80g 300l lps custom tank build

[Elliott Comans]

Firstly let me say hello to all you great people. Never seen the need to have Facebook or Insta but this site I had to get behind.
Big it up to the whole community but especially those who keep it running for us.
This is my tank at the moment but I'll run through the build as well when I get free pockets .

 

[NY_Caveman]

Beautiful! Welcome to R2R!

 

[Elliott Comans]

Beautiful! Welcome to R2R!

Thanks mate, and seriously thanks for the work you do, this site is amazing. Stoked to be finally joined after lurking all these months.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very kind! great to have you here.

 

[Elliott Comans]

It all started, as many of you could relate, by getting the wife onboard. She hated the old minireef cabinet and wanted something to fit the house.
So we got a 4ft pine cabinet and started dreaming (and saving )
After many trips to the hardware store we got marine grade paint and sealant. Did 2 washed coats, so the wife could still see grains, and lacquered it up, again and again. Sanded it back to take away some sheen and it was good to go.
Went down to my local aquarium maker and got a custom 1200x450x500h polished edge tank in 12mm (So it can be braceless). Drilled 4 holes without really knowing why and spray painted 2ssides (going in corner).
It was this moment I realised I needed to slow right down and get the drawing board out and really nail the schematic before going forward.

 

[GTPoker]

Can't wait for the rest... Tank looks amazing

 

[Sley1]

Tank is beautiful, interested to see your journey to get it there!!
Welcome to R2R.

 

[Elliott Comans]

So I spent the next few months going between the drawing board and the hardware store spending a silly amount on plumbing pieces.

I know I wanted a herbie drain system (controlled quiet downpipe with emergency overflow pipe) anf dual return from single pump run through chiller and uv clarifier (right next to window)
Put flow adjusters on return plumbing in case water chose one as the easiest route, but complete even flow through both, so never needed.
I was pretty happy with this layout although I would later realise the clarified is too close and it has to come out every time a bulb needs replacing next time I'll know, as this hobby is certainly a learning curve

 

[Elliott Comans]

Bought a cheap piece of black acrylic. Used an angle grinder to make teeth, drilled out holes for return and marked the folds and heated the acrylic. Was actually way easier than i expected. Used an unholy amount of silicon putting it in place cause it kept leaking through the bottom

 

[Elliott Comans]

Sump layout.
80litre sump (20g)
Filter rsock into large chamber which holds 1g of marine pure, stand for nyos 120.
Goes through sponge (shortly remove cause why hold nitrates?)
Comes up through carbon and purigen.
Refgium
Through to return pump , just using an aqua one
Resun chiller
Blagdon pond uv clarifier
There's the naked and dressed photo

 

[Elliott Comans]

Haha, side note. I got the largest custom sump the cabinet could fit. Didnt think about getting it in. Had to cut the leg, get the sump in, and pack the leg again. Ugh, not my idea of fun

 

[SPR1968]

That's a beautiful tank and set up and thanks for sharing all the pictures

Welcome to R2R as well by the way, its great to have you with us

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R!!! Beautiful piece of living art!

 

[Dpate]

Looks awesome! I was going to suggest you pull the black sponge out from between the baffles but I see you already did so... NICE!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!

 

[Elliott Comans]

Thanks everyone. It's a really easy setup , besides from where I stuffed up experimenting doing custom. Nothing fancy, only expensive things are the nyos skimmer and 4 ai primes. Everything is plump and happy, and i really enjoyed doing the diy aspect.

 

[Elliott Comans]

Looks awesome! I was going to suggest you pull the black sponge out from between the baffles but I see you already did so... NICE!

Yeah it was in there a week before the nitrates appeared. Been 2 or under ever since

 

[Elliott Comans]

So I kinda cheated. Had a mini reef 120l (30g) tank for a couple years. So there was some mature water and rocks already. I then got all my eskies and matured base rock in ocean water for 4 weeks under a led pouring purpleup in every few days. Meant that when I put the new tank together I had mature rock, 100l of mature water so was hoping that setting it up would be like a large water change. However in doing so it took design away from the process as I had to quickly empty and move tank1 to set up quickly tank2 in same location. What a day but after a few hours I had this:

 

[Elliott Comans]

It was a rough transition but within a week

 

[RobW]

Firstly let me say hello to all you great people. Never seen the need to have Facebook or Insta but this site I had to get behind.
Big it up to the whole community but especially those who keep it running for us.
This is my tank at the moment but I'll run through the build as well when I get free pockets .

Nice tank!