Help deciding on equipment for 40 gallon breeder

AlaskaGuide · Aug 22, 2016

Hi there I have been doing a lot of research on equipment for my 40 gallon breeder and I don't know what to choose. This will be my first saltwater tank and will only have a few fish and only grow soft corals. I would like to have no sump and have a HOB skimmer,some sort of power heads I don't know which ones and possibly a mechanical filter or canister filter. I have read that live rock can be used as filtration but would like to mechanical filter, although I have read these can be nitrate factories so let me know if this is a good idea or not. If I am missing anything please let me know and if you have any recommendations or anything to help me let me know!!! Thanks!!!

Pg513 · Aug 22, 2016

I would ditch the canister. A hob filter is good for gfo, carbon, etc.

You will also need a good light source. I would look at the Hydra 26 or Hydra 52.
A good heater will also go a long way along with about 1000-1500 gph of flow.

Id look at about of 40-50 lbs of rock and 30-40 lbs of sand.

Anthony Wood · Aug 22, 2016

A canister filter will work not the most ideal thing but will work. You just have to keep up on its cleaning maticulously that would give a spot for you to put carbon and GFO. I can't help you with HOB skimmers because I've never used or had one. Other then that my personal preference for powerheads on smaller tanks are jebao's. Two jebao wp-10's on a duel controller will be plenty that's what I actually have on my 40g breeder. You can get the jebao wp-10 powerhead package very cheap now a days.

For lighting I have a cheap Odyssea 4 bulb T5HO fixture with ATI bulbs in it. I could put SPS in the tank if I wanted but still isn't to much for the zoa's I have in there it's about the amount of hours and how many bulbs you have on you. LED's will also work. Hope this helps.

Anthony Wood · Aug 22, 2016

As stated you could also go with a HOB filter its up to you. The Hydra is great fixture also an expensive investment and way overkill for softies. If you wanna go the expensive LED route a couple used kessils a150's or one kessil a160we or even a kessil 360we will work. I'm a kessil guy and that's what I would have if I didn't have T5HO's. Nothing wrong with the other expensive LED fixtures though. A cheap Amazon LED fixture or Chinese black box LED will also do just fine.

Although you don't have to go the most expensive certainly don't go the cheapest when you get a heater. A 150watt or 200watt heater will do you good. 200watt if the room the tank is in gets real cold. As stated above make sure there's good flow over the heater a couple wp-10's will give you plenty!

Kungpaoshizi · Aug 23, 2016

AlaskaGuide said:
Hi there I have been doing a lot of research on equipment for my 40 gallon breeder and I don't know what to choose. This will be my first saltwater tank and will only have a few fish and only grow soft corals. I would like to have no sump and have a HOB skimmer,some sort of power heads I don't know which ones and possibly a mechanical filter or canister filter. I have read that live rock can be used as filtration but would like to mechanical filter, although I have read these can be nitrate factories so let me know if this is a good idea or not. If I am missing anything please let me know and if you have any recommendations or anything to help me let me know!!! Thanks!!!

Have a tank almost the size of a 40B myself. Tunze9004 DC, MP10's.. No need for a hob skimmer.

ReeferBob · Aug 23, 2016

RO BH1000-2000 series are great HOB skimmers. I used a BH-2000 on my 40B. I am not sure what the current model is but whatever is the equivalent would work. For power heads stick with Hydor for best bang for the buck. 2 750gph should work great. Canister is fine as long as you keep up with cleaning it (weekly).

jjordan1904 · Aug 23, 2016

I kept mine simple. its only a temp tank since we are moving soon and i sold my other tanks. but this 40 gal just has two of the cheap jebao wave maker a cheap chinese box a bubble mag skimmer.

i have a nitrate pellet reactor and gfo reactor ready if i need them but not plugged in. the sump doesn't even have any divided chambers. its literally just a 20 gal long from petco with everything just sitting in it.