Need new hardware!

[cmay]

Hi friends, long time lurker first time poster etc etc.

Recently my tank crashed while I was out of town at a funeral. Huge bummer. By the time I got home, everything was dead and it was very sad. I suspect the heater went down and in October in Pennsylvania, that wasn't survivable.

I'm in the process of cleaning everything and curing the rock. I know how to do all that stuff and cycling but what I don't know is hardware. I've always gotten tanks secondhand with all the pieces or just kind of mashed things together to make it work. But now I have enough money to be able to build it properly and would like some recommendations.

I have a 24 gallon SCA AIO Starfire tank. It's got a fancy AI Prime light that I'm happy with. Everything else I'm open to replacing. I have the tank on an oak cabinet with plenty of space- I've never had a tank with a sump or ATO but I would be willing to try it.

It's got 3 chambers in the back that were previously set up to be filtration (physical media, charcoal, Purigen, bio balls, ceramic, and live rock rubble), heater and skimmer (of questionable quality), and return pump. You can sort of see in the pictures that chamber 1 flows into chamber 2 through a gap under the glass separator. 2 flows into 3 through an overflow thing.

Also, the separator between the tank and the rear chambers seems to be two pieces of glass, and it has all sorts of creatures in it. This seems like it should be sealed. Am I ok to just caulk across the top to seal it? I can't see any way to get those worms out.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[therootcause]

Hello,

I'm also a PA Reefer. If you are definitely sticking with this tank I would consider the following hardware.

TheAI prime you already have
New heater with an Inkbird controller
Power strip that has 3-4 wifi controllable outlets
A single 3-5 gallon pail that can hold RO water in your cabinet
A duetto auto top off
A media basket that can seperate the media in your lef tor center chamber
A sicce return pump
Filter floss for the top of the media basket
If the back glass has paint or vinyl on the back I would remove that in the center chamber then insert macroalgae into the center chamber
A flat panel grow light that can sit behind the tank and turn on at night via the smart power strip to grow the macro
Some sort of DIY mesh top

As far as the seem between the two panes of glass. That's nasty. Try filling the tank with water and vinegar, maybe that will help to remove the organic material. Don't use bleach as you might not be able to get it all out from between that seam.

 

[shakacuz]

to add to the above, try to make sure of the chamber dimensions when purchasing a return pump, or anything that you will want back there (like your heater). i do recommend using titanium heaters (BRS, finnex, or innovative marine) with the ink bird controller. however, you can also use the eheim jaeger heaters (just make sure to research online how to properly setting it us alongside the inkbird).

 

[cmay]

Hello,

I'm also a PA Reefer. If you are definitely sticking with this tank I would consider the following hardware.

TheAI prime you already have
New heater with an Inkbird controller
Power strip that has 3-4 wifi controllable outlets
A single 3-5 gallon pail that can hold RO water in your cabinet
A duetto auto top off
A media basket that can seperate the media in your lef tor center chamber
A sicce return pump
Filter floss for the top of the media basket
If the back glass has paint or vinyl on the back I would remove that in the center chamber then insert macroalgae into the center chamber
A flat panel grow light that can sit behind the tank and turn on at night via the smart power strip to grow the macro
Some sort of DIY mesh top

As far as the seem between the two panes of glass. That's nasty. Try filling the tank with water and vinegar, maybe that will help to remove the organic material. Don't use bleach as you might not be able to get it all out from between that seam.

This is so helpful; thank you so much!! So you're suggesting the algae instead of a protein skimmer? That would be nice, because protein skimmers always kind of creeped me out a bit. Not sure why, they're just weird and the stuff they pull out is also weird!

After some more research, the black panel is allegedly removable- I'm going to find a long blade and try to remove it to clean and reseal it properly.

 

[cmay]

to add to the above, try to make sure of the chamber dimensions when purchasing a return pump, or anything that you will want back there (like your heater). i do recommend using titanium heaters (BRS, finnex, or innovative marine) with the ink bird controller. however, you can also use the eheim jaeger heaters (just make sure to research online how to properly setting it us alongside the inkbird).

This is so valuable! I'm way behind the times on reef tech, and my day job is software, so being able to avoid compatibility issues is great.

also hi neighbor! I'm in Quakertown!

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Fill it with Water and Run Citric Acid through the Aquarium, with your existing pump. Amazon has Roots Circle Citric Acid in bulk, food grade. Also it looks like that Aquariums Glass is etched. I’m polishing out an Aquarium with a Cerium Oxide Kit, from the Walfront Store on Amazon, slow but it’s working.

 

[cmay]

Fill it with Water and Run Citric Acid through the Aquarium, with your existing pump. Amazon has Roots Circle Citric Acid in bulk, food grade. Also it looks like that Aquariums Glass is etched. I’m polishing out an Aquarium with a Cerium Oxide Kit, from the Walfront Store on Amazon, slow but it’s working.

Citric acid to clean it out? I'll have to try that.

It's not etched, I just haven't scrubbed the glass yet.