Totlxtc's 40 Breeder

Totlxtc

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Lost my 27g tank due to bottom seam leaking from having to redo floors and I thought I had it drained enough to cause no harm, wrong! I kept getting salt creep on the back bottom of the tank. Just assumed it was coming from the HOB overflow. Around 11pm one night I went to go to bed and stepped in water. The awe $^%@ feeling came over me. I drained as much water in to buckets as I could and placed all rock and fish in the buckets with pumps and heaters till I could deal with it in the morning. I picked up a small cube to put the stuff in and dug my old sump from 20 years ago out of the barn to attach it too. I want a larger tank but with divorce, kids and covid that wasn't happening anytime soon.

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27g cube

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Temporary setup

Eventually I bought a 40g breeder to place all my rock and corals in. Started with Petco's basic setup as this is suppose to be permanent temporary setup and eventually a frag tank for the "Big" tank. So I went with a simple tried and true tank/stand for low budget setups.

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40g breeder

I picked up some goodies for the tank, a Trigger Systems 26 sump and 5g top off reservoir through Premium Aquatics while on sale. To go with the new sump I got an Apex ATK. Then since work picked back up and it was harder and harder to test and dose additives for the corals I picked up an Apex EL, Trident and DOS with DDR from Bulk Reef Supply. What a life changer for people who don't have as much time to spend testing and dosing.

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So this all lead to what to do with the Apex. I purchased a matching stand from Petco for a 29g tank. Made a back for it and laid out my system. Ordered miscellaneous plug covers, plug adapters, etc to mount it all up.

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Layout of Apex

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Full tank shot of tank presently

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Sump layout

For my lighting I had a Al Prime 16hd on my old cube so I stayed with that and added another. Well after months of using them I felt my corals weren't getting enough light especially after the downgrade by Al to prevent lens burning using the AB+ setting. I bought a 36" Aquatic Life Hybrid with two coral plus and two blue plus bulbs as I prefer a whiter/blue look. I'll post below how I set that up on my tank.

This is my present day setup but have been working on more upgrades. Haha
 
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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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For my lighting I really didn't like the idea of hanging it from the ceiling. So I made myself and nice plate and brackets for mounting the lights. Cut the metal in our families sheet metal shop and powder coated it at my work. Just need to do some wire management when I switch tanks later.

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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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I hate the HOB overflow so I bought a Modular Marine 1200g setup and drilled a new 40g to replace the one I have. I've drilled about 9 tanks before and never broke one till this time. Normally I use a drill press but no longer had access to the big one and my bench top one wouldn't reach to where the hole needed to be drilled. Well the video's shows the use of a cordless drill and looked so easy. On the second hole it must of tilted just enough when punching through it cracked the glass. Not too big of a deal as i'll use it for my Dubia roach colony. Petco still had them on sale so I picked up another one friday and drilled it last night using the bench top press. Needed to modify it so the bit would reach where the hole needed to go. I found some pvc in the garage and made a makeshift offset to reach past the edge. It worked excellent and 3 holes drilled with no problem.

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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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Painted the back of the tank black and the bottom matte river rock to help blend in with the rockwork a little better. I used the Tidal Garden's method in the Aquascape forum to build my scape. I must say it is bullet proof and won't be going anywhere.

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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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Rock is in the tank and connected to the sump. Using old 40 breeder for a refugium and housing all the LR in it to keep with the filtration. Did some PAR readings on the tank.



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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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Tank photo update and photo of my 40g refugium where I put all the live rock from my old 27g that leaked.
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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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Picked up a pair of Black Saddleback Clowns today

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fishface NJ

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Did you go with 3/4” for the plumbing on the overflow and return sides? I’m running a similar sized pump in a 20 gallon sump and wasn’t quite sure on that part of my plumbing. I really appreciate it.
It would depend on which Modular Marine overflow you bought on the out flow. My 40B has the MM 1600 model which has (3) 1" drains. I therefore used 1" pvc pipes. My return pipes are 3/4"
 
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Totlxtc

Totlxtc

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Did you go with 3/4” for the plumbing on the overflow and return sides? I’m running a similar sized pump in a 20 gallon sump and wasn’t quite sure on that part of my plumbing. I really appreciate it.
3/4" from pump to tank and (3) 1" lines from overflow box to sump.
 

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It would depend on which Modular Marine overflow you bought on the out flow. My 40B has the MM 1600 model which has (3) 1" drains. I therefore used 1" pvc pipes. My return pipes are 3/4"
Do you have a picture of your drain setup? I have the same MM 1600 that I drilled my 80g tank for. I also drilled in the top corners for 2 drains to use 3/4". My plan is to use a separate pump for each return. This is my first bean animal setup and so ANY visuals to help with my materials list before heading to Home Depot would be a GREAT help! My return fittings from bulk reef supply are due to arrive today so I'm trying to get as much as I can between today and tomorrow to get this all fabbed up.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.9%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.4%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
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