Hi, I'm new here and followed the link to introduce myself. I have always been interested in fish. I've had fresh water since I can remember and started salt water 8 years ago. Just recently upgraded my 40 breeder without a sump to a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon sump and reef octopus protein skimmer so I could keep everything more stable. I have a mixed reef with soft corals. Everything went great with building and plumbing my new sump except for the fact that I used silicone to caulk which apparently has mold preventer which is essentially like cyanide to a fish tank. I had researched it on multiple forums but apparently the information I read was old before they included mold preventer. So, I nuked my tank and killed pretty much everything about a month ago. I only had two clown fish but I had had them for eight years and I killed all my coral which was not great, but still a loss. I had a bit of an ammonia spike for a week after that happened but now everything is back to normal 3 weeks later.
I built my new sump with a 20 gallon tank from the dollar a gallon sale from Petco and used an old tank to cut the glass for my baffles. I drilled a 750 gph overflow. I self built my stand to be extra wide and long so I would have plenty of room to do maintenance. So far I'm very happy and my new coral fragments are doing the best they've ever done.
