Hey everyone, this is my first real attempt at a reef...ive always been into planted tanks and only once for a few months kept a reef tank, and it was a tiny 3 gal eclipse mini bow that i had managed to stuff a couple 50/50s into the hood and made a fuge out of an aquaclear 30. It was just ok, kept some soft corals that didnt die but didnt grow either. it was a fun little tank regardless...anyway i ran across a cool little drilled cube the other day and thought it would be nice to start a reef tank and try to do it right, i beleive the tank is a marineland 25 gal...its not rimless but i thought it was kind of cool anyway, so i just finished the stand for it, i have a 5.5 gal that ill use as a sump for a while until i build or find something better, the reef octopus bh50 should be here tuesday, and i picked up an ai hydra yesterday...
i still have to build a hood for the light and get baffles into the sump, im thinking i should wait till the skimmer is here so i know how tall to make them...anyway thats where i am at the moment and i would love any helpful advice so i dont fall into any newbie traps on the way!
New to reefs, 25 gal cube!
- Thread starter thezachammer
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Just an update, i have baffles in the sump...they're taking out some bubbles but not all of the little microbubbles, ill have to figure that one out. I found a quiet return pump, the aquaeon quietflow was so loud i couldnt sleep with it running, its a bedroom tank so a quiet pump is huge. Ive heard eheims and tunze silences are very quiet but i cant justify buying one without trying it first because it is definitely a make or break...for now i found a maxi jet 1200 that moves enough water for that tank and its pretty quiet, not much louder than the canister filters i had on the planted tank...which is ok but id love to get something better in the near future, but everything is running with freshwater at the moment and seems to be working great...the durso is pretty quiet, all i hear is water running through the pipe and barely anything from the overflow box. I made a floor and door for the stand but neither are painted yet so the door isnt on at the moment...its not a priority though anyway, i kind of like an open stand
the hood hasnt been finished out and painted yet because im considering either making a new open top light bar or cutting a rectangle out of the side for a hob fuge, i picked up an aquaclear 110 the other day in case i decide to add a fuge.
Background and bottom paintedi picked up about 30 lbs of dry rock too, im thinking of a scape like this
the hood hasnt been finished out and painted yet because im considering either making a new open top light bar or cutting a rectangle out of the side for a hob fuge, i picked up an aquaclear 110 the other day in case i decide to add a fuge.Background and bottom paintedi picked up about 30 lbs of dry rock too, im thinking of a scape like this
Thanks! It was about a full day with a planer and belt sander and a full quart of bondo! Haha i havent gotten that far with the canopy yet...
Also i believe i have a decent answer to my reliable yet quiet return pump issue, since space in the sump is very limited (absolutely zero room for any kind of reactor) i had an epiphany...i can put the motor from my rena xp3 on my rena xp2, that would give me alot of flow from the shorter canister. Then i can put carbon and gfo in the baskets and ise the canister as a reactor/return pump...that should also reduce the amount of tiny microbubbles that made it through the baffle...is this as good as it sounds or am i missing something?
Update! I decided to ditch the canopy at the moment...it made it feel heavy and the return pump and skimmer pump alone were keeping the temp at 78, and i think that canopy was adding a little bit of insulation. anyway ive built a lightbar, something like a cradle for the hydra to sit in
this was it with some filler on with the "bodywork" about halfway done
here it is at the moment...its got the first thick coat of high build primer on it about to get sanded...i was planning on just doing flat black to match but now im thinking gloss red would look pretty awesome! Ill post later tonight when its finished
Light bar is finished and i went with gloss red...ill see if it grows on me because man it really stands out...either way itll need to get wetsanded and have another coat at some point so ill have a chance to do a more muted color if i want to
3lusive
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Love the light bar , but my eyes are immediately drawn to that instead of the tank. I think black might be a better color choice for it. Also, it looks as if it would fall into the tank of it were to get bumped . I would put some sort of lip that hugs the outer edge of the tank trim to prevent side to side movement.
It has a lip that catches the inside, haha id be way too scared to have it up there without one
but yeah i have another paint thats a satin black with some metallic, that would look cool but still be pretty muted
but yeah i have another paint thats a satin black with some metallic, that would look cool but still be pretty muted
How is everyone doing their overflow plumbing when it enters the sump, do you run it straight down into the sump? If so how far? Does it have an elbow to let a few bubbles out? The problem with mine is when it goes into the sump either straight down or with an elbow, theres a crazy amount of bubbles...is it better to run it straight into the sump and put another baffle in the bubble trap or is there a more efficient way?
