Go29's North Dakota Reef Build

[go29]

Well I figured I've been around the hobby long enough at this time that I should finally take the "plunge" so to speak and start a build thread. I have always said I was going to document my previous tank builds, and somewhere along the lines forget to ever start up a thread, so I'm going to change that with this thread

Little bit about myself for those of you who don't know me. Ive been in this hobby for 14 years now and have gone through just about every catastrophe one can expect from a tank: from floods, to pests, to even starting a small fire and burning up a room (thankfully no one was hurt), however it seems in this hobby one can never really be "done learning" and as such I decided to take a new approach on tank choice with this build as you will see momentarily. This build with not be started completely from scratch as I will transfer over my existing 27 gallon nano into it, however it will be a decent size upgrade from that.

Im currently a medical student, and thus will be moving out of North Dakota for residency in 2 years. This was factored into my tank build, and ultimately limits my tank size as I will not be selling things when I have to eventually move, rather will take the setup wherever I get sent to. This played a large factor in my ultimate choice to try.... ACRYLIC as a tank media. Now I want to preface this build by also saying that I have never owned an acrylic tank. Yes in 14 years, and numerous tank builds in this hobby I have yet to own acrylic. Before anyone tells me about scratches I will say that the choice to go acrylic was due to the relative weight and strength of it compared to glass. Being that this tank will move with me in 2 years time I wanted to have something that I would be less worried about getting moved around, and lighter is always better when moving . Now I am VERY OCD about my things, and so I don't really see the "ease of scratching" as an issue, as I am pretty anal when it comes to tanks and tank maintenance. So for those of you saying "get on with it already" here are the beginning plans:

Tank: --> Custom built by none other than @ArtFully Acrylic . For those that haven't seen their clear view lids stay tuned as this tank will have one.Tank with be: 36" X 22"X20 (LxWxH) for somewhere around 68-70 gallons

Sump and Stand: --> Also being made by Adam over at ArtFully Acrylic. This was due largely as currently being in medical school I no longer have access to tools or the space to build and paint a stand.

Lighting: --> Tank will be lit with 2 AI hydra 52 hd units, and hung off of custom aluminum mounts Mounts will be drilled into back of tank and hold lights parallel to the front of the tank (Right to left)

Skimmer: --> Skimmer will be a Royal Exclusive DC 150 (thanks again for the help Scott @slief )

Return Pump: --> Royal Exclusive RD3 speedy 50 watt DC return pump

Flow pumps: --> One vortech Mp40QD and One vortech Mp10QD for flow with battery backup

Dosing: --> Dosing will be handled using BRS two part via DOS and DDR by neptune

Control: --> Gave it away with dosing, but I will be using full apex gold on this new build

ATO: --> Tunze osmolator will handle this

heaters: --> two 150 watt finnex titanium heaters will handle heating needs

Chiller: --> HaHa, sorry couldn't resist, but one of the perks of living up in North Dakota is using a chiller is not an issue here, heck just open the windows

As far as livestock tank will be a mixed reef, as I love variety. Fish will include my breeding pair of snowflake clowns I have now, a petco yellow tang (rescue fish, currently in quarantine waiting for the larger tank) then more to come as we get closer to the tank arriving.

 

[go29]

Also I figured I can't leave you all without a picture on the first post, so here is a little bit of what is patiently waiting for this new build..... (please excuse iPhone picture)

 

[ReefQueen]

Following along. Sounds like this will be a fun one you seem like you know your way around a reef tank so I have nothing to add except a congrats on the new build

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Following!

 

[go29]

Since the tank is currently still being built we will start off with a piece of gear that is here.... The skimmer!

As my first post implied I want to try some "different" things with this tank, like acrylic and DC return pumps. Those feelings helped motivate me to choose my skimmer, the Royal Exclusive DC150. Like many others, I had always heard about the "red dragon pumps" and the "attention to detail" that seems to go into the acrylic work of the Royal Exclusive Bubble King skimmers, and thus felt compelled to finally try one out. For those that don't know much about bubble king, they are no small investment, and I myself had to save up for a decent amount of time to finally purchase it but I am thrilled already

Now the skimmer isn't wet yet (again tank isn't here ) but just off build quality alone I feel like a kid on christmas morning when opening up the box this beast got shipped in. I am no stranger to skimmers and have run my fare share of them from brands like reef octopus, tunze, aquamaxx, red sea, eshopps, and even the sea clone many years ago (everyone makes mistakes right), but I was immediately taken back by the weight and acrylic work of this skimmer. I am a HUGE proponent of skimmers being a vital component to a healthy tank, and thus wanted to get the best I could for this new build. I will obviously be providing a solid review once up and running of its performance and break in etc, but Its just to pretty not to throw some pics up so here she is !

 

[spud_53]

Looks like the start of a great build, I live in grand forks too [emoji3]

 

[go29]

There are other reefers in North Dakota haha

 

[spud_53]

Exactly

 

[slief]

Very nice!! Looking forward to seeing this come together!

 

[go29]

Got another update for everyone.... I have to run back to work but I will say that my UPS guy needs a RAISE !!! More gear updates coming later tonight but here is a funny shot for you all

 

[go29]

Sorry for the slow update everyone, things have been crazy these last few days for me. I PROMISE to get some pictures of the goodies that showed up in the above picture on the thread by tomorrow evening. Any guess on what some of these are

 

[spud_53]

Any updates on this my fellow North Dakotan

 

[go29]

Well time to get going on this thread. I want to apologize for the lack of updates, but i ended up swamped with studying and taking my boards and had some setbacks with getting my set up moving. I am currently finishing setting up the tank, and have begun to transfer over my livestock that made the trip. I ended up moving about 4 hours away from my previous house so this has been quite the journey. I will be updating this tonight with a few more pictures but here is a teaser for now

 

[go29]

Well after moving and spending 2 days in rubbermaid containers everything is settling in quite nicely. Here is a poor cell phone picture, but I am already in love with the setup. I will follow up this post with a little bit about the move and the few casualties I had, but lets start it out with a nice picture before we talk about the bad

 

[jsker]

Tank looks good

 

[go29]

Thanks @jsker

Here is another update..... tank view from the living room couch

 

[jsker]

Corals look good

 

[go29]

Thanks man.... I had some unfortunate losses due to all the moving recently... namely my entire scoly collection which is kinda devastating being how much I had spent on them. Only fish loss I had was my male clownfish, which was with me for 6 years and was regularly laying eggs with the female so that was also a bummer.

Overall though everything else looks good and I am really enjoying this tank! its literally dead silent, which was a "must" being that its in the living room.

 

[go29]

Update for tonight..... So far everything seems to continue to do well. I am still working on getting the skimmer dialed in, but other than that equipment all seems to be working out well. I do still need to unpack the Neptune Dos and DDR to get that hooked up so I can continue dosing, i have just been swamped lately and haven't had a chance.

As far as livestock updates I have found a new "boyfriend" for my female clown so hopefully I can get them to pair up rather quickly. I will get pictures up this weekend of the new guy once he shows up on saturday, but he is supposed to be under an inch so hopefully they pair up rather quickly (considering the female clowns tail will be larger than him he should submit rather quickly).

Other than that I don't really have a huge update yet. I still need to take an evening and snap some close up shots of the corals that made it, but right now I'm just letting everything kinda settle in and color back up. Hopefully ill be able to get a coral order going in the next month to restock some of the losses that occurred during the move.

Well thats all for tonights update, let me know what you think and here is another quick shot of the tank to leave everyone with.