How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[living_tribunal]

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It wasn’t the bulkhead pipe transition, it was the gasket in the overflow box being at a slight angle.

I’ve heen able to fix that but now one of the return pipes is leaking from the bulkhead. I picked up two 3/4” double thread bulkheads in case this happened. If they don’t work then I’m sealing them.

 

[living_tribunal]

The babies are LOVING their new home


They are going nuts in here. I turned up my jebaos up to full speed with wave 1, they keep diving into the flow and doing back flips. I’m pretty sure this is their first real home.

 

[living_tribunal]

Today, I installed the new return bulkheads and redid the pipes a million times.

I believe, knock on wood, I was able to get rid of all of the leaks and the siphon perfect for the main drain.

I’m still unsure on how to do this again. I’m worried that I relied on matching the return gph to drain gph too much as the water level is remaining dead consistent in the overflow box.

If someone has insight on how to achieve this without relying on matching the speed of the return and drain, I’m all ears.

Otherwise, I’m enjoying my complete setup. My reefbreader ato came in, going to get that set up tonight.

Tomorrow will be day 3 of the blackout for the frag tank. I shined a light in there and a lot of the Dino’s had turned white. There are still a ton that remain so I’m hoping this last day does it in.

If not, I’m debating a fourth or fifth day of blackout. This is just to get the frags completely clear and out of the tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

Well I should wear a helmet and ride the short bus to school....

I get how it works.

So you slow down the main drain with the gate valve until the water begins to trickle down the emergency pipe. The main drain effectively handles 99.9% of the return water but not entirely all as it’s allowed to fill up just enough to where there is a little bit going through the emergency and you’re good.

 

[living_tribunal]

So there is still from the overflow box bulkhead. This leak is driving me crazy as it’s like a drop every 10 minutes or so, so testing is difficult.

I’m wondering if it’s from the bulkhead in the overflow box dry side or wet side. Will have to keep redoing it I guess.

 

[Why-Me]

You'll get it, hopefully an easy fix.

 

[living_tribunal]

You'll get it, hopefully an easy fix.

I’ve redone this bulkhead so many times, I’m not so sure anymore. Luckily, the return drains aren’t leaking anymore. Those were terrible to fix.

 

[living_tribunal]

I rearranged the gaskets for the overflow box and there hasn’t been a leak in 20 minutes.

Fingers crossed.

I love this f’ing sump. I want to yell it from the tallest hill in North Texas.

 

[Why-Me]

Trigger sump?

 

[living_tribunal]

Yes, and to be honest, any sump in general. This one is nice as my overflow isn't supporting the full weight of the drains from the bulkheads. It's so easy to turn on the fuge light and mess with stuff in the sump. Turn up and down the flow from my gate valves.

I definitely made some mistakes with the plumbing, the main one adding the check valve before the gate valve for the return. But I think this will work great for the next year or so.

Having a sump is really a game changer.

 

[Why-Me]

Yes it is! Loving having one as well. My 20 tall with hob was fine but this 40b with addition of a sump with all the extra water, filtration and space is definitely more advantageous.

BTW had an amazing haul from local frag swap today!

 

[living_tribunal]

Yes it is! Loving having one as well. My 20 tall with hob was fine but this 40b with addition of a sump with all the extra water, filtration and space is definitely more advantageous.

BTW had an amazing haul from local frag swap today!

shoot man, spam pics all up in here.

I've never been able to find your build thread btw.. So feel free to use mine lol

 

[Why-Me]

My daughter won a very expensive Darwin misbar longfin clownfish in a raffle today.
We got our first BTA & Pederson shrimp today.
It's a Legendary Corals Extreme Rainbow/Jolly Rancher BTA
I got 2 gorgonians
3 hammers of differing colors
big pink toadstool
small green tyree toadstool
2 unnamed chalices
red monti cap
unnamed acro
ORA green spongodes
Bubblegum Digi
I'll have better pics tomorrow, my tank lights were ramping down and turned off during dipping/acclimating process.

 

[living_tribunal]

My daughter won a very expensive Darwin misbar longfin clownfish in a raffle today.
We got our first BTA & Pederson shrimp today.
It's a Legendary Corals Extreme Rainbow/Jolly Rancher BTA
I got 2 gorgonians
3 hammers of differing colors
big pink toadstool
small green tyree toadstool
2 unnamed chalices
red monti cap
unnamed acro
ORA green spongodes
Bubblegum Digi
I'll have better pics tomorrow, my tank lights were ramping down and turned off during dipping/acclimating process.

That’s a huge haul man!

That clown is beautiful, the black is perfect for Halloween.

You got so many frags that I want. Have you taken care of a lot of sps like this before?

 

[Why-Me]

That’s a huge haul man!

That clown is beautiful, the black is perfect for Halloween.

You got so many frags that I want. Have you taken care of a lot of sps like this before?

No, I've tried before lol.
I had a basically sterile 20 tall and threw half dozen sps into it and they all slowly died.
Now that my tank has been setup for a bit and somewhat steady, I gotta try again.
The unnamed acro and a small chalice we won in a raffle and we got the red monti as door prize.
I only had intentions of trying the spongodes and bubblegum digi until we got the others.
That first chalice pictured is beautiful, wish I knew the name, he said he has a huge dinner plate size of that he just started cutting up but couldn't remember the name of it.
Got that piece for $15

 

[living_tribunal]

No, I've tried before lol.
I had a basically sterile 20 tall and threw half dozen sps into it and they all slowly died.
Now that my tank has been setup for a bit and somewhat steady, I gotta try again.
The unnamed acro and a small chalice we won in a raffle and we got the red monti as door prize.
I only had intentions of trying the spongodes and bubblegum digi until we got the others.
That first chalice pictured is beautiful, wish I knew the name, he said he has a huge dinner plate size of that he just started cutting up but couldn't remember the name of it.
Got that piece for $15

What color is the chalice? I am a chalice guy, chalices and leptos.

I’m sure you’ll be able to handle the digi just fine, I know acros are hard.

My digi has grown all the way through the Dino outbreak, faring better than most of my lps even. That and the birdsnest are hardy as hell.

Monti caps are also difficult from what I’ve read. Mine is doing ok but definitely browned out during the Dino outbreak.

You’re getting me amped for my next haul. I plan on going real big... maybe 20-30 frags.

 

[living_tribunal]

Side note, I think I’m going to run the system overnight. It’s been going for 2-3 hours now with no leaks and the siphon has been very steady with a nice small trickle from the emergency (like a drop every second).

I also hooked up my ato. Do you run your ato in your sump or place the controller in the tank?

 

[Why-Me]

Deep blue chalice, green rim, pink eyes

 

[Why-Me]

Side note, I think I’m going to run the system overnight. It’s been going for 2-3 hours now with no leaks and the siphon has been very steady with a nice small trickle from the emergency (like a drop every second).

I also hooked up my ato. Do you run your ato in your sump or place the controller in the tank?

I manually top off 3/4 to 1 gallon each day.
I want/need an ATO next.
I'd go into the sump

 

[living_tribunal]

Deep blue chalice, green rim, pink eyes

Beautiful. Make sure you put him mid level of the tank. People say chalices should be kept low but in my experience they will brown out if on the bottom. The second I put them further up they started to pop. Give them decent flow as well. It’s kind of hard to find good positioning for chalices and have them keep their color.