bt's 40B upgrade

[btmedic04]

After lusting over a red sea reefer 250 for months, I came to the realization that it would be much more difficult and expensive to combine my nuvos than I anticipated. I still wanted a larger tank to combine both of my nuvos into but put it on the shelf... that is until petcos dollar a gallon sale came around... With that being said, I am now the proud owner of a brand new aqueon 40B. I dont have much wood working or plumbing experience, but my father does and it will be a pretty cool project to do together. With that being said, I need some stand and plumbing design help. I'd greatly appreciate any input

Heres my equipment list for this build

Need to purchase:
Eshopps eclipse s overflow box
Sicce syncra silent 3.0
Eshopps R-100 refugium sump
Finnex HMO 200w titanium heater
40lbs dry carribsea special grade sand
20lbs dry rock
Plumbing supplies (need help here)
Wood for stand

Transferring from my nuvos:
Roughly 15-20lb of live rock
2x radion xr15 pro g4 with rms mounts and diffusers
2x mp10wqd
Icecap ato
5 gallon innovative marine ro/di reservoir
2x coralbox wf-01 dosers plus dosing reservoirs
Innovative marine refugium led

Equipment already on hand:
Reef octopus classic 110int skimmer

How does my equipment list look? Thanks everybody for your help! This is my first time doing DIY in this hobby

 

[Peace River]

Congratulations on the new tank! The 40b is a flexible platform that should work well for you. I would go with a larger overflow - even though the L is oversized for the 40g tank you will appreciate the redundancy and fail-safe design of the 3 drains and the ability to go with a bean animal drain setup. IMO, for the minimal difference in price it is well worth the upgrade. BTW, great cat photobomb!

 

[btmedic04]

Congratulations on the new tank! The 40b is a flexible platform that should work well for you. I would go with a larger overflow - even though the L is oversized for the 40g tank you will appreciate the redundancy and fail-safe design of the 3 drains and the ability to go with a bean animal drain setup. IMO, for the minimal difference in price it is well worth the upgrade. BTW, great cat photobomb!

Thank you! What other advantages are there for a bean animal compared to a herbie set up? The extra redundancy is nice for sure! I also dont want to hear a water fountain flowing in my living room lol.

And that's Tiny Tim. He was inspecting the seams making sure they're up to code lol

 

[Peace River]

Thank you! What other advantages are there for a bean animal compared to a herbie set up? The extra redundancy is nice for sure! I also dont want to hear a water fountain flowing in my living room lol.

And that's Tiny Tim. He was inspecting the seams making sure they're up to code lol

It is nice to meet Tiny Tim! I love the tip of his tail! Instead of me trying to explain the differences and their benefits, please check out this link to an explanation of How Durso, Herbie, and Bean Animal Overflows Work. Good luck!

 

[btmedic04]

It is nice to meet Tiny Tim! I love the tip of his tail! Instead of me trying to explain the differences and their benefits, please check out this link to an explanation of How Durso, Herbie, and Bean Animal Overflows Work. Good luck!

Awesome, thank you for the link! I like the bean animal, however I think I'll be space limited by my current choice of sump =/

 

[flchamp89]

40B is one of my favorites. Your other tanks look so good I think this build will be epic.

 

[btmedic04]

40B is one of my favorites. Your other tanks look so good I think this build will be epic.

Thank you! My other tanks only look as good as they do because of the folks here at reef2reef! I love my nuvos, but I'm running out of room for corals

 

[flchamp89]

I'm right with you. I think I told you I remember reading y

Thank you! My other tanks only look as good as they do because of the folks here at reef2reef! I love my nuvos, but I'm running out of room for corals
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I remember your build when I was researching mine. I'm running out of room too lol. Thinking about the back glass and some gsp and zoas lol.

 

[btmedic04]

I'm right with you. I think I told you I remember reading y


I remember your build when I was researching mine. I'm running out of room too lol. Thinking about the back glass and some gsp and zoas lol.

GSP/ zoas would look awesome on the back! Maybe even some red monti cap as well!

 

[btmedic04]

I made some changes to my list

Sump : Trigger Triton 26 V2
Return Pump: Sicce 2.0

Plumbing parts list

Drains:
5x 46" length 1" diameter Black schedule 40 PVC pipe
8x 90 degree schedule 80 slip/slip elbows (3, maybe 4 per line)
4x 1" true union slip/slip
1x 1" Spears gate valve slip/slip
2x 1" clamp for pvc pipe

Return:
1x 46" length 3/4" diameter Black schedule 40 PVC pipe
1x 3/4" 90 degree schedule 80 slip/thread elbow
1x 3/4" ABS Bulkhead thread/thread
1x 3/4" Loc-line NPT connector
1x 3/4" Loc-line modular hose (6 segments)
1x 3" Loc-line flare nozzle for 3/4" loc-line
1x 3/4" Spears true union swing check valve
1x 3/4" Schedule 80 male pipe adapter
1x 3/4" Schedule 80 straight barb female thread
3/4" Black vinyl tubing
4x 3/4" plastic ratchet clamp for tubing
1x 3/4" clamp for pvc pipe

how does this look? Am I missing anything?

