Craigslist Special tank

[Bridgerdean]

I wanted to post my build thread. This is my first aquarium, other than the few freshies I had when I was a kid. I was planning on small cube, but I found a red sea max s-400 for sale on craigslist for 1500.



I moved all the rock and sand, and had no idea what all the things were below the tank (The Sump). I set it up in the furnace room because it was the only open space in our house.


I reconnected everything that I disconnected and dumped the fish and corals that were in the tank and let the lady run. In the morning the water had cleared and the fish and corals seemed to be happy. I had it that way for a few weeks then I decided I wanted a new aquascape. I built the aquascape with my kiddos:



I then found a LFS to store my fish and I sold almost all the corals to the same LFS.




The new scape looked cool, and I was pleased with the results. Then my parents came to visit and my dad said "this looks really cool, it is just too bad it is in your furnace room, no one can really see it. You should put it under your stairs and have it poke out the wall." So a few negations with my wife and...



After the hole was cut an new bulkhead installed. I moved the tank over, and put the sheetrock back up.

A couple coats of paint and some trim work got her looking nice...

I set up a fuge and small frag tank in the sump, and dosing pumps.

Then I found reef2reef and realized I wanted my refugium in a more open space and where my frag tank was I wanted a skimmer, and I wanted a larger frag tank. Unfortunately I was out of room. I found an old tank at my LFS and bought it for $75, and found a frag tank on craigslist for $20. I ran 3/4 PVC under the stairs and into the furnace room for my frag tank and refugium. I also built a small work station. A few bulkheads and plumbing and we were set up for the fuge and fragging.

I let the whole set-up cycle and I am ready to start adding fish an corals.

 

[Dbichler]

Looks pretty sweet smart move listening to your dad

 

[Devaji]

WOW one heck of a start there man! looks like your off to a great start.

that new NSA aquascape in on fire! perfect place of the tank + it gives you a little fish room !

welcome to R2R BTW! glad you have you around.

 

[Soren]

That looks like a great start, and it was good advice your dad gave you!
Welcome to R2R!

 

[Bridgerdean]

I wanted to update my build, And hopefully get some opinions on what I could have done better or have the opportunity to improve.

Here is my Frag & Fuge area. The Fuge is a 16 gallon tank lit by a Ai Fuge light. The Frag Tank is a 25 gallon 24x24x12 Tank lit with a Hydra32 and plans for a Prime 16 on a flex arm for spotlighting growing corals. The Fuge has a maxijet to keep the Chaetomorpha rolling. The Frag tank has 2x1500 Koralia Powerheads and an egg crate for holding frags. There is also a separate heater for the frag tank set one degree below the temp of the display tank, so I can monitor if my main heater goes down. The fuge is full of live rock in the overflow and the floor is covered with Algae Barn media.

Chemicals are added using the BRS hybrid balling method, dosed 24x daily with a kamoer f4 pro.

Reef nutrition is supplied with Red Sea Reef energy AB+. 20cc's are added daily at noon when the lights are about to peak.

The sump area has reversed plumbing from the original Red Sea Tank. There are three bags of carbon that flow through occurs, as well as some live rock. There are 2 4'' filter sock. The protein skimmer is an octo skimmer 200sss who squeezes into my sump. I organized the electric with the old side of the Red Sea and drilled furniture hole covers in along with 2 power strips each with their own 20 amp breaker (The Frag & Fuge area has it's own 20 amp breaker as well) The input and return from the Frag & Fuge area can be seen in the sump as well as the main return pump and the ATO. There is a storage area for random stuff in the same area. Two MP40s with Limpet Covers provide circulation in the display tank.

The display tank is lit with a hybrid lighting system. 4 36'' T5 bulbs with a 2 AI Hydra 26s and an AI Hydra 64HD. The T5s are set with a KASA outdoor plug and air fan that automatically turns on with the T5s.

There she is! Hopefully this tank is set up for a long run.

 

[Bridgerdean]

Got my first round of Corals from Jason Fox Last night and the scape is ready to be planted.

 

[Surfpulse]

What an awesome build. Keep up the strong work
I wish my wife would let me do crazy things lol..

 

[Weasel1960]

Welcome to R2R. Awesome build, keep us posted as you put your corals in and add your fish.

 

[Bridgerdean]

Got the Corals all "planted" any opinions on spacing etc...? Also What type of algae is that in there?

 

[footgal]

Got the Corals all "planted" any opinions on spacing etc...? Also What type of algae is that in there?

It looks nice! You’re probably just dealing with the new tank “uglies” you’ll go through anywhere from 6 months to a year of algae issues then it should kinda mellow out. The first online corals I ever got were Jason Fox, he’s got some nice stuff! Keep chalice, hydnophora, and galaxea away from other corals. I’m not sure what you got from jason fox but I know that he sells those three. Props on you for going with Craigslist! All three of my tanks were Craigslist buys, it’s fun to personalize them! The tank looks great and the back room looks awesome, I wish I had the space to do something like that. Good luck!

 

[revhtree]

Looking awesome! Love the rock!

 

[Bridgerdean]

Here is a bit of progress...

Here is my covering while the new fish decide who gets to sleep where.

The Clowns decided to host this Mushroom Colony.

Full Tank Shot

Yellow Watchman Goby and Tiger pistol teamed up under "Galaxia Island"

A close up of some Zoas

Should I clean out the hair algae?

A couple of Zoa Frags form the LFS I was able to frag off of their frags.

 

[KevPool]

What a great set up, well done man.

 

[Quietman]

What a slick looking set up!

 

[X-37B]

Very nice! Now I want a fish room, lol.

 

[Quietman]

Very nice! Now I want a fish room, lol.

Or a fish closet...or a fish shack....or a fish cupboard. Ok I actually do have a fish cupboard - two even, but house cleaning supplies and canned goods keep showing up in there.

 

[X-37B]

Or a fish closet...or a fish shack....or a fish cupboard. Ok I actually do have a fish cupboard - two even, but house cleaning supplies and canned goods keep showing up in there.

I actually have a fish/snake room but its not attatched to my 120 display in the living room.
Only a 45 frag system and multiple snake cages plus storage for fish supplies.
So sort of, lol.

 

[Bridgerdean]

Here are some undated pics:

 

[Bridgerdean]

Here is my latest full tank shot. Fun to see everything growing. Thank you for all of the help from other R2R's.

 

[Bridgerdean]

Time to upgrade! I have enjoyed my tank, and had this extra room in the house. I am planning a 9’x30”x42”. I framed in the area and added a new door to allow the tank to fill the room. In the back storage area I am planning a 6’-8’ frag flat. As well as 2 QT tanks one for coral and one for fish. I used the foundation bump out for the fireplace to frame out space for the QT tanks and a mini fridge.