My 40B build.

[brainless chef]

Hello guys. Im starting a 40 gallon breeder salt water reef tank and i am going to document the whole process here.

A little info: its a 40B from petco and I'm going to use a 15B as my sump. I might go with a 20 long but we will see.

I did not want to drill my tank so I'm going with a diy overflow made with pvc. I am also making my return out of pvc.

I want a real looking reef so I'm not just staking up rocks like i did in my first 20 gal tank, this time i am making my own rock using portland cement crushed coral and corse rock salt. The rock will be built into the tank.

I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head i hope they all work out. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them up of what I've done so far.

 

[coffeetwitch]

glad you got your build thread/"journal" up. following for sure.

 

[AquaRick]

Looking forward to how your tank turns out!

 

[EriksFish315]

Looking forward to seeing this build. I just bought my 55 gallon from petco because of the sale to start my first saltwater.

 

[carey]

Following along as well!

Good luck!

 

[brainless chef]

Update:

Here are some pictures of the tank and stand.

One of my neighbors threw that beautiful stand out. Luckily i came by and gave it a new home.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Any reason you aren't drilling the tank? I don't know that I'll ever own another tank that isn't drilled.

 

[brainless chef]

At some point in the build i am going to make some doors for the stand to hide my sump and equipment.

 

[EriksFish315]

Nice stand better price!

 

[brainless chef]

I am afraid of braking it. That would suck!!! Plus i have found alternatives to driling.

One day in the futre I would like a custom made tank that is drilled but for now this works.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I totally understand. Until I drilled mine, I was scared to death of breaking my tank. Now I wouldn't hesitate to drill a $1000 custom tank (though, I'd expect a tank of that price to come pre-drilled lol).

Looking forward to seeing this build progress.

 

[brainless chef]

Here is the overflow I made.

1" in diameter i read online it moves aprox. 300 gph. I tested in one of my buckets and it was moving the water out faster than the hose could put it in.

 

[brainless chef]

Now the return. I got a 500 gph pump and used a 1/2 inch diameter pvc to bring the water back up. Its almost 3 feet of head weight so it should be a little over 300 gph by the time it gets back in the tank. I went a little creative with the return i figured if im making it from scratch why not. That and i had pvc left over.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Here's a good headloss calculator if you haven't seen it yet - Head Loss

Is that maxijet what you're using for the return pump?

 

[coffeetwitch]

hey man, just looking at your overflow. unless your sticking it in something else, your going to have a problem on a power out. and if your are sticking it in something else your going to be fighting the sound of falling water. i hope that made sense.

 

[coffeetwitch]

Here's a good headloss calculator if you haven't seen it yet - Head Loss

Is that maxijet what you're using for the return pump?

how accurate is this head loss calculator?

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have no idea how accurate it is... but since it's on reef central, I'd guess it has to be pretty close.

 

[brainless chef]

hey man, just looking at your overflow. unless your sticking it in something else, your going to have a problem on a power out. and if your are sticking it in something else your going to be fighting the sound of falling water. i hope that made sense.

Yeah its going inside a 2" pvc.

 

[brainless chef]

I just took more pictures.

Here is the light i got. The protein skimer and my frag tank. (its going to be my sump)

 

[coffeetwitch]

very cool. dieing to know how that return piping works and how those leds work for you. when are you moving it inside and doing a final set up?