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View Full Version : New adventure in reef hex tank


h2o517
04/04/2013, 08:53 PM
Hi to all of you

Recently I've decided to make a reef tank, I've heard a lot, that having one, will consume a lot of effort and work to keep it neat.I have been reading a lot of articls and post in forums and have lots of mistakes in the ways that I have changed, I already had one setup a year ago which was just FO, my tank is a second hand 30 g hex that I purchased 2 years ago it was only the tank and the base they were in poor conditions and I repaired them, made the canopy and tint the base in cherry ,paint the inside in wetproof and clean it very well. Now I want to dive into the reef keeping, starting from cero, but planing as much as possible, to have great results, now I have some pictures to explain my process in the work and how much I have done........


first of all I tought in having the berlin filtration method which is based in live rock and skimmers, having real live rock it soo expensive where I live and I mean 8 dll per pound needing at least 30 lb in my aquarium, if I follow the rule 1 lb per gallon , so reading in DIY projects I found oyter shell live rock and I decided to make some in diferent shapes as possible, 2 hours far from here is the ocean and in this vacations I traveled there and gather sand and ocean water which I tought would be useful, I didnt bring ocean rocks cause all the rock there ar volcanic rock, which are so flat and not porous, so using the recipe 3:1 I made this rocks


<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_174012-1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_174012-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_174012-1.jpg"/></a>


<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_174014-1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_174014-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_174014-1.jpg"/></a>

I really like the porosity of them , now they are made its time to cure them but for that I was planing in my tank to stick them together to cure them in the form I will finally have them,

for my aquarium I was thinking in the circulation of the water , one of the things I dont like is to have powerheads inside , which are visual disturbing for me , so I decided to make an structure that will run under the rocks and the back wall where the return water will flow with a power head rated 1050 but with the head loss and the pcv tubing will have a moderate flow of 700-600 gallon per hour, i have test the structure and works fine creating random movement in the water without pointing to any rock, and for the return will be a 1.5 overflow that is in the way ....

<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_174038.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_174038.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_174038.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_174050.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_174050.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_174050.jpg"/></a>


if you can se in the picture the pvc is running backwards and under the sand(the sand Im using is just for testing , its ocean sand I took but I will be using caribean sand instead of that one ) the pvc has some reductions in some parts to improve the water pression in the tube and to have more pressure in the all the outlets, so I calibrate them using 3/4 , 1/2 and some other reductions

I will put the pvc and cover it with the rocks I have made and cement all the rocks together with more paste but until I install the overflow so i can cover it also with oyster shell paste to hide every thing

<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_175855.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_175855.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_175855.jpg"/></a>


<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_175847.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_175847.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_175847.jpg"/></a>



underneat my base its going to be the sump wich will have one section for the drainage , having filter mesh , carbon, phosphate and ceramic rings bags and filter mesh to reduce the big particles going into the stuff , then will be the skimmer and finally the return pump

glass hexagon sump diy so it can fit under my cabinet
<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_180306.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_180306.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_180306.jpg"/></a>

for skimming Im using SC aquarium 302 skimmer it rated 150-180g ... it has been working exellent in a spare that that I fit with real ocean water and some live stuff I brought from the ocean including some octupus and snails i got ....... SUPER Skimmer for just a nano reef I know but I thought that if I move on to a bigger tank I wont have to buy a bigger skimmer ....


this is my base and my canopy , it has one 46 blue led strip and one 15 w flourescent tube which is gonna be replaced ahead , I have been looking for a decent lamp in a reasonable price , 1 w per gallon or so something that could fit under my canopy , I was thinking in a compact flourescent 50/50 36w which fits under perfectly


<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_180253.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_180253.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_180253.jpg"/></a>



this it my lighting results with the ones I already have

<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_192650.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_192650.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_192650.jpg"/></a>


<a href="http://s301.photobucket.com/user/h2o517/media/20130404_192600.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn51/h2o517/20130404_192600.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130404_192600.jpg"/></a>



it will have the back tower going all the way up covering the overflow...

I will be posting in the way up ..... hope to count with your help and improving helpfull comments plss......