BitReef’s 29 Gallon Reef Build

[BitReef]

Time to get started!!! Just bought a 29 gallon display tank and a 10 gallon for a custom sump at a Petco sale. My goal is a beautiful nano reef tank. My current 20 gallon (no skimmer, no sump, poor lights) has only ever had zoas and mushrooms. I’m ready to dive into lps, sps and a few more fish.

Equipment List (Updated 5/25/21):

Display Tank
29 gallon aquarium
Fiji Cube 400 gph overflow
2 AI Nero 3 powerheads

Lights
Radion XR30 G5 Pro
Custom light stand from 8020 15 series aluminum

ATO
Tunze osmolator
Custom made acrylic reservoir

Sump
10 gallon with custom baffles.
Icecap K1 nano protein skimmer
Chaeto refugium
Kessil H80 fuge light
Return pump, Syncra Silent 1.5 357gph
Jagger 100W Heater

Plumbing
3/4” sched 40 for overflow, with gate valve
1/2” sched 40 for return, with check valve

Dosing
Kamoer X1 Pro Wifi single head dosing pump
Custom dosing reservoir
Tropic Marin All-for-reef

 

[Auquanut]

Sounds like you have a solid plan. I think any of your lighting options should work. I kinda like the AI Prime HD idea. As far as the ATO, I love my osmolator. I personally would hold off on the kalkwasser until the tank asks for the added alk/calc. Looking forward to seeing your system come together. Reef on!

 

[BitReef]

29g Update - Tank Drilled

Drilled my display tank for overflow and return. it wasn’t too difficult. I used a cordless drill and diamond bits from BRS. The only tricky part was trying to figure out where to drill the holes. My Fiji Cube overflow came with a guide. However it placed the overflow hole really low (I’m guessing for strength). If I drilled based on the guide, the water level would have been an inch and a half below the upper aquarium trim. So I used the guide for drill bit stability, but placed it much higher on the tank. I want the water level hidden by the trim. My only fear is the strength of the remaining glass above the overflow hole.

I then filled my tank and tested the overflow/return and measure how much overflow to expect from a full tank. It came in a little over 2 gallons which will help me plan my sump.

 

[Alex Merida]

I can’t wait to see your results. Great job so far man. Thanks for sharing.

 

[revhtree]

Nice job! I always felt so accomplished after drilling holes in aquariums! HA!

 

[BitReef]

Nice job! I always felt so accomplished after drilling holes in aquariums! HA!

Yeah, it’s a little scary the first time. I didn’t even know drilling glass was possible until I started this project.

 

[acropora4u]

lookin good so far, any updates?

 

[Conchman]

Excellent work. More guts than me...Seeing the tank from above, I'm thinking you may want two lights, for shadowing. When I added my second XR15, I was amazed at the better coverage.

 

[BitReef]

Life got in the way and I haven’t worked on it in a while. Finally got all of the plumbing put together and I’ve been running a leak test in the garage. I hope to have it up and running in the next week or two. I may have to take a day off of work.

 

[BitReef]

Now I need to make some changes to the cabinet. My cabinet is not a fish tank stand. It’s a piece of furniture. It has an upper drawer and the lower section is cabinet space. Originally I put everything (sump, ATO reservoir and electronics) in the cabinet space. I’ve decided it’s too cramped and I’m afraid a plug or something might fall into the sump. So, I’ve decided to use the drawer cavity as my “dry” space and put all of the electrical stuff up there. That separates the dry zone from the wet zone, increases safety and gives me a lot more space to work with. The drawer cavity is actually pretty big. I just have to figure out how to keep the drawer face, and convert it into a false drawer.

 

[BitReef]

My drawer is 13” deep, front to back. I’m going to modify it so that it is either completely false (only a face), or greatly reduced (4” front to back). This is a little complicated by the fact that the drawer face is curved and not flat. I don’t think a hinge will work. It will probably need to slide out, when I want access to the power strips.

 

[BitReef]

I got a lot done today. Altered the drawer by moving the back wall closer to the front and cut out a large section of the drawer floor. So I still have a small storage space int the drawer, but I have room behind the drawer for all of the electronics. It works great.

 

[BitReef]

Here’s the cabinet in furniture mode and reef tank mode!

 

[BitReef]

Cycling using Dr Tim’s One and Only

 

[Chrisfish]

Congratulations on getting your tank wet, really looks good!!!

 

[BitReef]

So far, so good. Tank has been cycling for 53 days. I moved my 3 fish in (1 maroon clown and 2 pj cardinals) a few weeks ago and they seem very happy.

 

[BitReef]

Water tests look good. Nirates were around 20ppm after the nitrogen cycle completed. I’ve done a few water changes and they were slowly coming down. They were still around 12ppm. I tested again and all of the sudden they are 0ppm. Not sure how. There’s no visible algae or chaeto yet. I just saw one tiny patch of diatoms.

 

[BitReef]

Tank parameters still holding steady. You can ignore the comment I made about nitrates mysteriously dropping to 0. I must have botched that test because they have been measuring around 10ppm ever since.

 

[BitReef]

I added a cleaner shrimp and a small fighting conch as my initial cuc. I was starting to get some diatoms on the sand but the conch seems to be taking care of it. He is my first conch and really fun to watch. We really like him.

There’s really no algae on the rocks yet so I haven’t added any other snails. Ugly stage still ahead?

 

[BitReef]

CO2 Scrubber
Adding some equipment updates. I’ve installed a custom CO2 scrubber on my protein skimmer intake. It’s made out of two take-out soup containers. It’s been installed for a few days and my ph and alk consumption are slowly rising.