40 breeder build .

[gilman]

So after taking a few years off from the hobby Ive decided to jump back in .

This time around Im going small and building a 40 breeder mixed reef . Im going all out on this one and starting with everything brand new .

The tank is a standard aqueon 40b I drilled for a eshoppes M internal overflow and single 3/4 return . The tank will drain into a Icecap 24 reef sump , that will house a Bubble magas curve A5 , jbj ato , solmatic media reactor , and varios 2 return pump feeding back to the tank manifolded to run the reactor and future calcium reactor .

In the tank Im going with jebao wave pumps , tropic eden reef flakes , and PA real reef rock . The tank is going to be lighted with a Orphek Atlatik V4 compact .

Ato and water changes provided via a vertek 100gpd RO/DI .

Crappy shot of some of the equipment right now .

Thanks for looking ,
Jason .

 

[Mageau11]

Welcome back! Looking forward to seeing your build progress!

 

[gilman]

So I got the stand all cleaned up and moved out of my frogroom to the livingroom where the tank will be set up last night . Moved the tank to to stand and took a couple different spectrum shots of the light .

First shot is a program I made similar to the ‘coral color and growth’ preprogram .
Second is the 14k mode , and last is the violet mode .

The sump should be here monday , after that all the fun starts !!! Whoopieeeee

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Looks like a fun build. Please keep the pictures coming.

 

[gilman]

Equipment is piling up ! Got in the hanna checkers , and plumbing parts today .

 

[gilman]

So the sump showed up early today !!!!

I had to remove the top center brace in my stand to get the sump in . Fits perfectly otherwise . Got my skimmer in , added my return pump , the low water level sensor to shut it off , and ato sensor . I mounted my varios controller and ato controller to the inside of the door and orphek driver to the outter right side of the stand . Im going to drill the float switch into the top of the ato reservoir tomorrow and start figuring out the pumbing .

The single arm mount Im hanging my orphek from bounces like crazy and is scaring the **** out of me so I ordered a second one today . Im going to set the two up with cross braces and mount the orphek that way . Im also going to cut a strip of 1/4” acrylic for the inside of the tank to screw the set screws to to distribute the pressure of the mounts against the glass .

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Your tank is coming together nicely.

 

[Seminoles76]

Your tank is coming together nicely.

Looking good man. Have you decided on the type of rock or if your going BB vs. sand?

 

[Chrisfish]

Very nice build, looking forward to seeing more

 

[gilman]

Looking good man. Have you decided on the type of rock or if your going BB vs. sand?

Im going with tropic eden reef flakes and premium aquatics real reef rock . 50lb of live sand , and going to start with 30lb of the rock .

 

[hafer12]

I'm in the works of plumbing a 40b for a frag tank, to my 75g display. I went with the same eclipse overflow as u.
Sweet build, looks killer!

 

[gilman]

I'm in the works of plumbing a 40b for a frag tank, to my 75g display. I went with the same eclipse overflow as u.
Sweet build, looks killer!

View attachment 717718

That 75 is gorgeous

 

[hafer12]

Oh yeah, your gonna love that skimmer

 

[hafer12]

That 75 is gorgeous

Thanks man! Its my baby

 

[gilman]

Plumbed her , and filled her with water . Only leak I had was one of the bulkheads on the overflow . Gonna run it a few days with freshwater , drain it out . Im not going to set it up and start the cycle until I get back from Bermuda in May .

Tomorrow Im gonna install the RO/DI under my sink and start it up .

 

[gilman]

Oh and the lady wanted a new rug in the livingroom so we bought a 10x8 and matching 5x4 . I also put a waterproof liner under the carpets incase of an accident . Im not to worried since Ill be putting an apex in this week also .

 

[gilman]

So we got in the second Halo arm mount and installed it and the Orphek using the Orphek hanging kit . Still to much sag and bouncing from the arms whenever anyone walked into the living room . So using the Halo arm mounting brackets I bent a piece of 1/2” emt and installed that . Now the light is stable and exactly the way I wanted it ! I painted the tube black . The picture is before the painting of the tube .

I got all my parts in for the Apex and set everything up and programmed it during the week . I also installed the RO/DI Saturday and immediately had an issue . It would run then shut down after a couple seconds . So we troubleshot everything to finaly figure oit the brand new Bubble Magus float vavle never had the hole drilled into it . So I remedied that by drilling a 1/16” hole in it . It took about 40minutes to fill the ATO reservoir in my sump .

We also got the Icecap 3K Gyre in on Friday and set that up , that pump kicks butt !!!! Im pretty impressed with what it can do and the movement of water in the tank . Also added a second heater to the sump this week . Picked up a ALD module and two solid state leak detectors for the Apex and the cable to run my Varios from the Apex .

Also while we were eatting and drinking and installing the RO/DI my friend noticed the stand was warping on the left side . I ordered one of those Imagitarium metal stands . That should be in this week . Ill put it together then have the weder at work weld it up for added piece of mind . I plan to build some Acacia wood panels that will match my livingroom furniture that will mount to the stand with slide hangers on the front and one side .

After Vaca we will be setting up the tank with rock sand and saltwater ! 11 more days to Bermuda !

More to come this week !

 

[Scurvy]

Great start! Ive recently fired up a 40B as well. Went with trigger 26 sump, the M overflow, regular Curve 5 skimmer and a 4 bulb ati/reefbrite setup i had on the shelf. Not having an internal overflow is great!

 

[gilman]

Great start! Ive recently fired up a 40B as well. Went with trigger 26 sump, the M overflow, regular Curve 5 skimmer and a 4 bulb ati/reefbrite setup i had on the shelf. Not having an internal overflow is great!

Sounds like a great start . Are you gonna do a build thread ?

 

[LadyMac]

Very nice build thread I also have a 40 breeder. I like it.