Living room reef!

[jeffrey psaros]

I have been out of the hobby for about 8 years....set up freshwater a year ago, but had to break it down 6 months ago since I was tdy for 5 months...well I am back and the wife and I decided to try saltwater again....8 years ago we tried with a 29 gallon and had very mixed results....so we are hoping with the help of reef2reef and patience we can get it right this time.

The tank is a 65 gallon flat back hex acrylic tank...its 48" long 16" wide tapering to about 11" wide and 20" tall

I built my own stand for it that can be opened up for access to a sump...

Equipment so far is the tank stand and canopy
Trigger systems sapphire 26 sump arrives Oct 23rd
Using a jebao dcp-4000 return pump
And jebao wp-25 powerhead for circulation
I also have 2 165w viperspectra led lights

Still trying to decide on what protein skimmer to use

Also have a 300w eheim jager heater, but it wont fit the sump so I need new heaters as well...

I will be using 60 pounds of arag alive Fiji pink live sand between the display and refugium

Planning on 70 pounds of a purple reef live rock

I am thinking mainly soft coral with some lps maybe eventually sps coral

We want 1 yellow tang
2 bangaii cardinals
A pair of snowflake clownfish
Lawnmower blenny
Dwarf angel
And a mandarin once the tank can sustain enough pods

I am attaching pictures showing the stand build...lights hanging...how I am handling power chords under the stand...and how the stand opens up...

Sorry if this is all over the place I will update it hopefully with tons of good news!

 

[AquaticJamaica]

Seems like it's going to be promising. Slow and steady wins the race. I have a few more weeks of working before I can start my build thread.

 

[SPR1968]

Great start and pictures Jeffrey and thanks for sharing the tank with us

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Its here!!!! The trigger 26 arrived today....now to get it filled with water and live sand!

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Well hooked up the tank and the 1 inch durso overflow I had couldnt keep up with the jebao dcp4000 even at 30%...these are pictures of that set up

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Went to lowes and got some more pvc....drilled 2 more holes and made myself a bean animal overflow....pretty quiet overall...and easily keeps up with the dcp4000 at 100%...
However the soft tubing I was using for the full siphon was too long causing a kink and bad flow...when straight works great, so tomorrow I will have to go get more pvc to hard plumb that section as well...
Here is what it looks like now

 

[jeffrey psaros]

All plumbed up, power running, salinity at 1.025, and sand in, just waiting on the sand cloud to clear and 70 pounds of apurplereef liverock arrive tomorrow!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Nice!

 

[jeffrey psaros]

The 70 pounds of apurplerock showed up today! I think this will end up being the final scape for it. Now to get it cycled! It had live rock and sand for it, should I still do the raw table shrimp to cycle?

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Reworked the rock a little bit

View attachment 20181026_093417.jpg

 

[jeffrey psaros]

No real updates still cycling. Added an icecap k2 skimmer auto top off and fuge light. The chaeto and marine pure for the refugium are in the mail from algaebarn...

Also added dr tims one and only and the ammonia. However it has been over a week with the one and only and still have ammonia...I ordered it from amazon and unfortunately there isn’t an option to talk to seller I think I got a bad bottle....

Once the ammonia and nitrites are 0 I’ll do a water change and add my first fish. Planning on 2 Bangaii cardinals!

 

[TriggerCorals]

what lights are you using?

 

[jeffrey psaros]

2 165watt viperspectras for the display and just a grow bulb off amazon that brs reviewed highly in a pvc housing for the refugium

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Just went to a local store and bought another bottle of dr tims one and only, this time hopefully it works....also should get the marine pure and chaeto to put in the refugium today as well

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Tank has been fully cycled for a few days now...added my first coral a few minutes ago and am going to get 2 clowns from a different store this afternoon. Coral is still ticked off and closed for now but it’s in the tank!!!!

 

[jeffrey psaros]

First additions!
Zoas
Mochavinci clown
Black phantom clown

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Few more additions today and pics of the clowns in the tank...won’t be anything else added for several weeks now

3 astrea snails
3 Nassurus snails
3 red leg hermits
Torch
Acans

 

[jeffrey psaros]

So I got involved in a Facebook coral auction and won a lot more than I thought I did... here are some pictures of what are coming to me. It’ll be shipped next week! Not shown he is also including 2 free frags and an ultra flower anemone

 

[jeffrey psaros]

Wife used her pixel 3 night mode and an orange filter and just sent me those of the coral in the tank

 

[Salty Lemon]

Reworked the rock a little bit

View attachment 20181026_093417.jpg

Lots of nice "hiding" spots for your future tenants.