Hawks66's 50 gallon attempt. - DIY stand in progress.

[hawks66]

This is the thread for my 50 gallon tank. Ive been reading many threads over the past years and obviously Urbaneks tank is a huge inspiration. I'd like to think ill get to that level. but i doubt it. All opinions and ideas are welcome!

 

The plan is to drill the back of the 50 gallon tank i got, and send down to a home made 10 gal sump. First chamber of sump water will flow through purigen. also a double reactor intake containing carbon and GFO. 2nd chamber will contain either a skimmer, or be refugium for cheato. 3rd chamber heater and pump sends it back up with the danner mag drive 7.

 

should i go skimmer or fuge??

 

Here's the stand i built this week.

 

 

 

 

 

I dont have a picture currently, but i built a retractable sump shelf and the door is magnetic

 

the tank is in the middle of the stand depthwise which is actually 2 ft deep for the 1 ft tank.. I'm going to finish out the travertine tiles on the front edge and drill behind the tank for the water return lines so the stand can be right against the wall.

 

I tried to paint the tank today with krylon fusion, but my can did not have the little white plug so the spray was terrible and erratic.

 

I bought some dry rock from BRS and a DI canister, i think the biggest problem my biocube has is the fact that even with a RO unit i still get about 30-40 TDS. I'm hoping DI will help that.

 

Anyways, This will be my 2nd reef tank and its quite a bit larger than the 14g biocube i currently have, so any advice is welcome!!!

[disaster999]

ditch the 10gal sump and get the biggest tank you can fit under your tank.

[hawks66]

added a DI canister to my home RO unit, Just Teed off the main line and boo ya. dropped from 20 PPM TDS to 0. also got all the travertine tiles for the front lip of the stand, once they are attached its time to paint and drill the tank.

 

im thinking glass-holes.com 700 GPH kit. any other suggestions?

[muttley000]

I am a huge fon of Glass holes, but I don't like the 700 kit becasue of the single hole. If you use it I wouldn't push more than 300GPH through it (which is plenty for your tank in my opinion) The first thing I thought when I read your original post was geta bigger sump. With that glass holes overflow you will definitely need bigger, you will probably drain 5 gallons at power off, and will have too much turnover in too small a volume (read microbubbles) and also you won't have room for equipment. I would minimum use a 20 gallon tank, and a 30 long would be better if it fits. This will also give you room for a skimmer and a fuge both. Stand looks nice, what are you going to keep in the tank?