20 Gallon Custom

Andrewalex11 · Aug 29, 2017

My wife has told me that I better provide her with something better than the not so super eye-appealing nano-reef we currently have...So I went out to the store and bought a standard 20 Gallon Long aquarium, a 20lb sack of carribsea sand and got planning.

Goals for the aquarium

Custom internal sump filtration: I'm going to get my hands on some nice black acrylic here soon and am going to attempt to make as low profile/effective internal filter as possible. My plan is to have a spot for a media reactor like the innovative marine nano, possibly a skimmer (I was thinking a new Hydor Slim Skim) they seem to have 'OK' reviews but then again no nano-skimmer has ALL positive reviews. I want to have this filter gadget area to be large enough to transform into a refugium if I wish to in the future incase the Skimmer/Media reactor just arn't doing it for me anymore.

Sump flow pattern: Mechanical --------> | /\
| Skimmer Heater /\
Biological | | [Return Pump]
---------> --------->

AquaScape: Going to try and keep a long aquascape that travels directly down the center of the aquarium leaving as much side/front/back clearance as possible, this will be important to eliminate dead spots in such a long aquarium without having to put more than 1-2 Hydors in the tank the goal is to have a main powerhead that can push water around the aquascape starting in the back around the rock in an oval shape. The return from the sump in theory should catch the water as it comes around the first turn and give it an extra push the rest of the way. We will see though!

Temperature control: Luckily for me I'm a nerd and will be using my own heater controller, but I want to further test it before placing it into the aquarium; so I'll probably throw your standard Eheim in there for the time being.

Dosing: As of right now I dose B-Ionic supplements and will probably continue to dose it, and will be installing a Bubble Magus dosing pump to get this job done.

Lighting: I'll be moving my old lights onto my 10 Gallon and use the Radion XR30 Pro Gen 3. Need I say more?

I'll be getting more parts in throughout this week - next week, building the aquariums filtration then picking up the few last pieces after thats over and we get water in the system.

If anyone is interested in my livestock goals truthfully I have not figured it out just yet due to the fact in 4 months I'll be getting a 40-75 Gallon system so I haven't decided if I want to commit this tank to grow out any fish yet for that system. But I can tell you that about a week after it's running for a bout a week or two I will be taking a few hundred dollars and doing a fun online coral shopping spree!

Last night I did pick up a nice new Rainbow Acan, and Montipora specifically left on the plugs to be for the new tank though, so I'm sure this will periodically happen while I'm building this tank.

Daniel@R2R · Aug 29, 2017

cool plan. Following.

Andrewalex11 · Aug 31, 2017

After doing a good amount of research on all the items I need to make this happen this morning I finally found some time to throw it all together and throw my money into the great big fire we all know as reef-keeping.

Coming on Saturday I expect to receive; two 12'' by 12'' 1/8'' thick black acrylic sheets, a brand new stepper drill bit, some silicone, I decided to go with a 1'' low profile strainer that I will be using for the inlet side of the sump, and a 213GPH return pump that will use a 1/2'' return line.

Most other parts/tools I have on hand so as of right now I can safely say this is roughly about 95% of all the parts I need to get the sump installed and do a water test. So all of this boils down to; expect pictures this weekend coming up !

Andrewalex11 · Sep 4, 2017

So I want to apologize for not updating this thread when totally promised with pictures but it truly was my first stab at something like this as far as acrylic / silicon work goes and I have to say I am very happy with how it came out ! It may not be perfect but I'll have another stab at it again in a few months when I get together my large system in my new house.

The sump is about 8.5" by 3.5" and is nice and curved for a sleek look with less silicon. The sump stands about 1' tall giving me the opportunity to make slim yet very long chambers to take advantage of vertical room leaving a very small footprint in the tank.

Here's some pictures during the testing phase of this build.

This sump ran like a beast on the first flip of a switch and kept an excellent water level in the tank, it was power failure tested and held perfectly. I now fully confident in this system have officially moved to the second phase of this build which is the moving phase.

The 10 Gallon Nano has been moved properly and is running currently on top of my very sturdy dining room table with all of its original equiptment the only thing that has changed is that I threw the old orbit Marine pro on it due to the fact that the radion is mounted on the wall. The 20 Gallon took its old spot and was positioned under the radion exactly how I wanted it.

Now we just wait for the RO/DI System that have recently installed make us enough water and this sucker is ready to run!

I have 10lbs of dry rock on the way, along with a Hydor Slim Skim Nano; I've heard mixed things about the protein skimmer and if it's a bust I'll back up plan it with a Innovative Marine Reactor.

hockeyhead019 · Sep 8, 2017

looks really sharp! Not bad for your first stab at acrylic and silicone work.

Andrewalex11 · Sep 8, 2017

Thank you @hockeyhead019

So I've been working a lot recently but I haven't halted the project, I just kind of halted my activity of documenting it.

I will upload pictures tonight.

It is fully finished, running and the transfer of all my live stuff in the 10 Gallon into the 20 Gallon was a success, so all the fish and livestock are living happily in their new home!

Andrewalex11 · Sep 9, 2017

Time for some fun well taken iPhone pictures! I really need a camera!

The return side of the Nano-Sump has been upgraded to how I need it to be with this nice little 1/2" ball valve. A little close to the pumps outlet for my liking but it's barely turned and really tuned the whole system nicely.

Here's some tank shots I'm probably going to invest in some more rock I purchased 10lbs expecting more than just two giant pieces but I kind of like the way it has worked out so far.

