LiL Matty Budget Build

[lilmatty5dimes]

Well, i've finally had some time and after 3 or 4 months of looking and piecing equipment and parts i've got my old 29g turning into a salty. nothing special but trying to keep in low cost and maybe try a grow out for zoas or try to turn it into a zoa garden. here's the list
29g tank and stand: Free
18" odyssea MH & t-5 combo with extra cooling fan $40
30lbs dry rock Made $5
koralia 425 $10
koralia 550 $25
aqueon hob filter free
penguin 200b free

the plan is to run the tank bare bottom to have lots of flow. the hob filter will run with carbon or chemipure and the other with rock rubble and cheato. figured if i can do a 5g water change weekly i'll be able to skip having a skimmer. wont have a huge bioload maybe a pair of clowns and 3 chormis. LMK what every1 thinks and if y'all have some advice.
dont think i would be able to have a scooter blenny w/o sand right?

thanks for looking hopefully have it up and running within the months thanks lil matty

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

Now some pictures

right side

left side

thanks for looking

 

[Ted]

Looks good actually, I hate to admit it but have run less equipt tanks. You said the rock was "made" who made it? really looks good.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

Thanks ted. If I'm in need of a skimmer I'll probably get that one from aquatrader you told me about. I meant that I made some money on the rocks. I bought them for $25 and took what I made and sold the rest for $35.

 

[Ted]

very cool, its really nice looking rock. I have wanted to make some forever just never got around to it....but someday.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

yea. i'm hopefully going to upgrade to a 150-180g and i'll probably make mine own rocks just to save money. but every once in a while a lfs will have a $0.50/lbs for dry rock in which i'll skip making it and just pick out for him.

question though would ppl recommend putting starboard on the bottom of the tank since i'm going bb? what would the benefits be with it? thanks

 

[cvcdrk]

I don't think a scooter would do well on the barebottom at all. Mine burrows into the sand at night and spends most of it's time along the sandbed.

I personally think this tank would look badass with a really thin layer of black sand, though. :) But your tank your rules.

It looks like it's going to be a ncie setup and if you do do a zoa garden it will likely be very colorful. :)

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

thanks cvcdrk. i didnt think it would without sand. i'll keep it on my 90g list. i would mind sand but i want to have a lot of flow in the tank. if i got sand it would blow everywhere.

 

[sen5241b]

I have a low budget 20G long in my basement. Two things:

Most of the beneficial bacteria is in the sand and the rock. It will be difficult to get to zero 'trates with a bare bottom tank.

A skimmer is not an absolute necessity. My 29g has had zero 'trates for years without a skimmer but of course you will need some other way to get 'trates down.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

i was hoping to keep the rates down with cheato or even carbon dosing with vodka. or maybe some mangroves. those would be as easy as going down to the river and picking them up. i'll look into it some more thanks

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

well, some ppl told me to paint the bottom so got some spray paint and epoxy when i went out today. doesnt look to bad here it is
before

after

 

[ZyberGoby]

Vary cool Matt

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

thanks kurt. hopefully i'll be able to fill the bottom of my tank like yours.

 

[ZyberGoby]

thanks kurt. hopefully i'll be able to fill the bottom of my tank like yours.

Fill the bottom like mine??:question: As in sand? If so it was Indo-Pacific Black it a mix grain sand there large medium and small grains in it also if you get that sand do rinse it really well i found chunks/ whole bits of mangroves in it.:Cheers:

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

Fill the bottom like mine??:question: As in sand? If so it was Indo-Pacific Black it a mix grain sand there large medium and small grains in it also if you get that sand do rinse it really well i found chunks/ whole bits of mangroves in it.:Cheers:

No I want the bottom to look like this picture you posted yesterday.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/ZyberArt/zoagarden.jpg

 

[ZyberGoby]

No I want the bottom to look like this picture you posted yesterday.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/ZyberArt/zoagarden.jpg

Oh okay lol thats one of my bottom shelf's. It no longer looks that way I pulled the shelf to affix every thing and did not come out looking as it first did :( but oh well:grumble::grumble::grumble:

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

*****Update Time*****
Well, I did a 20g water change to my 90 last night so I took that and another 15g of new salt and finally got her wet. Only had one minor issue. I set the temp on my 100w heater to 79 and left it alone. I went and bought a thermostat for the tank and when I stuck it in it went to 84. Yikes!!!!! No wonder why this tank started to smell bad. I was basically cooking the rock. Turned the heater down and stuck some floss I. The aqua and then after 3 hours stuck some carbon in to clear the water up a lil bit. Some far everything else is good. Got to grab a piece of rock from the 90 to seed this one and start the long wait for the cycle. Now some pictures.

Tomorrow I'll set up the ato and figure out all the wires so they aren't a hazard to the kids.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

And I need to figure out where to buy a 14w t-5 bulb. The only place I've seen that sells them is aquatrader.com where they bought the fixture from. I'm just looking for different colors

 

[Amba]

Looking good!

 

[ZyberGoby]

Looking sharp Matt :D hows the levels looking?