ReefSparky
Supporting Member
I've been working on this build for a few months now and it's up and finally running.
I had been out of the hobby for maybe 10 years, but knew I'd be back eventually and held on to some old equipment.
After some research on changes in industry tech and reef keeping methods I think my old equipment will do just fine, and I trust it.
Aside from lighting (I ran MH and VHO) and feeding calcium reactors (I used a syphon and would clog) and the expandability of automation and monitoring of course, not much else seems to have changed.
This will be an SPS dominant mixed reef
50g SCA Rimless cube
Aquatic Life Hybrid t5/ Kessil
Deltec Kalk Stirrer fed by Litermeter
Deltec Calcium Reactor fed by Aqua Excel KM-01
Deltec Media reactor fed by return manifold
Simplicity 120 Skimmer w/ DIY neck Cleaner and DIY Skimmate locker
Litermeter3's doing AWC's
Tunze wavebox
I'll start with the stand. It was about $120 for 50' 1-1/4" square steel tubing and a whole day of welding and prepping for powder-coat, but I find welding now and then to be pretty fun anyway. The powder-coat was $60, semi-gloss white.
I found a piece of quartz, with 3" laminated edges the size I needed on FB marketplace for $100. Probably would have cost $1000 to have done. I also found a wet saw on FB for $20 I used to cut the square out of the quartz.
I used PVC cardboard for the bottom, back and below the plywood for a waterproof finish, and caulked all of the seams.
I picked up the 12" x 12" cabinet for electrical at IKEA for $20 along with the ATO reservoir for $8.
I used 2" x 2" slotted cable raceway from grainger.
Just got this pump in the mail today top feed the calcium reactor. It comes with a max flow of 52 ml per min which is a small stream, but I think this will be enough along with kalk to grow sps out of the tank.
This was $130 shipped, and is made by kamoer using the same type of motor but sold as "aqua excel KM-01". I think it would be sufficient for smaller sps tanks or even larger mixed reefs, but the tubing can also be sized up for 119 ml per minute. It runs completely silent also, I interested in seeing how long it holds up. I also hit up tap plastics scrap bin for a base and splash guard for $14.
View attachment 25099
And lastly I made this DIY skimmer neck cleaner that shares an apex outlet with my kalk stirrer and runs a few minutes every 3 hours. I'm still testing it but its working flawlessly so far!
Next on the list is a box to house controllers/displays that will magnet to the steel in front of the electrical cabinet. Then I guess just the skin for the stand.
I also plan to add an FMM and flow sensors to monitor the AWC being done by the litermeters.
I added some corals from my red sea nano and grabbed some fast growing common sps frags that I'm familiar with to get things going.
I'm open to any questions and always welcome advice! I'll update soon
I had been out of the hobby for maybe 10 years, but knew I'd be back eventually and held on to some old equipment.
After some research on changes in industry tech and reef keeping methods I think my old equipment will do just fine, and I trust it.
Aside from lighting (I ran MH and VHO) and feeding calcium reactors (I used a syphon and would clog) and the expandability of automation and monitoring of course, not much else seems to have changed.
This will be an SPS dominant mixed reef
50g SCA Rimless cube
Aquatic Life Hybrid t5/ Kessil
Deltec Kalk Stirrer fed by Litermeter
Deltec Calcium Reactor fed by Aqua Excel KM-01
Deltec Media reactor fed by return manifold
Simplicity 120 Skimmer w/ DIY neck Cleaner and DIY Skimmate locker
Litermeter3's doing AWC's
Tunze wavebox
I'll start with the stand. It was about $120 for 50' 1-1/4" square steel tubing and a whole day of welding and prepping for powder-coat, but I find welding now and then to be pretty fun anyway. The powder-coat was $60, semi-gloss white.
I found a piece of quartz, with 3" laminated edges the size I needed on FB marketplace for $100. Probably would have cost $1000 to have done. I also found a wet saw on FB for $20 I used to cut the square out of the quartz.
I used PVC cardboard for the bottom, back and below the plywood for a waterproof finish, and caulked all of the seams.
I picked up the 12" x 12" cabinet for electrical at IKEA for $20 along with the ATO reservoir for $8.
I used 2" x 2" slotted cable raceway from grainger.
Just got this pump in the mail today top feed the calcium reactor. It comes with a max flow of 52 ml per min which is a small stream, but I think this will be enough along with kalk to grow sps out of the tank.
This was $130 shipped, and is made by kamoer using the same type of motor but sold as "aqua excel KM-01". I think it would be sufficient for smaller sps tanks or even larger mixed reefs, but the tubing can also be sized up for 119 ml per minute. It runs completely silent also, I interested in seeing how long it holds up. I also hit up tap plastics scrap bin for a base and splash guard for $14.
View attachment 25099
And lastly I made this DIY skimmer neck cleaner that shares an apex outlet with my kalk stirrer and runs a few minutes every 3 hours. I'm still testing it but its working flawlessly so far!
Next on the list is a box to house controllers/displays that will magnet to the steel in front of the electrical cabinet. Then I guess just the skin for the stand.
I also plan to add an FMM and flow sensors to monitor the AWC being done by the litermeters.
I added some corals from my red sea nano and grabbed some fast growing common sps frags that I'm familiar with to get things going.
I'm open to any questions and always welcome advice! I'll update soon
