Setting up a 22 gal peninsula tank

[FailingUpwards]

Hi all. After a couple of years from a failed experiment with a 12 gal tank, I'm back with looking into setting up a shrimp focused tank (maybe a micro fish or two). Currently I have two 22 gallon long (36" x 12" x 12") sitting on my shelves in the garage. I would like to couple this with a 40 gal breeder as the sump. I know many of you would suggest going with a larger tank, but since I am in a house that neither floor is directly on a concrete foundation, I'm limited with weight. In fact I'd really like to be able to go with a 125 display with a 50gal sump if I had access to that concrete. Also since I don't plan on being in this house for more than 10 years, I'm not sure I want to invest that kind of time/money into that.

First question I have is does anyone here have experience with drilling the Mr. Aqua 22 Gal Long tanks? I would like to have drilled overflows and returns on each side of the tank, if space for both the overflow and return is an issue, I'd go with a single drilled overflow in the center rear and returns on the sides.

Also I would like to go with a single pump for circulation, if possible. My learning with the 12g was that space is a premium, even for power heads when coupled with live rock and I am assuming this will be the case with the 22 gal. Is there a fallacy to my thinking or can I get away with it?

Any suggestions on lights? I know with the shallow depth, it wouldn't be difficult light wise to grow anything but since it is only 12" deep but 36" wide, anything out there that may work, even for hard corals without throwing light everywhere?

I'm still in the material planning stage, so any input would be appreciated.

 

[Ron Reefman]

bump

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Hello! I am setting up a 20 long soon here also, and can’t help you with quite a few things but I will chime in on a couple.

why a sump that is double the size of the tank?? I would say a 10 gallon sump is plenty, or an AIO conversion kit could put the filter in the side. Of course it is your choice though!

As far as lights go, bar lights are a great option for this style tank, because they are normally very long, but skinny. I personally am not a fan of bar lights, so I am most likely going with something such as two noopshye k7 pros, and although that is way overkill for this tank, they would be great for a future upgrade to a 40 or even 60 gallon.

 

[FailingUpwards]

@SaltwtrNewb Why the larger Sump? Water volume! Increased Live rock in the sump! More room for heaters, skimmer, etc. I learned a hard lesson with that 12g and a HOB refugium that the more space the better.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

@SaltwtrNewb Why the larger Sump? Water volume! Increased Live rock in the sump! More room for heaters, skimmer, etc. I learned a hard lesson with that 12g and a HOB refugium that the more space the better.

I see, it would make life a whole lot easier! Why not just a 40 display and a 20 sump though??

 

[Montiman]

I drilled a MR. Aqua cube years ago but I went through the back. It is very hard to drill the bottom of a tank because this requires a custom weir box in most cases. I would consider drilling the side of the 22 long for a peninsula style set up, or find an acrylic builder who can make you a weir box.

 

[FailingUpwards]

@SaltwtrNewb it's a 22g long, 36 x 12 x 12, which is difficult to turn into a sump.

@Montiman I was going to drill through either the sides or the back, not the bottom. It really depends on cost on the overflows and the pump/powerheads I include. I'm curious about using a single pump design to achieve enough flow for corals.

 

[YHSublime]

Follow my build, I've documented all this information:

Build Thread - YHSublime's Living Room Nano Peninsulla

Well, the story goes a little something like this. Started with a custom Pico reef (12.5 gallons) and didn't like the rockwork: I have a pretty sweet little Biocube 14 that I wanted to upgrade, and the above wasn't much of an upgrade! So a local club member was selling his Mr. Aqua 22...

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