Hello reefers, I’m new to this forum and realized that I did all my past posting wrong and didn’t post in proper section so here I am again.
Very first saltwater tank was a 75 gallon aquarium that I started on November, 15, 2017.
I had very little knowledge on reefs and didn’t hear about R2R till after I had to tore down my tank due to move.
December 18, 2018
I loved the way I laid out my rocks and etc, was really sad had to let most of rocks go with all my corals and fish. I didn’t want to risk losing them during the move since it was last minute and couldn’t find a new tank and set it up on time.
After moving into the new place, I brought a Red Sea 130D set up but after a few days I regret how I downgraded to much and to little room for what I wanted to be honest but my wife says we don’t have enough room with the second baby due in April, 2018.
December, 27, 2018
Ended up selling the Red Sea but was able to double my profit off it because I included the live rocks that I epoxy together. Was around 40lbs of rocks.
I brought the tank and stand only for $300 and was able to sell for $600 lol so with that money I brought a 60 gallon ( 36”xtank that came with stand & apparently a sump. The sump tank that came with the new 60 gallon tank has a very odd size ( 15 gallon, ) and the baffle is laid out weird so I don’t know what to do with it. The only reason why I got this set up was my wife fell in love with it and agree if I get it then I can have another small tank so that’s how I decided to have a second display tank that is a cube size ( 30”x30”x30” ). My LFS said he could order me one that is reef ready for $899 CAD. So I decided to go with that but still haven’t placed the order because not sure if there something similar dimensions but can hold more volume of water.
January, 9, 2018
After 4 days of setting up and tank filled with water, I heard loud dripping sounds. The bulkhead of the drain was leaking.... ( tried to post video but wouldnt load )
After contacting my LFS for support, they didn’t answer my calls or email so I didn’t bother even going back and never will. I figured out the problem after looking around on R2R and had to empty entire tank so I had to move all my live rocks to a 20 gallon tank in my bathtub for 4 days till I was able to fix the leak.
January, 13, 2018
After empty tank and removing bulkhead, found bunch of sand on inside of the wet side...
After cleaning and installing it properly, I applied some aquarium silicone on dry side just to be safe. Tested it with fresh water and didn’t have a problem.
I started building a stand for my future 93 gallon cube, 36 gallon QT tank, 10 gallon ATO tank, 20 gallon refugium, and planning getting innovation marine drop off concept 20gallon frag for frag tank and my eshopp rs200 sump.
So under the stand will be sump, refugium, and ATO with 93 gallon cube on outside edge on top of stand with the drop off concept tank. QT tank will be in my closet if there no space left. ( 2 feet away from stand )
The stand is 30” wide x 48 “ long x 34 “ high
I will not compete the stand till the cube tank arrive so I can level it out properly since it’s on carpet.
January, 17, 2018
Since I was able to start over fresh again... I got myself a RO/DI because I wanted to do everything right this time and avoid future problems.
After installing my aqua buddy RO/DI and finished filling up the tank on January, 19,2018. When I was working around the overflow standpipe I accidentally hit the pipe and it moved and water kept filling my sump to point it overfilled but I managed to put it back in but lost 30 gallons of water in less than 2 minute...... my carpet was soaked and it went through downstairs so I had to vacuum the water out of the carpet and dry it completely while doing so I had to inspect the downstairs ceiling and cut out some drywall to inspect and wasn’t much damage so had it touched up.
Epic fail..... ( never rush when it comes to reef aquarium )
Reason why it drained so much water was I didn’t add a valve to the drain so I couldn’t shut it off or had it shut off in the first place... so after replumbing my drain, I added a value and when the glue was dry I had the chance to change my overflow standpipe that it came with that just had a straight PVC pipe, to make it more safe I did made a standpipe with a T fitting to add 90 degree elbow and cap with 3/4” hole with 1/2” tubing to silence it a little.
Here’s how my plumbing works with a separate refugium tank.
