Brenton's Mr. Aqua 12 gallon long reef build

Thank you! Yes I made it myself, all the pieces were ordered from tap plastic and are cell cast acrylic.

 

One more change coming later this afternoon. I am just waiting on one glued joint to set. because my return pump was leaking. I decided to make a small change, I am placing a true union ball valve inbetween my sump and the return pump and then placing a union in between the pump and the tank in the return line. This is so that in the future I can easily do maitenance on the pump and so that right now I can pull it off and change out the O-rings in the face so that the pump is not constantly dripping! Pictures to come.

 

No new pictures it looks almost the same as it did before. It turns out that there was not space for the union ball valve down there so I elected to go with just two union joints on either side of the pump for easy removal and fixed the pump so it was no longer leaking.

 

New coral order placed! Should be arriving Thursday

Green ricordea
Orange ricordea (both to grow the ricordea garden on the far right of the aquarium)
Another maxi mini anemone!
A rasberry table frag
A green monti cap frag

Pictures when they arrive

 

Person who I ordered corals from is on vacation this week and so the corals will not be arriving Thursday. It will just be a lesson in patience and then I will get them next week. Oh well, we need to learn to be more patient in this hobby.

On a sweeter note, I got a bunch done on my stand this evening! Now it just needs some paint and a fan that will be built into the left door to bring fresh air into the cabinet and a vent on the right door. But here it is right now.

 

Started dosing kalk in my ato last night. Since my tank is so small and the usage is not huge right now I decided to start very small and then work my way up to larger amounts. Currently dosing a mixture of 1/8 teaspoon kalk to 4 gallons ato. Testing ph and alk daily and calcium every couple of days. Ph this morning an hour after the lights came on was 8 and alk was 8 (red sea test).

I'm looking into purchasing an apex lite or a reef angel to help me monitor the parameters in the small tank which should help to make the tank more stable. I'll be saving for a while for either so I have time to decide which one I will get. Any arguments for or against either the apex or reef angel?

 

I am in love with your tank man its amazing! I like the smaller tanks and yours is very well done and very well put together! i will be following this thread for awhile to keep seeing all this pictures you post!

 

Thank you! I'll keep posting them then.

Check back next weekend as I am getting some new corals this week as well as finishing the stand. I'll post pictures later this week.

 

New corals arrived today! unpacked and in their tentative spots

A green and an orange ricordea to start my roc garden off. They have not fully spread open yet.


A second maxi mini nem to go with the other one. The new one is orange and green and makes me realize how much the one I currently have has grown since I got it


a raspberry table acro which is way larger than I expected!!


and finally a bright green monti which is a little over 2 inches across


I also was able to finish my stand this week. There is a vent on the right door and a fan on the left door that blows air into the stand whenever the fuge light is on


I will try and remember to snap some fts pics one night this week so that I do not get any glare and you can get a feel for the size of everything.

 

looks great!