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Innovative Marine Aquariums

29g build


Choice84

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Hi all. So since I was last on here I had a 6 gallon rimless cube in mind but have decided to upgrade. Picked up a 29 gallon oceanic tank w/ stand for 20 bucks so why not lol. Anyway I'm looking to get a lot done the next few days and any pointers or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

A little about my plans for the tank, I am going to be drilling and placing a glassholes overflow box. Then painting the trim black and the back of the tank black to hide the pvc piping to the sump. Basic 3 chamber sump made out a 10 gallon. Possibly putting on a nice coat for the wood stand.

 

8/16

 

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Ready to get started. Going to be looking at lighting today to hopefully get this tank up and running and start cycling. Any suggestions? I'm really interested in the ATI sun power but I know there might be other systems out there just as effective and probably cheaper. The main corals I plan on having in the tank eventually are acans, zoas and some frogspawn. Of course more than just those but the acans are my main focus.

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Looks like a good start.

 

Light fixtures really depends on how much you want to spend. But you cant go wrong getting an ATI.

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Got both holes drilled and the back of the tank painted black. Going to setup my sump and let that dry overnight before testing out. Other than that I will setup the plumbing for the overflow and return and all that's left is to paint the stand.

 

Also what's the best way to minimize the size of my pics so I can post more of my progress.

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Plumbing is done. Going to apply the pvc primer and cement then let sit overnight before I assemble again. Return flow is less pvc than in pic and obviously I didn't use all that tubing :D My pump comes in tomorrow so everything is coming together as planned so far. Sump did have some setbacks as I need to cut off about an 1/8" to fit inside properly for my baffles, which will be 1" apart on the overflow side with the backup heater before them. Then the refugium in the middle where the timer boxes are. Any suggestions or feedback on anything?

 

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HarryPotter

Plumbing is done. Going to apply the pvc primer and cement then let sit overnight before I assemble again. Return flow is less pvc than in pic and obviously I didn't use all that tubing :D My pump comes in tomorrow so everything is coming together as planned so far. Sump did have some setbacks as I need to cut off about an 1/8" to fit inside properly for my baffles, which will be 1" apart on the overflow side with the backup heater before them. Then the refugium in the middle where the timer boxes are. Any suggestions or feedback on anything?

 

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Pretty clean looking- but what size is this PVC? Looks pretty big for a 29g. 1" is more than enough!

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Thanks! It's 1-1/2 " pvc, I thought about making it smaller going down but just decided to use the ball valve to control how much it's going to let through instead.

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Painted the stand and everything is together and the "dry" wet run was a success with few complications, mainly just the tightening of one bulkhead. Lights and dry rock are on the way. Will be looking at sand and live rock next.

 

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So it's been a while since the last time I had a tank setup so I'm trying to remember all the small things I needed last time. For the most part my big parts list is done and now it's a matter of all those small things. Not sure which test kit I should start with either while the tank cycles. Any suggestions? Once I get my lights and rock in I will start the cycling process and in the meantime purchase all the other important things.

 

So far on my new list I have:

Refractometer

Mixing pump for saltwater

Live rock

Substrate

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks! I should be putting in water later today. And hanging up my lights by tomorrow. Finally time to start cycling

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So I've been wondering what everyone else uses for their return pump from the sump. I have a sicce 1.5 (358 gph) and not sure if it is enough flow. I plan on mainly having an acan garden and some other softies. There is also a 565 gph koralia in the tank. I have a maxi jet 1200 (1300 gph) for mixing my saltwater. Should I swap the two? What are some other pros and cons of each I may not have read about in reviews?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ahh memories. My first SW tank was a 29g converted from FW.

 

Looks like things are moving along for you though. Estimating the amount of head loss you have I think your return pump is probably just fine. You may want to add another circulation pump though, even a slightly larger one.

 

The plumbing looks good, if a little odd given the size of the tank hehe... hopefully it doesn't get too loud. The concerning thing with the plumbing though is that it looks to be supported by the glass. Whenever I hard plumb pipes I try to put in a bracket somewhere to fix the plumbing to the stand - with the goal of having the stand support the weight of the plumbing and not the glass. Probably a little late for you to do this now though, so just be very careful when putting pressure on the pipes such as when you're adjusting that huge ball valve.

