40B Build/Test Tank

[TaylorPilot]

A few months ago I started working on building a smaller overflow kit, so I decided to make a prototype to test and run long term. I figured that after awhile I would build me a larger system, and this one would make an excellent QT system at that point. I went to Petco when I knew they were having the $/gallon sale, and picked up a 40B and 20L. I drilled and installed the overflow, then painted the back using Krylon Fusion.

 

[143MPCo]

following!

 

[TaylorPilot]

Two more photos of me water testing it before I disassembled and painted the tank/stand. In these photos, I am actually running a ridiculous 18 - 20X turnover through the sump. It is more than I want, but I had a 900 GPH Eheim pump laying around and it is pretty quiet for it's size. I think I am going to get a 600ish GPH Sicce or DC pump pretty soon to replace it.

 

[TaylorPilot]

After I had all the drain plumbing cut and made sure everything started up well and didn't leak, I took everything apart and started installing some baffles into the 20L sump. Excuse the mess on my breakfast table. We have a 2 year old and things are always in a state of disarray at the house. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of me installing the adjustable baffle set.

 

[TaylorPilot]

I have a Brute container full of live rock, but hadn't used it in years, and was sure it was full nasty stuff, so I wanted to clean it really well. I started out by first laying it all out and spraying off all of the loose debris. I then put it back in the brute and filled it half way with water. I poured a gallon of bleach in the container, and topped it off so that the rock was all covered. I put a few power heads in it, put the lid on, and left it over night. The next day I drained it all out, laid all the pieces off and sprayed them off to remove as much of the bleach as I could. The rock was markedly cleaner. The next step was to give them a soak in acid to dissolve off the top layer of rock. I put it all back in the container. Filled it half way with water again, poured 2 gallons of muriatic acid in the brute, then topped it off with water again. I was surprised how dirty the bubbles coming out were. It was dark brown. I was also surprised at how slowly the bubbling was. I figured it would be like those volcano science projects, but it just a slow bubbling. After about 10 minutes the bubbling had stopped. I figured the acid was spent, but I let it sit another 20 minutes, then poured it all off. Filled it up with water. Drained it off, and did this several more times. Finally, I got a 5 gallon bucket, filled it with baking soda and water. I took each rock and shook it off in the bucket to remove any remaining debris. I did about half the rock. Then cleaned the bucket, put another box of baking soda and fresh water in the bucket, and did the remaining bit of rock. I then laid it all out in the driveway to dry in the sunlight.

 

[Wiz]

Nice great build.clean

 

[TaylorPilot]

Thanks, it has actually been up and running for about 8 weeks. Other than one strange occurrence with the first two fish I bought (tails rotted off), it has been running great. I think once I get the Sicce pump I talked about, it will be completely silent.

 

[Wiz]

Sweet

 

[TaylorPilot]

Here was the tank after I initially set it up, and was cycling. I have re-done the return since then. It is now split into two returns, that end with black line-locs. They are allot less noticeable, and the ability to adjust the flow is great. I liked the look of the rock, and it flowed pretty well considering there were no powerheads. But I didn't have hardly any hiding spaces, so I re-arranged it and added a piece or two.

 

[TaylorPilot]

Here is what it looks like today after re-arranging the rocks to give more hiding spaces. I have added a Blood Shrimp, Orchid Dottyback, and a Bangaii Cardinal. The cardinal didn't make it. He never ate very much and always hid in the corners. He eventually passed away earlier this week. I have several things now that I want to do to the tank to get it ready for corals. I need to make a list over the next day or so and get them knocked out so we can start putting some corals in this tank!

Finally found a place to put my R2R sticker. Gotta represent the best reef forum out there!

 

[Wiz]

Nice rockwork! Love the caves on the left. Thats a nice hunk of rock laying across too. my bangai loves live blackworm and pieces of fresh oyster. Doesnt eat much else. Picks a bit. but swallows oyster in chunks!I love orchids. But hD two die on me in my last tank so I went springeri in this one. He's cool. Wish it were an orchid though.

 

[TaylorPilot]

I have had the tank up and running for about 8 weeks, and everything seems stable. My immediate goal is to setup an ATO for the tank, and build a canopy for a MH fixture.

The return section is so small, that I am having to top it off every day. The problem is the open area in the stand isn’t too large. The distance from the sump to the front of the tank is less than 4”. I figure if I build one with an outer dimension of 30” x 3.5” x 10”, it should give a decent supply of top off water (about 4 gallons), but not so much that it would overflow the sump if it malfunctioned and stuck in the on position.

Right now, I am just running a pair of twin T5 fixtures (4 bulbs total). I really want to run a 250 DE MH fixture, along with a few T5s that I have had since my 120 setup. For that to look good I need to build a canopy. I plan on building a temporary fixture, so I can adjust the height of the MH to see what an optimal height would be for best spread. Once I have that dialed in, I can get started on a building a canopy to match the tank. I also need to go ahead and hang the stand doors. I built them to match the cabinet doors in my kitchen, and have painted them, but just need to go ahead and mount them.

