# DIY 40 gallon Breeder



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Alright I impulse bought a 40 breeder around new years from petcos $1/gal sale. I've been slowly and lazily working on setting it up. I'm getting fairly close now, much is DIY including the stand, lid, light/hood, which has all been getting put together. It will be a planted tank ofc with quite a bit of light, but no CO2. My intentions are to set it up at a cost of ~$150, not counting plants and stock. I always have excess plants so those are not an issue. Stock IDK exactly yet.

The stand was the first thing I made. It is a dual stand. I've nothing to stick on the bottom yet.... but I made it dual anyway! Rounded cost was $20, it was $17 for the wood and nails which is all I bought. Had stain and polyurethane siting around. 


















Then the lid which is simple enough, but none the less required a lot of measuring and more thinking they you would expect. The lid effects the dimensions of the hood which effects its light output and spread. So lots of double checking to make sure lid/hood/lights would work together. The lid isn't fully done but its pretty close. One reason I was set on a custom lid is I found the opening of the premade lids way to wide which would of given less then awesome light cover on a tank 18" wide. The lid I made as an 6" wide opening then an 8" wide section of glass which leaves about a 3" gap at the rear of the tank. Which is mostly covered by plexi. The glass and plexi are currently curing with some silicon on them. I just used some random tubing I had laying around to run around the edges of the glass. The reason for that is because it is regular pane window glass from Ace hardware and it has sharp edges! The glass and plexi was cut for me and cost $13. I'm not gonna bother with the tubing and what not, but it was a whole 6cents a foot originally. 










The light housing is built, its half wired ATM but needs some more parts and Menards is out of one of them :evil:. The silly light is gonna end up being over 1/3 of the cost when its done and its not even gonna be T5 lol. I could of bought a cheap/crappy one off ebay for less but I have to be picky about my light :-?. The wood was about $17, being much nicer(and thinner) wood then what the stand was make out of. Its 36x11.5x3.5 in dimensions. 









More to come soon;-).


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## AngelKeeper12 (Jan 15, 2013)

This looks awesome you have done very well. I am just getting ready to start a planted tank in a 40 gallon breeder myself, but first I need to adjust my lighting situation. If you don't mind me asking what kind of lighting are you going to use?


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## Freshcatch (Aug 8, 2012)

Very very nice. Can't wait to see the completed setup.:thumbsup:


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Nice!

Custom stands are a great way to save money, I can't believe how much petstores sell those things for, especially since almost all of them are really cheap particle board!

One thing I noticed, did you look at the shear strength of the screws you used? With how that stand is built, all of the weight is being transfered through screws, instead of through the two by lumber and then the floor.

40 gallons isn't too much though so probably a non-issue. My only DIY project was for my 125g and I had to be sure none of the weight was held by screws.


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## Nilet699 (Dec 1, 2012)

That stand is cool....but the hood is awesome! Love the work! 

You not a little worried about using a regular window pane for the top? I'd worry it was a little fragile at only a few mill??
Think I'd be too worried and opt for plexi for the lid. Lol.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Depends how thick of window glass it is  A lot of people use glass lids, not sure how the thickness of the ones in petstores would compare as.

As for sharpe edges, I believe you can round them out with the use of a torch. I remember way back in my highschool days making our own glass pipets and tubing out of stock glass tubing. Score it at the length we needed, snap it, then slowly twirl it on a bunsen burner. Or to make a pipet heat the center, then pull it apart to make a tip.


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## Nilet699 (Dec 1, 2012)

Really geo? At school when I was near a Bunsen burner, I found it necessary to melt stuff. Pens especially. Haha.

And yeah true about the glass..... I just don't know the diff between window pane glass and glass from a pet store as you said....


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Nilet699 said:


> Really geo? At school when I was near a Bunsen burner, I found it necessary to melt stuff. Pens especially. Haha.
> 
> And yeah true about the glass..... I just don't know the diff between window pane glass and glass from a pet store as you said....


I have glass cover sets over my three largest tanks, and I have broken some of the panes a few times. I just go to the glass store with the measurements and buy regular glass to replace them. Last one was maybe 10 years ago? The fluorescent T8 lighting is warm but not hot enough to cause issues with the glass.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I'm not worried about the stand. I used 3" screws not sure what kind but I did shred a bit on them making that stand. 16 screws support the tank, which full will weigh about 500 lbs. That weight should not be an issue IMO.

