40 gallon build questions

[Scott Ulrich]

The sand and rocks are in, dosed 1 ppm ammonium and now just waiting for it to cycle.. Ordered 20 additional pounds of sand and a koralia evo 750 gph to pair with the 550 gph I have in there now.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Well, after doing many hours of research on skimmers (so many options), I ordered the SCA-301 coming on Saturday. I figure I'm lightly stocked, 50 g volume with sump and the SCA-301 is rated at 65g. I looked at the Reef Octopus 110INT, Eshoppes x-120, Skimz 327, Coral Box D300 and many others - I wish I could have gotten the same deal on the D300 as RetroReefer :) I figure it will be a good, low cost starting point and I can always upgrade later if needed without having dropped a lot of money on it.

Added extra sand so I now have 40 lbs live sand and 40 lbs base rock (with egg crate under the rocks). I also added the Koralia Evo 850 gph powerhead to go with the Koralia 600. The 850 creates a lot more flow. The tank is only 60% full, I figured there is no point in wasting salt to just cycle the tank and cure the rocks. The 850 may be ok when the tank is full, but I suspect I might need to move it to my 125g mbuna tank (pointed at the surface to aerate the water) and move the 600 over to this 40 g (to give 2 x 600 gph).

I'm hoping to set up the sump, overflow, return pump and skimmer this weekend so everything will be ready to go once cycled :)

 

[Scott Ulrich]

SCA-301 skimmer came today, added some water to the sump and started breaking it in. Not silent, but quiet enough.

Still haven't raised the level of the display to start the overflow, waiting for the tank to cycle. I did get it installed though - had to saw off part of the plastic overhang rim on both tanks to get it to fit. Probably should have sawed it prior to adding water as I am fishing out little pieces of plastic floating around. : D

Some minor frustrations with the eshopps overflow. 1. The hole for the side adjustment screw was drilled too tight (or the screw is too big), but it won't go in all the way. 2. Their manual says you have 48 hours after receiving it to report a missing item... I didn't even open it until a week after getting it! Fortunately everything was there :)

I've been dosing ammonium and the nitrates are up to 5 ppm so the live sand is working.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Hi, been a while but added 2 clowns and an orchid dottyback today! The clowns swim all over together and the dottyback found a hole to hide in out of view :D

The store had a cleaner shrimp and yellow watchman goby so after a few weeks they might be going in next :)

 

[Chrisfish]

Very nice looking tank and really like your fish:)

 

[Ron Reefman]

Scott, I just found and read this thread. I think you are doing a fine job and asking good questions.

BTW, I like your set up. I've had 2 systems that were sids by side tanks with a sump below. Sometimes the smaller tank in the side by side system would get used as a display refugium with all the filtration still in the sump down inside the stand. I just recently downsized to just my DIY 50g cube and a new DIY 40g sump/refugium. But I still do the conventional up and down system, but in two separate cabinets. Below is a photo of where I am currently with the new system. You can see both my old side by side systems in my build thread (link below in my signature).

20180723_084336 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Thanks Chris and thanks Tom for the picture/info! The side sump is working well and honestly there is a little peace PhD mind that off anything leaks it will just leak back into the tank. :)

A little scare this morning.... I checked on them and one of the clowns was laying on his side (not uncommon from what I've read), but up and swimming now that tree lights are on.

I was afraid that I might have too much flow (2 × 600 gph koralias + the sump return) so I turned one koralia ofg.

Also including a picture of the whole system.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Oops, sorry, I meant "Thanks Ron". It it's nice having the validation that it can be done a little differently :) I just didn't want to give up the storage inside the cabinet.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Well it has been a month and the tank is doing great. My wife fed the fish with a heavy hand while I was traveling for a week and the algae really picked up because of it. Lights are I on about 12 hours a day.

I added a pair of cleaner shrimp today! I covered up the koralias with filter socks to keep the shrimp antennas from getting shredded, but will replace with some mesh tomorrow because it really cuts the flow.

I'm thinking about getting a lawnmower blenny. Any advice on that? Reef safe? Ok stocking with 2x cleaner shrimp, 2x clowns and an orchid dottyback in a 40g?

Attaching some pictures :)

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Scott Ulrich]

I set up my new 165w light today. Amazon had a lightning deal for like $65 I couldn't pass up. :)

However, I noticed that when pointed straight down you can see the grid shadow of the eggcrate lid on the bottom. So I moved it forward and tilted it. Plus the tank is high so you don't see the bright bottom of the lights looking at the tank. Anyone see any issues with that setup? No corals now but planning for someday.

 

[Gareth elliott]

might lose some lighted areas to shadowing.
I had my 165w on a diy stand on pvc for my 20g. Settings were something like 30% white 100% blue. Didnt get egg crate shadow. I didnt care for the disco ball my light produced but yours is a different manufacturer.

