little_fish
Moderator
I know how you feel, the markup is so high on dry goods in every LFS ive ever been to that I just cant justify buying it when I know I can get it cheaper online.
55 Gallon Reef Tank build
- Thread starter JohnnyDanger
- Start date
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
I even went through the effort of talking to one of the ladies who own my local LFS and asked her if she would try to meet some internet prices on more of the expensive stuff like the AI LED's.. She appreciated that I wanted to spend money locally but there's no way they can go any lower.. Brick and mortar is expensive..
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Special Delivery!!
So today I got home from moving my girlfriend back to college and I had a nice surprise waiting for my at my front door from petsolutions.com!! I ordered them on Sunday and with the free shipping deal they have, my stuff made it here today! I brought those two Koralia 550's back to the pet store last week and got store credit which I will use for live stock.. I also sent the Mag Drive 5 back and got my cash back for that.. I ordered two Koralia 750's and a Mag Drive 7 from the online store mentioned above.. Everything was packed real nice and the boxes were all in good shape as well. I tested all the pumps and they work perfect!
I put the Mag Drive 7 in my sump to make sure it fits..
Fits like a glove with a little wiggle room.. Looks like I'll be adding R/O pretty frequently since my water level is not much higher than the pump pick up.. I shouldn't have much evaporation though as I'm in the process of making some acrylic covers for the DT and sump.. All is falling into place nicely though and I'm happy with my progress!
Thanks for following my build thread please feel free to ask any questions!!!
So today I got home from moving my girlfriend back to college and I had a nice surprise waiting for my at my front door from petsolutions.com!! I ordered them on Sunday and with the free shipping deal they have, my stuff made it here today! I brought those two Koralia 550's back to the pet store last week and got store credit which I will use for live stock.. I also sent the Mag Drive 5 back and got my cash back for that.. I ordered two Koralia 750's and a Mag Drive 7 from the online store mentioned above.. Everything was packed real nice and the boxes were all in good shape as well. I tested all the pumps and they work perfect!
I put the Mag Drive 7 in my sump to make sure it fits..
Fits like a glove with a little wiggle room.. Looks like I'll be adding R/O pretty frequently since my water level is not much higher than the pump pick up.. I shouldn't have much evaporation though as I'm in the process of making some acrylic covers for the DT and sump.. All is falling into place nicely though and I'm happy with my progress!
Thanks for following my build thread please feel free to ask any questions!!!
Very nice stuff!
Consider an ATO system to avoid the evaporation problem. Acrylic covers can work but they can block some light and more importantly they inhibi gas exchange which can lead to problems.
Besides, no matter how tight your lid is there will always be some evaporation and you dont want to risk the pump running dry if something comes up ajd you arent able to top off for a couple days or so.
Really coming along well! :-)
Consider an ATO system to avoid the evaporation problem. Acrylic covers can work but they can block some light and more importantly they inhibi gas exchange which can lead to problems.
Besides, no matter how tight your lid is there will always be some evaporation and you dont want to risk the pump running dry if something comes up ajd you arent able to top off for a couple days or so.
Really coming along well! :-)
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Oh.. This too..
So I'm sitting here putting the boxes from new pumps away in my "fish tank stuff" bin and the door bell rings.. My 600 GPH overflow box is here too and it looks great!
Thanks for the advice on the evap. and covers.. Once I get everything setup and running I will look into an ATO system.. I'm trying to have as much peace of mind as possible with this tank (like that's even possible lol)..
So I'm sitting here putting the boxes from new pumps away in my "fish tank stuff" bin and the door bell rings.. My 600 GPH overflow box is here too and it looks great!
Thanks for the advice on the evap. and covers.. Once I get everything setup and running I will look into an ATO system.. I'm trying to have as much peace of mind as possible with this tank (like that's even possible lol)..
little_fish
Moderator
Very exciting!!!
snyderju
Reefing newb
Looking good! I will say however there are a few of us on here that love our "crappy" Marineland Reef Capable fixtures. We have ours over a 29 gallon though and it gets a little better light penetration.
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Sorry didn't mean to offend! My buddy who gave me the light has 9 Eco tech radeons over his tank now.. So I'm pretty sure everything seems crappy to him haha..
snyderju
Reefing newb
Lol no offense taken I just think these lights need a little more positivity :) Your tank is looking pretty sweet so far!
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Haha cool man! Thanks hopefully it will be full soon!