Im find with just using the tube to provide some protection. I could round the edges but that would have to be done outside, which isn't the funnest thing in a Minnesota winter. The glass is only a bit thinner then the normal tank tops. The middle section sags a bit, but the plexi should help support it. The entire hood weight rests on the tank not the glass. 

Far as plexi goes I find it a pain and it does not work well. The heat and humidity have always caused it to flex/warp very quickly on me. And given the wattage a want on this tank, I dont think plexi would hold up very long at all.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AngelKeeper12 (Jan 15, 2013)

I have never had much luck with plexiglass. I have glass tops on all of my tanks and have only broke one in 2 years.


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## Freshcatch (Aug 8, 2012)

The heat would take out your Plexiglass in short order. It can't stand heat as well as glass. The edge covering should be perfect for your glass or you can sand the edge with an emory cloth, which will take the rough edge off.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

The hood has been siliconed, hopefully the plexi will help support the middle section of glass, but I doubt it once its got the light and water to deal with. The middle section sagging a bit is fine either way. 

This pic shows the bit of sag that it has, would likely not happen with the same glass on a 2ft tank.









This is will the tubing and plexi both which provide a bit of support, ATM anyway. 









I finally finished the hood tonight :-D. Now after a LOT of thought I settled on spiral CFLS for a couple reasons. First the hood had to be custom to give me enough light spread(had to be wide). I did not want to hassle with ordering any lights (3ft T5 bulbs would be too big a hassle and expense to order/buy locally). I wanted something that was simple and really could not fail. Spiral CFLs have an advantage over other bulbs in that they are self-ballasted individually. This saves more space for the bulbs in the hood, less wires, and no expensive $40 ballast replacement 5-10 years down the road. The hood technically has adjustable wattage if you decide to remove 1, 2, or more bulbs. The bulbs are still a bit expensive over all, $22.50 for all 8. They are 13 watt 6500K and rated at 840 lumens each, total wattage is 104 watts. The down side is they don't give as good spread as linear tubes, but with good wide reflectors that can be minimized. About half my tanks use these same bulbs and some are running 2+ years, even with plants I don't like replacing bulbs until they burn out especially with pricier HO T5 and PC bulbs. The CFLs can at least be reused around the house if they get too dim for the tank.

Okay now pics.


















Enough tape will splice any wires. 









Total cost breakdown for the light was:
wood - $17
Bulbs- $22.50
8" wide Aluminum Flashing - $6
4 twin cluster sockets - $18 - only Menard seems to carry these
*Total - $64* which is more then I would of liked but meh. My $150 goal isn't looking that good lol

You could easily do a DIY sponge filter for very little cost, however I want some decent flow in this tank. This is a used HOT Magnum 250 I got for $10. I'm gonna see how it does with a prefilter at least, since the mangums have a really s###y design were the impeller gets to chew on everything it sucks up. The heater is a really cheap Hagen elite non-submersible off amazon for $9.30, I got a couple for other tanks and backup heaters w/ free shipping. I've had good experience with them despite their cheapness. I have one that is 6 years old that has outlived 4 submersibles in that time and never given my any issues except when I accidentally drowned it and had to take it apart and dry it out :|.










The tank is pretty much ready to be filled, I just need to do substrate. I'm thinking either soil/sand or just sand either way it will be cheap and messy.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Looking good!

I've always thought of making a hood to go with my dyi stand, but the idea has always scared me off. It seams more complicated to me than the stand itself  Looks far better than mine where I just have shop lights sitting on top of the glass lids.

I have to ask, with the holes you punched through the aluminum flashing to run the electrical wires through, did you put a grommet in? It's a simple thing, but can have dire consequences (for yourself).


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

That is the third hood I have completely built. I did not use any grommets. I understand why you are suggesting them but the wires have plenty of slack and are all secured so they should not move. 

Btw i've been thinking do Midwest stores still sell topsoil in the middle of January?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Even secured wires will vibrate. Same reason building codes require them on electrical panels even though they may never get touched again after installation. Large trucks driving by, like a snow plow, will vibrate an entire house. Just walking will vibrate a floor. Loud music/movies. Kids. etc.

I just mention it because they cost pennies, and most don't think about it.


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## Freshcatch (Aug 8, 2012)

Super job. Bet the plants will love your lights.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

well laid the soil and sand yesterday and filled it up. Heater and filter both running smoothly. Will work on adding some hardscape and plants later today. I have an auction next Saturday and will likely pull most plants I add to this tank and sell them there, since I can always grow more in a week or two. I'll do a waterchange if I feel really ambitious to get rid of the cloud water but I already have at least 2 other tanks to do today. I'm happy with my light tho it is spreading the light very well. I used a black garbage bag for the back ground. The substrate was just plain topsoil and then quickrete all purpose sand.


