Tuni's 40 Breeder

[tunicata]

Ok! Well, I wanted a new tank, and wanted it to be shorter but still afford a large foot print. It also needed to fit the current lights I have (36" T5).

Soooo, 40g breeder it is.

This one is drilled in the top left and right corner, and also has a hole in a bottom corner.
Tank came with the bulkheads installed.
It is my job to some how figure out how to plumb it. My first hand at it!!!

First, I ramsacked, left over pieces from other purchases, then decided to just go and spend quality time in the plumbing section of Home Depot and have my gf hold everything and model it so I could 'see the vision'.

Now what is the vision in general?
Well...this tank will go into the living room (apartment is currently being remodelled), and needs to be a pretty tank, not a science experiement.

I want rock I've cured myself
Brand new sand
These, just to try and ensure I'm not getting pests. Everything outside of that is just aesthetics. I'm using a real phosban reactor instead of a nice 2 liter bottle, will try and keep the salt creep off of my equipment, take the frag rack/mag rack out of the tank, make sure there is nothing hanging off of the tank ( no hang on skimmer, filter, etc). Minimize the amount of cords hanging everywhere, and if there is equipment inside the tank, make sure it's periodically cleaned, and as pretty as possible.

Tank will be a nice community reef, and will actually have fish!!!

 

[tunicata]

Reserved for tank details:

Here is what I know/think I want so far:

General:
40-60lbs of rock
40 lbs of mixed sand, substrate .5-1.5mm

Salt:
Not sure yet. I have this science lab grade salt that I don't really like. I originally started my tanks off with Instant Ocean.
If you have suggestions let me know. I like the stats on Coral Life. It seems like a good generalist in all of the categories.

Dosing:
ESV Bionic 2 Part, and their Magnesium

Flow:
Koralia 2
Sen 900 or
Rio+ 2200 or
Quiet One 1100


Light:
Nova Extreme T5, bulbs need to be replaced. Perhaps the Giesemann 11k 60/40 (2 of them, and then regular actinics)
or Sunpod 150 to be hung over the top of the tank from ceiling or some weird thing I may build to make my own version of those zeroedge light holders...or something I do not have yet that would be good for the tank. My dream fixture would fit on or above the tank, and have MH with actinic t5 supplementation, and a few moonlights.

Livestock:
Well, once it's up, I'll move all corals SANS rock from my current tank. All that stuff is in my other tank thread. Lots of LPS/Softies, and a few sps.
New addition would be fish! Cool fish. I'll be getting a pair of mated maroon clowns, 2 lyretail anthias, I have green chromis already. I like the way gobies look, and if I can get a good culture of pods in this tank (my other one has TONS of them), I'll get a mandarin.

I also, want this display to be planted somewhat. So, there will be macro in the display and the fuge.
I'll of course have a clean up crew. Other than snails and hermits, which have done a GREAT job with my other tank all by themselves (with the help of phosban?), depending on how my substrate supports it, I'll get cucumbers, and cleaner shrimp. As long as there is a job, and adequate food for the invert.

This tank should also have gorgonians, tunicate colonies, and colorful sea stars. All reef safe of course, and nothing that is over kill. Just a few things I've liked in other folks tanks, that I'm sure I can keep.


I was thinking of making a tunicate and sponge section in my fuge. Get some black sheet to block the light from the fuge lamp, and hope they go asexual and actually grow well there by themselves. Just a dedicated...4x3 area in the fuge.

That's it for now I think. Oh, I'll also, try hard to keep the water 100% pristine (some tanks on this site are amazingly spotless), and the glass free of coralline.

 

[tunicata]

So, this is me fiddling with the stand I thought I was going to use:

We had to take it a part to fit it in my car, and I bought my first drill in order to put it together again!!

That was fun! Something weird is up with the stand though. There is about 1/2" of space between the bottom boards and the ground on one side of the stand. This of course makes it wobbly. I've decided to not use this as a stand.
Instead I will turn it into a dresser/storage for tank supplies. It works out too. I didn't really want to have a 20g sump. I have one laying about, but I like having a big refugium. I have a sump that is about 36x24" or so. I really like that one. Just have to get around to drying it out and fixing a seam with weldon (which I finally bought!).

Here is my cat checking out the tank:

Here I am checking out my cat, checking out the tank:

Here is what salvaged pvc and brand new pvc scattered on the floor waiting for a vision to happen, looks like:

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Tuni's got power tools!!!

Just kidding! Looks good.

I think I am going to start a new thread about this subject but I'll ask here anyway. Why is it that the cats always end up in the empty tank? Do they sense that lunch is going in there or something?

Tuni it looks great can't wait for more updates.

 

[tunicata]

Ok! Now, what did I do to the tank? What will you experienced persons need to help me with?
(btw, the tank is on the wood stand only for me to fit the majority of the pvc/see if the pvc vision works. I have to wait to get another stand before I really finish the lenght of the pvc into the sump, etc)

Here is a pic of the installed bulkhead with whatever that white piece is called...

I really liked the way this peice looked. It was salvaged, but too short for my application, so I made one myself!

