Dave0
New Member
Hi everyone! First time reefer, forum-er, acrylic tank builder (65L, 17 US Gallons). The purpose of this thread is to give 'live' updates of what I'm doing/buying (with their reasons) so that:
1) I can keep track of my tank for posterity (if I can get anything to live in it!!)
2) Other brand new reefers can learn from my ****-ups, or copy my purchases without having to do the research.
3) Hopefully get feedback from experienced reefers
4) Give a realistic idea of cost. Details of everything I have bought at the bottom of the thread.
I live in London so space in my house is extremely tight and all decisions are based on fitting the most I can into the smallest space possible and also a tight budget (initially £400, but that turned out to be hilariously optimistic) hence the DIY build. I would have gone AIO but even that small sump part took up too much space. My wife has given strict instructions on the space needed around the tank for kids to draw/play and for her to put flowers. So I have gone for 46cm x 40cm x 40cm, giving a volume of (I think this is a US forum, so you may want to convert to inches), and all equipment will be HOB (Hang on Back) and in tank. I have added exciting(!) photos of my glued up tank and my cycling tank.
Making the tank
I started glueing up my tank on 13th November using 8mm Cast Acrylic, and Tensol 12 as the 'glue' (it's more of a plastic melter togetherer). It was fairly fiddly but nothing particularly difficult if properly prepared and not rushed. I followed this fellow's instructions: http://www.dailyfts.co.uk/2013/01/woodson-build-part-4.html, so won't go through it again. I didn't have corner clamps, so just used masses of masking tape instead. The tank is currently curing - I'm going to give it a week before I test fill with water (I may do this in a paddling pool in case the tank explodes everywhere, so come back to see the results *clickbait*).
Cycling
16th November. Loads of goodies delivered from https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/, so there's no point wasting time while the permanent tank is curing and I nipped out and bought a £3.25 25L crate to start my cycle (I've kept freshwater fish for years, and have had my share of looooooooooooooooooooong cycles). Using 7-8kg of dry rock, I aquascaped it (that's a posh way of saying I put some of the rocks together on top of a cardboard template cut to the size of the aquarium's interior, then glued them together after asking my wife 'Does that look OK?'). I bought the rock and epoxy from https://aquaticemporium.co.uk/, a lovely little independent shop with very friendly (and patient) owners where I will also be purchasing my fish and corals. I then put the rocks, 20lbs CaribSea LiveSand, HOB filter, heater at 29C, airstone in the crate, put in 10L of RO water with Fritz RPM salt and switched everything on. I added 7 drops of ammonia and tested, 1.5ppm. Much faff getting the salinity right for various reasons, but crate and water were finally stable enough on 18th for me to add ATM Colony (I've never used bottled bacteria, it just seemed like marketing bull to separate me from my cash). Tested ammonia again (I had doubled the volume of water in the tank in my salinity quest), .75ppm.
Today is 19th, and *whispers* my cycle appears to have started??? I'm incredulous to say the least but the numbers speak for themselves. Ammonia dropped to .5, nitrite .4, nitrate 15. I will keep testing and update the thread as it seems too good to be true to start a cycle in 3 days. If this carries on then I would have to credit using the duo of Colony and LiveSand with the success.
1) I aquascaped first because I don't want to kill bacteria from the cycle by taking the rocks out and risking them drying out. I want to take my rocks from my cycling crate, and put them immediately into their final positions in my permanent tank
2) I chose dry rock because I'm new to reefing, I don't need the difficulties unwanted beasties live rock brings, even though it also brings good beasties. I also don't have £7 million to buy live rock
3) I learned some valuable salt mixing lessons. I was taking a small amount from the crate, and chucking a whole load of salt in it, mixing for a minute and chucking it back in before it was completely clear. This is a bad idea, it took me ages to get the salinity right and I have no idea how much salt has just fallen undissolved into the sand. From now on I will put the salt into the full volume of water I want to mix, and use a pump to stir it (I bought the cheapest submersible water pump I could find on amazon for £7)
Kit and costs
plasticsheetsshop.co.uk
I feel a bit misled here, I thought I was buying from a UK company (based on the URL) but it actually came from Germany or Netherlands.
