Hi All!
I recently found this forum after starting the build of my first reef tank this past October. I'm excited to be a part of the community!
This tank was given to me for free from an old client of mine. It's a standard 4 foot long 55 gallon tank and came with a stand that needed some TLC. I took it home, cleaned out the tank, sanded and refinished the stand in dark walnut. It looked great! I started off transferring my old 30 gallon freshwater tank to the 55 gallon and had that running for about a year, but I always wanted to eventually do a reef tank. After spending a TON of time researching and planning, I finally decided to make the jump to saltwater last Fall. I decided to give away my remaining fish to a family member and start the process.
When starting, I decided I wanted a sump with refugium. Unfortunately, the spacing in the stand made that a little tough. There is a dividing wall in the middle of the stand and it's also pretty narrow. Each side perfectly fits a 10 gallon tank, but is too narrow to fit a 20GL (if I cut into the divider wall). So I ended up trying to figure out how to do a 2 tank sump/refugium . I also wanted to ditch my HOB overflow and decided I was going to attempt to drill my display tank and do an in-tank overflow box. I bought myself a diamond hole bit and successfully drilled everything. I've got the two 10-gallon tanks connected in two places to ensure I have enough flow from one to the other. I installed some baffles and ended up having plenty of space for my filter sock, skimmer, refugium, and return section. My overflow is set up Herbie style, and an 880 gph return pump. Doing all the plumbing was a long process and a lot of trial and error, but I figured that's par for the course. I'm really happy with how everything is set up now earl
.
As for equipment, I bought an Aquamaxx FC80 skimmer, an Icecap 2k gyre pump, and (for now) some black box LEDs. The lights were purchased when it was still a freshwater tank when I had some plants in there. At the time they worked and I knew they would suffice when I made the reef transition. Right now I'm wanting to upgrade to some Kessils, but my battle now is with the wife about that purchase, haha. Everything is powered by a couple of smart power strips that allow me to control everything by phone and/or Alexa. I've also set timers for everything, which the power strips allow. The Icecap wavemaker is cloud controlled and has alerted me when there's been a power loss. I was able to remotely turn everything back on and no damage was done. it's pretty awesome for not (yet) having a Neptune Apex
I've been able to do weekly water changes and testing. I've lost a couple fish for various reasons
y on, but everyone looks happy nowadays and I'm starting to see more and more coraline spots on the rocks, so I would like to think that's a good thing!
Current inhabitants:
2 clowns - Lilly and Steve III (Steve I and Steve II both disappeared overnight, but I'm blaming their disappearance on my wave=maker not having the safety screens on, they are now on and no deaths since)
5 blue/green Chromis
5 Emerald Green Crab - Fred (we believe Fred was also possibly the culprit of a murder or two of some early fish (a female lyretail anthia, and a firefish, both whom never really acclimated well to the tank and would look miserable hiding in the rocks), we've since been supplementing his diet with seaweed and small chunks of frozen shrimp, and also had no deaths since)
5 hermits
5 nass snails
3 trochus snails
Corals:
1 Frogspawn - bought small with one head and has since split into two heads and has grown a lot!
5 types of Zoas - not sure the names
4 types of Acans - the oldest and biggest ones sprouted 7 new heads each! Getting bigger and doing well
1 Jack-O- Lantern Leptoseris - has grown slowly, but I understand these are slow growers
1 Space Invader Chalise - Haven't seen any growth on this. Actually noticed some bleaching not too long ago, couldn't tell why, but has started to come back and look better as of late
1 Favites - Not sure the name, but also haven't seen any growth on this. But do notice the sweepers coming out and it does munch of mysis when I target feed
2 Candy Cane Corals (1 Neon Green, One Purple polyp) - These are new, but seem to be doing well. I've target fed and they eat well!
Most recent Parameters:
Calcium 425
Alk 8.0
Mag 1320
Nitrate 0
Phos 0
Salinity 1.024
Temp 79 degrees
I've attached some pictures. They range from when it was a freshwater tank, some during the plumbing build, some of the beginning pics, and a couple I took today. Hope you all enjoy and I look forward to interacting with the group!