Here's a shot of the whole DIY internal sump in action. I'm glad I managed to size it to be compatable with some great Nano equiptment.

Here's a terrible iPhone fancy picture I tried to take.

Andrewalex11 · Sep 9, 2017

Today I have also picked up acclimated and added a few CUC members as well as a new fish.

5 nassarius snails
13 hermits
And a 6line wrasse

Andrewalex11 · Sep 10, 2017

Unfortunately it looks like I fell short on the rock! I just need one big piece to finish off the last archway on the right side infront of the sump.

Compliments to Hydor for the Slim Skim protein skimmer, it has finally broken in and is foaming up nicely. No Skim mate just yet! The tank is a little too clean and new for that, but I can tell I'll be getting a nice thick frothy skimmate production soon! I never really liked the idea of these Nano skimmers, this has truly changed my opinion.

Next up on the gear list will definitely be an AutoAqua Micro smart ATO, the evap on the 20L with such a widely exposed surface area I can't really keep up as well as I did on the 10 Gallon.

Here's a whole tank shot for y'all, I'm kind of done with iPhone pictures the videos come out much better

Here's a livestock shot this is all pre-coral placement.

Did a major water test yesterday and we are looking good.

Ph 8.2
Alk 7.5
Calcium 500
Magnesium 1400
Nitrate - Undetectable
Phosphate - Underectable
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Salinity - 35ppt

Andrewalex11 · Sep 19, 2017

Been a little while since an update; so I just wanted to pop in and make some comments on the equiptment and how it has been preforming so far and what changes I might make to increase performance.

1. Trace element levels are being sucked down at a nice pace which to me is a good thing but I'm definately going to have to put a dosing pump on here, so within the next month or two I'm going to hook up 2 BRS 1.1ml/min dosers on this tank for sure.

2. The Hydor Slim Skim Nano was absolutely pulling great skimmate cups for me, it was getting full pretty fast but that's ok considering this version has a max of 35 gallons and this is a 20 gallon system. But last night after cleaning it out I noticed it wasn't giving me nice bubbling action anymore! I pulled a pretty funky cup out this morning but something is off, and I hope this skimmer isn't crapping out on me. If it does I back up planned the sump to fit a Tunze 9004 or make the chamber into a refugium.

3. Thinking about planting some mangrove in the display tank

4. The surface skimmer strainer isn't really preforming as well as I would like it to be and I think it's because of the way I have my mechanical filtration set up so I'll be using left over acrylic to DIY a media basket.

Andrewalex11 · Sep 24, 2017

Time for an update! SPS, Nitrates, and a gamble with a great fish!

Tankwise everything has been adjusted up nicely on the skimmer, and it works like a champion since I feed at night and let the tank sit for 20 minutes before I turn the sump back on the skimmer pretty much over night just clears out all the waste and doesn't really produce anything until I feed again. This is both good and bad, I have yet to do a water change on the system just because the Nitrates are at a consistent 0, probably have some undetectable for the API kit I have so I'll be investing in a Hannah soon but by the end of today I'm going to do a small 10% water change (2 gallons) to get those trace elements like Iron and Strontium back up to par.

I have decided to dedicate the two main peaks under the Radion to be SPS only peaks! I found a new LFS with amazing corals and fish for great prices so I took the plunge and am going all out since I feel very confident with reef keeping at this point.

Green Slimer

Blue Tennius

Here's some other coral shots

Know it's not in the SPS category but we picked up this blue Trachy for a steal

All the other corals are doing pretty good as well new Zoa/Paly heads every week, the Blastomussa are not growing..at all..Oh well.

I plan on making a bouquet of Acans on the left most rock behind the torch in the future so as of right now I put them all together on frag plugs in the sand until I have enough to get good coverage.

As you may notice there is a little bit of a Cyano issue which has always been a problem for me but I will be dosing H2O2 (1ml per 10 gallons) every day for the next week and that should help clear it up nicely !

I started dosing 1ml of Coral Amino every other day now as well I decided to go with this instead of Acro power due to the fact I've heard this stuff is just as good if not better for all types of corals but I probably will try Acro power in the future to compare and make my own decision on that.

Last but not least I'm getting into the gamble with Angelfish and I must say if this works out the winnings are definately worth it..what a gorgeous fish. I think I will be fine considering my torch is pretty dang big compared to how it once was so I won't really notice any nips if he decides to get hungry for some LPS dinner.

Here's a full tank shot of today. I still have yet to get that rock to finish the aquascape, but will definately be getting one soon with my mesh top kit and probably another Korallia and wave controller. I decided against the ATO for now because I simply can't find a spot for it.

Oh and the Six line jumped today and I got home probably just after it had happened he was wet an still very fleshy on the floor but definately dead. I do want one in this tank for pest control but I think I might focus on my pod-population now and consider a dragonette.

Katrina71 · Sep 24, 2017

@Reefrookie220 check this out.

Andrewalex11 · Nov 19, 2017

It's been a while since an update on the 20 long custom!

All the corals are growing amazingly; the only one that seems to be having a tough time is my leptoseris, my guess is that it's slightly too close to my new chalice.

Speaking of chalice, the way I acquired it was by visiting a new LFS and it wasn't "colorful enough" for the owner so he just gave huge chunks of it away for nothing and it has colored up nicely in my tank from a brown to a nice deep purple.

Torch, lepto, 3x different acanthastrea, and my chalice.