I can tell this will take a little while, so I'll do it in segments
Part 1: The Prelude
For quite some time, I had wanted a saltwater reef tank, a feeling many of us can probably still remember. A stroke of luck came to me one day when my uncle, who had a 55 gallon reef, generously decided to give me a 63ish gallon custom tank that he had found, as he has various connections and was able to get a bargain on it. Eager and excited, me and my father got to work on the plumbing and connection with the sump once we transported it to our home.
Overflow into the sump, and the return to the left. This overspill area takes about 7 gallons of the otherwise
70 that this tank would be, but it was smartly designed
After about 5 months of tinkering and eventually cycling (This was a side project for most of that time), we started discussing what inhabitants we would get and were practically ready to go to the local fish store, when my uncle surprised us and said that he decided that he was going to renovate his house along with the wall the 55 gallon reef was nestled in, and was thinking of replacing it with a much larger tank when he was finished. I couldn't resist his offer to take the inhabitants off his hands for a while, and once he dropped the live rock, fish, and coral over, he said that we could merely trade items for his new tank.
Here is are some images I took in June of 2019, when the tank was first set up:
I'm not sure why I decided to take the pictures right before I cleaned the glass, but I distinctly remember that was intentional for some reason or another. These are the best images I have of the 'early days' right now, although I have some better videos that I may need to convert. (Does anyone know what format videos should be in order to be posted?)
Unfortunately, the sudden change in bioload proved to be a bit too much for all of the new inhabitants, and the period that follows was one of introductions and losses.
I'll stop for now as it is quite late here, but the next part will be the equipment rundown, so stay tuned!
Part 1: The Prelude
For quite some time, I had wanted a saltwater reef tank, a feeling many of us can probably still remember. A stroke of luck came to me one day when my uncle, who had a 55 gallon reef, generously decided to give me a 63ish gallon custom tank that he had found, as he has various connections and was able to get a bargain on it. Eager and excited, me and my father got to work on the plumbing and connection with the sump once we transported it to our home.
Overflow into the sump, and the return to the left. This overspill area takes about 7 gallons of the otherwise
70 that this tank would be, but it was smartly designed
After about 5 months of tinkering and eventually cycling (This was a side project for most of that time), we started discussing what inhabitants we would get and were practically ready to go to the local fish store, when my uncle surprised us and said that he decided that he was going to renovate his house along with the wall the 55 gallon reef was nestled in, and was thinking of replacing it with a much larger tank when he was finished. I couldn't resist his offer to take the inhabitants off his hands for a while, and once he dropped the live rock, fish, and coral over, he said that we could merely trade items for his new tank.
Here is are some images I took in June of 2019, when the tank was first set up:
I'm not sure why I decided to take the pictures right before I cleaned the glass, but I distinctly remember that was intentional for some reason or another. These are the best images I have of the 'early days' right now, although I have some better videos that I may need to convert. (Does anyone know what format videos should be in order to be posted?)
Unfortunately, the sudden change in bioload proved to be a bit too much for all of the new inhabitants, and the period that follows was one of introductions and losses.
I'll stop for now as it is quite late here, but the next part will be the equipment rundown, so stay tuned!