 

Are you planning to move the heater to the sump?

 

Overall it looks nice though.

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Ahh memories. My first SW tank was a 29g converted from FW.

 

Looks like things are moving along for you though. Estimating the amount of head loss you have I think your return pump is probably just fine. You may want to add another circulation pump though, even a slightly larger one.

 

The plumbing looks good, if a little odd given the size of the tank hehe... hopefully it doesn't get too loud. The concerning thing with the plumbing though is that it looks to be supported by the glass. Whenever I hard plumb pipes I try to put in a bracket somewhere to fix the plumbing to the stand - with the goal of having the stand support the weight of the plumbing and not the glass. Probably a little late for you to do this now though, so just be very careful when putting pressure on the pipes such as when you're adjusting that huge ball valve.

 

Are you planning to move the heater to the sump?

 

Overall it looks nice though.

Great tip about securing the pipes! Need to do it myself, although I got soft plumbing...

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Thanks! I actually was able to put them both on brackets mounted to the stand. That ball valve on the return was giving me trouble but I've loosened it up since as well. Haven't really thought to move the heater yet only cause it's in an inspicuous spot. Have thought about it though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Any suggestions on hair algae removal? I've read up on what I can find but would like to hear what's worked for most of you all in your experience. Corals are all doing really well except for a small frag of gsp that closed for a few days but is starting to slowly open up again. Read that they do that every now and then, but still waiting for them to take off and grow.

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Any suggestions on hair algae removal? I've read up on what I can find but would like to hear what's worked for most of you all in your experience. Corals are all doing really well except for a small frag of gsp that closed for a few days but is starting to slowly open up again. Read that they do that every now and then, but still waiting for them to take off and grow.

I've found GSP to be temperamental. Then again, some people do great with hard corals and others fail with similar setups; and vice a versa.

 

As for algae control... Well time bro. Lol

Time and a little CUC help and good husbandry.

Prune it back, suction it out. Keep up on WC schedules. And wait it out.

Get some good crabs and snails.

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I have 3 turbos in there right now. They don't seem to attack it too much. What other snails or inverts could I add?

Also my clowns seem to be pairing up as it seems they are clearing space on a rock hopefully for spawning.

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I have 3 turbos in there right now. They don't seem to attack it too much. What other snails or inverts could I add?

Also my clowns seem to be pairing up as it seems they are clearing space on a rock hopefully for spawning.

 

Some people love turbos, I hated them. I've had several an they never did much of anything for my algae. The only thing they did was grow algae, I literally would have 1-2 inches of green hair algae growing on their shells. I guess the one good thing was that instead of it growing on my rocks, it grew on the snails, then they all one by one, died. They were so clumsy, always knocking down rocks and corals. I was not a fan. The only snails I have are nassarius. They are pretty good for keeping the sand bed clear and are real good at eating left over food from the reef floor.

Hermit crabs seemed to pick a little at it for me. When I had a green emerald crab, he definitely did some algae munching for me. All day I saw him picking at the rocks. He was a beast. Unfortunately, one day he died, I think I did not have enough algae for him to eat anymore.

 

I've not had a problem with algae for probably a couple years now. Once you get past it, and it may take 3-6 months, you should be fine.

I may suggest to wait on corals until the GHA is gone. I lost a few zoo colonies that were overtaken by GHA.

 

Try to stay with weekly WC if possible. Pull as much and suction the GHA out as much as possible. Run some Purigen and Chemipure Elite, possibly check your light period. Its ok to reduce your light hours a little if you still yet don't have a heavy coral stock (the fish don't really care).

You can ramp up lighting schedule once your algae issue is gone.

Oh yea, forgot to add shrimp. You may find a cleaner shrimp to be beneficial. I know they are pricy, but they are very pretty and do a good job of keeping the tank clean. They may eat some of your algae, they will also remove any parasites from your fish if needed.

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