Jump to content
Pod Your Reef

44.9g Long/Low/Wide Upgrade


bucknellreefer

Recommended Posts

bucknellreefer

Some History:

 

So back in 2006 I started my first reef tank, a standard 10g, documented here:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/89587-college-10g-newb-reef/

 

About a year later a moved everything to a 20H:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/122164-20h-portable-starboard-reef/

 

After I graduated from college in 2008 I thought I'd be able to upgrade again to a 33g Oceanic Cube. That never happened for a number of reasons so I sold the 33g and went into maintenance mode on the 20H (occasional water changes, feeding the fish, adding nothing).

 

In March of 2012 I moved from Baltimore to Salt Lake City and I drove out with my clown fish (the same two I bought in 2006 for my original 10g) in the cab of my moving truck. I did the drive out in three 14 hour days and everything made the trip safely.

 

Over the years I have, unfortunately, had a lot of experience breaking down and moving my tank so I thought I had it down pretty much perfectly. Unfortunately when I got to Utah I put everything back in the 20H without doing a good enough job cleaning out all of the dead things that had been marinating in the back of the Uhaul for 3 days.

 

My first morning in Utah my girlfriend (now fiancee) woke me up in tears saying the fish were dying. I jumped out of bed and quickly grabbed the barely alive clowns off of the bottom of the toxic ammonia soup tank and threw them in a bucket with some live rock and water that I very fortunately hadn't put in the tank yet. I lost my six line wrasse and all of my remaining coral before I could rescue them.

 

I rushed out to the closest LFS (which I'd never heard of/been to) and thankfully they had premixed water and a replacement 20H. I filled it up and moved everything over, ran a bunch of carbon and did daily water changes for a week and managed to save my clowns.

 

Over the last year I really haven't added much because I knew another move was looming after our first lease was up. In March of this year we moved into a house we are planning on staying in for at least a few years (fingers crossed) and I knew it was time to start searching for an upgrade.

 

cnIuZuu.jpg

 

The New Tank:

 

After a few weeks of searching I found what I thought was the perfect set up, someone on the local reef forum was trying to unload his old frag system for pennies on the dollar.

 

The main tank is 48" x 18" x 12" custom build rimless glass tank with a total volume of 44.9 gallons. I'm going to be running the water level about an inch and a half below the top level so actual display volume is going to be something like 39 gallons.

 

Here she is:

 

FrWz4RB.jpg

 

The tank also came with a standard 75g stand, a 40 gallon sump, a Mag 18 return pump and a 4 x 54 watt T5 fixture. It was drilled for 2 3/4" returns and 2 3/4 drains but didn't have an overflow because the previous owner didn't think it was necessary in a frag tank.

 

I built an overflow out of black acrylic, it's super overbuilt to compensate for the whole attaching acrylic to glass issue and I think it should definitely do the job.

 

DIY over flow:

 

gQUjbFy.jpg

 

 

I didn't do any teeth, I may add some gutter guard or something to keep fish from going over but will wait and see how that goes.

 

Last week I placed an order with BRS for some of their reef saver rock, a couple of ATI T5 bulbs and a giant thing of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt (gotta get that free shipping). I was super lucky and won their weekly order refund so all that stuff ended up being free!

 

Tomorrow I am going to get the plumbing set up and hopefully get it filled up with water, rocks and sand. I didn't break out the DSLR for the empty tank shots but the pictures should get better once I start stocking up.

 

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

I like the tank!

 

Thanks!

 

It's almost exactly the dimensions I would have chosen if I'd had it built myself (and considering I got the whole setup for $125 I can't complain) except I probably would have added a few inches to the height (maybe around 16 inches tall instead of 12).

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

And the plumbing is coming along...

 

EadpU2x.jpg

 

Doing a Herbie style drain so the gate valve is on the main (full siphon) drain and the back up is the one coming across the front.

 

I just need to figure out exactly how I want to connect the return pump into the pvc split return. I am planning on some kind of flex tubing as the pump already has a barbed fitting. Time to head to Lowe's or Home Depot and see what my options are.

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

and water/dry rock added:

 

booO2RI.jpg

 

Definitely need to go down to a more reasonably sized return pump, the 3/4" drain can't keep up with this one at all and it makes a ####ton of noise. This pump is rated for 1800 GPH and I think I want a pump more in the range of 600 GPH... Any suggestions?

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Ordered a Mag 7 to replace the Mag 18, should be a much better fit.

 

The water has also cleared up considerably, I am just running a power head in the display at the moment to keep the water circulating on the rock and sand.

 

I think my aquascape turned out pretty well for a first try in cloudy water.

 

Right side:

 

nVA2wcp.jpg

 

Left side:

 

tIIFEyB.jpg

 

FTS:

 

Ot2mWT9.jpg

 

I should have the Mag 7 tomorrow so hopefully I'll get a chance to get it hooked up and the salinity dialed in over the next coulple of days so I can move some of the rubble over from the 20H HOB fuge to get the bacteria started on the dry rock.

 

I have a big credit from BRS due to the order refund so I'm thinking about picking up a Reef Octopus NWB110. With the skimmer and the return pump I think I should be pretty set on equipment to get the tank cycled and everything moved over from the 20.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
bucknellreefer

I got everything from my 20g moved over this evening! I am really liking the color from the T5s, I am running the following 4 bulb combo:

 

-Front-

Blue plus

Coral Plus

Purple Plus

Blue Plus

-Back-

 

I am going to try and take a couple more (better) pictures with my DSLR tomorrow after everything is more settled in.

