chipmunkofdoom2's 29g EXTREME RENOVATION!

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Okay, so I got involved with school a while ago and neglected my tank, but now I'm ready to make it up to her.

My system started out as one of those kits that gave you everything... 29g glass tank, single bulb NO fixture, Whisper HOB filter, heater, all that. I'm slowly upgrading everything so I can get a true reef system going.

Planned upgrades:

1. Lighting - already done, but I'll talk about it anyway
2. Stand - allows me to upgrade to a sump and gives my tank something sturdy to sit on.
3. Filtration - the aforementioned sump


Those are the major categories, and each major upgrade I'm sure will have minor ones that go along with it. I'll post pics as I go along... feel free and welcome to comment!

*EDIT*
As far as before pics, most of the upgrades for the tank are revolving around the stand, like the sump and all that nonsense, so this is the best before pic I think I can give.

[Alexander]

how about some before renovation pics to go off of too?

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Okay, so as stated, my tank came with a crappy single bulb NO fixture. I upgraded that single bulb that came with it to a 50/50, which gave off 6500K and 420 actinic. From there I wasted enough money to get a dual NO bulb fixture and put in the 50/50 bulb and 420.







They're great for a kindergarten tank, but I'm ready to move on up in the pecking order, haha.





This is the baby I'm rockin' now. It's a Current dual CF setup with two 65 watt bulbs. One is a dual daylight with 10,000K/6700K and the other is a dual actinic with 420 and 460.





This is a recent picture, with brand new bulbs

That's pretty much it for lights right now.. I'm only looking to host mushrooms and other low light, easy corals at first. I may upgrade again after I get the hang of easy corals.

[d2mini]

Cool! You could probably double your live rock for better filtration, too.
With the sump you'll be able to get that stuff off the back of your tank and hidden down below. The rock looks like a monster on the right, haha.

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Haha, thanks for the comments. Yeah, it does look like a monster. It's my favorite piece of rock too, it's a unique shape and it's got a good bit of purple coralline on it. Plus, it's got some tiny clam and sponges growing underneath it.

[simpleman]

Looking good. Is that green bubble algae I see in the bottom right hand corner? You might want to pull those rocks out if it is. That stuff multiplies like crazy!

[chipmunkofdoom2]

It most certainly is sadly. I've had lots of problems with bubble algae unfortunately. I think it's mostly due to my crappy tap water that I still use. I'm addressing it with an RO system somewhere along the line with my upgrades here and hopefully that'll help. Our tap water is horrendous.

[Alexander]

In the mean time why the heck dont you get RO water from the fill your own water places at the store??????? and it will be really nice to get a new stand under there for sure

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I've been debating that for a while... I made bank at work last night though, so I was planning on ordering a unit today actually.

[daugherty]

this is the one that i just ordered

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120322560865&ssPageNam e=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=11030 1433838&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item& refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkpar ms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps% 3D42