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Fill er up!
Well yesterday after a couple hours and two trips to home depot, I finished up my plumbing! Everything worked out great and all my measurements turned out to be perfect.. For the overflow box I used 1 3/4'' jacuzzi tubing.. That stuff is really stiff so I sat it outside in the Florida sunlight for an hour and put a broom handle through it.. After I straightened it out I measured and cut the tube to fit.. I dunked each end in boiling water and fit them over the bulkhead on my overflow to the Eshopps micron bag holder that I attached to my sump..
Micron_Bag_Holder | ESHOPPS - Manufacturer of Aquarium Filtrations
It works great!! After that I bought some PVC tubing, elbows, and converters at home depot.. The Magdrive 7 has an outlet of 1/2'' so I bought accordingly.. I also bought some PVC purple primer and some tube goo that coats the threads on my bulkheads so they don't leak.. I cut my PVC and attached some stuff here and there and everything held up nicely!!
So today I woke up and decided to fill my tank up with freshwater just to make sure all the fittings and overflow worked right.. I'd rather have freshwater on the ground then saltwater!! So I ran a hose through my window and filled everything up.. I turned on the power and everything worked perfectly!! I didn't have to tune anything which is ridiculous because everything I do always turns out to be a can of worms.. I sat and watched the system run for an hour before I walked away to make sure everything works and I had no leaks.. Turns out everything is perfect and I think I'm ready to add some ocean water!! Man I got some serious flow in this tank!! Between the Mag 7 and the two Koralia 750's I can make quite the maelstrom!! Here's how she looks right now..
I have some videos on my IPhone but I cant figure out how to get them to my computer.. Tried emailing and that didn't work.. Also tried uploading to YouTube and that failed too.. If anybody has another idea let me know..
Thanks for following my build thread!! Feel free to ask any questions!!
Well yesterday after a couple hours and two trips to home depot, I finished up my plumbing! Everything worked out great and all my measurements turned out to be perfect.. For the overflow box I used 1 3/4'' jacuzzi tubing.. That stuff is really stiff so I sat it outside in the Florida sunlight for an hour and put a broom handle through it.. After I straightened it out I measured and cut the tube to fit.. I dunked each end in boiling water and fit them over the bulkhead on my overflow to the Eshopps micron bag holder that I attached to my sump..
Micron_Bag_Holder | ESHOPPS - Manufacturer of Aquarium Filtrations
It works great!! After that I bought some PVC tubing, elbows, and converters at home depot.. The Magdrive 7 has an outlet of 1/2'' so I bought accordingly.. I also bought some PVC purple primer and some tube goo that coats the threads on my bulkheads so they don't leak.. I cut my PVC and attached some stuff here and there and everything held up nicely!!
So today I woke up and decided to fill my tank up with freshwater just to make sure all the fittings and overflow worked right.. I'd rather have freshwater on the ground then saltwater!! So I ran a hose through my window and filled everything up.. I turned on the power and everything worked perfectly!! I didn't have to tune anything which is ridiculous because everything I do always turns out to be a can of worms.. I sat and watched the system run for an hour before I walked away to make sure everything works and I had no leaks.. Turns out everything is perfect and I think I'm ready to add some ocean water!! Man I got some serious flow in this tank!! Between the Mag 7 and the two Koralia 750's I can make quite the maelstrom!! Here's how she looks right now..
I have some videos on my IPhone but I cant figure out how to get them to my computer.. Tried emailing and that didn't work.. Also tried uploading to YouTube and that failed too.. If anybody has another idea let me know..
Thanks for following my build thread!! Feel free to ask any questions!!
little_fish
Moderator
Only two trips to home depot! You must be some sort of plumbing legend!
Tank looks good!
Tank looks good!
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Yea I guess I'm a prodigy :x:
It's funny how every single piece of equipment I had originally picked out has been replaced by something else.. I did a ton more research since I started this thread and I'm sure I'm putting the best stuff in this tank that I can (that my budget allows).. Research and a lot of time looking at prices on different websites makes all the difference!!
little_fish
Moderator
Sadly, you always seem to be doing that. I have pretty much replaced everything on my tank, but they just keep coming out with better and better stuff.
Its the price of sleeping soundly i guess :)
Its the price of sleeping soundly i guess :)
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
The cycle begins!!
