon heater. Skimmer chamber is equipped with a ss110 reef octopus skimmer best skimmer brand imo. Return pump is a 536 gph dc pump.
As stated I am pretty green with salt so if you can ID the zoas that would be appreciated . I got 3 pieces of sps. A small frag of acro, and some montipora
Have a piece of frogspawn down on the sandbed and a hammer.
So I've decided I wanna replace the 20l with a 40 breeder so I plan on using the sump and all its content. For this build I will be building a stand and im looking for recommendations if i should run just 2 1" bulkheads with strainers or use an overflow box. I typically just drill the back glass.
SO FIRST STEP FOR THE 40
remove the black brace! Tomorrow I will finish cleaning the tank up of silicone and heading to the glass shop to get my pieces for euro bracing more pics tomorrow! Don't mind the hex in the background more on that later!
So I am open to suggestions on how to do the overflow? Wanting 2 drains and 1 return on this tank
So posted the aio on fb for 60 bucks. Ended up getting 2 pieces of acro from a fellow guy on a group I'm in. So now I have my 10 gallon in place of the aio currently I have a cobalt 50w heater, fluval 20 gallon hob filter, Rio 180 pump for extra circulation. The selected occupants I currently have in there are my 2 maroons that I'm trying to get to bond. The struggles real! But it's getting better.
I have a video of anyone can walk me thru that..So to the current Dt it's a 20 long that I purchased 2 months ago which I love lagoon/shallow tanks. I pulled the rim off eurobraced it 3/4 return line 1" drain. I have two ai prime hd on the brs ab+ schedule. Down below I have an eshopps nano refugium that has dragons breath macro 150w aqueon heater. Skimmer chamber is equipped with a ss110 reef octopus skimmer best skimmer brand imo. Return pump is a 536 gph dc pump.
As stated I am pretty green with salt so if you can ID the zoas that would be appreciated . I got 3 pieces of sps. A small frag of acro, and some montipora
Have a piece of frogspawn down on the sandbed and a hammer.
So I've decided I wanna replace the 20l with a 40 breeder so I plan on using the sump and all its content. For this build I will be building a stand and im looking for recommendations if i should run just 2 1" bulkheads with strainers or use an overflow box. I typically just drill the back glass.
SO FIRST STEP FOR THE 40
remove the black brace! Tomorrow I will finish cleaning the tank up of silicone and heading to the glass shop to get my pieces for euro bracing more pics tomorrow! Don't mind the hex in the background more on that later!
So I am open to suggestions on how to do the overflow? Wanting 2 drains and 1 return on this tank
Last edited:
