Despairodyne's 2 Reef Build

[Semanticlause]

It's a long story as to how I've gotten to this point. Suffice it to say that I find myself with a good deal of reefing equipment and the desire to proceed. Just as an aside, I'm setting up two tanks rather than one larger one for a good reason. Anyway, here goes....

What I already have now:

IM Fusion 30L with an InTank Basket.
3 x Kessil 360WE with Gooseneck Mounts.
Radion XR30w Gen4 Pro [Brand New And Free!]
1 Maxspect Nano Razor R420R
1 Small Reef Breeders LED
Tunze 6020 Powerhead
Tunze 6040 Powerhead
2 x Sicce Nanostream plus a Sicce wave maker.
2 x MP10w es
Ecotech Battery Backup
2 x Tunze 3155 Osmolator ATO
1 MeterLiter ATO
Tunze 9001 Skimmer
Tunze 9004 Skimmer
2 x BRS Carbon Reactors
1 Apex Gold
2 x Ranco Temperature Controllers
140lbs dry reef rock.
Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5
Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0
5 x Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200
Several titanium and glass heaters.
10/20/29g Aqueon glass aquariums
RO/DI system
20g saltwater Mixing station (Powerhead, thermometer, temperature controller).
Hanna PO3 checker
Refractometers
Many expired test kits.
200 gallons worth of Oceanic salt mix.
Time.

What's on the way:

50 gallon 36 x 18 x 18 Acrylic Aquarium [Funny story about that].
Trigger Systems 20 Sump.
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I intend for the 30L to be a FOWLR but I'll change my mind in a few days and decide to make it a reef.

I know I'll need a return pump for the 50gal and probably a new skimmer as well.

I'm thinking about putting one MP10 in each tank (so a power outage leaves one PH in each tank on battery backup) and then the Tunze 6040 can go into the 50 gallon and the Tunze 6020 can go into the 30L.

So many decisions left to make including exactly how I want to stock the tanks. My main goal is to need as little additional equipment as possible.

I'm off to build a stand for the 50 gallon.

Any advice is alway appreciated.

This build is in honor of Despairodyne from who this montage of reef stuff passed to me.

 

[helen ann]

WOW, Looking forward to this build ... sounds amazing!

 

[Semanticlause]

I guess I should take advantage of the black Friday sales so if anyone has advice for a return pump and skimmer I'd be very grateful. Also point out whatever I might be missing if you think of it. I'm a complete noobie so I'm sure there is something in addition to some non-expired test kits.

Thanks.

 

[Semanticlause]

Just some rambling thoughts. Just here to remind my old brain of things I'm sure to forget.

I've built a small fish room in my basement. I've also plumbed a drain line(1") from where the DT is located so I can just pump/siphon the water change effluent to a utility sink in the basement. I have two 20 gallon containers in the fish room directly below the holes so given a pump that can handle 14' of head pressure, along with a wireless switch, I could avoid the whole bucket thing. It would be an expensive pump, I'm sure. It was fun drilling the holes in the hardwood floor. My wife was very happy that I did it. [I may have made up that last part]. It would be nice to be able to bring new RO/DI water and saltwater upstairs without any heavy lifting.

I need to find someone local willing to take my fish and corals in the event I need to spend an extended time in the hospital (or expire as it were). There is at least one aquarium service that I could pay to take care of the tank for a short while. Still, it's a good thing to add to my final arrangements.

Given that the holes are already drilled and I have the space, I could at some point put a large sump in the basement for the 50 gal. The idea being that if I ever need to maintain a large pod pod population.

Buy a second return pump for the 50 gal. I have several heaters so I'm good there. I can use the Tunze 9004 as a spare skimmer.

Recalculate the expected monthly expenses. Also, come up with a good way to sneak coral into the house. That reminds me, I need to set up quarantine tanks for both the fish an corals. I found a few Aquaclear filters in the pile so maybe that's good enough. Plenty of lights if I need them.

I have two dedicated 20amp GFI circuits, one is on a generator circuit. The output of the generator is noisy. I'm pretty sure that most things won't care but it would be good to look into it anyway.

Figure out a way to shut the heaters off if the water around them disappears. Tank leak alarm? If you come up with a solution, the odds are that you'll kill the tank when you didn't have to. Be realistic about planning ahead.

Setup the Apex in one of the Aqueon tanks to figure out how to program the darn thing.

I can cultivate copepods. I can't have dragonets; if I go into the hospital, they will die here. If an LFS takes them, they'll die in somebody else's tank.

Pipefish? No, just no.

The sand is in bags that claim they contain live bacteria; they have dead bacteria in them now.

Stop overthinking this stuff.

 

[Semanticlause]

For the Fusion 30L:

Kessil 360 WE
Tunze 9001 Skimmer
InTank Media basket
2 x 75W Eheim heaters on a Ranco controller
Sicce syncra 2.0 return pump
MP10
Tunze 6020
Tunze 3155 Osmolator
BRS Carbon Reactor

It's a place to start.

WOW, Looking forward to this build ... sounds amazing!

Thank you for the welcome. Nice to meet new people.