Upgrading to a 40B!

[Miketc17]

I've only had my 27 cube for 3-4 months and I ran out of space real fast. I plan on picking up a 40 breeder in the next couple of weeks. I was going to go the sump route, but then I started adding it all up and it was a lot since I'm a college student. I have a simple plan in my head, which is 30-40 lbs of live/dry rock and 20-40 lbs of live sand. I currently have a lot of zoa's and LPS and a couple of SPS. I'm just looking to keep more zoa's and add a BTA. I'm currently only running 2 425 PH's and an AquaClear 70 as a refugium with chaeto and chemi pure elite. Everything has been doing great. My plan is to keep this same basic set up with the 40B. I plan on upgrading my powerheads to TWO 1150 Koralia's; one on each end of tank facing each other slightly aimed towards the surface or both of them in the back panel crossing each other. All I plan on using is my AC70 refugium and the 1150 PH's. Will this be enough for this size tank? Are the 1150's too much? What is a good skimmer that I can fit in the AC70? Thanks in advance! Any other opinions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

I'm not really sure on a good skimmer, but you should be able to keep up on everything you plan to keep just fine.

 

[IanWR]

I might suggest rethinking the BTA. With the variety of coral you have/plan to have you may be sad when your anemone decides to wander and kills the coral near to it. I have a BTA and it was happy where it was for a year. Then it decided to move up about 6", and killed my staghorn. If it ever decides to move somewhere I can get it, I'll find it a new home. Till then I may avoid any expensive coral purchases.

- Ian

 

[Electrobes]

I agree with Ian (Welcome by the way!), I would wait on a BTA as they can be a real challenge, especially in an aquarium housing corals like SPS.

Honestly, I would wait on the tank purchase and keep with the cube for as long as possible. Having been a college student with a reef tank, keeping it small have so many benefits, in terms of learning and financials, that provides so much for later tank upgrades. Maybe consider trimming/selling some of your less favored corals and adding Zoos afterward?

 

[Miketc17]

I'm not really sure on a good skimmer, but you should be able to keep up on everything you plan to keep just fine.

I'm happy to hear that. Thank you for your input!

I might suggest rethinking the BTA. With the variety of coral you have/plan to have you may be sad when your anemone decides to wander and kills the coral near to it. I have a BTA and it was happy where it was for a year. Then it decided to move up about 6", and killed my staghorn. If it ever decides to move somewhere I can get it, I'll find it a new home. Till then I may avoid any expensive coral purchases.

- Ian

That's honestly my biggest concern. All of my zoa's are on the sand bed and then I have the SPS and Frogspawn/Torch/Hammer on rocks so that's probably going to be the biggest problem. I've just seen so many tanks where people have a lot of coral and manage to have a BTA as well. I guess that's why I want to try it.

I agree with Ian (Welcome by the way!), I would wait on a BTA as they can be a real challenge, especially in an aquarium housing corals like SPS.

Honestly, I would wait on the tank purchase and keep with the cube for as long as possible. Having been a college student with a reef tank, keeping it small have so many benefits, in terms of learning and financials, that provides so much for later tank upgrades. Maybe consider trimming/selling some of your less favored corals and adding Zoos afterward?

That is also an option I should consider. But in all honestly, it's not very much bigger than the cube, probably 10-15 gallons more. I wanted to go slightly bigger so I could have more water volume to help keep the parameters more stable.

 

[Electrobes]

Mike,

Its not much bigger, but it's definitely a cost to consider.. money that could go into something else you really wanted for the tank but couldn't get. What are your tank specs, out of curiosity? Any pictures?

 

[Miketc17]

Mike,

Its not much bigger, but it's definitely a cost to consider.. money that could go into something else you really wanted for the tank but couldn't get. What are your tank specs, out of curiosity? Any pictures?

My plan is to wait for the Petco $1/gallon sale or find a used one form Craigslist.com. I have a 27g Marineland Cube, 20x20x18 (not a true cube). Roughly 30lbs of rock and 20 lbs of sand. As you can tell in the picture it's pretty cramped as it is (older picture). If I could get the 40B during Petco's sale, it would only cost me $40 and then the only other thing I would need is to upgrade the PH's. Btw, do you think two 1150's would be too much? Plus the AC70 on it's lowest settings?