60 gallon drain to sump which goes through filter socks, into equipment chamber then into return chamber. The return pump in the sump goes through 5 manifolds with 2 feeding media reactors, 1 for future calcium reactor, 1 feeding refugium, and 1 for frag tank. After going through manifolds it goes to temporary refugium under the 60 gallon tank and another separate return pump in refugium feeds back into display tank with the 93 gallon cube plumbing prepared and shut off till tank is set up.
I’m using 1” drain PVC with 3/4 return pvc for 60 gallon and 1” return for 93 gallon with 1 1/4 drain pipe.
Tested it last night January, 21, 2018
No leaks
As for refugium i was thinking of building a small stand for the 20 gallon so it can sit 6-7 inch higher for overflow box to flow back into return section of sump. As for light I’m going to use kessil for lighting and will be using Refugium mud about 2 inch deep with 1-2” deep of live sand growing mangroves and chetaos also about 20-25lbs of dry rocks.
36 fall bow front QT will in the closest behind the stand beside the washroom which is 2 feet away where I store my aquarium stuff and washroom for aquarium use only. So I guess it’s a reef room but I call it my man cave which will house my reefs and my 60” 4k tv and a couch which I haven’t got yet so I’m sitting on the floor lol because I choose to spend my money on setting my reefs up first to cycle while I shop around for furniture.
My plan of stand for putting light will be something similar to this once I finish up the stand with the tanks to adjust leveling properly.
But will have both side exposed and have access, same with the end side so I can work around easier.
The 93 gallon drain will be hook up to the second intake on my sump and the other will be going into frag tank and from frag tank it will overflow into refugium tank.
Still haven’t figure out how to have the drain from 93 gallon to the frag tank while having frag tank overflow into refugium..
Here’s the list of equipments I have now
Tanks ;
( Length x width x height )
60 gallon ( 39” x 24” x 15” )
Refugium temporary ( 34” x 10” x 13” )
93 gallon ( 30” x 30” x 30” )
20 gallon refugium ( 24” x 12” x 12 1/2” )
20 gallon frag drop off ( 15” x 20” x 15” )
Sump ( 30” x 13” x 16” )
Flow ;
Jebao CP 55 Cross Wavemaker
Jebao CP 25 Cross Wavemaker ( arriving )
Fluval CP 3
Jebao PP20 =2 ( ordering )
Heaters ;
Aqua Top titanium controllable 200W = 2
Ehiem 150W heater
Lighting ;
Viparspectrum LED 165W = 2
Hydra AI HD 26 LED = 2 ( shopping )
Supplements T5 = 2 ( shopping )
Refugium light ( shopping )
Frag light ( shopping )
Filtration ;
Aqua Buddie RO/DI
Eshopp RS-200 Sump
Simplicity 320DC protein skimmer
30 lbs live rocks
70 lbs live rocks ( shopping ) for sump, refugium and 60 gallon
40lbs live sand
20lbs live sand ( shopping ) for refugium
Refugium mud ( shopping )
Controller ;
APEX Junior Module ( ordering )
Jebao Wavemaker controller module (shopping)
Tunze ATO 3155
Tunze Auto Doser
Reactors ;
Phosphate 150 ( 2 little fishes ) = 2
Marine Source In-Sump Bio Pellet
Calcium Reactor ( shopping )
Pumps ;
Jebao DCS 4000 pump
Jebao DCP8000 pump ( arriving )
Jebao DCP 12000 pump ( ordering )
Fluval SP2 pump
Mixing station ;
32 gallon brute commercial grade bins = 2
3 circulation pumps
Testers ;
Retractormetor
Master test kit
Hanna Checker phosphate
Hanna Checker DkH ( ordering )
Hanna Checker Cal ( ordering )
Red Sea full test kit ( ordering )
I will be upgrading all my pumps and controllers to a better one once I have everything set up properly and save up for them lol
Thinking all ecotech equipments.
Thank you for reading and hope this is interesting enough to follow will keep updating here from now on.
