Tigs 14g starphire

Tigs new 14g starphire

I tore down my 10g acrylic tank because it was getting over taken from some kind of red macro algae and I gave up on pulling the stuff out weekly. It would infest everything and because of that I had to place all my corals on the sand bed which prevented me from buying anything new. My buddy mentioned that he can get a good price on starphire glass and that's when I decided it's time for a replacement tank.

Here are some pics of the beginnings of my 14g starphire tank that a buddy and me put together ourselves. The total cost of the starphire glass was around $30. The tank measures 20"L x 12"H x 13.5"W.

This was our first time building a glass tank, it wasn't hard but it took us a good 3-4hrs to put together including prep time. We also built a 20g starphire tank as the same time. We let the tanks sit waterless for a week for the silicon to cure. Than we filled the tanks up for a week to test for leaks.

I added a removable partition to the tank to hide all the equipment so the tank has an overall cleaner look to it. I used end channels (grooved extrusions) so I can easily remove the partition for maintenance. I divided the partition into two parts. The upper part can be removed while the lower part stays so the sand bed doesn't spill over to the back.

I sanded down the bottom edges of the lower partition so it wouldn't dig into the silicon

I used a dremel to cut out some teeth and to drill holes for water flow.

I finished my closed loop SCWD and testing it for leaks. Thanks to Melev for the DIY. http://www.melevsreef.com/closedloop.html

Making sure everything is the correct measurement before gluing together.

Testing for leaks in the scwd and tank for week. The ball valves on the returns are used to control flow rate.

The Remora skimmer was too tall for my tank so I took the feet off and used a dremel for finishing touches. Than it was a bit too short and I fixed that by using some old credit cards for height adjustments.

The tank swap including prep and clean up time took me 6-7 hours. I placed my fishes, bta, snails, hermits, and shrimp into the same container with a heater and a battery operated air pump. The softies in another cooler and my SPS in my minibow(sps will stay in minibow for a week until I’m certain the anemone found a spot it likes). I used about 90% of the water from my old tank and ditched the sand. Started with a new sand bed seeded with sand from my minibow.

Pics of equipment on tank

Here is pic of the newly setup tank. Excuse the micro bubbles that is produced by my Remora(still breaking in) Aquascaping isn't really complete yet since I'm going to add more rock at a later date. Waiting for the BTA to be sure of its spot before I add the SPS back into the tank.

pic of old tank before swap

I'm really excited and can't wait to start buying corals again and I really like the SCWD. A list of my equipment is in my signature. Thanks for looking all.

Looking good! Interesting idea on the divided partition. The clear tubing, on the right side, is that for a top off? And the cream colored pvc, that you have looped over your closed system in the back, what is that for?

Looks like a clean set-up. I hope it works better for you then the 10 did. I bet that is going to look tight when the sps are added.

Really excellent!!!

Awesome work TiGs!

-Lam

Originally posted by Angel

Looking good!  Interesting idea on the divided partition.  The clear tubing, on the right side, is that for a top off?  And the cream colored pvc, that you have looped over your closed system in the back, what is that for?  

 

Looks like a clean set-up.  I hope it works better for you then the 10 did.  I bet that is going to look tight when the sps are added.

Thanks all. I hated the red macro algae and couldnt take it anymore.

The clear tubing on the right is for a battery operated air pump for power outages. And the pvc is where the auto top-off water comes from. the auto top off float switch is in between the HOB and the Skimmer.

Only reason I added a partition is because I have no room for a sump and wanted a cleaner looking tank

wow, that's awesome, great job!

Originally posted by TiGs

Only reason I added a partition is because I have no room for a sump and wanted a cleaner looking tank

Which it does! I may use the divided partition in another tank sometime soon, I like it. Now I will wait for the updated pic, after your bta has found his home Great work.

tigs hook it up with starphire neighbor

looks really good. good job all around. the only thing i might change is using black pvc instead of white so it blends in with the partition better.

other than that. nice job.

Supernip- Let me ask my buddy about the glass. My buddy has just started his 1st saltwater tank and maybe you guys can work out a little something something.

miku - I agree that black pvc would look so much better but I didn't find any at the hardware stores. No matter, because it will get incrusted in coralline algae.

looks sharp Tigs. What did you use to brace the tank from the outward pressure? Looks clean man.

what external pump are you using??

TiGs, Where did you get the end chanel?

Very nice tank!!

Tigs, bravo. Thats a hellofasetup. Is there any need for eurobracing on a 10 gallon?

yeah like free stuff since I work at a lfs

Thanks for the compliment all.

My friend actually did the research on building glass tanks and he said that anything under specific gallons doesn't require bracing. He built a 20g with no bracing also.

It's a Mag Drive 5 pump running the scwd and it gives plenty of flow.

I bought the end channels from Tap's Plastic.

My tanks length and height dimension is the same as a stock 10g tank but I just added 3.5" more to the width. So anyone with a stock 10g and don't have a sump can install all the same equipment I have added.

Do you have any problems with noise or vibration with the pump sitting on the outside?

Pump doesnt make that much noise or vibration but the scwd seems kind of noisy when you are trying to sleep.

Hey Tigs,

Do u get crazy flow with the Mag5?

I just ordered a Mag7 for my 20 gallon and it's gonna be sitting 3 ft below the water surface. You think that's too much flow?

I actually do get some very nice flow because the water is coming out in volume(pvc) vs. a jet stream(loc-line, power head). kind of like a garden hose without a nozel attachment, water comes out at a more gentle rate unlike if you were to have a nozel on the hose which would blast the water out in a stream.

Depending how many bends in your plumbing and the distance the water has to travel will in effect lower your over all flow rate.

I think a mag7 or higher will work for you. If you are going to put ball valves for flow rate control try something higher than the mag7 because you can always turn down the flow but you can't trun it up

Awesome, thanks so much!

I actually ordered the Mag 7 and i'm gonna try it out first.

Cool. You will enjoy the SCWD very much. I don't have much of anything in my tank now but I love how my BTA tenticles gently sway back and forth.

Did you follow exactly what Melev used in terms of parts???

I'm having trouble finding unions, purple cleaner and pvc glue.

Yes I followed the parts except I didn't need a bag of 90 deg elbows and I bought four 45 degree elbows for my returns. i also had to purchase a pvc pipe cutter.

I printed out the his directions including pictures and pieced it together while in the hardware store to make sure I got all the correct parts. The first time i went shopping for parts I just brought the list and I pretty much bought all the wrong parts, doh! Some hardware stores have theri unions placed in a different location than the pvc parts, I just showd the employee pic and asked where the unions are located.

I used is Oatey LO-VOC pvc cement and primer. Any hardware store should all these parts. But the hardwars stores in my area was either really low or out of the 1/2 unions.