Well yesterday I decided to fill my tank up a bit ahead of schedule.. I've been so bored waiting for school to start so I need something to do.. I went to home depot and bought two 20 gallon Brute garbage cans and got my hands on a big blue 35 gallon water jug.. So I borrowed my cousins utility pump and went offshore to pump some fresh seawater.. On the way in I stopped at the 20' reef and collected some sand for my sand bed and refugium.. I also went to my LFS and bought 4 lbs of live rock rubble and some algae for my refugium.. I'll get more later I only needed this much to get things started.. I also borrowed my cousins old Coralife skimmer but that thing doesn't skim for crap so I'll be ordering my E-shopps 120 a little early I think.. But everything ran smoothly and I couldn't be happier with my system.. I'm glad I did as much research as I did because I have a great peace of mind and trust that nothing will go wrong while I'm out of the house.. Here are some pics..
Sand going in
Water going in
Refugium
After 5 hours
This morning I woke up to this :bounce:
The water is nearly crystal clear right now.. I really want to get a protein skimmer going ASAP! So far everything is great and I can't wait to get some live stock in there.. Or at least more livestock then I already have.. I found these guys in there already.. Not sure if they're bad or not anybody got an idea??
Thanks for following my build thread please feel free to ask any question!!!
Well yesterday I decided to fill my tank up a bit ahead of schedule.. I've been so bored waiting for school to start so I need something to do.. I went to home depot and bought two 20 gallon Brute garbage cans and got my hands on a big blue 35 gallon water jug.. So I borrowed my cousins utility pump and went offshore to pump some fresh seawater.. On the way in I stopped at the 20' reef and collected some sand for my sand bed and refugium.. I also went to my LFS and bought 4 lbs of live rock rubble and some algae for my refugium.. I'll get more later I only needed this much to get things started.. I also borrowed my cousins old Coralife skimmer but that thing doesn't skim for crap so I'll be ordering my E-shopps 120 a little early I think.. But everything ran smoothly and I couldn't be happier with my system.. I'm glad I did as much research as I did because I have a great peace of mind and trust that nothing will go wrong while I'm out of the house.. Here are some pics..
Sand going in
Water going in
Refugium
After 5 hours
This morning I woke up to this :bounce:
The water is nearly crystal clear right now.. I really want to get a protein skimmer going ASAP! So far everything is great and I can't wait to get some live stock in there.. Or at least more livestock then I already have.. I found these guys in there already.. Not sure if they're bad or not anybody got an idea??
Thanks for following my build thread please feel free to ask any question!!!
Have you researched the disadvantages to using natural seawater?
There's certainly nothing wrong with it (and it's free which is great) but there are some challenges when using it in the aquarium setting (especially later on with a lot of coral and stuff) as opposed to a salt mix.
This is really looking fantastic. I like the fuge you set up...could potentially even be a second display you could definitely keep some critters in there if you wanted to.
Only thing I would suggest is a background or painting the back black/blue. The cords and stuff are unsightly. Just my opinion. :-)
Keep up the great work!
There's certainly nothing wrong with it (and it's free which is great) but there are some challenges when using it in the aquarium setting (especially later on with a lot of coral and stuff) as opposed to a salt mix.
This is really looking fantastic. I like the fuge you set up...could potentially even be a second display you could definitely keep some critters in there if you wanted to.
Only thing I would suggest is a background or painting the back black/blue. The cords and stuff are unsightly. Just my opinion. :-)
Keep up the great work!
Looks really nice. When I was cycling my tank a few months ago, the LFS told me that the skimmer needs fish, otherwise it would appear as it is not working because it has nothing to remove. I hadn't read to use it during the cycling process, is that beneficial? I have a coralife skimmer, I know it has a bad name and I understand why, ( it is tricky to dial in, it has some issues with overflowing, it doesn't skim like the big guys) but when I was cycling and had mine running it pulled nothing as you described above, but with fish, it pulls quite a bit. tank looks cool with the natural sea water though.
JohnnyDanger
Reefing newb
Yea I have a guide here on using natural sea water on my desk waiting to be read.. But yea I already looked at a blue background for the tank.. I thought the same thing when I saw those wires and pipes.. It is pretty fugly.. I would like to get the protein skimmer going just because I'm about to add a ton of live rock to my system.. I'm sure it will have plenty of die off so I'll need the skimmer.. But as far as cycling your tank goes, I don't think it's that necessary before you add livestock.. Thanks for the compliments though guys :D