 

[Reef-junky]

Do you have a fail safe in case the HOB overflow fails? How much water would get pumped to the other tank? HOB overflows can fail. An overflow that has to rely on a pump to keep running is a poor design. That type of overflow has no back up if it plugs. You would have been better off with a bean animal or herbie overflow with the sump below or drilling the tank and run a pipe or two between them. I would raise the skimmer up and add more water to the sump as well. More water equals more stability.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

Thanks, Gareth. I'm happy with the light so far and plan to make it a little more level. I'm about 60% blue, 30% white. I suppose I could add back the led strip and that would clear up the shadows, but I liked using it for the blue effect on the sump since its visible.

Reef-junky, thanks for the input. I didn't get the pump-style overflow, I got an eshoppes one and it is working great. If the power goes off, it starts right back up when the power is back on. If it were to clog right now I'd have about 3-4 gallons pumped onto the floor until the sump dropped to the pump level. Also, it is a little undersized based on the box rating but I'm planning to add a second one in case one clogs. I'm 7" water level in the sump and can raise the sump another 3" but am limited to go any higher due to the overflow box. I have to leave at least 6" or so anyway as a few gallons drain back into the sump when I turn off the return pump. The nice thing is that if the overflow leaks, it leaks right into the sump :)

 

[Reef-junky]

The problem with any HOB overflow is they can lose siphon. It’s not a question of if but when. If you are not home to catch it then you end up with water on the floor plus you may burn your pump out. At the very least I would put a float switch on the pump so it stops before the flood happens. I would probably pick up one of those alarms that go off if they get wet as well. I get what your saying about your wife wanting your stuff hidden but how happy will she be when 4 gallons of water fish saltwater is on the floor just something to think about.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

I turn off the pump to feed every day and so far the overflow picks right back up when I turn the pump on. I do plan to get a second overflow *just in case*. But I do trust this overflow more than my ability to drill two tanks, add bulkheads and plumb them together without leaks :D

I should probably stand my pump up so that it can only pump a gallon or so before the surface hits the pump and not overflow the display. I'd rather burn out a pump than dump water a pumps aren't expensive, but honestly the tank is in the basement, which has flooded twice. It's concrete floor so it can dry up pretty easy.

 

[Reef-junky]

It’s not hard to drill glass at all. I drilled my DT with no experience at all. If you don’t care if your return pump burns out then you must have a really cheap crappie one. I suppose you don’t really have to pump the water up that far. Another thing to think about is water damage to your stand. Your talking about running something that can fail vs something that it’s going to be hard to make fail. After you start to read a few post like these then I lose faith in running a HOB system. I guess the floor is a none issue for you. There is no way I could let 4 gallons of water go on the floor. This doesn’t even take into account if your running an ATO that will try to top your tank off. To each his own I guess. Not a good system to run. This doesn’t even take into account the noise from a HOB overflow.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

It may be better to drill, but at this point it would be a lot of work to break down two tanks, store the fish somewhere and have to drill/plumb. I've also read stories that not all 40 g aqueon tanks are drillable and some use tempered glass :(

Maybe you've had bad experiences with overflows, but I've been very happy with the performance of the eshopps ones. I'm using a jebao dc return pump, looked it up and it's just under $60 so not thrilled if it burnt out but not a huge deal either. The overflow is really pretty quiet too. With the dc pump i can adjust the flow and that helps get it to a good rate to reduce the noise as well. To be honest my skimmer and lights both make more noise than the overflow so really not an issue.

 

[Reef-junky]

It’s not me that’s had problems it’s many post that I’ve read about people having problems. If you ran a full siphon overflow then you would know how much noise that overflow is making. I like the idea of DC pumps but they don’t handle head pressure well. Looks like the pump has some kind a shut off so you can’t burn it out. Not sure how long a cheap DC pump like that is going to last. If I could have gone with a DC pump then I would have. I can’t really say if a DC pump makes less noise then an AC pump. I would put that pump on a pad to reduce the noise from it though.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

The pump only had to pump about 2 feet with a 1 for elevation so not much resistance. I only run it about 1/2 speed. When I first turn it on there is a little gurgling in the overflow box, but it goes say quickly. I've only been running it a few months but have never seen the air accumulation in the u-tube, the flow is fast enough that any air bubbles get pushed through and don't build up. I'll continue to report any issues, but after reading posts from others with same aquarium shattering due to tempered glass I took the advice of retro reefer who claims to have been using overflow boxes for decades without issue... Everything I've read on the ones that require the pump to prime have been negative so I'm glad I steered clear of those.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Tank is looking great! Don’t worry about your HOB been using them for 30+ years on a multitude of tanks and never had a failure, just make sure you have enough flow to prevent air from building up in U tube and clean your prefilter sponge occasionally.. I purchased a 3 pack of replacements from dr fosters and smith for like $10 which makes keeping up with maintenance a breeze.

https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3579+18358&pcatid=18358&r=566