I recently found this forum after starting the build of my first reef tank this past October. I'm excited to be a part of the community!
This tank was given to me for free from an old client of mine. It's a standard 4 foot long 55 gallon tank and came with a stand that needed some TLC. I took it home, cleaned out the tank, sanded and refinished the stand in dark walnut. It looked great! I started off transferring my old 30 gallon freshwater tank to the 55 gallon and had that running for about a year, but I always wanted to eventually do a reef tank. After spending a TON of time researching and planning, I finally decided to make the jump to saltwater last Fall. I decided to give away my remaining fish to a family member and start the process.
When starting, I decided I wanted a sump with refugium. Unfortunately, the spacing in the stand made that a little tough. There is a dividing wall in the middle of the stand and it's also pretty narrow. Each side perfectly fits a 10 gallon tank, but is too narrow to fit a 20GL (if I cut into the divider wall). So I ended up trying to figure out how to do a 2 tank sump/refugium . I also wanted to ditch my HOB overflow and decided I was going to attempt to drill my display tank and do an in-tank overflow box. I bought myself a diamond hole bit and successfully drilled everything. I've got the two 10-gallon tanks connected in two places to ensure I have enough flow from one to the other. I installed some baffles and ended up having plenty of space for my filter sock, skimmer, refugium, and return section. My overflow is set up Herbie style, and an 880 gph return pump. Doing all the plumbing was a long process and a lot of trial and error, but I figured that's par for the course. I'm really happy with how everything is set up now earl
.
As for equipment, I bought an Aquamaxx FC80 skimmer, an Icecap 2k gyre pump, and (for now) some black box LEDs. The lights were purchased when it was still a freshwater tank when I had some plants in there. At the time they worked and I knew they would suffice when I made the reef transition. Right now I'm wanting to upgrade to some Kessils, but my battle now is with the wife about that purchase, haha. Everything is powered by a couple of smart power strips that allow me to control everything by phone and/or Alexa. I've also set timers for everything, which the power strips allow. The Icecap wavemaker is cloud controlled and has alerted me when there's been a power loss. I was able to remotely turn everything back on and no damage was done. it's pretty awesome for not (yet) having a Neptune Apex
I've been able to do weekly water changes and testing. I've lost a couple fish for various reasons
y on, but everyone looks happy nowadays and I'm starting to see more and more coraline spots on the rocks, so I would like to think that's a good thing!
Current inhabitants:
2 clowns - Lilly and Steve III (Steve I and Steve II both disappeared overnight, but I'm blaming their disappearance on my wave=maker not having the safety screens on, they are now on and no deaths since)
5 blue/green Chromis
5 Emerald Green Crab - Fred (we believe Fred was also possibly the culprit of a murder or two of some early fish (a female lyretail anthia, and a firefish, both whom never really acclimated well to the tank and would look miserable hiding in the rocks), we've since been supplementing his diet with seaweed and small chunks of frozen shrimp, and also had no deaths since)
5 hermits
5 nass snails
3 trochus snails
Corals:
1 Frogspawn - bought small with one head and has since split into two heads and has grown a lot!
5 types of Zoas - not sure the names
4 types of Acans - the oldest and biggest ones sprouted 7 new heads each! Getting bigger and doing well
1 Jack-O- Lantern Leptoseris - has grown slowly, but I understand these are slow growers
1 Space Invader Chalise - Haven't seen any growth on this. Actually noticed some bleaching not too long ago, couldn't tell why, but has started to come back and look better as of late
1 Favites - Not sure the name, but also haven't seen any growth on this. But do notice the sweepers coming out and it does munch of mysis when I target feed
2 Candy Cane Corals (1 Neon Green, One Purple polyp) - These are new, but seem to be doing well. I've target fed and they eat well!
Most recent Parameters:
Calcium 425
Alk 8.0
Mag 1320
Nitrate 0
Phos 0
Salinity 1.024
Temp 79 degrees
I've attached some pictures. They range from when it was a freshwater tank, some during the plumbing build, some of the beginning pics, and a couple I took today. Hope you all enjoy and I look forward to interacting with the group!
