Johnb65
Community Member
Hi All,
Yesterday was day 1 of my reefing journey! Im pretty excited already and looking forward to seeing how my reef progresses over the next year. I’m already wanting to upgrade!
So day 1:
Had all of my equipment ready or so I thought to get my tank up and running! Of course I would forget little things like a thermometer, filter floss etc. After picking up the last few bits I finally started on the tank.
Don’t be fooled though, it took me the whole day to actually get water into the tank. I stopped every few minutes and what I thought I knew I second guessed myself at every point. A year worth of “research” isn’t the same until you get your hands wet (literally).
I thought about the filtration for a long time and still I’m not confident in how best to structure it. I have the D-Flow media chambers arriving in the next few days and in a better position to try a few combinations. Potentially down the line I’ll include a mini refugium at the bottom of the right chamber.
For now, the stock filter media is in chamber 1 (right) with extra floss on top and bio balls at the bottom of both chamber 1 and 2 (middle). Chamber 3 (left) is housing the return pump and heater. Considering this layout eventually:
I decided on leaving the two live rocks sitting in the tank. Typically I see an arch or some altered scape but right now I left it easy!
Once I had the rocks placed I started on the sand. At first I was going to just put the same in and allow to clear itself. Oh how wrong I was. I rinsed the sand in water first and very happy I did! It took so much rinsing, emptying, rinsing, emptying and on and on. It’s worth the time!!
Sand finally went in and water was added. I purchased pre mixed water from my local which saved me the hassle for initial set up. I’ll probably look to mix my own over time but starting out I wanted to keep it on the safe side.
As you can see in the last image, tank is up and running and has cleared overnight from the murkiness of the sand. I think it looks great so far! Next step is to wait for the media chambers to arrive and make some filter changes. I’m also waiting on a test kit to arrive and will start taking readings to see how it progresses while cycling.
Would welcome all feedback and suggestions for this build
Yesterday was day 1 of my reefing journey! Im pretty excited already and looking forward to seeing how my reef progresses over the next year. I’m already wanting to upgrade!
So day 1:
Had all of my equipment ready or so I thought to get my tank up and running! Of course I would forget little things like a thermometer, filter floss etc. After picking up the last few bits I finally started on the tank.
Don’t be fooled though, it took me the whole day to actually get water into the tank. I stopped every few minutes and what I thought I knew I second guessed myself at every point. A year worth of “research” isn’t the same until you get your hands wet (literally).
I thought about the filtration for a long time and still I’m not confident in how best to structure it. I have the D-Flow media chambers arriving in the next few days and in a better position to try a few combinations. Potentially down the line I’ll include a mini refugium at the bottom of the right chamber.
For now, the stock filter media is in chamber 1 (right) with extra floss on top and bio balls at the bottom of both chamber 1 and 2 (middle). Chamber 3 (left) is housing the return pump and heater. Considering this layout eventually:
I decided on leaving the two live rocks sitting in the tank. Typically I see an arch or some altered scape but right now I left it easy!
Once I had the rocks placed I started on the sand. At first I was going to just put the same in and allow to clear itself. Oh how wrong I was. I rinsed the sand in water first and very happy I did! It took so much rinsing, emptying, rinsing, emptying and on and on. It’s worth the time!!
Sand finally went in and water was added. I purchased pre mixed water from my local which saved me the hassle for initial set up. I’ll probably look to mix my own over time but starting out I wanted to keep it on the safe side.
As you can see in the last image, tank is up and running and has cleared overnight from the murkiness of the sand. I think it looks great so far! Next step is to wait for the media chambers to arrive and make some filter changes. I’m also waiting on a test kit to arrive and will start taking readings to see how it progresses while cycling.
Would welcome all feedback and suggestions for this build
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