8mm cast acrylic for sides and bottom, 3 mm extruded for lid all cut to size- £126
From charterhouse aquatics:
Seachem Tidal 35 HOB Filter. There are cheaper but for a small amount extra, may as well go the best. Its pump is in the tank so no need to 'prime' it, and it is super quiet - £40
Fritz RPM Salt 14lbs. It's used a lot on the youtube videos I watch - £24
CaribSea LiveSand 20lbs. Not much more expensive than dry sand, and decided to believe the marketing about tank cycling - £28
API Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate Tests. They don't need to be accurate, just need to know the cycle is going - £20
D-D H2Ocean Refractometer. Very good reviews, decided not to mess around with cheap equipment for THE most important test - £36
ATM Colony Bacteria 118ml. Maybe it's not just marketing bull… - £10
25L Container for RO water - £10
Amazon
Light, Nicrew 50W. Wow, you can spend a lot on lights! This seemed a very good price for the PAR (main reason I bought it) and the features. Downside is there's no controller with it, so it's going to be a timer switch on the wall rather than a fancy pants app on my phone (there is a 0-10V port, so if I want to make a DIY controller I can, but I have yet to go down this rabbit hole)- £90
Heater, AQUAEL 115513 Plastic Heater Ultra Heater 75 W. I've used the glass type for years, they've always been slightly painful. Thought I'd give this plastic/electronic type a bash - it's only a few quid more so a flea fart in a hurricane of mounting costs - £22
Cheapo water pump for mixing salt - £8
Tensol 12 - £8
AquaticEmporium
10kg Dry rock (only used 7- 8k, but useful to have a range of rocks to choose from to create the scape) - £60
DD aquascape construction epoxy - £7
Random
Cycling crate - £3.50
10L RO water container (inc the water) - £10
10L RO water - £10
Airstone and airline (I didn't need an airpump, as I reused one from my freshwater) - £7
Still to get
KH, Mg, Ca tests. Will use Salifert, great reviews, good price - £30
Powerhead, probably get Jebau RW4. DC, so power adjustable with different modes, moveable head - £50
Mat for under tank - £5
Acrylic scraper cleaner. Probably go for Mag Float for acrylic - £17
Activated carbon. Haven't decided yet, will wait a few months
Filter floss - £5
RO water to fill tank - £10
Fish and Coral. Who the hell knows how much this will cost! Initial estimate - £100
Siphon (I don't want to use my freshwater one)- £15
Stuff I could reuse from stuff I already have:
Air pump - £7
Glass heater for warming the salt mixing water - £15
Saltwater mixing bucket. Will just reuse cycling crate
Grand total: £774 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bust my budget by a massive 100%.
If I had known this before starting would I have started? Probably
I can't bloody wait to get fish and coral in, I'm like a little boy about to get a puppy. Discussion around my purchasing decisions welcome! Where could/should I have cut costs?
Check back in on Sunday for pictures of my exploded tank (you hope), my non leaking tank (I hope).
EDIT
SUNDAY - the day of filling. No explosions, but a couple of leaks. Emptied tank and used Tensol 12 on all the joints again, I'll refill tonight to see if the leaks are fixed
EDIT
3rd December, 3 weeks after starting to glue the aquarium and 2.5 weeks after starting the cycle, I'm ready for inhabitants. Lesson learned - get the rocks in their final position before putting the sand in. Moving the rocks with sand in the tank caused cloudiness in seconds so I couldn't see where I was moving the rocks to - it took days to get them in the right position.
EDIT
15th December, Clownfish and 3 corals have been in since 3rd and all seem happy. Diatoms have started to arrive.
Lesson learned - I took out the filter sponge from the HOB and replaced it with filter floss. Problem was the bigger bits of crud stayed at the bottom of the filter as they couldn't get 'caught' in the floss. So sponge back in under the floss, we'll see if it works.
Started dosing with baking soda (Randy's formula) as my alk seems to have stopped dropping and is stable at about 5.9. Will try to increase to about 8/8.5 over the next 4 or 5 days.
Hood has been finished and installed today to try and make my wife happier with the tank. The light is much closer to the water so the spread isn't as wide meaning it will need a second light added in the future, involving hood alterations.
