55 Gallon Garage Reef

[BringingThatDottyback]

Used to have a 40 breeder and 29 gallon mixed reef running HOB equipment that I got a lot of enjoyment out of. Moved around a bit, took a break. Got a house during pandemic, decided it was time to get back into hobby. Decided to go all fancy with a drilled tank using a sump in my living room which has been an unending disaster and disappointment so I started a second tank in my garage using the method I used to use. HOB filter and good live rock in a 30 gallon bowfront. Then I broke down one of my freshwater tanks and decided I wanted to upgrade the 36 gallon... So here it is, my 55 gallon reef tank powered by neglect and hope. Just upgraded the light from nicrew bar to 2 quanta bars, the tropic sun and meso blue. So hoping they will get a little more growth and color out of corals then I was getting with the nicrew. Underneath as you can see in pic there is a 33 gallon I am currently using to store extra rock. Long term thinking about turning into frag tank. Welcome to other suggestions for it as well!

Livestock right now is Cherub Angelfish, Lantern Bass, Rosy Blenny, Green CLown Blenny and an Orange Spotted Wrasse.
Equipment is Seachem 75 HOB, HOB Fluval breeding box Im going to grow chaeto in if the light ever arrives, Jebao powerhead and Quanta leds.
Coral is mainly Zoas because they are the best coral.

 

[Mikey-D]

What happened with the sump? I am currently building in that direction.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Looking good!

 

[Joj]

Nice, cherub angelfish is one of my fav. Always have one in my many tanks over the year.
I like to have a dark background to hide parts of the HOB. I even go cheap myself and get black poster board at the 99 cent store and cut to size to cover the outside back glass.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

What happened with the sump? I am currently building in that direction.

It was my first attempt at building one so there's a couple things I will do differently in future. 1 is build taller and wider stand so more space to work in. A 29 gallon under a 55 gives lots of water volume but is horrible to work inside. 2 hard pvc plumbing instead of trying to be lazy and use flexible tubing. 3 I would try and set it up so water flows more quickly through sump and doesn't build up as much in refugium area. 4. I would set up space before return chamber that I could put filter floss or other media when needed.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

@Joj this is my first cherub but I love it. Had it over 6 months and doesn't paying any attention to corals so far. Just absolutely races between rockwork. Big upside to upgrading to a 55 is now I can watch it traverse the whole 4 feet length.

For tank background I love this acrylic paint I buy on Amazon. Dries super quick and if I want to take it off I just spray with hose then scrape it. My first reef tank I didn't paint back and I was always annoyed looking at wires and filter.

Got an orange lense for my camera and took a photo of these zoas I have fallen in love with since I got the. I need to figure out which rock they will be permanently glued too.

 

[Lousybreed]

Keep the build update going!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Cool Harlequin Bass! Not many people think of them.

 

[kevgib67]

Wow beautiful live rock! Reminds me of the plentiful and beautiful live rock back in the late 90s. Following.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Cool Harlequin Bass! Not many people think of them.

Its actually a lantern bass, I do want a harlequin one day if I ever do a larger predator tank! I don't think a harlequin would play nice with the angelfish haha.

Wow beautiful live rock! Reminds me of the plentiful and beautiful live rock back in the late 90s. Following.

Thanks! Its 50/50 KP aquatics "base" live rock which in my opnion is incredibly beautiful and comes with plenty of hitchhikers. The other half is the artificial morroca rock that I think is supposed to simulate pukani. Youd need to stick your head up to the glass to see it but a lot of dark red and green coralines have jumped to the morroca rock from live rock and before I added the wrasse there was plenty of small fan worms all over the rock from both sources.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Quick update since I spent this sunday doing some maintenance on tanks. I added some putty to arches because I was getting worried about structual stability, otherwise not a lot of changes. I did add a tailspot blenny to tank last week that I never saw again after adding. I am sad about that.

Probably not going to make any big changes for a bit as my better half wants me to not start any new fish related projects until after wedding next month. But with this tank being set up I did accomplish every project I had planned out over the summer so I'm okay with a break. Longer term I would like to build a better canopy for the LEDs/ maybe add some more fish/corals. The tank below it on rack has officially been activated as a frag tank so once I add some corals to it Ill incorporate it into this journal.





Rosy blenny may not be rosy colored but something about that delicate white and gray color is very eye catching to me.

