40 Gallon Breeder reef tank build...

[mmittlesteadt]

Originally Posted by vokrey09

65 gallon sump!? That is awesome, so much more added water volume.

I've had my 40breeder setup for almost 2 months now and love it. Still have to finish the stand, just haven't found the time. It is located in my bedroom, I was afraid of the added weight/flooding up here so I went sumpless.

Yes a 65 gallon sump in my basement for my 40 gallon breeder display tank upstairs in my living room! Not only more water volume, more live rock, more sand and a huge refugium. I'll also have automated top off in the sump, almost automated water changes (again in the sump).

Just drilled the holes in the floor of my living room (right next to the edge of the walls (very little carpet moved for the holes) and ran my 1" PVC down to my tank. The drain and return pipes almost line up perfect with my sump. Return line will need two 45 degree elbows (below floor) as it's just off center a bit (had to get around a cold air return in the basement ceiling). And I will also use flexible tubing from the tank fittings to the PVC as well as from the PVC downstairs to the sump.

Another side benefit of having my sump in the basement is the "built-in" chiller. My basement is about 10 to 20 degrees cooler than my living room, which will make it easy to keep the tank temps where they need to be during hot summer months. Of course, in the winter, I may need to insulate the tank and pipes in the basement, but that's easy enough to do if it's even needed. The room has a furnace vent in it so it is heated and controllable.

[SpikeDangles]

Amazing rock work! I'm in the planning stage for my 40b right now as well. I'm going to build an extra wide and extra tall stand to accommodate a 20L sump and small shelves for reactors/dosing components as well as some type of ATO tank. Intrigued by the gravity fed method your using, I'll have to read up on it.

I'm blown away by that rock work though! I was planning on cutting my rock with a chop saw with a masonary blade, how difficult was it to use a tablesaw?

Are you planning to cure your rock through "cooking" it? I was informed about this by a local reefer who told me that dry rock can leach phosphates like a mother.

Awesome build and I will definitely be following along!

[mmittlesteadt]

Originally Posted by SpikeDangles

Amazing rock work! I'm in the planning stage for my 40b right now as well. I'm going to build an extra wide and extra tall stand to accommodate a 20L sump and small shelves for reactors/dosing components as well as some type of ATO tank. Intrigued by the gravity fed method your using, I'll have to read up on it.

I'm blown away by that rock work though! I was planning on cutting my rock with a chop saw with a masonary blade, how difficult was it to use a tablesaw?

Are you planning to cure your rock through "cooking" it? I was informed about this by a local reefer who told me that dry rock can leach phosphates like a mother.

Awesome build and I will definitely be following along!

Thanks! My table saw cut through the rock fairly well with a masonry blade, but I was dry cutting it...lots of dust and harder to cut, than when wet. Just didn't want to deal with water too.

Dry rock can leach phosphates, yes. How much? Depends. I'm not too concerned as I'm in no rush to fill my tank full of fish and creatures anyway. I"ll just keep testing the phosphates and do water changes. The water changes will be easy once I get all my equipment for my sump in order.

I'm just taking my time and getting everything in order. I should be getting my tank drilled for my drain and return lines this Sunday. After that's done I can start planning my DIY overflow box (which I will cover with some kind of rockwork to make it look like an overhanging rock shelf instead of an acrylic box). Especially now that all my equipment is in my sump and not in the tank.

I'll post things as I go along. Send me a link to your build thread as you go along...I like to see how others do their tanks.

[mmittlesteadt]

Borrowed my friend's diamond hole cutter and drilled out the holes for my bulkheads. Made a template out of 1/4" acrylic and used plumber's putty to make a dam around the hole area and the acrylic just sticks right over it. I kept overflowing the hole in the acrylic with cold water and the dam held the water in place while I drilled. I taped the backsides of the holes.

Very easy to do and very clean cutting. Right now I have a coat of black paint drying on the back.

Also got my RO/DI unit from Bulk Reef Supply today! I'll be adding two filters in front of it. A 10 micron household Carbon filter and then a 5 micron one which will go in front of the 1 micron one which is the first stage of the BRS unit.

Getting closer. Now that the bulkhead holes are drilled I can now get my plumbing finished up and run to my sump. Then it's on to the sump work.

[mmittlesteadt]

I'll be siliconing in my corner overflow tonight...just one piece of glass at an angle in the left back corner. Then I'm going to make a false rockwork cover with a few ledges to mimic my other rockwork, to hide it.

