Hello everyone!
I’m pretty new to reef2reef as a member and thought it would be great to do a build thread and meet some new reefing folks! So here goes.
I started planning this build in December of 2019 and new for sure that concept aquarium would build my tank. After talking with Dave, I ordered a 48x24x22 rimless tank with 15 mm starphire glass. The tank has an external overflow with 3 x1inch drains using the bean animal and 2 3/4 inch returns.
Concept also built me a powder coated metal stand and custom removable wood panels to attach.the tank was shipped with the stand and arrived with some shipping damage; a chip out of the edge of the back panel. While I did not think this was a structural concern, I talked to Dave at concept and he said he would build me another tank.
three weeks later I had another tank in perfect shape. Shoutout to Dave and concept for the great customer service and top notch workmanship.
I had an electrician come over and wire me a 15 amp arc breaker with 4 gfi plugs dedicated to the fish tank.
I decided to do hard pvc plumbing this time and attempt it by myself. I used the blue pipe and grey sch80 fittings. Valuable lesson I learned is to account for the extra pipe that goes into the fitting. I had to redo a section that ended up to short after dry fitting. Good thing I bought extra fittings and pipe. I also dumped a small container of clear primer on my carpet. Next time I will keep the primer and glue in a plastic bin just in case that happens again. Thankfully my brother in law has a carpet cleaning company and came over later that day to clean the carpet. The wife was very “understanding “ lol and the smell hung around for days.
I went with a trigger sapphire sump 36 and put a quantum 160 skimmer in it with a vectra m2 return pump.
I have a new gen apex controlling and monitoring things with a reef bot doing my testing for kh, calcium, phosphate and nitrate.
For lighting I went with 2 of the Radion g5 XR30 blues. And yes the plastic casing has cracked on both, I am working on getting new casings for them. Great lights if they stay connected to Mobius.
For dosing I am using the versa dosing pumps, they are quiet and work great except 1 keeps disconnecting from Mobius as well.
Back to the tank..... I filled up with freshwater for a leak test. One bulkhead had to be tightened and I forgot to glue a fitting in after dry fitting (oops) it was dripping between bulkhead on sump and a union. Pulled it apart glued it and no leaks. Drained the freshwater after running for 6 hours.
I used Marco rock to aquascape some structures with Marco cement, and some live rock from an established system that was being shut down. I also used reef grade live sand. After putting my rock in, sand in, I filled the tank up with saltwater and fired it up.
I used dr Tim’s and bio Spira this time around, with the 40 lbs of live rock I had a mini cycle and nitrates in days.
Today, the tank has been up and running for a month.
I’m pretty new to reef2reef as a member and thought it would be great to do a build thread and meet some new reefing folks! So here goes.
I started planning this build in December of 2019 and new for sure that concept aquarium would build my tank. After talking with Dave, I ordered a 48x24x22 rimless tank with 15 mm starphire glass. The tank has an external overflow with 3 x1inch drains using the bean animal and 2 3/4 inch returns.
Concept also built me a powder coated metal stand and custom removable wood panels to attach.the tank was shipped with the stand and arrived with some shipping damage; a chip out of the edge of the back panel. While I did not think this was a structural concern, I talked to Dave at concept and he said he would build me another tank.
three weeks later I had another tank in perfect shape. Shoutout to Dave and concept for the great customer service and top notch workmanship.
I had an electrician come over and wire me a 15 amp arc breaker with 4 gfi plugs dedicated to the fish tank.
I decided to do hard pvc plumbing this time and attempt it by myself. I used the blue pipe and grey sch80 fittings. Valuable lesson I learned is to account for the extra pipe that goes into the fitting. I had to redo a section that ended up to short after dry fitting. Good thing I bought extra fittings and pipe. I also dumped a small container of clear primer on my carpet. Next time I will keep the primer and glue in a plastic bin just in case that happens again. Thankfully my brother in law has a carpet cleaning company and came over later that day to clean the carpet. The wife was very “understanding “ lol and the smell hung around for days.
I went with a trigger sapphire sump 36 and put a quantum 160 skimmer in it with a vectra m2 return pump.
I have a new gen apex controlling and monitoring things with a reef bot doing my testing for kh, calcium, phosphate and nitrate.
For lighting I went with 2 of the Radion g5 XR30 blues. And yes the plastic casing has cracked on both, I am working on getting new casings for them. Great lights if they stay connected to Mobius.
For dosing I am using the versa dosing pumps, they are quiet and work great except 1 keeps disconnecting from Mobius as well.
Back to the tank..... I filled up with freshwater for a leak test. One bulkhead had to be tightened and I forgot to glue a fitting in after dry fitting (oops) it was dripping between bulkhead on sump and a union. Pulled it apart glued it and no leaks. Drained the freshwater after running for 6 hours.
I used Marco rock to aquascape some structures with Marco cement, and some live rock from an established system that was being shut down. I also used reef grade live sand. After putting my rock in, sand in, I filled the tank up with saltwater and fired it up.
I used dr Tim’s and bio Spira this time around, with the 40 lbs of live rock I had a mini cycle and nitrates in days.
Today, the tank has been up and running for a month.