Observe my structural engineering skills!

Bass in his "wait for mealtime" spot

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

Love this build currently have a 55 i am setting up as a frag tank has a 29g sump hard line wasnt easy but well worth it should be wet soon finishing everything up over the next few weeks. 29g custom sump with refugium in the middle chamber. This gives me that fill my tank already feeling lol but just trying to make sure its done right. What hob did you use?

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Love this build currently have a 55 i am setting up as a frag tank has a 29g sump hard line wasn't easy but well worth it should be wet soon finishing everything up over the next few weeks. 29g custom sump with refugium in the middle chamber. This gives me that fill my tank already feeling lol but just trying to make sure its done right. What hob did you use?

I'm using a seachem tidal 75 and a fluval large hob box to grow chaeto.

That plumbing looks really good! If I do a drilled tank again I am going to use hard pip for sure.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

I'm using a seachem tidal 75 and a fluval large hob box to grow chaeto.

That plumbing looks really good! If I do a drilled tank again I am going to use hard pip for sure.

How is the hob working for you? Really like your scape by the way i was trying to have racks and rock still have some more from my 20g frag system that will go into this tank.and the rubble from it going into the rubble box. Still trying to make things removable just in case cleaning is needed. What are you using for flow. I have dual returns on mine that will help with flow and surface agitation as well as having a hygger wavemaker and a cheapo going in it as well.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

How is the hob working for you? Really like your scape by the way i was trying to have racks and rock still have some more from my 20g frag system that will go into this tank.and the rubble from it going into the rubble box. Still trying to make things removable just in case cleaning is needed. What are you using for flow. I have dual returns on mine that will help with flow and surface agitation as well as having a hygger wavemaker and a cheapo going in it as well.

The seachems are my favorite HOB filters. I've used them on both freshwater and saltwater with minimal issues. The refugium chaeto does not seem to be growing super quickly but time will tell. There is def pods in there. Flow is just the seachem and a jebao powerhead. It is not super high flow but it's not an sps tank.

Thank you!! It's hard to tell from photo but the tank is just under 4 feet off the ground so I had to make the scape while balancing on a ladder. I don't think I will ever feel comfortable putting an urchin or tubo snail in there. I really like your platform idea! I'm sure it will look really good once corals start encrusting solidly. The stand is also beutiful, I've always been too intimidated to try making cabinet doors.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

The seachems are my favorite HOB filters. I've used them on both freshwater and saltwater with minimal issues. The refugium chaeto does not seem to be growing super quickly but time will tell. There is def pods in there. Flow is just the seachem and a jebao powerhead. It is not super high flow but it's not an sps tank.

Thank you!! It's hard to tell from photo but the tank is just under 4 feet off the ground so I had to make the scape while balancing on a ladder. I don't think I will ever feel comfortable putting an urchin or tubo snail in there. I really like your platform idea! I'm sure it will look really good once corals start encrusting solidly. The stand is also beutiful, I've always been too intimidated to try making cabinet doors.

If anything they do sell premade cabinet doors and arent all that expensive for basic finishes. It was somewhat of a task doing a two tone and isnt a job to be rushed lol learned that the hard way. Good thing about the racks everything can be removed and cleaned or what not have a 10g that i will do all my frag related cuts in. But for the most part this will solely be a frag grow out tank. I have a custom 90g i am working on for a display tank that will go side by side with this tank eventually so this one was my trial and error so to speak. But i do have ocd so some things had to be as close to perfect as possible smh. Excited to follow this thread and see how things grow for you.

 

[RandomUser7]

What tank is this and what stand are you using? I've been thinking about picking up a 55 gallon tank that's on sale.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

What tank is this and what stand are you using? I've been thinking about picking up a 55 gallon tank that's on sale.

It's a 55 gallon on a double rack I made out of 2x6s.

 

[RandomUser7]

It's a 55 gallon on a double rack I made out of 2x6s.

I've been thinking about just making a stand from scratch. I just picked up a cheap Aqueon 55 gal but the stand it came with looked jank and I don't want to tank any risks.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

I've been thinking about just making a stand from scratch. I just picked up a cheap Aqueon 55 gal but the stand it came with looked jank and I don't want to tank any risks.

Sometimes thats the best bet. Have you checked the back glass to see if its tempered or not with polarized glasses?