Well, after finally settling down at my fellow reefing buddy's place and getting my tank setup, I'm almost ready to roll. I was trying to get it going last year around this time, but work and, well, life got in the way of doing so. Now's a different time and I'm itching to get this going. I'm not going to lie, this probably isn't the best way to go from what I've been reading, as far as tank capacity goes for a new guy to saltwater, but I wanted to start a little bit smaller than drop the extra coin for a larger tank and everything that goes along with it.
I had a vision of what I wanted to do originally, but a year's worth of research has proven I was nukin' it. (http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?17597-First-Build!-20-gal-Refugium-Experiment) I've had a lot of practice so far with my buddy's 40 gallon, especially since I've moved in to his place, so at least I'm not shooting blind... I hope. When I first moved in, he decided to move his tank about a week earlier and well... He has a tendency to rush things and a long story short, the tank crashed HARD. I managed to keep all but 1 fish alive, a poor Kaudern's cardinal. Unfortunately 6 out of 10 of his corals bleached before I could get to them. 2 out of the 4 survivors were near death, a zoa and a trumpet, but some parameter checks and balancing, coupled with some lessons in spot feeding and light dosing seemed to do the trick and the survivors are more than just pulling through.
It's a challenge to get everything together, as the closest LFS, or even Petsmart, is 50+ miles away. Here's what equipment I've rounded up so far and the stuff I still need:
Display Tank
Acquired
-15.6 gallon glass tank - 30"L x 12"W x 12"H
-Eshopps PF-300 Overflow
-1/2" to 3/4" Loc-Line return
-Glass canopy with rear plastic extension - trimmed for inlet/overflow
-x2 Hydor Korallia Nano 240 circ pumps with the Hydor SmartWave
-Small section of an undergravel filter to act as a partial plenum
-Current USA Orbit Marine 24" LED Light w/ Ramp controller
-Hagen glass thermometer w/ suction cups (2 cups instead of 1; had an extra)
Needed/Planned
-x2 Current USA TrueLumen 12,000k LED strips
-x2 Current USA TrueLumen 453nm Actinic LED strips
-x2 3 way splitters for the LED strips
-Neptune Apex at some point, still undecided on Jr. or full blown.
Sump/Refugium
Acquired
-Incomplete Eshopps RS-100 - old school, no tray/lid - solution below
-Cobalt MJ1200 return pump
-Eheim Jager 100W heater
-JBJ ATO w/ 5 gallon reservoir
-24" generic fluorescent light fixture w/ Aqueon Full Spectrum daylight bulb
-6" airstone
-4-way air gang valve
-The rest of the under-gravel filter with both tubes installed - explanation below
Needed/Planned
-x1 100W heater (redundancy)
-Another thermometer (redundancy)
-ATO pump - thinking MJ400?
-Small air pump
-Upgrade at some point to 2 or 3 Current USA Rose/White TrueLumen LED's
When the water from the display tank hits the sump, it's divided into two 1" PVC sections that come down the corners of the sump. The under-gravel filter will sit in the sump on the inlet side and act as a particulate trap to draw the detritus down through live rock and into the 3" tapered sand bed. Both riser tubes are connected to the gang valve to allow me to adjust the flow through the filter and will also allow me to hook up the carbon filters when needed. Or just shut it off entirely. What can I say, I had to get a little bit creative on this!
At some point, I would like to upgrade the sump to an actual sump refugium, but I'll need a new stand and I would also like to get a bigger tank. I'm sure this nano tank will give me some good learning experiences and show me the ropes when it comes to reefing, but it will only appeal to me for so long. I want a freakin' reef for a wall.
Anyway, I'm almost to the point of buying the rock, substrate, salt and supplements to get this tank going and I'm wondering if I can get some feedback on the products I have chosen to go with before I spend the $.
-CarribSea ARK Refugium Kit. Good? Bad? Gather my own essentials?
-BRS reefsaver bulk dry rock? 30 lbs enough? Any input on dark cycling would be useful and very much appreciated. Planning on picking up a pound or two of live rock from the LFS, too.
-How much sand do you think I'll need for a 2-3" sand bed? Thinking 10lbs CarribSea AragAlive Special Grade Reef and 10 lbs of the Fiji Pink.
-Tropic Marin Marine Salt. Yes, I know it's expensive, but I'm a fan of quality and from what I can tell, it's one of the better salts out there.
yield:Firestorm, GO!)
-Refractometer suggestions? Looking at the one from Drs. Foster & Smith http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4690+9957&pcatid=9957
-Two brands of test kits; API and Red Sea? (Redundancy, again) I'll get some other test kits for various elements, but that will be down the road when I'm getting ready to add livestock, as well as medications for quarantine.
-Which leads me to the final equipment purchases. A quarantine tank. I would like to hear what you guys think I need. I know the basics, i.e. simple filtration, no carbon, bubble stone, not too bright of light (adjustable preferable), a lid and simple decorations that can be sterilized, but how big of tank(s) should I go with? 10 gallon? Bigger?
