40 Gallon Breeder

[fatboy8]

Looking to do a 20 gallon as the sump for a 40B. The questions I have are should I use a 20 long instead, should I use an overflow box or drill. I've been noticing on the smaller tanks that overflows are used more then drilling. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[tlindsey]

Looking to do a 20 gallon as the sump for a 40B. The questions I have are should I use a 20 long instead, should I use an overflow box or drill. I've been noticing on the smaller tanks that overflows are used more then drilling. Any help would be appreciated.

Personally I would use a overflow box but will allow others to chime in about the 20 or 20 long sump.

 

[cjdesmit]

What's the reasoning behind using a sump? On a tank of that size I'd just use a canister.

 

[duanes]

With any sump (besides the obvious reason that bigger is better) its all about whether or not the sump has enough room for the equipment (pump, heater, other paraphernalia) and the ease of doing maintenance, like, how easy it is to get your arms in.
I would imagine the footprint of a 20 long, and its height would be better for both eqipment, and allowing elbow room for ease of maintenance.
I have drilled tanks as small as 20 gallon to add to my lines of tanks (I will often combine 4 or 5 tanks on 1 sump. Its easy to drill, and run PVC lines and add more tanks, without ever having to cycle them.
Below is a drilled 20 gal, the sump is a 75 gal, for 4 other tanks, beside the 20.
One caveat, it is harder to drill thinner glass panel tanks, than larger thick glass ones, Drilling slowly and carefully, with plenty of cooling water helps.

 

[fatboy8]

What's the reasoning behind using a sump? On a tank of that size I'd just use a canister.

Ease of maintenance along with never having one before I'd rather do it small scale before attempting on my 90.

 

[fatboy8]

After some research I think that I will be drilling. I'm considering .75" holes will allow adequate gpm for the tank.

 

[Dixon81]

I have a 40 gallon breeder display and 20 gallon long sump setup for my QT system. I drilled (3) 3/4" holes spread evenly along the top of the back. The two outside holes have 90's pointing up on the inside with a simple 3/4 strainer on top to surface skim. I have 1 return positioned in the middle of the tank pointing at a 45 degree angle back into the tank.
In the sump i have lava rock and a few sponge filters that i remove and add as i need them for other tanks, Also my heater and jebao return pump.

pump
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY0HSIE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

strainer
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EYCU0SW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1