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## Boredomb (Feb 21, 2011)

Mikaila I have a bag of the All purpose sand. I thought it was kinda sharp. Is it okay to use for substrate fish??? I really like the look of it but used it because of the the different size granules of the sand in it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Boredomb said:


> Mikaila I have a bag of the All purpose sand. I thought it was kinda sharp. Is it okay to use for substrate fish??? I really like the look of it but used it because of the the different size granules of the sand in it.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I like it cuz its more a natural mix vs a graded sand that looks too uniform. I've no idea about its use for cories as me and those fish don't like eachother. But to be technical even regular sand is much harder then anything cories are usually dealing with in the wild.


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## Boredomb (Feb 21, 2011)

Mikaila31 said:


> I like it cuz its more a natural mix vs a graded sand that looks too uniform. I've no idea about its use for cories as me and those fish don't like eachother. But to be technical even regular sand is much harder then anything cories are usually dealing with in the wild.


Welll hmmm ok I might just have to use it for the next tank I will set up. It looks good in your tank btw!


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Well not such a good day today and that is besides the -11f and -28 windchill I had to deal with this morning. This is my first time using store bought top soil, usually I dig my soil up but that's easier said then done in the middle of winter. Anyway woke up this morning to the tank smelling, which is a first for me even using a soil substrate. Water was not any cloudier or foamy. I changed 80% of the water and cloned the tank this morning with mature media in an attempt to deal with it. Blah just a wonderful subzero Monday.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

:/ Bummer! I've never used soil of any type, what do you think happened? Good thing there aren't any critters in there yet! Hopefully the added media and water change will help. . . whatever it was. . . from happening again. Stay warm, doll. I'm whining about our 11 degrees F - I would _NOT_ be happy with those negatives tossed in. . .


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Likely had something to do with the soil composition and how it was leaching. I'm back home and currently it is not smelling. I did a nitrite test and that came up zero, however that doesn't rule out that it was just a huge nutrient issue. I have no ammonia test left but if nitrite is zero then ammonia is very likely zero as well since it was just cloned. Hopefully everything stays that way. Its not uncommon to get a bit of ammonia after setting up a soil tank, but getting zero ammonia is also not uncommon. 

Yeah it was such a blah monday. Subzero temps -4 was the high without windchill and you don't wanna know what the low or windchill was. And my caecilian was hungery and doing laps around his tank so I shoved some worms in his face and he promptly bit me and now I'm bleeding -_-


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

Oh my! Better luck tomorrow. . . those sockfish look so harmless! *hands Mika a Hello Kitty Bandaid*


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Well figured I should update this. Patience and persistence has finally paid off. This take is now 7.5 weeks old and is now very well planted and stocked with some fish. Nothing has really changed apart from just giving it time to settle. I added driftwood and replaced the HOT magnum with a power driven sponge filter since the HOT could not handle the amount of debris. Fish are currently a random mix of about 12 wcmm, one leopard daino, a really fat glo fish, 3 old dyed white skirt tetras, and 3 corys. Most of the latter were given to me. 

This was at about one week old. The very first plants I stuck in here when it was a day or two old turned to complete mush, and I mean completely. It was almost impressive how fast they died. I stuck more plants in later and after quite a few large water changes. A lot of these plants did get pretty shocked but a most have recovered. 









And about 3 weeks old it was starting to grow in. 









Then 5 weeks old.









And lastly today. This was also its similar appearance last week. In the course of about 18 days its produced over a pound of salvania and dwarf water lettuce. I removed 1/2 pound 10 days ago and a 1/2+ again today. I've started heavily controlling the floating plants as their light blocking and nutrient absorption is very handy at times but can also be a hindrance once the rest is established. The water lettuce I also find messy as it likes to shed parts of its roots alot. I am dosing fertilizers, heavy like always. Same dosage my 55 high tech tank is getting along with 50% water changes weekly. It has been running the full lighting 108 watts or 2.7 wpg of spiral CFLs for 12 hours a day. I will post some pics of the trimmed tank tomorrow.


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

Absolutely _GORGEOUS_, Mika! Your tanks are always stunning! *LOVE*


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Hah! Amazing!
And this one is low tech, but the high light and high ferts are working awesome.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

Very nice progression.

So... what's going on the bottom now?:roll:

Jeff.


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