[chillwill007]

That should look nice

[mmittlesteadt]

Now that my tank is drilled and the overflow is siliconed in place, I decided to create a false rockwork that goes in front of my corner overflow (to hide that), but instead of just rectangle to cover the overflow, it will arch over (all along the top back) to the other corner where it will arch back down the right side a little bit, which will also hide my return bulkhead.

With the back of the tank painted black, some 3D ledges on it will give the appearance of the back going into a cave, while also providing hiding places for fish and invertebrates, yet a couple of ledges for even more coral.

[xcghjh]

Nice, just started a 40 breeder build myself. I decided to go with a sump for my 3rd salty tank ever. I'm using a 20 long for the sump.

[mmittlesteadt]

Thanks. I did not have room for a sump under my stand and fortunately that was a blessing as I have it in my newly carpeted living room, and I had a 65 gallon tank unused in my basement. As it turns out I have space in my basement right under my 40 gallon display tank in the living room.

So, the 65 gallon sump will be in the basement. Long ago when I hatched this idea of having a reef tank, it was going to just be a 40 gallon display tank with everything hanging off the back. It just grew from there.

Got a build thread yet?

[mmittlesteadt]

I'm going to do some further aquascaping with a rock wall to cover my overflow and my return. BUT...this is not going to be a full back wall. This is going to be an arch spanning from my overflow to the other corner on the other side to make it look like a cave (back glass is painted black). It will also have ledges and overhangs that create great visual line flow as well as enhancing water flow throughout the back of the tank.

[mmittlesteadt]

Originally Posted by xghxh

Good start so far... 40 gallon breeder is a very good tank for a reef.

Thanks. I have limited space so a huge tank is out of the question. I have a 65 gallon tank, but it's going to be my sump in my basement. I'm sure most people would use the 65 for the DT and the 40 for the sump, but I HATE tall tanks now. And besides, having a larger sump than DT gives me all kinds of advantages.

Not the least of which is being able to stock the 40 without having to sell my house to finance it.

[Kyle461]

I think the ability to have a large sump is really cool! I find myself staring at the sump more often than the DT.

[mmittlesteadt]

Originally Posted by Kyle461

I think the ability to have a large sump is really cool! I find myself staring at the sump more often than the DT.

Yeah, I'm a big time DIYer and I love designing things and equipment and such. I'm putting the sump in my "fish room" in my basement where I'll do all my "work". It will be my lab. I will also be able to have a really nice sized refugium. I'll keep a QT under it, a frag tank next to it, a desk, recliner, bookshelf for my aquarium books and mags, a utility sink, ATO, almost automatic water changer.

Yeah, I'm really digging the thought of having a large sump in the basement. Still all in the planning stages (except the tank, stand and plumbing through the living room floor into the sump, are in place).

[mmittlesteadt]

Well, my bulkheads are installed, overflow is siliconed in place and this is the start of my arch wall that will hide my overflow and the return.

Crappy pic of the overflow and bulkheads...



Couple of shots of the layout of the styrofoam. Almost all of this will be carved away, so it looks WAY thicker and bigger than it will end up being. Most of it will be thinner that even the single layer, but I wanted to start with it large and carve ledges and overhangs in the right places. I will also be cutting out a huge chunk for the cave (where it's X'd out on the styro in marker). And of course, one the left, I will cut down the artificial rock wall below the overflow's top so it does not interfere with water flow and no animals will crawl into it.

Very little of this styro will remain. Most of it will end up being carved away. And no, the pipe sticking out will not be there...it is only a placeholder for where the return will come out under the fake rockwork.

The whole thing will be covered in black pond foam after it's carved out.

[mmittlesteadt]

Further sculpting...lots more will be removed. This is just basic shaping before the main chunks get siliconed together for the final shaping...

[mmittlesteadt]

Now that the basic structure is shaped, I siliconed all the 2" pieces together. I built a platform out of luan that mimics the aquarium's glass walls and the 45 degree overflow glass wall so I can work on it out of the tank and apply pressure without the styro coming apart (and later when I go over it with the black spray pond foam and aragonite).

Having worked with styrofoam (foamular) for museum work as well as freshwater aquariums, the key to getting it to stick together and stay under water (because it wants to float) is to not treat the silicone so much like a glue, but rather an anchor.

You drill holes in the styrofoam and fill the holes with silicone and then also put silicone between the pieces. After it cures the foam cannot separate (or lift off the glass later when glued into the tank) because first of all, silicone adheres VERY well to styrofoam, but also the siliconed filled holes act like plugs that the styrofoam cannot pull out. The key here is also to take a propane torch and melt the styro around the holes so that it becomes extremely hard like a hard plastic.