Before:
After
EDIT
23rd December. Started the process of changing over my really fine sand to Fiji Pink. It will be a massive faff
Dave
1) I can keep track of my tank for posterity (if I can get anything to live in it!!)
2) Other brand new reefers can learn from my ****-ups, or copy my purchases without having to do the research.
3) Hopefully get feedback from experienced reefers
4) Give a realistic idea of cost. Details of everything I have bought at the bottom of the thread.
I live in London so space in my house is extremely tight and all decisions are based on fitting the most I can into the smallest space possible and also a tight budget (initially £400, but that turned out to be hilariously optimistic) hence the DIY build. I would have gone AIO but even that small sump part took up too much space. My wife has given strict instructions on the space needed around the tank for kids to draw/play and for her to put flowers. So I have gone for 46cm x 40cm x 40cm, giving a volume of (I think this is a US forum, so you may want to convert to inches), and all equipment will be HOB (Hang on Back) and in tank. I have added exciting(!) photos of my glued up tank and my cycling tank.
Making the tank
I started glueing up my tank on 13th November using 8mm Cast Acrylic, and Tensol 12 as the 'glue' (it's more of a plastic melter togetherer). It was fairly fiddly but nothing particularly difficult if properly prepared and not rushed. I followed this fellow's instructions: http://www.dailyfts.co.uk/2013/01/woodson-build-part-4.html, so won't go through it again. I didn't have corner clamps, so just used masses of masking tape instead. The tank is currently curing - I'm going to give it a week before I test fill with water (I may do this in a paddling pool in case the tank explodes everywhere, so come back to see the results *clickbait*).
Cycling
16th November. Loads of goodies delivered from https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/, so there's no point wasting time while the permanent tank is curing and I nipped out and bought a £3.25 25L crate to start my cycle (I've kept freshwater fish for years, and have had my share of looooooooooooooooooooong cycles). Using 7-8kg of dry rock, I aquascaped it (that's a posh way of saying I put some of the rocks together on top of a cardboard template cut to the size of the aquarium's interior, then glued them together after asking my wife 'Does that look OK?'). I bought the rock and epoxy from https://aquaticemporium.co.uk/, a lovely little independent shop with very friendly (and patient) owners where I will also be purchasing my fish and corals. I then put the rocks, 20lbs CaribSea LiveSand, HOB filter, heater at 29C, airstone in the crate, put in 10L of RO water with Fritz RPM salt and switched everything on. I added 7 drops of ammonia and tested, 1.5ppm. Much faff getting the salinity right for various reasons, but crate and water were finally stable enough on 18th for me to add ATM Colony (I've never used bottled bacteria, it just seemed like marketing bull to separate me from my cash). Tested ammonia again (I had doubled the volume of water in the tank in my salinity quest), .75ppm.
Today is 19th, and *whispers* my cycle appears to have started??? I'm incredulous to say the least but the numbers speak for themselves. Ammonia dropped to .5, nitrite .4, nitrate 15. I will keep testing and update the thread as it seems too good to be true to start a cycle in 3 days. If this carries on then I would have to credit using the duo of Colony and LiveSand with the success.