January, 22, 2018
Very first saltwater tank was a 75 gallon aquarium that I started on November, 15, 2017.
I had very little knowledge on reefs and didn’t hear about R2R till after I had to tore down my tank due to move.
December 18, 2018
I loved the way I laid out my rocks and etc, was really sad had to let most of rocks go with all my corals and fish. I didn’t want to risk losing them during the move since it was last minute and couldn’t find a new tank and set it up on time.
After moving into the new place, I brought a Red Sea 130D set up but after a few days I regret how I downgraded to much and to little room for what I wanted to be honest but my wife says we don’t have enough room with the second baby due in April, 2018.
December, 27, 2018
Ended up selling the Red Sea but was able to double my profit off it because I included the live rocks that I epoxy together. Was around 40lbs of rocks.
I brought the tank and stand only for $300 and was able to sell for $600 lol so with that money I brought a 60 gallon ( 36”xtank that came with stand & apparently a sump. The sump tank that came with the new 60 gallon tank has a very odd size ( 15 gallon, ) and the baffle is laid out weird so I don’t know what to do with it. The only reason why I got this set up was my wife fell in love with it and agree if I get it then I can have another small tank so that’s how I decided to have a second display tank that is a cube size ( 30”x30”x30” ). My LFS said he could order me one that is reef ready for $899 CAD. So I decided to go with that but still haven’t placed the order because not sure if there something similar dimensions but can hold more volume of water.
January, 9, 2018
After 4 days of setting up and tank filled with water, I heard loud dripping sounds. The bulkhead of the drain was leaking.... ( tried to post video but wouldnt load )
After contacting my LFS for support, they didn’t answer my calls or email so I didn’t bother even going back and never will. I figured out the problem after looking around on R2R and had to empty entire tank so I had to move all my live rocks to a 20 gallon tank in my bathtub for 4 days till I was able to fix the leak.
January, 13, 2018
After empty tank and removing bulkhead, found bunch of sand on inside of the wet side...
After cleaning and installing it properly, I applied some aquarium silicone on dry side just to be safe. Tested it with fresh water and didn’t have a problem.
I started building a stand for my future 93 gallon cube, 36 gallon QT tank, 10 gallon ATO tank, 20 gallon refugium, and planning getting innovation marine drop off concept 20gallon frag for frag tank and my eshopp rs200 sump.
So under the stand will be sump, refugium, and ATO with 93 gallon cube on outside edge on top of stand with the drop off concept tank. QT tank will be in my closet if there no space left. ( 2 feet away from stand )
The stand is 30” wide x 48 “ long x 34 “ high
I will not compete the stand till the cube tank arrive so I can level it out properly since it’s on carpet.
January, 17, 2018
Since I was able to start over fresh again... I got myself a RO/DI because I wanted to do everything right this time and avoid future problems.
After installing my aqua buddy RO/DI and finished filling up the tank on January, 19,2018. When I was working around the overflow standpipe I accidentally hit the pipe and it moved and water kept filling my sump to point it overfilled but I managed to put it back in but lost 30 gallons of water in less than 2 minute...... my carpet was soaked and it went through downstairs so I had to vacuum the water out of the carpet and dry it completely while doing so I had to inspect the downstairs ceiling and cut out some drywall to inspect and wasn’t much damage so had it touched up.
Epic fail..... ( never rush when it comes to reef aquarium )
Reason why it drained so much water was I didn’t add a valve to the drain so I couldn’t shut it off or had it shut off in the first place... so after replumbing my drain, I added a value and when the glue was dry I had the chance to change my overflow standpipe that it came with that just had a straight PVC pipe, to make it more safe I did made a standpipe with a T fitting to add 90 degree elbow and cap with 3/4” hole with 1/2” tubing to silence it a little.
Here’s how my plumbing works with a separate refugium tank.
