I set this up about three weeks ago, and it's working great. I have two angels and a pleco in it, doing great and growing. It's my ghetto grow tank and light reflector. My turtles leave my original fish alone, but if I put a new small fish in their aquarium they chase it around and eat it. I decided to set this grow tank up so I can let new fish get big enough to add to the turtle tank. I'm getting a 125 gallon aquarium for the turtles soon, so if they still want to chase the angels I will move the fish back into the 40 gal.

I had the large Critter keeper and some of the PVC pieces, so I only had to spend about $5 for the ball valve and a few connectors. The reflector is a $2 sheet of aluminum that I cut, bent and bolted into a reflector, and added a $2 bulb base and $1 extension cord.

I used the pump for the filter to pump water into the intake for the Critter Keeper, with a ball valve to control the flow or shut it off for maintenance. The main output drains down through the filter in the main tank. Then I added a backup drain, so if I get a clog in the filter or a twist in the drain line the water will still drain back into the main tank, instead of over flowing 40 gallons of water onto the floor.



Intake


Intake and main drain


Backup drain


Reflector