The 40 breeder rack

pgravis · Jun 9, 2020

Just picked up this 6 tank system made up of 40 gallon breeders. Everything is plumbed together, and the bottom two tanks are joined by 3” pvc with bulkheads to make a common sump. I wanted to tie this system into my existing system, so I’m not really sure the best use of the tanks with 3” bulkhead holes in them. Unless I ditch my existing sump and use these.
Anyway-excited to add to the fish room and figure out a good layout that will work in my space. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some ideas for the tanks with giant holes in them!

Jawfishracing · Jun 9, 2020

Very Nice.

This is interesting for me as I have these two metal rack that I will be using for my frag tanks. They will also be 40 gallons breeders.

I would keep the two 40 gallons with the big hole as sumps. It give you redundancy in a case one system crash so you do not lose everything. This is what I will be doing. In your case since everything is plumb together it makes life easy. The two 40 sumps give you a nice surface with two 36 in section, you could set-up a nice refigium.

Looking forward to more updates...

pgravis · Jun 12, 2020

That shelving looks great. How many tanks do you plan to have on there? I’m trying to decide how to set mine up. My basement isn’t tall enough to keep the racks as is, and I want easy access to the tank for checking on frags. Thinking maybe a tiered approach.

Jawfishracing · Jun 12, 2020

Thanks, those racks are 1.5 inch steel tubes that I welded, they are 0.125 thick steel...way overkill and Heavy at 180 lbs each. They were designed to house four 65 gallons tanks when I was into discus. Being so heavy and new I figured I could recycle them into a propogation system, with the 65's I only had 7 inches of head room, between the tank and the upper tube, but 40's will give me an additional 8 inch I figure 15 inch will let me play a bit with lighting height. Total height of the racks are 81 inches, I will need a little stool to really work on the upper tanks. My ceiling height is close to 84 inches

My fish room is only 8 by 12 so a double tier system will work for me. I have been thinking and most likelly go with a double 40 gallons sump, one where I will have my Protein skimmer, Live rock and return pump. I will then use the second 40 a a refugium filled with macro algae, because of my lack of floor space I will place it above the sump.

This weekend I'm finishing emptying the fish room and starting the build on my quarantine station.

Cheers,
Fred

redtigrinus · Jun 18, 2020

@Jawfishracing how do you plan on plumbing this system? Specifically the lower tanks? Everything I used to seeing uses gravity to feed the sump, but with the tank being so low, will that work? Will you use a pump to draw water from the tanks into the sump? Looks really good so far. I'm trying to do something similar with a few 75 gallons.

Jawfishracing · Jun 18, 2020

@redtigrinus the 40 gallon sump will be sitting on the floor. The lower tanks will be drilled on the side which will give me about 10 inch height difference. If its not enough I can raise the tanks by 4 inches and still have plenty of room.

@pgravis have you decided if you were keeping the layout as is ? Or will you be going with a different layout.