60 gallon drain to sump which goes through filter socks, into equipment chamber then into return chamber. The return pump in the sump goes through 5 manifolds with 2 feeding media reactors, 1 for future calcium reactor, 1 feeding refugium, and 1 for frag tank. After going through manifolds it goes to temporary refugium under the 60 gallon tank and another separate return pump in refugium feeds back into display tank with the 93 gallon cube plumbing prepared and shut off till tank is set up.
I’m using 1” drain PVC with 3/4 return pvc for 60 gallon and 1” return for 93 gallon with 1 1/4 drain pipe.
Tested it last night January, 21, 2018
No leaks
As for refugium i was thinking of building a small stand for the 20 gallon so it can sit 6-7 inch higher for overflow box to flow back into return section of sump. As for light I’m going to use kessil for lighting and will be using Refugium mud about 2 inch deep with 1-2” deep of live sand growing mangroves and chetaos also about 20-25lbs of dry rocks.
36 fall bow front QT will in the closest behind the stand beside the washroom which is 2 feet away where I store my aquarium stuff and washroom for aquarium use only. So I guess it’s a reef room but I call it my man cave which will house my reefs and my 60” 4k tv and a couch which I haven’t got yet so I’m sitting on the floor lol because I choose to spend my money on setting my reefs up first to cycle while I shop around for furniture.
My plan of stand for putting light will be something similar to this once I finish up the stand with the tanks to adjust leveling properly.
But will have both side exposed and have access, same with the end side so I can work around easier.
The 93 gallon drain will be hook up to the second intake on my sump and the other will be going into frag tank and from frag tank it will overflow into refugium tank.
Still haven’t figure out how to have the drain from 93 gallon to the frag tank while having frag tank overflow into refugium..
Here’s the list of equipments I have now
Tanks ;
( Length x width x height )
60 gallon ( 39” x 24” x 15” )
Refugium temporary ( 34” x 10” x 13” )
93 gallon ( 30” x 30” x 30” )
20 gallon refugium ( 24” x 12” x 12 1/2” )
20 gallon frag drop off ( 15” x 20” x 15” )
Sump ( 30” x 13” x 16” )
Flow ;
Jebao CP 55 Cross Wavemaker
Jebao CP 25 Cross Wavemaker ( arriving )
Fluval CP 3
Jebao PP20 =2 ( ordering )
Heaters ;
Aqua Top titanium controllable 200W = 2
Ehiem 150W heater
Lighting ;
Viparspectrum LED 165W = 2
Hydra AI HD 26 LED = 2 ( shopping )
Supplements T5 = 2 ( shopping )
Refugium light ( shopping )
Frag light ( shopping )
Filtration ;
Aqua Buddie RO/DI
Eshopp RS-200 Sump
Simplicity 320DC protein skimmer
30 lbs live rocks
70 lbs live rocks ( shopping ) for sump, refugium and 60 gallon
40lbs live sand
20lbs live sand ( shopping ) for refugium
Refugium mud ( shopping )
Controller ;
APEX Junior Module ( ordering )
Jebao Wavemaker controller module (shopping)
Tunze ATO 3155
Tunze Auto Doser
Reactors ;
Phosphate 150 ( 2 little fishes ) = 2
Marine Source In-Sump Bio Pellet
Calcium Reactor ( shopping )
Pumps ;
Jebao DCS 4000 pump
Jebao DCP8000 pump ( arriving )
Jebao DCP 12000 pump ( ordering )
Fluval SP2 pump
Mixing station ;
32 gallon brute commercial grade bins = 2
3 circulation pumps
Testers ;
Retractormetor
Master test kit
Hanna Checker phosphate
Hanna Checker DkH ( ordering )
Hanna Checker Cal ( ordering )
Red Sea full test kit ( ordering )
I will be upgrading all my pumps and controllers to a better one once I have everything set up properly and save up for them lol
Thinking all ecotech equipments.
Thank you for reading and hope this is interesting enough to follow will keep updating here from now on.
January, 22, 2018