All finished! I don't have to leave the connection to the vertical elbows so short. I just don't know if there is a real reason to have them longer.
The piece that is connected to the T, is not the peice I will actually use. This must change depending on what sump, and the final height and angle of my intake chamber.

Here is the bulkhead for the bottom hole, which is being used as a return

The peice came with that gray part installed, and has the white tape too tight for me to take it off. I do not want to use hose for this tank.
Can I just get some pvc part that will fit over the gray piece and attach/screw on to the bulkhead?

Here is what the return looks like

Btw, if the power fails, the display tank will only release water up to the very bottom of the return hole, correct? Which is likely only to be 1-2 inches of total display volume.

 

[Eznet2u]

Great start Tunicata,

But I'm not sure that Ban Solid is reef safe...

 

[tunicata]

LOL EZ, yea, I'm hoping I'll actually remove that before I really do anything with the tank!

Thanks for posting Chief and EZ

 

[DontXtripNfall]

Looks like your off to a great start Tuni!

 

[cb747]

Looks good Tuni! Keep the pics coming

 

[tunicata]

Thanks for posting folks.

So, since no one has said anything BAD about the plumbing, I'm should consider it a decent job until I do round 1 of water testing?

I figure once it's done, I will run the water through it and see if I have any leaks.
Also, see if and where I need to use the pvc cement stuff.
The smallest can of the stuff is way more than I'll ever need probably...it's only 3.99 or something at HD, but then I'd need some sort of applicator if it doesnt have one...lol.

And, I figure I'll have to find out which pump I'm going to use before I can make a definitive on that gray attachment on the return.

I'm going to go read more threads on salt. I need to figure it out, then get price qoutes.

 

[NYreefNoob]

If You Plan To Use The 2 Holes For Your Returns, I Would Get A Pressure Rated Pump For It If Not Definately One Rated For More Than You Think, I Have Mine The Same Basic Way And Had A 850gph Pump Open All The Way, How Do You Plan To Do The Drain ? Could Always Use One For Return And The Other For The Drain. You Lose Alot Of Head With It Splitting Into The 2 For Return Like That.

 

[tunicata]

Oh, I'm going to use the two holes as an overflow, and have the single hole on the bottom be the return.

I wondered about just using the top holes, 1 as return and 1 as overflow and plugging up the hole on the bottom, but I wasn't sure about how to do that.
I think there is some sort of end cap that screws on to the top of pvc.
If something goes wrong during my water test, and there is leakage/I don't feel like using hose for the return pump, I may just plug it up.

 

[NYreefNoob]

You Can Put A Cap On The One On The Bottom, Would Not Use It For A Return, If You Have A Power Failure Water Will Drai Nthat Far Down, You Can Inset A Pvc Pipe With A Cap Into That Bulkhead

 

[tunicata]

Hmm, why would the water drain all the way down to the bottom of the tank?

I thought the water would only go down as far as the hole in the pvc for the return.
Other wise there is no open hole below water level.

I'm expecting only the top 1-2 inches of the water level to go into the sump during a powerfailure.
After that point there should be no holes to escape through....right?

I could drill a small hole in the return pipe too.

Eh, I'll test it out during my water run. Hopefully I'll get the water before Friday.

 

[KathyC]

Tuni..if the power goes out the hole on the bottom of the tank will turn itself into a drain...that's the concern...and all of your water will drain out of there...

I'm sure someone will be along shortly with lots of suggestions from plumbing your tank

 

[masterswimmer]

Chanel, shoot me a PM with your phone #. We'll see if we can get you up and running.

Russ

 

[tunicata]

To update:
My RO/DI broke (don't ask), but a local reefer gave me enough good water to start until I get a new RO/DI.

I have 60lbs of Dry rock sitting in a 20l to start it's cure, has a powerhead and heater and since I had a seaclone laying about, added that too. When I left home I had probably about.... .25".
Just did it last night.

I also cleaned the skimmer, hadn't been cleaned in a good while, just emptied...gross.

To do this weekend:
Fix the acrylic sump
Continue to try and find a suitable stand/fix the wooden one (really don't want the iron thing)

Picking up early next week:
new bulbs, sand, dosing stuff .
A 55g barrel to store water once I get the RO.DI set up
Hopefully find an RO/DI
Finalize plumbing

WATER TEST!!!!

Depending on how that goes, prime and cement pvc/ do something different

By next weekend:
Set up all components of the tank on Saturday.
Sunday add water and rock and let it continue cycle inside the tank.

Wait...patiently.

 

[tunicata]

Ok, didn't accomplish much this weekend, was wicked tied up.
BUT, I did pick up a 55g water barrel today, I had picked up 40g of water from a friend prior.
The RO/DI unit is on its way. I got a 6 stage unit that does 100gpd
I also got one of those American DJ 8 outlet things coming in the mail.
I did also drain the sump. Just have to make sure its DRY, then see what weldon can do. I'll be careful.
I do have a back up sump, but its so small...my skimmer would have to sit in the fuge section! If I make a mistake and further ruin the sump, I'll talk to Jeff/Custom king because his acrylic working is awesome.

 

[KathyC]

Sounds like you have a working plan there Tuni!
Did you get all the plumbing work figured out with help from Russ?