 

Here are a few iphone pictures:

 

Clowns:

V8Q2z7c.jpg

 

Zoa Frag:

QVJ7Q6U.jpg

 

FTS:

gcoKdQm.jpg

Link to comment

looking good man, congrats on the fish rescue. I have never actually heard of anyone winning the BRS weekly refund. Luck is on your side with tank... Cant wait to see it filled with corals.

Link to comment

Love the look of the tank. Are you going to be running more rock in the sump or just in the display? I'm a fan of the less rock idea, but feel like I need more bio filtration in my tanks

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Love the dimensions of this one!

 

Thanks! I'm still getting used to having so much more space after 6 years with the same dimensions.

 

looking good man, congrats on the fish rescue. I have never actually heard of anyone winning the BRS weekly refund. Luck is on your side with tank... Cant wait to see it filled with corals.

 

I am definitely hoping luck stays on my side! I am pretty happy with the selection of zoas I have currently, it's just a matter of time to wait for them to grow out a bit.

 

I really want to get into SPS now that I've got a little more water volume to work with. I like the idea of adding a few frags and hopefully watching them grow into colonies over time.

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Love the look of the tank. Are you going to be running more rock in the sump or just in the display? I'm a fan of the less rock idea, but feel like I need more bio filtration in my tanks

 

I've got 30 pounds of BRS dry rock plus another probably 10 pounds of live rock from my old tank in the display. I do have the rest of the live rock from my old tank in the sump, probably another 15 pounds of bigger pieces as well as 3 or 4 pounds of rubble. So probably roughly 50 pounds overall.

 

I don't really plan on adding much more in the way of fish, possibly a small tang (tomini or kole most likely) and a sixline to replace the one I lost in the move. I've been toying with the idea of a small school of green chromis but the more I think about it the more I want to keep the fish load on the lower side and focus on coral.

 

 

Nice tank, nice clowns, nice scape B)

 

 

 

Thanks! Can't wait to start adding coral!

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Anyone have tips for taking pictures under T5s? I tried a few with the DSLR and everything is washed out blue.

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

got to play with the white balance

 

Advice taken, and I think I'm getting something closer to what it looks like in person now. Focus isn't so hot but I am sure I'll get better at that with practice/a tripod.

 

Zoas:

 

bpS9dKG.jpg

 

1Fwvsqz.jpg

 

Go9LB5b.jpg

 

Dottyback Hanging out:

 

tEgC9k7.jpg

 

Vig6JKC.jpg

 

Q0SVRNu.jpg

 

FivZeqR.jpg

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Algae bloom is in full effect. Clean up crew from ReefCleaners incoming!

 

Also decided to run a few tests tonight, levels are as follows:

 

KH: 9.0 dKH (fine)

Ca: 450ppm (fine)

Mg:1440ppm (seems a little on the high side)

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

first SPS frag added, found a tiny blue stag frag for $5 and couldn't resist. I also received my snails from reefcleaners so now I have an overwhelming army of snails. They have cleared a few patches of rock so hopefully I'll be looking at a clean tank soon.

 

StW1DnQ.jpg

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Mo' picture time...

 

Green slimer frag (hopefully it'll color up in time):

 

U8ciZjG.jpg

 

New fish!

 

s06dJox.jpg

 

50g for a yellow tang is a bit on the small size but this is a 4 ft tank with minimal rock so it should be fine for the time being (and until I upgrade again). He has settled in nicely so far, eating pellets, mysis and I'm going to pick up some nori tomorrow.

 

from the end:

 

kDQBwAA.jpg

 

Couple of different FTS angles:

 

aDkERBo.jpg

 

vJr7YwD.jpg

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
bucknellreefer

Quick update, everything is still going well.

 

Green slimer is starting to color up, it's kind of hard to tell because of the great polyp extension I'm getting but the flesh at the tip is greenish brown now instead of just brown.

 

w4JBDdp.jpg

 

leng sy cap I picked up about 3 weeks and placed way too high in the tank. It completely lost all of it's color but is now starting to get the green back, also has pretty solid PE:

 

0UlV77P.jpg

 

Yellow tang fattening up slowly... I am fedding pellets, occasional frozen mysis and am doing my best to have some nori available most of the time:

 

YIMvWnI.jpg

 

and FTS from my desk, snails have the diatoms mostly under control and it's starting to look like a real tank:

 

6t0YiHd.jpg

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Reran the tests I have and it looks like levels are stable. I am definitely starting to get some coraline algae growth on the BRS rocks as well. Also added a small tri color valida frag on Tuesday, I'll probably throw more pictures up at some point this weekend.

Link to comment

Hey, wow, pretty tank. Yet another thread I've somehow missed so thanks for posting in mine.

 

Leng sy cap? Green with blue polyps? Can you describe that more? Right now it looks like we have the same cap, but perhaps yours is still recovering.

 

What kind of camera are you using? Nice clear pics.

Link to comment
bucknellreefer

Hey, wow, pretty tank. Yet another thread I've somehow missed so thanks for posting in mine.

 

Leng sy cap? Green with blue polyps? Can you describe that more? Right now it looks like we have the same cap, but perhaps yours is still recovering.

 

What kind of camera are you using? Nice clear pics.

 

Yeah, the cap is still recovering and it's still a bit dull compared to what it looked like before I nuked it with light. It was a very bright green with a nice purple rim. I think the polyps are picking up some of that blue color from the light, they are more green/transparent looking in person.

 

I am using a Canon T1i and shooting in raw to correct the white balance to get it a bit closer to what I am actually seeing. I am actually working on a few new pics tonight because I picked up some pretty cool millis from a local over the weekend.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...