29 gallon reef tank (many pictures, and way more to come)

[psychofishy]

Hi there,

I started working on this project something over a month ago.

Me and my wife share interest in fishies (I think I got her addicted :-)) and after a long time of Freshwater aquarium keeping, I finally decided to take the "big?" step towards setting up a Salt water reef tank.

First we wanted to go for a 20 gallon alone, no weird stuff, no sump, no skimmer, just a simple setup.. But along the way of creating something beautiful, we figured "what the heck... lets just do it right right away" so now we're working on a 29 gallon tank with 16 gallon sump, creating a total volume of 45 Gallon.

The very first draft/creation of the cabinet kinda sucked, and failed miserably, so I'll save you the trouble of showing that.. But here's how the current one started as:


Here's the back of it, with my cousin eating home-made cookies in it :-) (reminds me of the time when i was a kid, and me and my sister would "steal" the cookie jar, and hide from my mom, and eat as many as we could before we got caught)


Full setup with canopy, stand and test tank (just had it standing around somewhere, we bought a brand new one that'll have the actual saltwater)


We made a small addition to the tank stand/cabinet, a border on the top so you don't see the tank frame.



Finished the front of the canopy:


after a couple of layers of paint: (outside walnut something, and the insides white):


Doors and canopy front completely finished:


Finished stand:


Inside of the canopy (2x 65 watt PC lighting):

[psychofishy]

The actual 29 gallon tank, before and after painting:



The "end" result:




See, at this point we thought it was "finished" and were just waiting for some parts to actually get started (or actually a paycheck to afford it).

But, while I was reading a lot on this forum, and learning a lot more about saltwater tanks, I wanted to go for a sump...

So I bought a 16 gallon tank, and installed some baffles in it:





I didn't have any clamps or anything, so after installing them, they had to be held in place with books... hey.. it worked!



Now came another important decision... Drill holes, or get an overflow box. I was scared of drilling in my tank, and the prices to let someone else do it were outrageous (25-30 a hole). So after some asking around (on this forum, of course) i decided to get a 12.99 diamond coated hole saw bit on ebay, and just go for it. After all, if i'd mess up, buying a new tank and trying again would be cheaper than letting someone else do it still..
I gave up on the overflow box idea because a lot of people on this forum seem to have regretted that decision. (and i dont want to have to worry about flooding the house).

After drilling and some plumbing:


The sump with skimmer and baffles:


I realize it looks like crap, but it should at least serve it's purpose :-)


So far for the topic start.... I just ordered a pump (mag 3) for the sump... after that one arrives i can finally do a test-run with freshwater, and see if all works the way it's supposed to..

After that we can get some sand and water.. and actually start the saltwater tank....



I'll keep posting progress here (or questions).

[saltyshoe_nano]

lookin good you werent kiddin about the pics lol

[Flybynight]

Nice ideal on the books as dividers. True handy man you are. Very nice work on the cabinet. This is going to be a very nice setup. How are those lights coming? I love it when I see someone taking the time to do things right. Hope you had a Marry Christmas and I hope you have a Happy New Year.

[psychofishy]

Hey, the end of the first post had a picture of the lights. They're working great. Here's another image of them when they're off, so you can actually see how I installed it. I actually ended up cutting off some of the cord, they were way too long.


And thank you for all the help, I couldn't have been this far without your (and a lot of others) help!

gotta love communities like this

[new_world_disor]

looking good so far. but arent those baffes awfully high ? if u had a slight problem with water flow ( to and from the sump ) it would overflow. need to make sure that theres adequate (sp) room for the overflow to drain.

[Flybynight]

Doh good cetch. That is true. I had to learn this on my first sump. I turned the power off and here come the back suction. and overflowed my sump.

A easy fix with this problem is you could run the water lower on the side the pump is on to compensate for this problem. In other words. The side the pump is on run that water level lower than the side that comes in. So get the system running. Turn the pump off. Let all the water stop flowing. Get the water level to where you know you will be safe when the pump is off. Turn the pump back on and where the water level is on the pump side of the sump is where you will need to keep the water level when you replace water. In other words do not fill past this point. I would make a mark on the glass as a reminder to never fill over that point. Hope that helps.

[psychofishy]

Oh damn.. Totally forgot about that :-) I did think of it while i was drawing the whole thing out.. just forgot to realise it.

Well, we'll see how the flow is, it's more than an inch wide, so it should work fine.. if not, i'll take the middle piece out and put it back in lower..

Worst case scenario i'll go with flybynights solution.. I'm sure it'll be fine :-)

[abernaka]

I think your on the right track. I like the work horse ballast(diy) thing. I WOULD add some cord to move it from being over the water corrision/shock is why. I would all so suggest a 10g sump tank. I bought one cheap and home depot stocks glass pieces that fit right into a 10g, I made a card board piece the size i needed before driving down there. I spent less than 30 bucks on my sump.

[Flybynight]

He has a custom sump already. No need to change that. Just tweak it. =-) The thing about DIY projects you are engineering something to work like it was ment to be there and fit the space perfect. Most of the time it is trial and error. If it messes up just fix it. Looks to me his sump could not be any bigger. We all know bigger is better. It also looks like he has lots of work room over the top. I would grade it as an A+ with a side note of minor tweaking needed.