This is also done when gluing it to the glass walls. The 2" thick pieces here are also "pinned" in place by siliconing fiberglass rods into the pieces. You drill through both pieces, fill the hole with silicone and then drive the rods into the holes (deep enough so you don't expose them by further sculpting and also it gets pinned at the thickest parts of the sculpture.

Anyway, the styrofoam pieces are sitting waiting for the silicone to skin over so they won't move when I go at it later with my drill. At this point it is not necessary to let the silicone cure completely...just enough so the pieces don't move. You'll notice I have my "spade" bits on the work surface. These are ideal sculpting tools as they not only drill various size holes in the styro, but also cut it down to further shape it, and best of all (given I'm making fake dry rock) they do a great job of "tearing" chunks out of the styro. When that part is done, I go over the entire thing with my propane torch and melt the styro even further until it is exactly how I want it.

It still looks thick and chunky, but it will not when I'm done. It will be quite thinned out and much more sculpted further. It's only there to be a "base" for the black pond foam. I will only need to use one can of the pond foam because while the pond foam expands, I will not allow the black pond foam to expand much because as I go over this with it, I am going to dump a lot of aragonite onto it and press it down while it's still sticky and trying to expand. I'm not using the pond foam as much for shape as I am for putting a thick skin of it over my styrofoam. Stay tuned.

[mmittlesteadt]

OK...here's the styro after using the spade bits in the drill and melting it for further shaping with the propane torch.

If the foamular wasn't pink and wasn't subject to UV degradation, I'd leave just as is, because I really like how it turned out.





But since it needs to be covered, I did that black pond foam and before it could expand too much, I threw aragonite all over it and then as it started to set up I pressed it into every little hole, crevice and contour I could feel. I just kept going over and over it that way so it is really nothing more than a thinner coat of black foam all over the styro.

[mmittlesteadt]

And the artificial rockwall is complete. Just need to silicone it in place.

[chillwill007]

Wow that looks great how about u make a 2nd one for a 40 breeder so I can have one lol

[reenact12321]

Very cool work. Your artistic and engineering skill are way beyond mine. I'm doing a 40 Breeder too, it's working, but it's a bit more on the mechanical side lol

[mmittlesteadt]

Thanks. I have a ton more work to do on the sump (mechanical) end of things yet. Not much point in having nice aquascaping if I can't keep all the creatures alive and happy.

But the Display tank is close to being done.

[mmittlesteadt]

Finally have the display tank plumbed. The problem with it being in the corner and running the plumbing through the floor is that there is almost no access to the back of the tank when it is setup and in place.

And because of it being in the corner and the placement of the bulkheads it is not a straight drop through the floor. So...I had to find some good flexible hose, but spa flex is too stiff, as is braided vinyl. Hard PVC is not an option. I found some great flexible hose at my pool store. This is not the cheap "vacuum cleaner" hose, but very solid (yet VERY flexible) tubing that is easily attached over my 1" PVC and held by hose clamps.

I talked with my plumber and my pool guy and they said barbed fittings were not necessary.

Now I can finally get my aquascaping put back in and then get on with the "business" end...my sump.

[mmittlesteadt]

Tonight my wife has a party so i have the whole night to work on getting my sump designed and at the very least getting the plumbing coming from the floor of my living room down to my sump finished up. going to get two gate valves and get that part of it done.

Now I just have to figure out just how much room to make each compartment...drain with skimmer/refugium/return and how high for the baffles.

[mmittlesteadt]

I have the plumbing done up to the rim of the sump. Still need to determine baffle spacing and height, so the plumbing into the sump is not done yet.

Yes, I have ball valves for now. They will be replaced with gate valves in the future. So there are no unions. For now I will just use braided vinyl hose and hose clamps. The ball valve for the drain is a 1 1/4" on the 1" line. Since the pump has a 3/4" outlet, I'm going to just use a 1" ball valve on the 1" line. All can easily be replaced if need be.

Foamcore board is taped in place to give me an idea of where to put (and what dimensions) the 1/4" thick glass baffles. The left one will be 15" high and the right one will be 14" high.

1st Chamber (on the left) will be my drain/skimmer section (7.7 gallons), the middle will be my refugium (20 gallons) and the last one on the right will be my return section (7.2 gallons). The return section also has my HOB HOT Magnum that will only be used for carbon/GFO if need be.

[mmittlesteadt]

40 Gallon Breeder Display tank is now re-aquascaped. I took some crappy pics in bad lighting.