I need to get decent Alk and Cal test kits before I start adding corals. Which ones do you guys recommend. I use to just use Salifert, but the Red Sea Pro kits look pretty nice. Are the Hannah checkers really worth the little added expense? Also, I have a bulb that will work just to get the thing setup, but will need a new MH bulb. What 250 DE bulbs do you guys like? I want something as close to a Radium as possible. I love that crisp blue color. As far as flow goes, I want to get a smaller Sicce or Jebao to run as a return (approx 600 GPH), and a few of the small Jebao RW-8s to put on the back glass on either side of the overflow.

 

[Fin]

Pretty neat! Following along...

 

[Wiz]

Sounds good. Make sure you account for heat retention when building the canopy. I used to use 2x 150w double ended phoenix 14k bulbs. Loved em. Too much electric and heat though. switched to t5 for a while which had awsome growth and natural color. Switched to led for low electric, no heat, cool colod and no bulbs! All great but growth while stable is slow and color looks awsome under actinic but not as good as t5 while on day mode. Think I might try the t5 led combo.
I have red sea pro.calcium is great. Mag is more involved butvstill easy to read. Alk on the other hand is very hard to read. I bought the salifert alk and process is the same but its easier to read. Not as nice a test kit though. But ease and accuracy on read is the important thing. So think I prefer thd salifert alk test.

 

[TaylorPilot]

Sounds good. Make sure you account for heat retention when building the canopy. I used to use 2x 150w double ended phoenix 14k bulbs. Loved em. Too much electric and heat though. switched to t5 for a while which had awsome growth and natural color. Switched to led for low electric, no heat, cool colod and no bulbs! All great but growth while stable is slow and color looks awsome under actinic but not as good as t5 while on day mode. Think I might try the t5 led combo.
I have red sea pro.calcium is great. Mag is more involved butvstill easy to read. Alk on the other hand is very hard to read. I bought the salifert alk and process is the same but its easier to read. Not as nice a test kit though. But ease and accuracy on read is the important thing. So think I prefer thd salifert alk test.

Yea, I will probably have a little more evaporation, because I will have to run a cooling fan in the hood. I doubt heat will be an issue though. We run our AC pretty much all year, and I've never had heat issues before if I had proper air circulation. I pulled out the MH today and fired it up to see how high I needed to mount it to get good coverage. Those ripples on the sand take it to the next level! Plus the shadows under the rock ledges look really neat also. I have a Lumen Max 3 DE reflector, and it seems to give pretty good spread over the tank. With two t5s, I think it will look awesome. I'm going to start on the canopy tomorrow if time allows.

 

[Pete polyp]

I'm using a sicce syncra silent 5.0 on my 40b. They have an adjustable intake so you can restrict the flow as needed. I would suggest over sizing the pump so you can install a manifold to run reactors and other equipment. Are you only using one halide? For one I would think it would have to be about 18" or so above the tank to get good coverage. I'm using 2x 250w mh 4x39w t5 6" above the tank and it's just about right. Once the corals are use to it I will probably lower it as much as possible and still get good airflow from the fans. I used a 40b as a sump and 8" of one end is my ato holding tank. I had a 6 bulb t5 and was going through about 5 gallons a week. With the fans and mh that's about doubled.

 

[Wiz]

Awsome. Lookin foward to pics!

Yea, I will probably have a little more evaporation, because I will have to run a cooling fan in the hood. I doubt heat will be an issue though. We run our AC pretty much all year, and I've never had heat issues before if I had proper air circulation. I pulled out the MH today and fired it up to see how high I needed to mount it to get good coverage. Those ripples on the sand take it to the next level! Plus the shadows under the rock ledges look really neat also. I have a Lumen Max 3 DE reflector, and it seems to give pretty good spread over the tank. With two t5s, I think it will look awesome. I'm going to start on the canopy tomorrow if time allows.

 

[TaylorPilot]

I'm using a sicce syncra silent 5.0 on my 40b. They have an adjustable intake so you can restrict the flow as needed. I would suggest over sizing the pump so you can install a manifold to run reactors and other equipment. Are you only using one halide? For one I would think it would have to be about 18" or so above the tank to get good coverage. I'm using 2x 250w mh 4x39w t5 6" above the tank and it's just about right. Once the corals are use to it I will probably lower it as much as possible and still get good airflow from the fans. I used a 40b as a sump and 8" of one end is my ato holding tank. I had a 6 bulb t5 and was going through about 5 gallons a week. With the fans and mh that's about doubled.

Which reflector are you using? How do you have it all fitting over the tank?! The reflector I have only leaves about 2" in front and behind it for t5. I am hoping I'll have enough room for one light on either side of the ballast.

 

[TaylorPilot]

Awsome. Lookin foward to pics!

You're going to get them. I will probably do a little write-up on building the stand and canopy using a Kreg jig. It works really well, and you can build a pretty strong stand with them. I may do one on painting also. I have been spraying allot of cabinet doors for my house lately, and I think I have been getting pretty good results with a $40 spray gun from Harbor Freight.

 

[Pete polyp]

Which reflector are you using? How do you have it all fitting over the tank?! The reflector I have only leaves about 2" in front and behind it for t5. I am hoping I'll have enough room for one light on either side of the ballast.

It's a Hamilton cebu sun fixture hanging from the ceiling. The ability to move the fixture up and down is priceless especially when you're doing maintenance.