Returning to the reef after 15-ish years

[DurocShark]

My last reef, a 20g, was torn down about 15 years ago. I kept planted aquaria for a while after that, but then that tapered off as well thanks to interstate moves, living in crappy apartments, etc.

 

Now I'm settled somewhere, it's time to get back.

 

Back when I set that up, the concept of a "Berlin" system was alien. I had read one of the mags talk about it, so I used it. That's how I set mine up. It ran for years, and I'm happy to see that it's still considered viable.

 

Lighting has changed a lot. A big ole MH with some actinic tubes whas how I did mine. But LEDs? Wow.

 

So, here's where I'm at now. Please make sure I'm not missing anything. It has been a while...

 

• 20g bowfront
• Biggest skimmer I can fit in there (I was always a fan of the stone driven ones, but I found a small venturi I kinda like that I'm going to try)
• Lighting is two 15w 10k CFLs with a 16w Ecoxotic LED for punch and ripple (it was cheap). I suspect this may be too much so I'll have to play with the mix.
• 20-25lbs rock (haven't decided what flavor yet. I'll see what my LFS has first.)
• Two small pumps with a wave controller (this stuff has gotten ridiculously cheap!)
• Small heater to compensate for house temps. No need for cooling in this house. If it hits 80 indoors, my wife freaks out.

I'm building the stand myself, so I may set up a little sump underneath. I'm building space for it. But I'd rather not if I can. The added water capacity will be nice, but I hate the risk of plumbing leaks, pump failures, return clogs, etc. I've seen it happen too many times...

 

OK, so this seems too easy. I've got to be missing something. As for water, I'll be using RealOcean and frequent changes. I've never been a fan of mixes and dosing when I have the real mccoy available. Happy to be wrong though! What about live sand? I have zero experience with that...

Thanks!

 

[0utkast]

Well welcome back!

 

First off My house stays at 68 degrees if it hits 70 im freaking out lol.

 

Live sand - If you are getting live rock from your LFS or anywhere else no need for "live" sand. I would recomend Tropic Eden Reef flakes for a "dry" sand. I think there is a shortage right now so thats 2-3 months out. Second choice would be caribsea seaflor special grade.

 

I'm a fan of sumps. You get to hide all your equipment down there and have more choices for skimmers but its not required.

 

Depending on what you are keeping dosing isn't neccesary especially if you keep up with your water changes. I just like to know whats going in my tank so I prefer mixing salts.

 

I can't comment on that light because I have no clue what it is but 16w doesn't seem like "too much" light. People keep 70w+ on 20g tanks.

 

There is a lot of people with more knowledge than you can imagine on here so I'm sure you will get a lot more advice.

 

Again Welcome Back!!

[DurocShark]

The Ecoxotic is this one: Amazon Link

 

The CFLs are just Coralife 15w jobs. The initial build will be to bracket the LEDs with the CFLs. If it becomes too much, then a sump with a nutrient sink (we call them fuges now?) will get one of the CFLs.

[DurocShark]

Well, bummer. The tank that was sold to me as a 20 gallon is 12 gallons bare. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........

 

Petco has a 40 glass tank for $89 right now. I heavily hinted to the wife I needed it for Christmas. We'll see. If she doesn't get it I'll start Craigslist surfing and see what I find.

 

Of course, that moves this project out of nano class, and it also means the stuff I bought is all too small.

[MikeTR]

Well, bummer. The tank that was sold to me as a 20 gallon is 12 gallons bare. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........

 

Petco has a 40 glass tank for $89 right now. I heavily hinted to the wife I needed it for Christmas. We'll see. If she doesn't get it I'll start Craigslist surfing and see what I find.

 

Of course, that moves this project out of nano class, and it also means the stuff I bought is all too small.

Congrats on the upgrade! Welcome sir.. wipe off the salt creep and get comfy.

[Daveluce]

I don't remember where I read it, but petco is supposedly having the dollar per gallon sale starting on the 28th.

[DurocShark]

I haven't forgotten ya'll!

 

So I ended up with a much larger tank. 36x30x15 ( )

 

Most of the gear I have is for something quite a bit smaller, but it'll do to cycle. I got it free because the cross brace was broken. I've removed the broken glass, and ordered a new piece from a local glass place for $15. The tank's actually been in my garage for months. It was given to me, and I had no idea what to do with it... It was one of those, 'Hey, DurocShark used to run an aquarium business, give it to him!' things. It had been on someone's patio for who knows how long. The seam silicone looks great, however. If I have to I can re-silicone it, but I may not need to. Once the brace is replaced I'll fill it and we'll see...

While that's happening, I started building the stand. 2x4's for the frame, 3/4" baltic birch for the top tank rest surface (I have unlimited access to free scraps at work!), then I'm going to "skin" it with some beautiful swirly mahogany my local Rockler got last month. A 16" canopy with front opening doors will cap the whole thing.

 

Here are some pics of the tank as I got it and after pulling out the broken glass:

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah. It's a Visio. Whoever bought this didn't skimp.

[DurocShark]

So here's the plan:

 

Sumpless Berlin style. This is exciting to me because the biggest Berlin I've set up was a 40. The ones I did for customers all had sumps and plumbing and multiple pumps and reactors and...

 

So I'm starting with either the Lee's Large air driven skimmer (I used these in my personal tanks in the past and found them to work great). There are some interesting submersible venturi skimmers out there too, but I wonder about the noise. We'll see.

 

1000gph max powerhead with wave controller (I doubt it'll run at full speed, this tank's only 36" long!)

 

Magnum HOT canister for media if I need to run carbon or for water polishing.

 

RODI: AquaBuddies 50gpd with the DI cartridge. I've already hooked this up and started using it for drinking water. I used to buy RealOcean, but I also had a 300 gallon storage tank in my truck. I don't see lugging jerry cans back and forth from a LFS every week or two being viable in my current life.

 

200w Marineland heater. I may go for a controller base system in the future, but for now this should work fine.

 

20lbs of Gulf Live Rock decorative rock, and 50lbs of GLR coralline.

 

Some sort of aragonite sand to 2". Though I'm considering going deeper. I'll add this after the cycle.

 

Home brewed LEDs. I have a bunch of Cree 10w whites, and 3w royal blues and UV LED, as well as some 3w generic reds. Big aluminum heatsinks were $8 at a local electronics shop and a 500w computer PSU as driver. Resistors and pots are all in my big box of tricks, so I'll find the right balance...

 

After the tank cycles with the new rock, and I've added the sand, we'll see what goodies it came with and decide on stocking from there.

 

As for the 10, I may use it as a quarrantine tank. Maybe stick a couple pieces of rock in there just to keep it running along with my Ecoxotic LED strip.