 

[Blitheran]

Tank looks good! Very exciting!

 

[btmedic04]

The first packages have arrived bringing with them my sump, plumbing and sand. Tomorrows packages will bring the life support systems needed. I have to admit, the cost of the trigger triton 26 v2 has kind of a put off, but after seeing it in person I totally understand why. This is probably the most beautiful sump I've seen in person. Hopefully everything goes well this weekend with building the stand and plumbing!

My nuvos that are going to be combined into this system

 

[btmedic04]

Today I received my rocks, overflow, return pump, soft tubing and filter socks. Turns out the socks aren't felt, but rather mesh. After doing a bit of research I think ill stick with the mesh socks and use the included felt socks only when polishing is required. I still have to build the stand, drill and plumb the set up. I received 3 large pieces and one small piece of rock from saltwater aquarium and I have to say Im quite happy with it. Its super porous and has some interesting shapes but I decided to start soaking the rocks in saltwater and I'm glad I am. This water is a dingy already! I'll more than likely have to break them up a bit to fit my current rocks once I get everything running, but I figure I can at least get a start on the biofilm before combining it with my old rock.

 

[btmedic04]

Got a lot of work done this weekend. I purchased a kitchen cabinet and modified/reinforced it for a stand. I have to drill a couple of access holes in the back for power and a vent for the fan then the doors when they come in and it will be complete. I also drilled and plumbed the tank yesterday. Let me know what you all think!

 

[btmedic04]

I got the doors mounted today and the sump fan installed too. Also leak tested it as well as simulated a clogged main line and a power outage. There were a couple of small leaks on the bottom bulkheads of the eclipse s that were corrected by tightening them a hair with a wrench, but everything else was perfect. The emergency drain works and the sump has about 6-8 inches to the top when the power goes out.

One thing I noticed was the water level in the overflow dictates how quiet it is. When I have it at the level in the attached picture, this system is darn near dead silent.

I also placed an order for a clearview lid. I went with the tsunami so I can re-use the bits and pieces from this one if/when I upgrade. That should hopefully be here around the beginning of next month.

Only a few things left to do which are mount the door handles, drill the access holes for power and I may remove half of the length of loc-line since 6 segments puts the jet awfully close to where my light will be. It's still going to be a few weeks though before I get it wet since next weekend dad has a wedding to attend and the weekend after that i have to play Army. All good things come in time though!

 

[btmedic04]

I made some more progress this weekend with the electrical part of the build. Had to drill a couple more holes in the back for access for cords and get the power strips mounted. The whole left wall will be available for power bricks and controller and the like. I also mounted the under cabinet lighting so I can see what I'm doing instead of futzing around in the dark. We're getting close!

Also today marks Forrest's 1 year forever home anniversary. We got some nap time in today

 

[btmedic04]

Today my dad and I moved the tank to my home and I started some wire management on the few items that aren't currently connected to my nuvos. Things will be tidied up once everything is on the system.

I'm still debating on the best way to combine two systems into this. My initial plan was to fill the display approximately half way, put the heater in there then bring all of the rocks in, aquascape then add sand and the rest of the water. The other option is to put the sand in now, then add water, rocks and finish filling it. The problem with this option is I have a pistol shrimp that's going in and I'm concerned with him crushing himself. Is it worth the risk or is this transfer going to be a cloudy mess regardless of what I do?

 

[btmedic04]

Good golly miss molly that was some work. 9 hours non-stop to do the transfers, get the aquascape right, move the equipment and get the wiring done. My apartment is a mess and I still have to drain the nuvos fully but I dont care, it will be there tomorrow to clean up.

Some things I learned:

Rock scaping in real time with mounted corals and critters in the tank is a nightmare. I dropped my rock with my pocillopora colony on it and now I have a few brand new frags that I need to mount.

Having a sump is amazing however my next one will be in a fish room and not under the stand. I bounced my head off of pretty much every support during cable management.

Velcro is your friend. Use it

And lastly, pistol shrimps are incredibly difficult to catch.

Everything is settling in for the night so tomorrow im going to play with my mp10s. I currently have them at 100% reefcrest on anti-sync. I also need to rent a par meter and get some readings and adjust my lights as needed.

On to the pictures. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, but please let me know what you think!

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Looks excellent! Never thought of just buying a kitchen cabinet to use as a stand.

 

[btmedic04]

Looks excellent! Never thought of just buying a kitchen cabinet to use as a stand.

Thanks! We did add a bit of reinforcement to help stiffen the cabinet a bit more just to make sure. The last thing I want is 47 gallons of saltwater on my living room floor lol