oh boy, 40g breeder build

[count krunk]

Gosh things are heating up. All I have left to get wet is a piece of acrylic for the sump.

Other than that things have been procured and work has started on the hood. I am going to go with a projector mount hood as I saw on another build. I built out the top and the sides of the hood but i didn't cut the sides "deep" enough . So I will have to recut and sand those pieces. I did cut and laminate two pieces of plywood together for the top piece. This piece has all lights mounting to it so I just wanted to be safe.

I did also use the coupon i received in the mail from TSA and I managed to get two snowflake clownfish for $58 . These fish I added straight to the 10g holding tank and they are doing very well. I have been feeding reef chili and pellets every day. Most days also receive some DIY frozen food.

This month should see the birth of the 40g tank. We shall see! I will get some pics of the clowns soon. They are pretty white and I let my wife pick them out, and I do say I would have never picked such white clownfish but having them in the tank they are so easy to see from across the room.

 

[count krunk]

in case anyone forgot the 10g holding tank has a smol yellow watchmen goby colored and spotted up doing his shy thing. All 3 fish are getting along well in the 10g

 

[vetteguy53081]

Great starter size tank.

 

[count krunk]

more like set budget size tank

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Gosh things are heating up. All I have left to get wet is a piece of acrylic for the sump.

Other than that things have been procured and work has started on the hood. I am going to go with a projector mount hood as I saw on another build. I built out the top and the sides of the hood but i didn't cut the sides "deep" enough . So I will have to recut and sand those pieces. I did cut and laminate two pieces of plywood together for the top piece. This piece has all lights mounting to it so I just wanted to be safe.

I did also use the coupon i received in the mail from TSA and I managed to get two snowflake clownfish for $58 . These fish I added straight to the 10g holding tank and they are doing very well. I have been feeding reef chili and pellets every day. Most days also receive some DIY frozen food.

This month should see the birth of the 40g tank. We shall see! I will get some pics of the clowns soon. They are pretty white and I let my wife pick them out, and I do say I would have never picked such white clownfish but having them in the tank they are so easy to see from across the room.

Score! Pics or it didnt happen

 

[count krunk]

Here is a pic of them acclimating. Will get a better one later

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I have a snowflake Male and a Davinci female I paired up when I first started. Love the markings on them. Hopefully they have beautiful davinciflake hybrid babies

 

[count krunk]

Well I have been busy. I will have a big update coming soon. Tank is close to getting wet.

I built a hood out of plywood to sit over the tank, about 14" above the waterline.

I'm thinking what would be the best way to mount this? What my current plan is to use a French cleat. Use 2x2s connected to a 2x4 which will be the French cleat. I'm thinking making the French cleat extra long so I can move the hood out of the way as needed.

Thoughts?

I am finishing painting the stand then plumbing. Once plumbing is done I will do a big update!

 

[dantimdad]

Looking forward to the update!

 

[count krunk]

Hey @RichtheReefer21 how is your hood mounted? The one I built is very similar to yours I am pretty sure.

 

[count krunk]

I just saw Rich's thread and didn't realize what had happened. Good luck in the future Rich!

Does anyone have experience with French cleats? @dantimdad I am curious if French cleats will still work fine for this since the lights will be held away from the wall by the cleat. I guess I am most worried about deflection. Do you have any recs for mounting the hood? Or does my French cleat plan seem fine?

 

[dantimdad]

I use french cleats for all sorts of stuff. Never attempted what you are wanting to do. But, I don't see an issue.

Have you thought about a single swag hook in the ceiling like mine is done?

 

[count krunk]

I'll have to Google swab hook, the ceiling is slanted so I was thinking mounting to that was out of the picture, but I guess I haven't really thought about it enough

 

[count krunk]

Just checked them out. Thanks I thought you would be able to help! That definitely looks like a better option

 

[dantimdad]

Swag hook. Sorry

 

[count krunk]

No I found it no problem. I will be using that plus thin metal wires to hang it. Thank you!

Next update will show

• RO/DI
• Finished hood
• Painted stand
• Plumbed tank
• Electrics
• Running tank (hopefully!)
• Clowns

I have ordered 23 pounds of rock from TBS so I'm very excited to get that in. The clowns are voracious eaters!

 

[count krunk]

Not as big of an update as I had hoped, but still pretty large!

I have mostly finished the hood. Last step is attaching the LED fixture, but i have to tune in my settings via the two knobs on the top before I can do that. The MH reflector was a PITA!! Eventually I figured out how to get this film off with thanks to youtube

Here its covered in PB blaster (or something) but steam is what gets the job done.

The hood

I have my RO/DI with booster pump mounted to the wall. RO membranes set up in series. It is actually pumping out around 200 GPD per day so happy with that. Needs a refresh but still puts on ~20 TDS water. Corals and fish don't mind!

The stand is done with painting! Still have the final work to do to bring things online, but that is the exciting part! The door is painted just not attached yet.

First time I have ever mitered corners. That was quite the challenge for me.

Does it make sense to move the overflow box plumbing from 1" to 3/4" so the elbows fit?

Or will that work fine? I will do testing on my own but wanted to hear opinions here as well.

No pic of the clowns or 10g tank, sorry! The two clowns are hosting my 4 head frogspawn quite enthusiastically, which the frogspawn does not like at all. So this weekend we will be picked up a BTA from one of our LFS. Once that is in I will update with pictures.

 

[count krunk]

Does anyone know if this is enough of a difference between the two drains?

There is room for a bit more. @dantimdad how did you plumb your fiji cube overflow? Could you post a picture?

 

[dantimdad]

Mine is herbie style so itll be plumbed differently.

But, that should be enough difference.

 

[count krunk]

my snowflake clowns do this all the time!!

my frogspawn is NOT happy with it! It doesn't expand nearly as much as it used it. I got a really nice, albeit really small, rainbow/ultimate BTA from @TopShelfAquatics which i will get a pic of once it is fully inflated. So far it ranges around depending on how its feeling. I have been feeding it smol smol pieces of frozen every couple of days. It's super pretty and will make a beautiful BTA once its bigger and the splits will sell quite nicely