kevin_f Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 I copied this from my local reefers club. nano-reef was the first forum I found & did my research on Hopefully I can make this somewhat interesting! (you can surely skip the introduction & go right to the pictures, lol) Last few years I've been to quite a few aquariums. I always wanted a saltwater tank, but never had the time, money, or place to have it. Last summer I was at the jenkinson's boardwalk with my fiance & mother. At this point in my life, I was moved out, had the time, & the money to get something going. The jenkinson's aquarium really sparked my interest in wanting to start a tank up. During July of last summer I joined this site & others to start my research. I went to the majority of the local & non-local LFS that I could find. I really give credit to Mike over at Captivating Coral. I went in one day with my fiance & he explained A LOT to me even when the store was suppose to be closed. You can definitely tell he is in this hobby to help people & for it to grow. He told me to think long & hard if you want to make this commitment. I told him I would be waiting till March until I actually got anything starter. Fast forward to few weeks later & I get a promotion at my job. I had read a lot more about reefing & I was sure I wanted to do this. I saw mnat & nikkiT were selling a 45g tank w/ stand. I promptly went to go pick it up from Nikki while she showed me & the fiance her and mnat's tanks. She was very kind & even gave me some test kits for starters! Then the big 15% group buy from premium aquatics comes a long. I went to town on this group buy. I want to thank howze(Johnathan) for picking up my portion of the group buy & bringing it to his house. I've had nothing but good experiences with everyone on this forum. I ended up keeping the stand from mnat & nikki & sold the tank. I was really liking the look of a rimless tank. I ended up with a CADlights 50g This is my current setup: CAD Lights 50g rimless 24x24x20 CAD Lights 18g sump Radion XR30W (2)vortech MP10wES Full Neptune Apex w/ pH & temp probe Neptune Breakout Box Tunze 1073.40 Return Silence Pump (2)Ehiem Jager TS 150w heater (1 for a failsafe) Aqua lifter Vacuum pump (ato) Warner Marine MF121 Skimmer BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage *PLUS* System BRS "Felt" Filter Sock 4" x 14" 200 Micron (w/ Plastic Ring) Milwaukee Digital Seawater Refractometer 40lbs BRS “Reef Saver” Eco Dry Aquarium Live Rock 8lbs BRS Rumble 8lbs Fiji Live rock from Captivating Coral Chaeto from Captivating Coral Reef Crystals salt. ect ect. CADlights threw in the supplied plumbing. I had such a lesson on how plumbing works because of this. One side didn't leak & the other did. I tried everything to get it not to leak, but it was a no go. I then ordered a durso from dursostandpipe & kept the CADlights return side plumbing. Set everything up, then the return side leaked at a RANDOM spot of the plumbing. Boy was I getting frustrated.. I then went to the store and tried to figure out what I needed for the return side. It all started coming to me slowly. Now I feel like I'm somewhat decent at this plumbing stuff, lol. I got everything running about 2 weeks ago & the tank is cycling. I threw in a piece of raw shrimp & now I wait. (I still have to do a little cleaning up of wires) supplied plumbing that sucked: 15g ATO Link to comment
iball1804 Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 That's incredible! Keep us updated please. Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 That's incredible! Keep us updated please. Thanks! I surely will! Link to comment
Mojorizn Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Nice setup ya got there .... very nice. Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Nice, but I would take out the 2 purple live rocks you got there. It just doesn't look to pleasing in the pic. Link to comment
Bonk Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Wow, very cool setup you have going there! Just leave those live rocks in there, they'll blend in in no time. Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Thank you, thank you! I'm just waiting for it to cycle now ! :0 Link to comment
Bonk Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Kevin are you 2 weeks into your cycle as of today? I think you and me started our tanks on around the same day, which would be cool cuz I can check my progress against your tank. Keep it updated for me. Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Kevin are you 2 weeks into your cycle as of today? I think you and me started our tanks on around the same day, which would be cool cuz I can check my progress against your tank. Keep it updated for me. 12/13/11 when I put the live rock in 12/15/11 when I put the shrimp in Link to comment
Bonk Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Ok, close enough 12/11 here. Link to comment
Tanngu87 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Wow it looks AMAZING! Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Ok, close enough 12/11 here. indeed! I've been using Salifert test kits. I still haven't had much of a spike or anything. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Looks like you did your research and got the best! Great start! Link to comment
twan Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Nice setup. Too bad there is no room in the stand for your ato unit. How much are you evaping a day? Maybe you can hand one of these 2.5 gallons inside the stand for your ATO: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx...id=emailinstock Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Nice setup. Too bad there is no room in the stand for your ato unit.How much are you evaping a day? Maybe you can hand one of these 2.5 gallons inside the stand for your ATO: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx...id=emailinstock Thanks!! I would say probably 1-2gallons a day.(I haven't measured. I could be full of it, lol) It doesn't look too bad off to the side. Theirs a computer desk next to it & then the room ends. I appreciate all the kind comments!! like so: Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 ran tests... seems like my tank is finished cycling! Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0-2 ph: 8.0 temp: 78.5 SG: 1.025 Link to comment
mpsti05 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Tank looks sweet man. Definitely high end everything. Look forward to the progress Link to comment
kevin_f Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Tank looks sweet man. Definitely high end everything. Look forward to the progress Thanks! I just ordered my CUC. ohhh, nice STI. Link to comment
twan Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Interested in the plumbing you went with after you ditched the stock setup. Link to comment
JoshSD Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Interested in the plumbing you went with after you ditched the stock setup. +1 and your sump configuration? thanks! Link to comment
kevin_f Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Interested in the plumbing you went with after you ditched the stock setup. This was my first time with plumbing & I had no idea what I was doing for the most part. I ordered the 1" durso from dursostandpipe. This product uses 1.25 Inch Schedule 26 PVC pipe and Schedule 40 fittings. One inch bulkheads are rated for 600 GPH.. On the other end I used 1.25 PCV w/ a ball valve & coupler. Return side is just a hose from the return pump into a 1/2inch bulkhead. From the bulkhead it goes into hose until it reaches the return piece. (sorry that's a terrible description, but it's a simple setup. Nice build. Thanks! +1 and your sump configuration? thanks! 1st chamber (far right rear)has 1.25 pvc into a 200felt filter sock 2nd chamber (far right front)is a warner marine mf121 skimmer (that's currently not working correctly) 3rd(middle chamber) has some caribsea aragonite seaflor special grade reef sand, BRS reef saver dry rock rubble, chaeto and a LED light, 4th chamber (far left) return section has 2 150 jager heaters(1 is for backup), tunze return pump w/ piece of rubber underneath for vibration, temp & ph probe, 2 float switches, hose for ato dumps in this chamber Link to comment
kevin_f Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 my first fish :0 Link to comment
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