New Here

[Hewitt 966]

I have a 72 bowfront aquarium that has now been running for 3 years. I was keeping mostly fish (I have a leather coral that was just getting by. I went about 3 months without a water change and then I got stuck at home sick. I decided to do what needed to be done and finally did a water change and other maintenance. In my rockwork I found a feather duster in my rockwork in the back where I never look. I have never bought a feather duster for this aquarium since they would just waste away in a 15 gallon tank that I tried to do saltwater in. I decided to try and do better with the coral and I bought new rock and kin of cornered it in a spot so that it would just get tipped by my fish. It has been doing great so 2 weeks ago I bought a toadstool and kenya tree coral. They have been doing great. I'm wanting to add more coral that are fairly easy while I get my baby steps in which is why I have the type of coral I currently have. I think my tank has matured enough that it can support coral and stuff. With the aquarium I have I'm using a canister filter (I know don't hate me) and algae scrubber and an octopus skimmer. I plan to make my own sump in time and us a no drill overflow. I don't want to disturb what is going on right now. Oh, I also have 2 power heads that provide surface agitation and my lighting is a Current LOOP twin light bar for coral.
So, I guess I just wanted to introduce myself and get feedback on how to make the sump. On this site I did see one person using cardboard as a template for where they would place the acrylic baffles so that is a thing I didn't think of so that's great. Any other ideas for making my own sump? Any ideas for other easy coral? I'm thinking Duncans. Anemones that would be easy to keep, besides apitasia lol? I currently don't have any and I dip all my coral before they are placed in the aquarium.
I'm adding a video taken this morning to show what I have going on right now.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, you can head over to Meet and Greet Forum and introduce yourself there

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

If you want to build your own sump from a tank and some acrylic baffles, I think the kits from Marine Biosystems on eBay are the best value, even better than Jack's Racks and Fiji Cube, which are both popular options:

Security Measure | eBay

www.ebay.com

Here's some info on easy corals to try:

10 best beginner corals. You don’t have to be rich to stock a reef tank

Ryan covers the top 10 corals for beginners that are affordable, easy to care for and ultimately will give your first taste of confidence and success.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Good luck!

 

[eye_dr_reef]

Welcome to R2R! This is a great place to learn and share.

 

[Hewitt 966]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

If you want to build your own sump from a tank and some acrylic baffles, I think the kits from Marine Biosystems on eBay are the best value, even better than Jack's Racks and Fiji Cube, which are both popular options:

Security Measure | eBay

www.ebay.com

Here's some info on easy corals to try:

10 best beginner corals. You don’t have to be rich to stock a reef tank

Ryan covers the top 10 corals for beginners that are affordable, easy to care for and ultimately will give your first taste of confidence and success.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Good luck!

Thank you, the kits look like that would be the easiest way to go. I was thinking of trying to save a little money and reuse acrylic from back during COVID. Those kits would actually be probably the best option. No cutting, drilling, cleaning.
I'm going to try and find some Duncan coral and bird nest next time I get to Fish Freaks in Omaha.

 

[Uncle99]

If you’re trying to save, why have a sump?
It’s by no means, a requirement.
This is 65g no sump. Cannister filter and skimmer

 

[Hewitt 966]

If you’re trying to save, why have a sump?
It’s by no means, a requirement.
This is 65g no sump. Cannister filter and skimmer

It would be nice to be able to hide my equipment would be my main reason. Right now, I'm using a Sicce Whale and it works great with the other stuff (skimmer, algae scrapper, etc.). Your aquarium looks amazing, what kind of canister filter are you using?

 

[Leo Bezner]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Uncle99]

It would be nice to be able to hide my equipment would be my main reason. Right now, I'm using a Sicce Whale and it works great with the other stuff (skimmer, algae scrapper, etc.). Your aquarium looks amazing, what kind of canister filter are you using?

Just a simple AquaClear 110 swapping the sponge every 3-4 days and a CoraLife 160 skimmer. At the time, that’s all that I could afford.

Couple of Chinese black box lights, under a grand.

The magic is in water chemistry. Get that perfect and stable, anything much works. Get this wrong, or allow it to flux, bad news.

Of course, if you want to hide stuff, that be a great reason for a sump. It does that well and increases water volume, always a good thing.

Enjoy!