First Reef Tank

Fish.Bum00 · Feb 3, 2020

So, I spent 6+ months collecting equipment and building stand, light fixtures, etc. Got the tank up and running in time for my boy's 2nd birthday.

It was my gift to him. Originally started a a goldfish in a bowl, before evolving into a full blown mixed reef tank.

I like challenges.

ChaseB143 · Feb 3, 2020

That looks awesome!!

Ruben's Reef · Feb 3, 2020

Great start. Like the rock scape. Following..

Fish.Bum00 · Feb 15, 2020

Revamped aquascape. Building a mini tree for the zoanthid garden that will go near back. Coming soon.

Fish.Bum00 · Mar 3, 2020

Went to my first frag swap. Picked up seven coral, including several zoas for the garden.

I'm picking up an ATO and dosing pump. Time start two part. Organizing my electrical into a small side cabinet. While I'm at it. Pics coming soon.

mrbluewildcats · Mar 3, 2020

Looks great, keep it up!

Glott3133 · Mar 3, 2020

Very nice setup. Keep up the excellent work.

Hitherwood · Mar 3, 2020

Great work so far! Nice job on the stand. I remember those cabinet door locks! Haha!
What kind of lights are you using? (I'm obsessed with lighting these days

KGNickl · Mar 3, 2020

What size tank is that? I'm redoing the basement now and collecting parts for a 75 gallon in wall tank. So I'm collecting phase now and the tank just arrived and I gotta pick it up and finish the in wall stand. I will probably (hopefully...) be in a similar place are you in a month or two hopefully.

Fish.Bum00 · Mar 3, 2020

Tank is a 75g. Petco dollar sale. I tried to be very stingy when I setup, so most everything is DIY or secondhand. Found the light on FB marketplace. Only on year old no issues, both for $70 total. Reef oct110 skimmer, very lightly used for $60.

Needed to show the wife that it can be done before justifying the crazy name brand costs of lights, pumps, etc. They are 165w philzon. They work to get started. All my LPS are doing well. SPS are a little slow but growing and nice color.

Looking at Ocean revive or Kessil with some t5 supplements for near future light upgrade.

southerntnreefer · Mar 3, 2020

love the stand! Great work thus far.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 3, 2020

Great start

Fish.Bum00 · Mar 30, 2020

Current Parameters:
Temp 78.3
Salanity 1.026
Ca 420 (Salifert)
Alk 11.2 (Salifert)

Fish.Bum00 · Apr 27, 2020

Build update:

My Goniopora was looking sad. I tested and found nitrates at zero. With some help from R2R, I found stump remover solution. One dose raised my NO3 to between 5-10ppm. Suddenly all my corals looked happier.

I picked up my first flower anemone to hopefully host the porcelain crab. Thanks to local reefer, I purchased Blondies and Rastas to continue my zoa garden. And have a Melanurus wrasse and One-spot Foxface in QT right now.

My next project is adding some t5 lights to supplement the cheap blackbox LEDs.

Temp 78.7
Salanity 1.026
NO3 5-10ppm
Ph 8.0
Ca 450
dKh 10.3
Mg 1350

Murica · Apr 27, 2020

Sure... the tank was “for him” ....... we get a lot of that around here ;Hilarious

looks great! Love the aqua scape

Fish.Bum00 · Jun 1, 2020

DIY T5 LED floating canopy project

I purchased some cheap LED black boxes during my build, so I wanted to add some T5 lights to supplement.

The price of a hybrid fixture and those T5 retrofit kits seemed ridiculous to me.

It's funny how simple and inexpensive this was to do.

With some wood, angled aluminum, endcaps, a ballast, bulbs and reflectors I built my hybrid lighting.

And FYI I have no experience in electrical. Just watched a lot of videos and took my time to make sure everything was functioning safely.

Disregard the tv mount and cords. I'm still trying to figure out how I'd want to hang the canopy. For now, I'm using 1/2" black steel pipes. The entire canopy with lights only weighs 25lbs.

This project from start to finish did not take very long. The thing that took the most time was gathering all the materials.

Hope this helps someone else who may be thinking about adding T5s to supplement their LEDs.

Let me know if you want additional details. I'd be glad to assist.

Fish.Bum00 · Jun 1, 2020

I will be adding two more T5s in the near future. During the build, I wasn't sure that I would have enough room for four T5s, but now that I have two mounted with the reflectors, I'm confident that there is enough space for two more.

Now I need to figure out what 4 bulb T5 combo to go with.

Fish.Bum00 · Jul 13, 2020

I recieved my E-Marco 400 yesterday. Planning to get some practice before I make some huge pieces for my tank upgrade.

For practice I'm trying for a mini tree for my euphyllia garden.

I'll post pictures of my finished practice run when complete.