I'll be doing seeding my tank with a sponge borrowed from my buddy's 'fuge, and if the ARK kit is worth it, then I'll be using the included stuff, too.
I'll post some pics in the morning. It's taken me a lot longer than I thought to type this out and it's already "tomorrow".
I had a vision of what I wanted to do originally, but a year's worth of research has proven I was nukin' it. (http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?17597-First-Build!-20-gal-Refugium-Experiment) I've had a lot of practice so far with my buddy's 40 gallon, especially since I've moved in to his place, so at least I'm not shooting blind... I hope. When I first moved in, he decided to move his tank about a week earlier and well... He has a tendency to rush things and a long story short, the tank crashed HARD. I managed to keep all but 1 fish alive, a poor Kaudern's cardinal. Unfortunately 6 out of 10 of his corals bleached before I could get to them. 2 out of the 4 survivors were near death, a zoa and a trumpet, but some parameter checks and balancing, coupled with some lessons in spot feeding and light dosing seemed to do the trick and the survivors are more than just pulling through.
It's a challenge to get everything together, as the closest LFS, or even Petsmart, is 50+ miles away. Here's what equipment I've rounded up so far and the stuff I still need:
Display Tank
Acquired
-15.6 gallon glass tank - 30"L x 12"W x 12"H
-Eshopps PF-300 Overflow
-1/2" to 3/4" Loc-Line return
-Glass canopy with rear plastic extension - trimmed for inlet/overflow
-x2 Hydor Korallia Nano 240 circ pumps with the Hydor SmartWave
-Small section of an undergravel filter to act as a partial plenum
-Current USA Orbit Marine 24" LED Light w/ Ramp controller
-Hagen glass thermometer w/ suction cups (2 cups instead of 1; had an extra)
Needed/Planned
-x2 Current USA TrueLumen 12,000k LED strips
-x2 Current USA TrueLumen 453nm Actinic LED strips
-x2 3 way splitters for the LED strips
-Neptune Apex at some point, still undecided on Jr. or full blown.
Sump/Refugium
Acquired
-Incomplete Eshopps RS-100 - old school, no tray/lid - solution below
-Cobalt MJ1200 return pump
-Eheim Jager 100W heater
-JBJ ATO w/ 5 gallon reservoir
-24" generic fluorescent light fixture w/ Aqueon Full Spectrum daylight bulb
-6" airstone
-4-way air gang valve
-The rest of the under-gravel filter with both tubes installed - explanation below
Needed/Planned
-x1 100W heater (redundancy)
-Another thermometer (redundancy)
-ATO pump - thinking MJ400?
-Small air pump
-Upgrade at some point to 2 or 3 Current USA Rose/White TrueLumen LED's
When the water from the display tank hits the sump, it's divided into two 1" PVC sections that come down the corners of the sump. The under-gravel filter will sit in the sump on the inlet side and act as a particulate trap to draw the detritus down through live rock and into the 3" tapered sand bed. Both riser tubes are connected to the gang valve to allow me to adjust the flow through the filter and will also allow me to hook up the carbon filters when needed. Or just shut it off entirely. What can I say, I had to get a little bit creative on this!
At some point, I would like to upgrade the sump to an actual sump refugium, but I'll need a new stand and I would also like to get a bigger tank. I'm sure this nano tank will give me some good learning experiences and show me the ropes when it comes to reefing, but it will only appeal to me for so long. I want a freakin' reef for a wall.
Anyway, I'm almost to the point of buying the rock, substrate, salt and supplements to get this tank going and I'm wondering if I can get some feedback on the products I have chosen to go with before I spend the $.
-CarribSea ARK Refugium Kit. Good? Bad? Gather my own essentials?
-BRS reefsaver bulk dry rock? 30 lbs enough? Any input on dark cycling would be useful and very much appreciated. Planning on picking up a pound or two of live rock from the LFS, too.
-How much sand do you think I'll need for a 2-3" sand bed? Thinking 10lbs CarribSea AragAlive Special Grade Reef and 10 lbs of the Fiji Pink.
-Tropic Marin Marine Salt. Yes, I know it's expensive, but I'm a fan of quality and from what I can tell, it's one of the better salts out there.
yield:Firestorm, GO!)-Refractometer suggestions? Looking at the one from Drs. Foster & Smith http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4690+9957&pcatid=9957
-Two brands of test kits; API and Red Sea? (Redundancy, again) I'll get some other test kits for various elements, but that will be down the road when I'm getting ready to add livestock, as well as medications for quarantine.
-Which leads me to the final equipment purchases. A quarantine tank. I would like to hear what you guys think I need. I know the basics, i.e. simple filtration, no carbon, bubble stone, not too bright of light (adjustable preferable), a lid and simple decorations that can be sterilized, but how big of tank(s) should I go with? 10 gallon? Bigger?
I'll be doing seeding my tank with a sponge borrowed from my buddy's 'fuge, and if the ARK kit is worth it, then I'll be using the included stuff, too.
I'll post some pics in the morning. It's taken me a lot longer than I thought to type this out and it's already "tomorrow".
