Hi everyone. Been lurking around here again for the past week or so since I got the itch to start another reef tank. Long story short, like several of you I have been in and out of the reef hobby. Started when I got out of the military back in '99, setup my first tank late that year (15 High with compact florescent... yuck), progressed through many tanks (20L, 40B, DIY 80G cube tank, last was a rimless 18G cube tank). It's been about 3 years since that last tank which ran well for about 2 1/2 years and then had an unfortunate accident with a snail and an ATO that crashed the tank. Lesson learned, but packed it all up and took a break. Fast forward to today and a random Instagram post click has caused my YouTube recommendations to start showing reef tanks. dangit, 3 am find myself watching reef build videos. You know.... we've all been there. That has caused the itch to come back and sent me here to read up on what has changed over the past few years.
My goal with this new tank is simplicity and use equipment that I already have if it makes sense. Started looking at AIO tanks since I don't want to deal with an external sump and plumbing and I want to keep this small anyway. Lifegard, RedSea, Waterbox, IM - I like the peninsula design, but I just couldn't find anything that I really fell in love with. But the biggest thing was that as I was looking at these tanks, I kept thinking to myself "I could build my own tank that is exactly what I want and it would essentially be free". Back in the day I did a lot of acrylic fabrication. Some in the aquarium industry, but a lot more in the vivarium industry. So I have a little tank building experience and I have a lot of acrylic sheet still left in my garage. So why not just design and build the tank that I want? OK, let's do that. Where's my notebook? So it begins...
Basic idea:
So far this is my idea
20x12x10 tank - think standard 10g tank on it's side for size
internal sump area will be 4" deep leaving the main tank area to be 16x12x10 or about 8.3 gallons
Chambers will be
Looking at my drawing again, those divider heights need to change. 1" into the return chamber isn't enough and makes me nervous.
What am I missing?
Anything I should change or think about more before I start building?
Return pump - thinking of going with a DC pump like the Jebao DCS-1200, but what do I know? Better ideas for that? I like that they are adjustable, but is that really necessary?
My goal with this new tank is simplicity and use equipment that I already have if it makes sense. Started looking at AIO tanks since I don't want to deal with an external sump and plumbing and I want to keep this small anyway. Lifegard, RedSea, Waterbox, IM - I like the peninsula design, but I just couldn't find anything that I really fell in love with. But the biggest thing was that as I was looking at these tanks, I kept thinking to myself "I could build my own tank that is exactly what I want and it would essentially be free". Back in the day I did a lot of acrylic fabrication. Some in the aquarium industry, but a lot more in the vivarium industry. So I have a little tank building experience and I have a lot of acrylic sheet still left in my garage. So why not just design and build the tank that I want? OK, let's do that. Where's my notebook? So it begins...
Basic idea:
- Peninsula design
- Roughly 10G in size total
- Equipment area needs to be large enough to get my hand into
- No skimmer, no media reactors, no dosing, none of that. Water changes will be my thing because I know how I am and it worked for me in the past.
- Reuse my Radion XR30 G1, so I can probably keep anything in the tank. I could also cook everything in the tank, so be careful
- Have about 40lbs of dry rock, but probably skip that and go to the LFS and get a couple pieces of live rock. You know, support the local guy.
- Use the MP10? Might blow water out of the tank causing another ATO issue. Can I slow it down enough to be useful, or sell it and get something more appropriate? I should probably find it first...
- I really like the look of those Nero 3 powerheads, but are they any good?
So far this is my idea
20x12x10 tank - think standard 10g tank on it's side for size
internal sump area will be 4" deep leaving the main tank area to be 16x12x10 or about 8.3 gallons
Chambers will be
4x4 overflow/media tower
3x4 heater
5x4 return pump
Looking at my drawing again, those divider heights need to change. 1" into the return chamber isn't enough and makes me nervous.
What am I missing?
Anything I should change or think about more before I start building?
Return pump - thinking of going with a DC pump like the Jebao DCS-1200, but what do I know? Better ideas for that? I like that they are adjustable, but is that really necessary?
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