[Flybynight]

Dobble post sorry.

[abernaka]

I just noticed that you have taken off the rims top& bottom, this will most likely make the sump fail. I would reinstall them myself.

[gregrocks79]

I really like the color of your stain! Good choice with color

[TURBO20V]

Looks good i also have a 29 gallon i would suggest you get at least a mag 5 for the return pump you are going to want more flow through your reef tank to keep it healthy im using a mag7 with a 10 gallon sump and it works great.

[psychofishy]

update.

After the pump arrived yesterday I could finally finish off the construction and installation of the tank. After a test run with freshwater I decided to make a few additions and changes to make things run smoother.

Flybynight and albernaka, thank you very much for your criticism and advices, it's been helpful.

Here's some pictures of the final setup:



I removed one of the baffles, made it lower and moved it up a bit.
I also put some filterpads under the pump.

The whole sump-tank circulation is good now.. Not too loud anymore (i submerged the drain pipes) and totally fail safe.
If drain fails, the main tank can never overflow..
If pump fails, the sump can never overflow..


the inside of the tank, I gave both drain holes a seperate pipe, because somehow when they were connected it created a weird gurgling noise...
Also i put the strainers in the holes upside down so the waterlevel is a tad bit lower... And so fishies don't swim in there and get drained to the sump.



Picture of the back of the aquarium, the plumbing.



20 gallons of saltwater + 20 pounds of live-sand + heater + thermometer + 2 powerheads... It's all finally getting a shape!

I'm probably getting 5 more gallons of RO water from walmart (culligan) and fill the rest up with tapwater... Our tapwater is quite good.. and there's no rocks or fish yet anyways. After I Get the rock i'll have to do so much water changes to cure it, It'd be a waste of money to fill it up with RO water completely now..


I'll upload another picture once it clears up a bit..


Question: I don't have to have my lights on for any cycling time right? practically, I don't need to have 'm on untill I get inverts, corals or fish... Right?

Question #2: if after the mixing with the salt the salt-level/gravity stuffy is still not as desired.. How do you make small adjustments? Is it allowed/wise to add salt directly to your tank? Or to add freshwater directly to the tank?

Or do you just create a batch of water without as much salt to compensate?

Also, I heard water evaporates, but salt doesn't. How do you compensate for this?


Thanks :-)

[Flybynight]

I would not add salt to your tank unless you add it to your sump in a place where it has a high rate of flow and no life there. It will kill stuff if pure salt hits it.

Water does evaporate, and salt does not. When doing a top off water just bring it to about 70* and add slow in a area with a high rate of flow.

[psychofishy]

Hi.. your answer makes absolute sense..... Snails + salt = bad... (though i have to admit i kinda enjoyed doing that as a child).

Anyways.... Look:



Tank is practically finished... We're going to search around the city tomorrow to see which stores have a good selection of Live Rock.

My salt level is 1.022.. thats good right?

Whats a good temperature to keep the tank? Currently my tank seems to balance between 76-79. I intend to get a second heater (also titanium :-)) to keep this more stable and redundant..

[hunkafish]

Reef tank keep salt a little higher 1.024-026 remember the LR is going to displace a fair amount of water remove as needed. Temp at 76-78 is good depending types of corals most fit in this range. another thing you may wish to add and it won't take long or hinder what you've done is to add two fans in the canopy in the back corners , one pulling in and the other blowing out. This helps lower temp form lights 1-2 degrees and helps with gas exchange of surface water.

[psychofishy]

Thats a great idea.. I've seen those fans at one of the stores here and was actually thinking about how it's possible to do that.

My canopy has an open back, for wires and all that. I could probably install 'm in the sides right? make one blow in and out, that way it would actually create a way better flow too...

(i remember having to do this with athlon xp computers a couple of years ago.. those suckers got hot!)

[saltyshoe_nano]

looking good

[thrillreefer]

Pretty good setup, but your sump scares me. I'm no expert, but I'd say the tank was designed with the black plastic rims for a reason. The bottom one is to provide a level surface free of pressure points for the tank to sit on, and provide some support and impact resistance, as the top one does. I'd hate to see your sump fail because of the rims being taken off.

[obzezzed350]

+1 on the trim, they make rimless tanks that have thicker glass for people looking for that look.

The baffles are really high like mentioned but I think overall you are on to a great start.
This forum is a great place to learn, I have only been into the hobby for 2 months and I have learned so much here. Good luck!

[psychofishy]

Hi, I already replaced t/the bottom rim (as you can see on the picture) I'll get myself another one for the top. Just as a little bit of extra security.. But I'm pretty sure it's fine with, or without.

If the water ends up rising any more in the first part of the sump, i will take the middle baffle out and replace it with a less high one. But for the moment it all looks pretty safe. I've faked a lot of bad things that can happen.. and it's been fine with all of 'm so far.

Thank you for the criticism and the advice.

Time to rock! err.. time FOR rock...

[mathias999us]

Looks great, nice setup. Good work on the stand and canopy too.

[psychofishy]

Added 1 piece of rock today. After adding this, i noticed some little shrimp-like creatures darting around. Anyone know what they are? pictures:



The Rock: