Jimbo7 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I know, I know. Another. I've been out of the game for 5ish years, and I've really been itching for a good hobby again. I decided if I was going to jump back in I would do it as well as I could while maintaining a decent budget. I'm trying to shoot the middle between "barebones" and "black card" and tracking everything I spend in the process. At some point I will share my spreadsheet in case it will help any newbies out. I travel internationally for work so making the tank as plug n' play as possible for my girlfriend was important while I am gone. My goal for this tank is fairly unclear still. I have a SPS obsession, but so far the girlfriend seems to be gravitating towards the "big wavy ones." I have some thoughts on a stock list below, but nothing is set in stone yet. Tank: Innovative Marine 25g Lagoon Stand: DIY ADA Style Stand Equipment: Tunze Silence 1073.008 Tunze Comline 9001 Tunze Osmolator Nano Jebao RW-4 Wavemaker EHEIM Jager 50w Heater Lights: ReefRadiance Starfire Stocking List: Currently Cycling Pair of Clowns - True Percula? Black Ocellaris? Sand Sifting Goby - Leaning Diamond Watchman Yellow Clown Goby Six Line Wrasse My bucket is amped for the build. Clamping, gluing and screwing for good measure. Basic structure complete. I swear I wasn't rotating the bucket for pictures, it just happened. Painted up everything and put on a few coats of polycrylic for good measure. Don't mind the mess, building in an apartment is hard. Painted and assembled, tank is ready to be filled while I put finishing touches on the stand. Modifying the plumbing in the back to fit the skimmer. I had read a lot of posts it could be done, but no one showed any pictures so hopefully this helps out anyone else that was wondering. I also read a lot of people complaining the stock pump was too loud, so I grabbed this one from the start. I tested the stock pump and I'm glad I upgraded, the Tunze lives up to its name. I also had to mod the skimmer a bit which I forgot to take a picture but I'll do that soon. Skipped a few steps here, but I was in a frenzy trying to finish everything up this weekend before company came over. I'll try to backfill this post with the missed steps soon. Lights are up and running and so far I'm pretty pleased with how they look. I used Bio-Spira just for kicks, figuring it couldn't hurt cut down some cycle time. I used Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride which I can confirm doesn't register very well on API kits for ammonia. But I have trites and trates on day 3 testing, so it all must be working somehow. 1 Quote Link to comment
Jsp Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Awesome an other lagoon. What did u use for paint and how did you apply it? Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 I used Behr Hi-Gloss Enamel for the outside and just a small thing of general grey satin paint for the interior. I started with a brush but ended up having to sand down some lines, so I switched to a high quality 4" roller which worked much better.After that I coated it in Polycrylic for some added protection. I designed the stand to fit on one 4' x 8' sheet of plywood so the whole build was right around $100. 1 Quote Link to comment
iHexBot Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 How is the 50 watt heater working out for you? Are you able to maintain your desired temperature? I went with the 75 watt jager because I was worried about the 50 watt heater not being efficient enough. Unfortunately, the 75 watt heater doesn't fit well in the overflow . Will probably end up trading out for a neotherm down the road... Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Haha I did the same thing! Its incredibly tall for a 75w heater. The 50w has been a champ so far, holding pretty steady with the lights and my inability to stop fidgeting with the aquascape. I haven't watched it closely when the ATO kicks in, so next time it switches on I'll watch and report back. Long run I'll probably look for something a little nicer in a higher wattage so the 50 isn't working so hard and burns out on me. Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Yall should try the titanium finnex 100w. I run it in my 25 and it's perfect. I'd have to say equipment was the hardest part for me for this tank,to make sure everything stayed hidden or out of the way. Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Yea low profile was a big factor for me as well, which is why I went the Comline 9001 over some of the better rated skimmers that wouldn't fit in the back. Thanks for the heater suggestion! It's the one item I am never sure on because there is such a huge price difference between brands yet all of them come with horror stories of boiled/frozen fish. Quote Link to comment
