40g breeder set-up advice

[phoenix808]

aloha all....I currently have a 20g long and am upgrading to a 40g breeder. I already have the tank and a homemade 2x4 stand and need some equipment advice. I will not be using a sump system so I am planning on using an aquaclear 110 filter w/ 2 hydor koralia powerheads, 1-750 & 1-550 as I was thinking 2 of the same size would "cancel" eachother out? Make sense?. Lighting will be a 36" 4bulb T5HO fixture (maybe Odyssea?) as it will only be fish only with dead coral for rocks. Does this sound doable so far?

My main question is for a HOB protein skimmer. I am considering either an eshopps, cpr bak pak, octopus, or remora. Cost is definitely a consideration and I think all of these are in the same ballpark also something that is easy to set-up, does the job well, and somewhat quiet. Would like some advice from people who have experience with these and feel free to add any on there I have not mentioned.

For stocking I already have a firefish, 6-line wrasse, and a cleaner shrimp. After upgrading I would like to add some kind of Goby, like a diamond or bicolor. A potters wrasse, royal gramma, flame angel, and 3 chromis or banggai cardinalfish (undecided). Does this stocklist sound alright for a 40g breeder? What skimmer for this bio-load?

As I mentioned, I only have the tank/stand right now, but I've been hovering over the purchase button on the equipment listed above. Skimmer is still up in the air, so I figured I would turn to the hobbyists here on RC before I buy the wrong stuff. Mahalo in advance.

[Northstar24]

When I was researching skimmers for my setup, it came down to Octopus and Lifereef for me - I don't know much about the others that you posted, but I think the Octopus would serve you well.

My experience with Flame Angels is that in a tank that small with that kind of stocking list will lead them to beating up the other fish in the tank - you may want to reconsider the stocking list a little bit, but I'm sure others will chime in

[greech]

Never had a HOB skimmer before but have heard good things about the eshopps and octopus HOBs.

FWIW, I don't think it is absolutely necessary to pull the trigger on a skimmer right away especially since you are going with a FOWLR. You can easily get by with regular water changes for now and take you time to find the best skimmer for your system. I ran my breeder for about a year without a skimmer and only a AC70 HOB filter and weekly water changes. The tank did well but no doubt the skimmer and the sump I added made a big difference. If you can add a sump, I would recommend it. Whether you do it now or add one via a HOB overflow down the road.

Powerhead wise I started out with 2 x Koralia 2's and quickly found out I needed more flow. Before I got my MP-10 I was using 2x Evolution 1050s and a modded Tunze 6025 in addition to about 300gph from my return pump. The problem I had was dead spots despite what I think is a fairly open aquascape. I now have the MP-10 and the tunze and that seems to work well for me. I think you would at least want 2 x 750s. If you offset them just a bit, they will not offset each other (not sure they would even if you pointed them directly at each other). Just don't think the 550 is going to serve you well even with a FOWLR.

[thegrun]

The plan sounds good (you don't need to worry about the powerheads canceling each other out, but two different sizes will not hurt anything). I used to use a remora skimmer and found it fairly noisy compared to the other skimmers you list. My one concern would be the amount of fish. I would try to limit the quantity to about 6 or 7 fish at the most (don't count the shrimp in that bio-load as they are primarily scavengers and would be considered part of your clean-up crew). Good luck!

[greech]

^Agreed with the amount of fish (forgot to mention that). 6-lines are known to be bi-polar fish. Some are peaceful while others start out that way and end up being terrors. The flame angel is doable in your size tank but it should probably be the last fish added epending on what your eventual stock list looks like.

[phoenix808]

Thank you so much for your inputs, I really appreciate it.

My 20g long only has a aquaclear filter so I thought of going w/o a skimmer on the 40g but figured that the 20 only has a small bio-load so with the added fish it would need a skimmer.

As for the powerheads, I considered an mp10wes but thought the $ would be better used on a skimmer.

Also wanted to go with a sump but opted to go without for two reasons. Ease of maintenance with a HOB filter and overall cost, both equipment and operating. If I went skimmerless for now, would the ac110 do or should I double up and run 2?

As for fish, I kinda thought a 40 would be too small for a flame angel but wanted something large(ish) and colorful to be the "focal" point. Any ideas.

Again thanks and keep the replies coming. Aloha