Paul's 50g Build

[pauldrapeau]

Long time lurker first time poster :D

Thanks for all the great info so far!

I wanted to start a thread for my new build. I've done a few Nanos and am building something bigger. My wife and I are also expecting our first child so I'm getting evicted out of my "office" which is now where the current tank lives. Going to the man room in the basement :)

Space is a concern so I could only go with a 36" tank. Thus begins my new reef...

Basic facts at the moment:

50g acrylic reef ready. I know I know... acrylic. I just kept coming back to this one and I've so far had good luck with my other acrylic. You can say I told ya so when I scratch it.
Trigger Systems TS30BR sump
Vertex IN100 skimmer
Eheim return
t5 kit from reefgeeks


Google sketchup to see how it all fits. (I don't have the skills of some here but I just wanted to mock it up to make sure it fit and get wife approval :)


http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5931-1/tank2.jpg

New tank and the stand I built

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5923-1/DSC_0152.jpg

Plumbing

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5927-1/DSC_0156.jpg

There's more room under there than it looks for accessories in the base. The goal is to have this pretty much self contained in the stand.

Stay tuned... leak tests today... :)

And for good measure. An older shot of one of my nanos. Some of this will get transferred. This tank is currently suffering from a bubble algae infestation so... some of it may have to be scrapped.


http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/703-2/DSC01785.jpg

[spleify]

[welcome]

And thanks for sharing your build with us, cant wait to see it come together.

[jb61264]

looks like we both got the "upgrade" bug :) i'm jumping to a 75 from my 29 gallon BioCube.

nice nano...what is that coral at the front center of your tank (next to the brain coral)?...i saw one of those at my LFS and loved it...how long have you had it? hard to keep?

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15067704#post15067704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pauldrapeau
Going to the man room in the basement :) You mean "Man Cave" ;)

Where did you get your sump?

[pauldrapeau]

You mean "Man Cave" Where did you get your sump?

Yes "Man Cave" :)

Sump is from Trigger Systems purchased from Premium Aquatics.

nice nano...what is that coral at the front center of your tank (next to the brain coral)?...i saw one of those at my LFS and loved it...how long have you had it? hard to keep?

"Candy Cane"... It is an LPS that is really pretty easy to keep, I feed the tank off and on and it has thrived under PC lighting. It has actually grown a lot since that picture and a large frag or two has broken off. If you want some just let me know I'll send a frag for the cost of shipping. I need to trim it back a little to make room in the new tank.

[Tswifty]

Looks like a nice start... you'll love those T5's.

Good luck. :)

[fufu]

Nice start! Can't wait to see it filled with water.

[pauldrapeau]

Long overdue update...

It has water, rocks, sand and beginnings of some stocking.

I didn't go over my plan much in my initial posts so here is some more info. I knew I wanted to stock the tank with pods, worms, detritus eating things, sand stirrers etc and give them a chance to take hold before I transferred anything from my other tanks or put higher order life in there that would eat them up. Here's how essentially the last few months have gone.

The majority of the rock is Eco Rox from BRS. I can't say enough good things about this rock. It rinsed off quick, is very porous, interestingly shaped and seems like a perfect fit so far. I "cooked" this in a tub of salt water with lots of old rotten tank food and some small rocks and sponges from my other tanks. This lasted about 4 weeks until it got through the ammonia and nitrite spikes (I did some water changes and added more junk food every now and then). Then when I added it to the display I also added some small rocks and rubble from the LFS, some sand, "rock pool crud" and rubble from Premium Aquatics (which I have to say was all awesome stuff!).

Waited a few days... then I put in some chaeto and pods from live copepods that have taken hold nicely and an order from IPSF of mini stars, snails, worms, etc.

Result... I have relatively pest free setup with fairly active rock work and sand in the main display with some stuff already colonizing the base rock. A nice active sand bed in the fuge with pods and all kinds of interesting critters growing along nicely. I've run the whole thing under a temp rigged up setup of 4 of my 6 T5s just to get some light on the tank for what is in there but minimize algae in the display for the moment.

Some pics... I don't know about the aquascape yet. There's something that I like about it as is... but I'm up for ideas :)





http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5933-1/DSC_0205.jpg

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5935-1/DSC_0206.jpg

Some shots of the Eco-Rox

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5937-1/DSC_0207.jpg

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5939-1/DSC_0208.jpg


http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/5941-1/DSC_0212.jpg

Next steps...

Put skin on stand... Finish hood... set up ATO

Thanks for looking!

[pauldrapeau]

OH sorry for the serial post... But I forgot the funniest part!

After a 100% successful leak test I brought it all inside. Filled it with fresh mixed salt water. With my wife watching turned on the return pump... said "YEY!!! it works..." only to have it overflow all over the floor. I had the valve on the drain closed! :) DOHHHH!!! That will do it! :)

Lesson for others :) check twice :)

[pauldrapeau]

Question...

Working on building the canopy today... How high off the top of the tank would folks recommend I mount the 6x39w T5s? The tank is acrylic so it has a pretty fully covered top, thus I'm not concerned about splashing but I'd rather not melt the thing either :)

[pauldrapeau]

Holy thread resurrection... :) Due to the birth of my daughter (a little early in July of 2009) and finishing up the room this tank kind of went on hold. I always intended to take it slow. Just not this slow :) Now I can dedicate some time and money to it so I decided to raise this thread from the dead and send some updates.

Update:
- This tank is now nearly 1 year old
- It has mostly livestock transferred from my old nano and a couple of new items
- I've had battles with all the typical reef pests even tho I started with mostly dry rock.
- flatworms for a few months and I never "won" there seems to be a steady population of "just a few" that wax and wane over long periods.
- There are still small pockets of bubble algae that survived from the nano but are in check and declining in this system due to better nutrient control and a hungry army of emerald crabs
- Aiptasia that I've nuked with various substances and fed to peppermint shrimp
- Last week my 10gal QT tank sprung a leak... fun fun..

Equipment changes have included:

- Full setup of the 6 T5 retrofit kit in a hood
- BRS GFO and Carbon reactors
- Reefkeeper Elite running the whole thing
- Two MP-10 ES Wireless Vortech pumps

I hope to keep better updates and document more of the system as I continue to work with it and stock it now.

FTS (a little dark)

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/6170-2/fts0515.jpg

Newest fish
http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/6173-1/firefish.jpg

Clown I've had since the beginning
http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/6176-1/clown.jpg

Zoas grown from my first frag ever - This rock from my nano probably brought bubble algae with it but I wasn't going to sacrifice the first coral I ever owned to win that battle. I'd rather have a less than pristine tank than kill this rock.
http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/6179-1/zoas.jpg

Oh well... hope you enjoy... I'll post more soon

[Levito]

nice tank, I like the watermelon looking zoas

[pauldrapeau]

I added a BRS CO2 Scrubber to this tank yesterday. IMMEDIATE SUCCESS! The finished basement it is in is sealed up pretty tight and I always had problems keeping pH where I wanted it. it was 7.90 when I put it on and it steadily rose to 8.2 and has held that for a full light cycle.

I had to tune up the skimmer a little bit but it is a great addition that I'm really happy with.

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/6182-1/DSCN0640.JPG

Thanks Levito. They grew from this little "frag"

http://www.stupidityworld.com/paul/gallery2/d/593-2/DSC01254.jpg