JoannaCora
Community Member
After posting about my refugium over in the macroalgae forum I decided why not post up my whole build progression while I'm at it.
First off, I suppose this would be considered a budget build by most standards, and/or DIY, nearly everything was repurposed from old builds during my last foray in the hobby (I intend for this foray to be much longer). Initial equipment as follows, give or take a thingy or a whatzit.
AquaEuro USA 20 Gallon AIO - from... maybe the mid 2000's? Got it for $20 at a garage sale 6 or 7 years ago.
Current USA Orbit Marine LED 18"-24" - Old, got it back when it cost over $200
Tetra 75 Watt Preset Heater - Old
Beckett 290 GPH Fountain Pump - Old
Boyu(?) WG-308 120 LPH Protein Skimmer - Old, don't know when or where or how I got it, but I had it.
Cheapo 160 GPH pump from Amazon - New
Approx 20lbs no-longer-alive Sand - Old
Approx 8lb rock transferred from other (cycled) saltwater tank
Approx 25lb Florida Dry Rock - New
Misc. Filter Sponge and Filter Floss (some floss from already cycled tank)
That was it, set it all up on Feb 7th. Cycled with ammonium chloride and seeded a bacteria mix from a friend. Tested religiously. Added 2 ocellaris clowns on Feb 14th, continued testing, 25% to 50% water change when any levels got too high for comfort.
Acquired an assortment of corals on March 6th
I thought I'd be done after getting some sexy shrimp. Silly me. Still don't have any sexy shrimp, but was gifted a pipefish on March 21st, that’s when the whole plan changed. Like being gifted a puppy you weren't expecting. I concocted the idea of making a display refugium out of another 20 gallon AIO I had knocking around in storage. So I set up a 30 gallon temporary tank to keep everyone happy, transferred all the filter media over as well to keep it alive. Modified the stand so the refugium tank would fit, modified the back compartments of both AIO tanks to suit my filtration needs, did a little plumbing, swapped out the heater for an old 250w Jager, swapped the return pump for an old Sicce Syncra 1.5 (Allegedly 370 GPH but I am getting way less than I expected even with taking the lift into account. Going to need an upgrade). Let's see... tossed in some more rocks I found in a yard, and some old sand I already had.
Made a light fixture (controlled via smart outlet) with 3 LED recessed can light retrofits with 3 kelvin settings, plus dual daylight and actinic fluorescent bulbs, and hooked up some 120v switches from amazon (I don't keep them all on at once, currently experimenting with only having the dual daylight and 2 5000K LEDS on).
Wiring could use a little beautification.
and uhh... voila...
Stock list with all the specifics I know, for anyone interested.
Upper Tank
Fish
2x Ocellaris Clownfish (amphiprion ocellaris)
1x Royal Gramma (gramma loreto)
Clean Up Crew (I know it's a bit much, wasn't my original intention but circumstances in my 125 gallon FOWLR tank led to this)
5ish Banded Trochus Snail
5ish Hermit Crabs
5ish Nassarius Snails
1 Bumble Bee Snail
Corals
Orange Bounce Mushroom (That isn't bouncing yet)
Favia sp.
Green Toadstool Leather (sarcophyton spp.)
Button Scolymia
Kenya Tree (sapnella sp.)
Duncanopsammia sp.
Kryptonite Candy Cane (caulustrea furcata)
Misc. palythoa and zoanthid
Lower Tank
1x Banded Pipefish (dunckerocampus dactyliophorus) (eats copepods, frozen mysis, and live brine shrimp I'm hatching. Mostly copepods though, and the supply doesn't seem to be running out.)
1x Peppermint Shrimp (lysmata wurdemanni)
5ish Nassarius Snail
2ish Hermit Crabs
1 Turbo Snail (I think)
Please see my macroalgae post for the specifics on those species.
Thanks for reading!
First off, I suppose this would be considered a budget build by most standards, and/or DIY, nearly everything was repurposed from old builds during my last foray in the hobby (I intend for this foray to be much longer). Initial equipment as follows, give or take a thingy or a whatzit.
AquaEuro USA 20 Gallon AIO - from... maybe the mid 2000's? Got it for $20 at a garage sale 6 or 7 years ago.
Current USA Orbit Marine LED 18"-24" - Old, got it back when it cost over $200
Tetra 75 Watt Preset Heater - Old
Beckett 290 GPH Fountain Pump - Old
Boyu(?) WG-308 120 LPH Protein Skimmer - Old, don't know when or where or how I got it, but I had it.
Cheapo 160 GPH pump from Amazon - New
Approx 20lbs no-longer-alive Sand - Old
Approx 8lb rock transferred from other (cycled) saltwater tank
Approx 25lb Florida Dry Rock - New
Misc. Filter Sponge and Filter Floss (some floss from already cycled tank)
That was it, set it all up on Feb 7th. Cycled with ammonium chloride and seeded a bacteria mix from a friend. Tested religiously. Added 2 ocellaris clowns on Feb 14th, continued testing, 25% to 50% water change when any levels got too high for comfort.
Acquired an assortment of corals on March 6th
I thought I'd be done after getting some sexy shrimp. Silly me. Still don't have any sexy shrimp, but was gifted a pipefish on March 21st, that’s when the whole plan changed. Like being gifted a puppy you weren't expecting. I concocted the idea of making a display refugium out of another 20 gallon AIO I had knocking around in storage. So I set up a 30 gallon temporary tank to keep everyone happy, transferred all the filter media over as well to keep it alive. Modified the stand so the refugium tank would fit, modified the back compartments of both AIO tanks to suit my filtration needs, did a little plumbing, swapped out the heater for an old 250w Jager, swapped the return pump for an old Sicce Syncra 1.5 (Allegedly 370 GPH but I am getting way less than I expected even with taking the lift into account. Going to need an upgrade). Let's see... tossed in some more rocks I found in a yard, and some old sand I already had.
Made a light fixture (controlled via smart outlet) with 3 LED recessed can light retrofits with 3 kelvin settings, plus dual daylight and actinic fluorescent bulbs, and hooked up some 120v switches from amazon (I don't keep them all on at once, currently experimenting with only having the dual daylight and 2 5000K LEDS on).
Wiring could use a little beautification.
and uhh... voila...
Stock list with all the specifics I know, for anyone interested.
Upper Tank
Fish
2x Ocellaris Clownfish (amphiprion ocellaris)
1x Royal Gramma (gramma loreto)
Clean Up Crew (I know it's a bit much, wasn't my original intention but circumstances in my 125 gallon FOWLR tank led to this)
5ish Banded Trochus Snail
5ish Hermit Crabs
5ish Nassarius Snails
1 Bumble Bee Snail
Corals
Orange Bounce Mushroom (That isn't bouncing yet)
Favia sp.
Green Toadstool Leather (sarcophyton spp.)
Button Scolymia
Kenya Tree (sapnella sp.)
Duncanopsammia sp.
Kryptonite Candy Cane (caulustrea furcata)
Misc. palythoa and zoanthid
Lower Tank
1x Banded Pipefish (dunckerocampus dactyliophorus) (eats copepods, frozen mysis, and live brine shrimp I'm hatching. Mostly copepods though, and the supply doesn't seem to be running out.)
1x Peppermint Shrimp (lysmata wurdemanni)
5ish Nassarius Snail
2ish Hermit Crabs
1 Turbo Snail (I think)
Please see my macroalgae post for the specifics on those species.
Thanks for reading!
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