40 Gallon Breeder Build

[Jthayer4]

Hey guys, I'm a newbie around here, but I wanted to post my first build thread.

Big thanks is owed to Jon (rarlyseen) and Bill (Poolkeeper) for their help this weekend, and Jon for putting up with my near self induced meltdown at Lowes. Also a thanks to Ryan (Rhino) for the tank and stand!

Tank and stand, probably not in its final destination, but where it sits for now.

All my new goodies that came in for the build.

 

[Jthayer4]

Plumbing from this weekend. Hoping my buddy who is a plumber can get the RO/DI system installed under the sink tonight so I can start making water and get wet this week.

 

[Raymondzmarshall]

Welcome welcome !!!! Can't wait to see what's in store

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice, Jordan! I hope the Mag 12 serves you well. :)

What are your long-term plans for the tank? Do you know what all you want to try to keep yet?

Brandon

 

[Kworker]

Nice looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I love 40b tanks.

-KC

 

[Rhino]

Nice man. Was hoping we would see a build thread soon. Good luck!

 

[rarelyseen]

Looking good time for water now!!

 

[Rob.D]

What are you going to use for lighting?

 

[Jthayer4]

Nice, Jordan! I hope the Mag 12 serves you well. :)

What are your long-term plans for the tank? Do you know what all you want to try to keep yet?

Brandon

I gave it a test run, and it seems to be working great, thanks again man its fueling the duel overflows and carbon reactor. Not sure what I want to do yet, I would imagine I'm going to try a little bit over everything, but probably dominated by Softies and LPS with a couple SPS colonies.

 

[Jthayer4]

What are you going to use for lighting?

I actually worked on that tonight. Its not a finished product yet, have to shorten the hanging wires and also the conduit pipe so its more streamlined to my liking. Then the pipe gets a coat of paint. The light itself is from Reef Radiance, its their new DM-44E 132 watt LED.

This isn't really to show the lights, but I wanted to add a picture of the inside of the tank to show the glass holes overflow and dual return that Jon, Bill, and I worked on this weekend.

 

[schooleyosis]

Awesome man! Looks like you got the right equipment the first time around. You got a skimmer as well?

 

[Jthayer4]

Awesome man! Looks like you got the right equipment the first time around. You got a skimmer as well?

I've got a bubble Magnus curve 5 I will be using for the setup. I have it running on my 20 gallon currently.

 

[Dowtish]

Looks awesome man! good job so far!

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice! How do you like the Reef Radiance light? I will probably be using them on my 180g, at least until I can save up and maybe get some Kessils. :)

Brandon

 

[11f150]

Nice setup, very clean look

 

[Jthayer4]

Nice! How do you like the Reef Radiance light? I will probably be using them on my 180g, at least until I can save up and maybe get some Kessils. :)

Brandon

I cant really speak to it yet, I only had it over my 20 gallon for an hour or so to see what it looked like. It looks to be extremely powerful and the full spectrum really brings all the colors in the corals out. I'm not a huge fan of having to hang the lights high to get the spread, I really prefer a sleek streamlined look (I would be shocked if I don't own a maxspect razor in the next 12 months). I was a little disappointed because even hung 10-12" above the water it wasn't doing a fantastic job of hitting the corners in the 20 gallon, but I didn't have a PAR/PUR meter to check so that's just me speculating there.

 

[NeveSSL]

Interesting. Thanks for the reply!

Have you thought about taking the optics off? That would probably help you with your spread a lot. I think the 40g breeder is a bit deeper, so maybe that will help with spread, too.

Brandon

 

[Jthayer4]

I've thought about that, but I think If I did open up the box and take out the current optics, I would put in 120º optics versus the current 90º optics.

The only problem is Rick at reef radiance let me know that it voids the warranty if you open up the box...so that presents a dilemma haha.

 

[NeveSSL]

That stinks. Reef Breeders allows you to open them up to change out optics without voiding your warranty.

FWIW, the LEDs by themselves are 120 degrees. :)

Brandon

 

[Jthayer4]

what exactly would 120 optics do then? I would imagine eventually I'm going to bust open the case, I've heard rumors that you can have their DM series be fully controlled by an Apex controller.

Rick will change out the optics, but it has to be done before its shipped. He will change them to either 120 or 60. I don't think he upcharges for that either.