tautog83 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 ya i went with the finnex 100w too its tiny and works great. i just have to set it at 81 to get to 79 Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Yea low profile was a big factor for me as well, which is why I went the Comline 9001 over some of the better rated skimmers that wouldn't fit in the back. Thanks for the heater suggestion! It's the one item I am never sure on because there is such a huge price difference between brands yet all of them come with horror stories of boiled/frozen fish. The finnex is solid, and has worked well in a few tanks I've run. And also like $25 of Amazon or ebayMy skimmer was able to fit the skimme/reactor chamber without modifying Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 The finnex is solid, and has worked well in a few tanks I've run. And also like $25 of Amazon or ebay My skimmer was able to fit the skimme/reactor chamber without modifying I'll definitely check out the finnex when its time. What skimmer are you running and how is it? Truthfully, its not that I couldn't find options that fit better I just wanted the biggest skimmer possible haha. Though size isn't always the determining factor, its never a bad thing when it comes to skimmers in my experience. Plus the "modifications" are just putting a dot of super glue on the magnet and sticking to the side rather than the back, wasn't too hard 1 Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yea no doubt there the tunze was nice when I ran one in my nano cube 28. Currently I run a Reef Octopus NS80 skimmer. Second time I've run it and as expected it runs well. Quote Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Nice! Love my lagoon...following along! 1 Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Messed with the rockwork again last night, the sand clouds the tank if I move anything which is becoming frustrating. I've always used dry sand super well rinsed and never come up against this. Any tips on combating the constant cloud? Full shot of the current setup, impossible to get a good shot with the LED's blasting. Heres a quick picture of the mounting of the light bar on either side. The tube is 1/2" electrical conduit, I 3D printed some offsets and endplugs at work to clean up the look a bit. I was going to paint everything black once the weather warmed up, but the silver is growing on me. I would just have to figure out how to finish the printed parts. Used some eye hooks to hang the lights through, super glued them in place as well for extra security. Waiting for the cycle is the worst. 3 Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Looking really nice. Can't wait to see what you do with it. Quote Link to comment
Jsp Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Nice job on the emt. First time doing a back to back 90 or are you a sparky? Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 First time actually! I had to call around to find an ACE hardware that had a bender in their "services" area since I couldn't get 10' of EMT in my apartment. The guy was hesitant at first to do it, but when I told him I would bend it and it was just for a project he was all in. Did some research online, went in and did pretty well! It was a little skewed, but it was within a few degrees that I could straighten the bends into the same plane. Think I finally got the scape the way I want it and secure. I also ordered some filter pad media to help clear out the water because the stock filter socks are getting clogged way too fast and don't cover the whole opening of the overflow chamber. 3 Quote Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 I dig the back shelf in the middle. 1 Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Looks like a good scape! Well done. Quote Link to comment
teejay Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Following along, nice build, really liking the scape! Quote Link to comment
greengenes Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Love the rock scape! We use a aquatop 100w heater hooked up to a reefkeeper. I have it at a sharp angle in the return chamber. Quote Link to comment
Quinnr Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Nice tank man! Just started building my stand today for mine! 1 Quote Link to comment
Jimbo7 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 Cycle finished sometime around Wednesday, added more ammonia to make sure everything was working and Thursday levels were still good. This morning I met up with a local reefer for a "small" starter pack of some hardy starter corals. I'll post some pictures later, I'm also going to go check out a LFS and grab some CC and maybe a first addition. 2 Quote Link to comment
reefhound Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 awsome.. i also built my stand and have the dimensions on my build if anyone need some more guidance.. (1 sheet of ply.. under 100.00) love the rock work so far! i rinsed my filter socks and am ready to replace them after the cycle. (now) just bussy researching a skimmer & reactor ATM you guys are really the best resource there is Quote Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Cycle finished sometime around Wednesday, added more ammonia to make sure everything was working and Thursday levels were still good. This morning I met up with a local reefer for a "small" starter pack of some hardy starter corals. I'll post some pictures later, I'm also going to go check out a LFS and grab some CC and maybe a first addition. updates? Quote Link to comment
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