BeTreyed
Community Member
I've been out of the hobby for about 9 years. I know, I know...how did I go that long?! Well my last tank, a 20g high nano reef (also my first reef and saltwater tank) crashed. I was at the time chasing numbers and chasing pristine water conditions, through concentrating on that I now know that I was essentially starving out my tank. Everything was dying or just not really taking off and growing. I got disenfranchised and thought that it wasn't for me.
I've been doing research for a few months, lurking these forums, and trying to absorb as much information as I possibly can. And now I'm ready to start building this thing. I picked up a used tank off of Facebook marketplace. I was looking for a 40g breeder but what I was actually looking for was some type of stand. I could have built a stand, but right now my family livTes in a smaller apartment and I just dont have the space for all the tools I need to build a solid stand for my tank. However, I found the tank and stand together on marketplace for a pretty good price. The price was worth it for the stand alone for me.
My plan is a negative space aquascape with a shallow sand bed, SPS dominant. I'll plan to have a custom 20g long sump for my equipment, maybe sometime I will expand it to include a refugium as well, but I'll probably wait until I need that.
I'm trying to keep in mind upgrades in size for the future, my family will not always live in this apartment, so I'm trying to build this with things that could easily be transferred to a larger size tank if needed.
So, I bought an overflow from BRS. Its a Figi Cube 1600, which is probably overkill for sure, but its the only one I found which will accommodate a Bean Animal style overflow.
Today, I drilled my first tank. My anxiety was through the roof on this. But, it really wasn't too bad, and actually i fell confident if I ever needed to do this again. Any ideas on how many times those diamond drill bits can be used until you don't want to use them anymore?
But here's some photos of where I'm at so far, I'll keep updating as I go, but build-wise I'll be taking my time. I want to set this thing up right from the start instead of going cheap Iike i tried doing on the previous tank, only to end up buying the right thing after my cheap stuff broke on me.
I've been doing research for a few months, lurking these forums, and trying to absorb as much information as I possibly can. And now I'm ready to start building this thing. I picked up a used tank off of Facebook marketplace. I was looking for a 40g breeder but what I was actually looking for was some type of stand. I could have built a stand, but right now my family livTes in a smaller apartment and I just dont have the space for all the tools I need to build a solid stand for my tank. However, I found the tank and stand together on marketplace for a pretty good price. The price was worth it for the stand alone for me.
My plan is a negative space aquascape with a shallow sand bed, SPS dominant. I'll plan to have a custom 20g long sump for my equipment, maybe sometime I will expand it to include a refugium as well, but I'll probably wait until I need that.
I'm trying to keep in mind upgrades in size for the future, my family will not always live in this apartment, so I'm trying to build this with things that could easily be transferred to a larger size tank if needed.
So, I bought an overflow from BRS. Its a Figi Cube 1600, which is probably overkill for sure, but its the only one I found which will accommodate a Bean Animal style overflow.
Today, I drilled my first tank. My anxiety was through the roof on this. But, it really wasn't too bad, and actually i fell confident if I ever needed to do this again. Any ideas on how many times those diamond drill bits can be used until you don't want to use them anymore?
But here's some photos of where I'm at so far, I'll keep updating as I go, but build-wise I'll be taking my time. I want to set this thing up right from the start instead of going cheap Iike i tried doing on the previous tank, only to end up buying the right thing after my cheap stuff broke on me.
