My fIrst marine build

Conovan

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I was recently about to do another planted tank and started researching dosers for ferts when I decided to watch a BRS video that popped up. After a bit of research and some shopping on marketplace I found a 60 gallon tank/stand with a 20 gallon homemade sump and a skimmer. The sump started out like this;
Sump_original.jpg


I am definately happy with my first homemade sump. Here is what happened after a trip to home depot and 80 bucks worth of acrylic and silicone;
Sump_side.jpg

Sump_side_equip.jpg
 
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Conovan

Conovan

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After a bit of shopping on BRS and amazon I wound up with this. The Pic of the aquarium doesn't show the way the rock is layed out very well.

Setup.jpg


Layout.jpg


I cemented the arch together with marco e400 and left a space under the rock at the bottom of the arch for flow to go under (hopefully).
 
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Conovan

Conovan

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Welcome .. you are about to open your reefing world with tons of knowledge.. Enjoy the ride!
The first bit of knowledge I would have loved is how crazy that skimmer was going to go when I turned it on today for the first time (day 8 of the cycle). that thing went into overdrive and started overflowing.
 
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Conovan

Conovan

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I didn't take any pictures but for the ATO I am using a cheap 35 buck storage ottoman I found on amazon with a 10 gallon tank covered with the left over acrylic from the sump to keep evaporation down. Which leads me to a question. how important is the DI part of an RODOI system? I bought an RO buddy and didn't even think about the DI part.
 

143MPCo

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Liking the aquascape!
Plenty of open spaces to run in and out of.
Nice work!
 

Fred2482

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Thank you. Nice to see some other GA folks on here. Any suggestions on a good LFS? Living in Middle GA there does not seem to be anything around here.

I live in North Georgia and have to drive an hour to Alpharetta! Dont seem to be many options.....
 
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Conovan

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Over the last week I went through the biggest bacterial bloom I have ever seen. almost like I had poured milk in the tank. Coming from freshwater I am used to smaller blooms and they usually clear in a day or two. this one took almost a week to clear. I didn't sweat much as I haven't added livestock yet. Is that normal?
 
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Conovan

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I added my first fish today. 2 clowns, 1 yellow tang, and 1 royal gramma. Ordered from liveaquaria on friday, processed and shipped yesterday, arrived today. 3 seem to be doing great and already eating. I don't know about the royal since it just made a bline for the rocks as soon as I turned it loose and I haven't seen it since.
 

vetteguy53081

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Welcome to R2R and to an ocean in your home. We’re glad you joined us !!
 
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Conovan

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The Gramma is alive and well. came out for feeding today. Then ran right back into the rocks afterwards.
 
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Conovan

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Added a bottle each of pink and purple coralline into the tank yesterday. Looks like folks either say it works great or doesn't work at all. Since I started with completely dead/dry marco and haven't introduced any other way of seeding coralline; I guess this will be a great test of it in the comming months.
 
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Conovan

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Yellow tang.jpg


My yellow tang just started eating Nori today (been putting it in for the 2 weeks I have had the fish). Also seeing some diatoms so I am thinking its time for a clean up crew. I looked at the packages on reef cleaners and the one they offer for 65 gallon seems like too many critters.. any thoughts on this?
 
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Conovan

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For anyone thinking of using https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/aquarium-supplies/coralline-algae-bottle/ I am very happy with the results as of today. its only been about 3 weeks and I have spots of coralline all over my rock today. I started out with everything dry (even rinsed the live sand in RO so may as well have been dry). I have not added the CUC yet so its all from the bottle. I did order CUC and chaeto from reefcleaners today. I ordered the 20 gallon pack since the 65 seemed like too much for such a fresh aquarium.
 
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