# 40gal Reef preparation



## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

hi all. as u know, i like to research alot before i do somethin. i know its been a little confusion, but since my mom doesn't want the 55gal in her house, were goin with a 40-breeder reef as a focal point for the living room. since were not on the ground floor my dad will reinforce the floor. for this tank, we will also be using a 20-long sump/fuge. heres a list of planned equipment:
40gal breeder AGA
20gal long AGA
36"x18" Cabinet Stand
2 Hydor Koralia #1 Powerheads
Eshopps Overflow Box PF-300
Eshopps In-Sump Protein Skimmer PSK-75
ViaAqua Water Pump 1300
Galaxy Desktop Lamp
10gal Q-Tank
Questions: How many lbs and what brand of aragonite stand?
What Lighting System to go with?

o and livestock will be(in order of proposed time to be added)
-25lbs keko live rock
-25lbs fiji live rock
-20 hermit crabs(blue-legged and red-legged)
-2 cleaner shrimp
-1 red-stripe goby
-1 citron clown goby
-1 yellow-tail blue damselfish
-Zoanthid frag
-Mushroom frag
-1 rose anemone
-2 true Onyx percula clownfish
-1 orchid dottyback
Q's-Compatable? Stockng level OK?


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## cesstern (Aug 10, 2008)

This is a build thread to our daughters 40 breeder
40 GALLON BREEDER w/ 3 gallon pico and 29 gallon Mantis the AIO thread! - Nano-Reef.com Forums


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## cesstern (Aug 10, 2008)

Things to think about changing...
2 Hydor Koralia #1 Powerheads ....Go bigger for a lil more money you will be happy you did.

Go with 40lbs...Check out the link
Dual 150 Metal halide...You will be able to have any coral you want.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

cesstern said:


> 2 Hydor Koralia #1 Powerheads ....Go bigger for a lil more money you will be happy you did.


u mean Koralia #2?



cesstern said:


> Dual 150 Metal halide...You will be able to have any coral you want.


i think the metal halides will be a little too expensive.


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## cesstern (Aug 10, 2008)

We were able to get the dual 150 for 330. You will end up paying close to that for T-5 lights.


My kids has 3 powerheads a #1, #2 and a #3.


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

Go with T-5's and you will be able to keep anything you can think of and they will be cooler to run and cheaper and bulbs will last longer oh and more color options. Will you be useing a fixture or will you have a canopy and also make sure you get quality bulbs and not Slim Paq's or Current's they are junk get D&D Giesmann's or ATI's much higher par and longer bulb life


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

cesstern, i read your daughters tank thread (all 11 pages of it) and...am ABSOLUTELY AMAZED! i noticed your daughter has a full blown reef tank with about 1 inch of fish per 1.5 gallons of water... FISH LIST CHANGE!!
2 Onyx Percula Clownfish(4 inches)
1 Orchid Dotty-Back(3 inches)
1 Flame Angelfish(4 inches)
1 Midas Blenny(5 inches)
3 green chromis (9 inches)
total number of fish inches: 25 inches=1 inch of fish per 1.7gallons of water
hows that?
reading that an 8yo can hold up that tank, and i don't see why an 11yo can't hold up my list!


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

archer772, reading about the midas blenny taking the jump, i would guess i need a canopy. any recommendations for a lighting system that won't be too expensive?


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

Just remember that you only want to buy your lights once to help save money and be able to keep what you want OK.
1- Workhorse 7 ballast will run 4 39 watt T-5's----- $46.95
2- 4 sets of endcaps and mounts------------------ $13.44 X 4
3- 2-39W 12000K ATI Aquablue Special T5HO-------$20.95 X 2
4- 2- 39W ATI Blue Plus T5HO ---------------------$19.95 X 2
5- Sunlight Supply TEK ll Reflector -----------------$18.95 X 4
6- Bulb clips---------------------------------------$1.79 X 4
Or you could get 2 of these plus the same bulbs as above
T5 Tek Retro Kit 36in- 2 x 39w 

Remember you will need intense lighting like T-5's with individual reflectors or MH's for the RBTA and you will only need to replace bulbs about every 15-18 months.

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/index.php?cPath=55_89

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/index.php?cPath=55_59_88

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/index.php?cPath=55_66


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

archer772 said:


> 1- Workhorse 7 ballast will run 4 39 watt T-5's----- $46.95
> 2- 4 sets of endcaps and mounts------------------ $13.44 X 4
> 3- 2-39W 12000K ATI Aquablue Special T5HO-------$20.95 X 2
> 4- 2- 39W ATI Blue Plus T5HO ---------------------$19.95 X 2
> ...


im gettin a little confused...is that all upgrades for the Nova or a whole different set-up, because nothing said "hood" or "canopy"


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

Those are all retro parts and kits to be mounted inside of a canopy, you dont want to put a fixture inside a canopy as it will get too hot. What I listed are all quality parts that wont need upgrading unless you decide to get an IC Ballast but then you would have problems keeping corals do to bleaching them from too intense of lighting.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

ok thanks! any good brands of canopies u know of?


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## oneoffcustom (May 13, 2009)

Not to step on anyones toes, but i have a few suggestions of my own. Lighting is one of the most important things you can have on a reef tank, and i would say the most important is a skimmer. On these two things i would not skimp a bit. For your skimmer i would say you may want to trim your fish list down a bit, or buy a biogger skimmer to overskim your water. An example is you will have roughly 50 gallons water volume buy a good skimmer rated at 100 gallons. I would stay away from seaclone and low line skimmers as they dont often work good. Rmember if its cheap its probably junk. As for the fish to water rule, in saltwater its 4 gallons water per inch of fish, salt water is not as forgiving on water parameters as fresh. Also on the hermits i would do about half of that, you will see that they can be very pesky. These guy will knock over your corals, so if you go with that amount i would glue everything down. Now to address your flow and lighting. These two items depend heavily on what you want to keep. If you are wanting soft corals only and just lps then you could go the cheaper route and buy compact flourecents. If you want a brighter color from your corals you could go t-5ho. In my personal expiriance t5s are deffinatly the way to go. These will make you corals colors pop nicely. Also bennifits with t5s are that you can keep sps under them, they run way cooler than halides, and they are much more friendly to your electric bill. For your tank to keep sps under t5ho lighting you will need at least a 4 bulb fixture. That being said you can go to aquatraders.com and purchase this very light for 89$ with bulbs. Now should you want halides they make your water shimmer and can support all coral types. If you wish not to buy or build a canopy you could always use glass tops to keep fish from jumping, if you use t5s it wont affect your temp much and will also keep your evap low. good luck and feel free to ask me anything...

nick


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

actually ive been reading cesstern's daughter's thread a bit and found out she originally started with a 20long. i know bigger=better but i think i might just start with this because it won't be so much of a sudden advance.. i only plan on 2 O'clowns and a court jester goby. i don't want the fellow members to get even more confused so im not posting anything else publicly. if u want to help me out and give suggestions PM me


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