My New Tank

Well its been months but my new tank is up and running and complete with the cycle.

I am by no means an expert but in the last year have learned a lot. From a 50 gallon down to a 29 gallon now up to a 75.

Purchased from a buddy who returned from deployment and upgraded to a 150g I purchased this tank for 50 bucks. It was trashed, encrusted tube worms filled the overflow encrusted coraline that had not been cleaned in years I new I was in for a task.

After framing the stand I set the tank up and let it run with vinegar and water for two weeks. This freed up and cleaned a lot of the stuff up but a day and a half of scraping finished it off.

Low on money the tank sat for 5 months in the garage. Finally I decided to dive into it and finish off the stand. At the same time I picked up a 40 gallon breeder for 40 bucks and decided this would be my sump.

With the wife itching to get the 30 torn down and out of the living room I finished the stand and moved the tank into the house. A day later the tank was filled with water using my Spectrapure CSDP 90gpd unit. Water was spot checked throughout the process with a TDS meter and it read 0 the whole time. My Marinedepot orders were starting to arrive and the tank started forming. 45lbs of Carribsea base rock, 60lbs of live sand. Two uncooked shrimp were thrown in and the cycle was under way.

The sump was constructed using the above mentioned 40g breeder. Baffles cut at a local glass shop using 1/4 inch glass at 3 x 11 inch baffles and 1 x 10 inch baffle. Protein skimmer is an ebay SCA-303 which has great reviews on here and I also use a smaller one for the 30 gallon. Mag 9 return pump teed off to feed the refug. I also have an aqueon return pump running my Spectrapure dual reactor. The reactor is only running carbon at this point and the GFO will be on standby for emergencies. I am using two 25w JBJ refugium lights, the bulbs burnt out in a couple of days but have been replaced with 6500k CFL bulbs from Lowes ($8.00 compared to 20.00). If I find that I am having algae problems I will kill one of the lights. The final addition to the sump was a Hydra Aquatics bio-pellet reactor from MarineDepot. This reactor is great. Running with a MJ 1200 it is throttled back to just over half. I am only running less than a quarter of the recommended amount and will build slowly. Compared to the TLF 150 reactor this thing is great. I could never get a great tumble with TLF reactor.

My currently lighting is a 4 bulb T5 aquatic life fixture. I have one reefbreeders value fixture that was on the old 30 gallon and I have another on order, which I hope will ship sometime soon. I will build a matching canopy when the other fixture arrives.

I added an additional 30lbs of live rock from the 29 gallon tank during the cycle which I think reduced the cycle time, three weeks. Diatoms are practically gone due to the CUC, and prams are spot on. I was forced (mother-in-law arrived today) to get the old tank out of the house. So the new tank is stocked with corals, 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 cromy. I will be watching prams, daily to ensure I don't get a spike. I am currently dosing Macrobactor 7 and I like the stuff.

A JBJ wave maker was added today and I am currently experimenting with what settings I find are beneficial to all the tanks inhabitants. It is running 2 Hydor 750's and 2 Hydor 425's. I am debating on dumping the 425's for another 750.

The final addition this weekend will be the JBJ ATO unit. I will build a matching cabinet that will sit next to the stand that will house the reservoir
bucket.

I want to put out a massive thank you to 3reef for the wonderful search engine that has helped with general questions and ideas. I hope this works out in the long run.

 

Last pics.

 

You have done a fantastic job on the tank and stand.

I really like the stain color to the stand.

$50.00 and a whole lot of effort looks like it paid off.

I have always been a big fan of MB7 it works especially in situations like your when the tank is young and stocked.

It will be interesting to see if you like the Reefbreeder better than the T5. The T5's look very nice over that tank.

 

+1 to everything Cheryl said Stand came out awesome! I do think you are light on flow. You may think about ditching all 4 Koralias and getting (2) WP-25s. The cost for two of those is probably less than 4 koralias and a wavemaker. I have (2) WP-40s in my 125 and love them! Previously in my 55 I had (2) Koralia 1050s and (2) 750s. That seemed to be the "right" amount for that tank.

 

Thank you. The stain color is Minwax Gunstock, there are 4 coats of poly on it.

It was my first attempt at carpentry. Thank heavens for trim molding. It covers up bad cuts nicely.

I will wait 30 days before any new live stock gets added. The wife is debating on what to get.

 

I know I am light on flow, it is what I had laying around the garage in order to get it up and running. I am looking at increasing the flow and will look into your suggestions. Do you have a link for those pumps.

As for the lighting, I have used T5's before and really like them, but don't like the heat. With the reefbreeders value fixture I liked the color specs and how it made colors really pop. Jury is still out on what I will ultimately end up with.

 

Well I would not know this was a first attempt judging by the images. A nice gloss to the finish as well.

 

Sure thing: Jebao WP-25 8000L Wave Maker

They kill you in shipping though. You should be able to find them on Ebay for less.

 

Thanks, I will look into them.

If ordered from that site, how long does it take to get to the US

 

No idea, as I bought my WP40s off of Ebay and had them in a couple days. I don't think they take too long coming from China though.