30g Breeder Reef Tank Build.

[MnAquarium]

Hello everybody I have some questions to propose about my 30g breeder tank, well here it goes.

I'm doing dry rock for the aquascaping so I want to know how many pounds of rock I would need. Also I'm not looking at filling the tank with the full capacity of live rock because I want to do more of trench/island rock setup.

I want a deep sand bed so I was wondering on how much I would need?

The tank is obviously not "Reef Ready" so I was wondering if I should have the tank drilled or buy an over-hang overflow box (which I had on my previous 55g reef tank). If I do drill the tank, where should I drill it? On the bottom or on the back side of the tank?

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[DRock]

Hello everybody I have some questions to propose about my 30g breeder tank, well here it goes.

I'm doing dry rock for the aquascaping so I want to know how many pounds of rock I would need. Also I'm not looking at filling the tank with the full capacity of live rock because I want to do more of trench/island rock setup.

I want a deep sand bed so I was wondering on how much I would need?

The tank is obviously not "Reef Ready" so I was wondering if I should have the tank drilled or buy an over-hang overflow box (which I had on my previous 55g reef tank). If I do drill the tank, where should I drill it? On the bottom or on the back side of the tank?

Thank you so much in advance.

So to try and answer each question directly and simply;

When it comes to how much dry rock you "need", I would recommend at least 20 lbs. as this will be your main biological filter. Normally the recommendation is 1 lb. per gallon, but I know people who do 2/3 successfully.

My 20g standard has 20 lbs of sand and I have a 1" sand bed, if I was in your shoes, I'd buy 3, 20 lb bags and only add 2 to start, see if that gives you a deep enough bed, if not add the 3rd. If 2 is enough, take the 3rd back

If you drill, drill on the back side, use bulkheads and a decent overflow box. There are some great videos on drilling tanks on YouTube. But the most important thing to figure out is whether or not your tank is made of tempered glass. If it is tempered, I would not drill it, too many horror stories I've heard, that alone would make my mind up between a hang on or drilling.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Darrell