40 Gallon Breeder

[Ethan Barker]

Hi all. I began my saltwater adventure with nano tanks and am going to see how I fair with a 40 gallon. I was last on the forums a few years ago, and still quite naive with expectations. Doing a few things wrong if you catch my drift. I’ll be going with the 40 gallon breeder from petco as they are on the cheaper side, obviously I plan on making sure leaks aren’t a problem for me, and was even going to see if I could DIY something rimless of it, not quite sure yet if that would look good. A 20 gallon tank beneath it with a DIY sump and trusty silicone will be my main source of filtration. I’m here to ask a few pointers of the forums. What kind of lighting do you think would be best for soft coral growth with this size tank? As soft corals are primarily what I will be sticking with, but if I change my mind I’d like something very capable of hard coral species growth as well. Planning of keeping a very small amount of fish but that is the least of my worries. I’d like to make it a peninsula if possible. What aquascapes could you guys conjure up? I really want corals to fill up the tank. Nicely in the future. All things considered I also need to plan my sump a bit more, going with a refugium style featuring chaeto. I also need to know how I’m going to get my water down to it, I don’t have much experience with cutting glass that isn’t straight, such as what will be made for the sump. Sorry to double back to lighting but I know I will be going with LED, I ask which brand and model would be best for my tank. Back to filtration, should a skimmer be present, or will chaeto be enough, with frequent enough water changes in small sizes. That’s all for now, but PLEASE, comment here and let me know what you think about it, and also, I’m always up for learning new things, thanks

 

[BayouReefer]

I’m not sure all tanks are good to drill you may want to research the one your looking at. They do make hang on the back refuges and skimmers so that’s an option. For aquascaping there are plenty of posts on R2R about it just search for it. As far as lighting just find one that will give you the par and spectrum needed. Plenty of LED’s will do that all depends on budget. Well welcome to the R2R Family! And good luck with your build

 

[jk_s124]

For lighting I would consider 2 kessil a160we. I think they work great for tanks around 16 - 18” depth. 2 should cover the spread well too. I’ve personally seen a great looking sps dominate mixed reef using 2 kessil a160we’s and t5 supplement. For just softies the kessils alone would be more than enough. They are also extremely easy to use. Only intensity and brightness needs to be controlled. Just my opinion of course. Any reef ready led would probably work great. The noopsyche k7 pro ii’s look like a good value too.

 

[link81]

i drilled my petco 40 breeder.
they're 1/4" glass. just mind the edge distance and hole spacing and you should be fine. I don't believe any of the panels are tempered. possibly the bottom on some of them.

 

[Peace River]

i drilled my petco 40 breeder.
they're 1/4" glass. just mind the edge distance and hole spacing and you should be fine. I don't believe any of the panels are tempered. possibly the bottom on some of them.

+1.

To be on the safe side I would still check to see if the glass is tempered before drilling. There is a YouTube video about how to use polarized glasses and a cell phone to check the glass.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I have a 40 breeder that I drilled and have a 20L for a sump. You don't really need a skimmer for a tank this size if you do regular water changes. I large fuge in the sump will do great. For lights I would go with a pair of AI Prime HD. I only have 3 fish in mine - a pair of spotcinclus clowns and a melanurus wrasse. My tank is LPS dominant and doing great after almost 2 years.

 

[foxt]

There are lots of build threads from people with 40g breeders, some pretty amazing setups! You will get lots more ideas about what is possible / popular by taking a look at those - just use the search function for various versions of "40 breeder build" or "40b build". This one, selected at random, is a peninsula: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dhofs-40-breeder-tank-build.441996/

 

[Mike Porreca]

I have a 40 breeder that I drilled and have a 20L for a sump. You don't really need a skimmer for a tank this size if you do regular water changes. I large fuge in the sump will do great. For lights I would go with a pair of AI Prime HD. I only have 3 fish in mine - a pair of spotcinclus clowns and a melanurus wrasse. My tank is LPS dominant and doing great after almost 2 years.

I second the 2 ai primes. I have a 40 breeder set up as well with 2 primes and it is perfect. I just need another now for my nuvo.