1) I aquascaped first because I don't want to kill bacteria from the cycle by taking the rocks out and risking them drying out. I want to take my rocks from my cycling crate, and put them immediately into their final positions in my permanent tank
2) I chose dry rock because I'm new to reefing, I don't need the difficulties unwanted beasties live rock brings, even though it also brings good beasties. I also don't have £7 million to buy live rock
3) I learned some valuable salt mixing lessons. I was taking a small amount from the crate, and chucking a whole load of salt in it, mixing for a minute and chucking it back in before it was completely clear. This is a bad idea, it took me ages to get the salinity right and I have no idea how much salt has just fallen undissolved into the sand. From now on I will put the salt into the full volume of water I want to mix, and use a pump to stir it (I bought the cheapest submersible water pump I could find on amazon for £7)
Kit and costs
Plasticsheetsshop.co.uk | Plastic sheets cut to size for FREE
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plasticsheetsshop.co.uk
8mm cast acrylic for sides and bottom, 3 mm extruded for lid all cut to size- £126
From charterhouse aquatics:
Seachem Tidal 35 HOB Filter. There are cheaper but for a small amount extra, may as well go the best. Its pump is in the tank so no need to 'prime' it, and it is super quiet - £40
Fritz RPM Salt 14lbs. It's used a lot on the youtube videos I watch - £24
CaribSea LiveSand 20lbs. Not much more expensive than dry sand, and decided to believe the marketing about tank cycling - £28
API Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate Tests. They don't need to be accurate, just need to know the cycle is going - £20
D-D H2Ocean Refractometer. Very good reviews, decided not to mess around with cheap equipment for THE most important test - £36
ATM Colony Bacteria 118ml. Maybe it's not just marketing bull… - £10
25L Container for RO water - £10
Amazon
Light, Nicrew 50W. Wow, you can spend a lot on lights! This seemed a very good price for the PAR (main reason I bought it) and the features. Downside is there's no controller with it, so it's going to be a timer switch on the wall rather than a fancy pants app on my phone (there is a 0-10V port, so if I want to make a DIY controller I can, but I have yet to go down this rabbit hole)- £90
Heater, AQUAEL 115513 Plastic Heater Ultra Heater 75 W. I've used the glass type for years, they've always been slightly painful. Thought I'd give this plastic/electronic type a bash - it's only a few quid more so a flea fart in a hurricane of mounting costs - £22
Cheapo water pump for mixing salt - £8
Tensol 12 - £8
AquaticEmporium
10kg Dry rock (only used 7- 8k, but useful to have a range of rocks to choose from to create the scape) - £60
DD aquascape construction epoxy - £7
Random
Cycling crate - £3.50
10L RO water container (inc the water) - £10
10L RO water - £10
Airstone and airline (I didn't need an airpump, as I reused one from my freshwater) - £7
Still to get
KH, Mg, Ca tests. Will use Salifert, great reviews, good price - £30
Powerhead, probably get Jebau RW4. DC, so power adjustable with different modes, moveable head - £50
Mat for under tank - £5
Acrylic scraper cleaner. Probably go for Mag Float for acrylic - £17
Activated carbon. Haven't decided yet, will wait a few months
Filter floss - £5
RO water to fill tank - £10
Fish and Coral. Who the hell knows how much this will cost! Initial estimate - £100
Siphon (I don't want to use my freshwater one)- £15
Stuff I could reuse from stuff I already have:
Air pump - £7
Glass heater for warming the salt mixing water - £15
Saltwater mixing bucket. Will just reuse cycling crate
Grand total: £774 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bust my budget by a massive 100%.
If I had known this before starting would I have started? Probably
I can't bloody wait to get fish and coral in, I'm like a little boy about to get a puppy. Discussion around my purchasing decisions welcome! Where could/should I have cut costs?Check back in on Sunday for pictures of my exploded tank (you hope), my non leaking tank (I hope).
EDIT
SUNDAY - the day of filling. No explosions, but a couple of leaks. Emptied tank and used Tensol 12 on all the joints again, I'll refill tonight to see if the leaks are fixed
EDIT
3rd December, 3 weeks after starting to glue the aquarium and 2.5 weeks after starting the cycle, I'm ready for inhabitants. Lesson learned - get the rocks in their final position before putting the sand in. Moving the rocks with sand in the tank caused cloudiness in seconds so I couldn't see where I was moving the rocks to - it took days to get them in the right position.
EDIT
15th December, Clownfish and 3 corals have been in since 3rd and all seem happy. Diatoms have started to arrive.
Lesson learned - I took out the filter sponge from the HOB and replaced it with filter floss. Problem was the bigger bits of crud stayed at the bottom of the filter as they couldn't get 'caught' in the floss. So sponge back in under the floss, we'll see if it works.
Started dosing with baking soda (Randy's formula) as my alk seems to have stopped dropping and is stable at about 5.9. Will try to increase to about 8/8.5 over the next 4 or 5 days.
Hood has been finished and installed today to try and make my wife happier with the tank. The light is much closer to the water so the spread isn't as wide meaning it will need a second light added in the future, involving hood alterations.
Before:
After
EDIT
23rd December. Started the process of changing over my really fine sand to Fiji Pink. It will be a massive faff
Dave
Last edited:
