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Ok I know that I've probably spent more money than the average individual on this hobby.... with everything considered I feel like I've done pretty good for what I've spent to get what I have and I consider my tank to be a budget build . I feel like I have a pretty good story to go along with my tank and thee fact that it's located in the lobby of a church. Before I get into that bit if the story I was going to share a little bit if how I got into reef tanks.
So most of us have a tragic story about how one day we bought our first tank and how we are now doomed to spend tons of money for the rest of our lives. Mine started with visiting the mall of America with my girlfriend (now upgraded to wife) to celebrate her 12 year old brother's birthday because who doesn't want to do that. They have a salt water exhibit in the basement of the mall and I thought, this is kinda cool and proceeded to do what any ADD ADHD person would do and found a cheap ugly tank on Craigslist that someone was trying to offload. From there I upgraded to a 90 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump and rolled the dice by putting it upstairs in my room.
Fast forward a couple of years. Now this is the sad part of the story. So my house is in the middle of Minneapolis, when I bought the house I thought "what's the worse thing that can happen" and I'm pretty sure I forgot to knock of wood because to be honest that's what happened. In 2020 when COVID was in full swing I wasn't working because I'm an airplane mechanic and nobody was flying. I was working some side jobs here and there, keeping busy when one day a tragedy happened. Half a block from my house George Floyd died. I'm not going to get into the details of that too much because I don't want to, regardless this created a huge problem for me. I was living with 5 guys that I rented rooms to and after our street became an autonomous zone things got crazy and they moved out. This would have been fine but my now fiance told me there was no way she was living in that house. The only problem was the only thing we could afford was a small 600 square foot apartment because nobody wanted to buy my house. Not only was my house a 2800 sq ft house but there was no way I was getting my tank into the apartment. So I formulated a plan went to church and told my Pastor... You know what we need in the lobby... A salt water aquarium! He said that would be cool and to his demise he was helping me move a 90 gallon aquarium into the lobby of my church.
It's been there ever since and I just recently upgraded to a 125 gallon aquarium that I found on marketplace (the new Craigslist). Here's some pictures and later I will share the details on how I made the stand the lights and my future goals!
Ok so here are some tank build details, This tank is a 125 gallon aquarium. The reason I call my tank a budget build is because almost every part of my system was purchased with cost greatly considered. The tank was purchased from craigslist for 75$. I built the stand from left over wood and the neighbors fence that blew over during a storm. I run a 20 gallon sump with baffles made from acrylic we cut using a water jet. I like to be resourceful and believe that sometimes you don't have to spend a lot of money to make something beautiful, more importantly its the fun of the project and love for sea life that makes aquariums beautiful
Equipment :
Sump:
I have a reef octopus skimmer running in the 20 gallon sumps first chamber.
This sump is separated by 3 acrylic baffles I cut using a water jet and then glued into place.
The middle chamber is a Refugium, I grow cheato and have a purple led grow light above this chamber
The last chamber is the water evaporation chamber. with my return pump
I dose Iron on the regular to get my cheato to grow, I have a pyto-plankton and pod cultures that I add to the sump weekly in order to add some biodiversity to the tank
Power heads:
2 Jebao MLW-30 Power heads and 1 Nero 3 power head. These Jaebo power heads have worked great for the price and they synchronize using WiFi. I would recommend as I have had no problem providing enough flow to grow SPS and acropora corals. I also 3d printed guards because Ive had too many things get into my power heads and it seemed like an easy way to prevent this
Lights:
2 Viperaspectera 165W Lights supplemented by 4 80W t5 bulbs. I have a Reef-Pi that I really want to set up to control these lights and hope to implement soon. The ballasts are dim-able as well and I am working out a way to control it with the Reef-Pi system.
Filtration:
I use a canister filter, A lot of people don’t like them but I have found mine to be a great tool to keep the water clear and I use phosphate RX or lanthanum chloride to lower phosphates. This filter provides a mechanical way to remove the precipitated solids out of the water after using this method of phosphate removal.
Temp Control:
I have two Jager heaters for redundancy as well as a chiller to cool the tank during the summer. My Reef-Pi system has two temperature probes that controls these devices to ensure that in case of a heater run away they will be shut off
Maintenance routine:
I have 6 different pumps run by my Reef-pi These dose Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, trace elements, amino acids, and phyto. I make my own solution to dose Alkalinity using sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfate. I use calcium pellets for calcium and a powder for magnesium. I clean my canister filter once a month and add carbon to it to keep the water clear and prevent chemical warfare between corals. I change 5-10 gallons a week and will do larger 40 gallon changes if I think something is off with my chemistry.
I also add pods weekly to the sump and DT if the anthias look hungry. I have 2 posiden phyto tanks, one had a mix of pyto-plankton the other a mix of different pods that. I have Tisbe tiger and apocalypse pods growing in my pod tank. I am currently battling hair algae and bryopsis, I do so with a toothbrush, If anyone has any suggestions to make my life easier let me know! I believe that stability in the tanks bio is one of the biggest reasons people succeed and others fail. I don't want to but I might just use reef flux to clear out my algae problem. I have sand in my tank and I try to stir it up to keep it clear of sediment buildup but despite my efforts I believe the sand contributes to my algae problem.
Livestock:
I love a challenge to get a difficult fish in my tank, if you look at my fish list you will probably see this to be true. Anthias are my favorite, but the new addition of this blue ribbon eel I have found a new favorite fish. I Hatch brine shrimp i think that live brine is a must to getting these difficult fish on track! Once they are eating brine I slowly mixed frozen into the mix. Fish will eventually accidentally eat the frozen and them I would work them into frozen mysis and other frozen foods.
leopard wrasse
Not the greatest pictures BUT hes a fast one! One of my difficult fish would be my leopard Wrasse . He was hard to get him on a frozen diet, but his eating habits and difficulties were solved very similar to getting some of these picky anthias to eat. After a month of hatching brine shrimp I was able to get him to eat frozen food
A Blue hippo(Dory)
Of course I need a dory. Dory is a favorite of the kiddos (secretly also a fovorte of adults). They wanted a Dory and I got Dory!
a Sailfin tang
I had a big guy for quite some time and one day I found him dead
I have big hopes For this guy!
Coral beauty
One of my older fish, he can be a butt sometimes but hes been around for long enough to be in charge!
Anthias:
I have A Bi-color, Scribbled, red bar, Princess, Cariberry, dispar,and a lyretail. They all get along with the Bi-color being in charge.
Bi-color
Scribbled
princess and two cariberry
lyertail
Red Bar
marine betta
He is an awesome fish that Is super chill and never causes problems for me
copper band butterfly (NEW)
This is the only fish that didn't go through a quarantine. He was difficult to get to eat, but I kept putting mysis shrimp where he would hide and eventually he started picking at it. He now eats great and will hunt through the sand for worms all day long.
two chromis
pajama cardinal
a yellow damsel
NEW ADDITION: Blue ribbon eel
I was told that this eel was a horrible idea, knowing that I bought this eel. He has been in the tank for about a month now and is doing great. He has yet to harm any tank mates; I feed him sliver sides and salmon to give him some good fatty meat. The silver sides are good because I think he needs the bones. I’ve never gotten him to accept live foods because he to shy and slow, when he takes food from me I almost feel like I have to convince him but recently he had become more excited when he sees the pincers in the water. He knows it time to eat! He is awesome and sometimes he shows off and goes for a swim.
Coral
I have a mixed tank, I love SPS LPS and softies. I am trending towards more SPS with acropora becoming more of a focus. Currently I have multiple large acropora colonies with some other sps colonies growing fact to compete. My favorite LPS coral is my acanthophyllia , I love lps corals and at one point I had a lot more but they died to a brown jelly outbreak in my tank. I have since made a plan to prevent this but It will take time for my lps frags to take off and regrow to the glory they once were. I’m not super into collectors pieces of corals but I would be lying if i said I did't want any.
So most of us have a tragic story about how one day we bought our first tank and how we are now doomed to spend tons of money for the rest of our lives. Mine started with visiting the mall of America with my girlfriend (now upgraded to wife) to celebrate her 12 year old brother's birthday because who doesn't want to do that. They have a salt water exhibit in the basement of the mall and I thought, this is kinda cool and proceeded to do what any ADD ADHD person would do and found a cheap ugly tank on Craigslist that someone was trying to offload. From there I upgraded to a 90 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump and rolled the dice by putting it upstairs in my room.
Fast forward a couple of years. Now this is the sad part of the story. So my house is in the middle of Minneapolis, when I bought the house I thought "what's the worse thing that can happen" and I'm pretty sure I forgot to knock of wood because to be honest that's what happened. In 2020 when COVID was in full swing I wasn't working because I'm an airplane mechanic and nobody was flying. I was working some side jobs here and there, keeping busy when one day a tragedy happened. Half a block from my house George Floyd died. I'm not going to get into the details of that too much because I don't want to, regardless this created a huge problem for me. I was living with 5 guys that I rented rooms to and after our street became an autonomous zone things got crazy and they moved out. This would have been fine but my now fiance told me there was no way she was living in that house. The only problem was the only thing we could afford was a small 600 square foot apartment because nobody wanted to buy my house. Not only was my house a 2800 sq ft house but there was no way I was getting my tank into the apartment. So I formulated a plan went to church and told my Pastor... You know what we need in the lobby... A salt water aquarium! He said that would be cool and to his demise he was helping me move a 90 gallon aquarium into the lobby of my church.
It's been there ever since and I just recently upgraded to a 125 gallon aquarium that I found on marketplace (the new Craigslist). Here's some pictures and later I will share the details on how I made the stand the lights and my future goals!
Ok so here are some tank build details, This tank is a 125 gallon aquarium. The reason I call my tank a budget build is because almost every part of my system was purchased with cost greatly considered. The tank was purchased from craigslist for 75$. I built the stand from left over wood and the neighbors fence that blew over during a storm. I run a 20 gallon sump with baffles made from acrylic we cut using a water jet. I like to be resourceful and believe that sometimes you don't have to spend a lot of money to make something beautiful, more importantly its the fun of the project and love for sea life that makes aquariums beautiful
Equipment :
Sump:
I have a reef octopus skimmer running in the 20 gallon sumps first chamber.
This sump is separated by 3 acrylic baffles I cut using a water jet and then glued into place.
The middle chamber is a Refugium, I grow cheato and have a purple led grow light above this chamber
The last chamber is the water evaporation chamber. with my return pump
I dose Iron on the regular to get my cheato to grow, I have a pyto-plankton and pod cultures that I add to the sump weekly in order to add some biodiversity to the tank
Power heads:
2 Jebao MLW-30 Power heads and 1 Nero 3 power head. These Jaebo power heads have worked great for the price and they synchronize using WiFi. I would recommend as I have had no problem providing enough flow to grow SPS and acropora corals. I also 3d printed guards because Ive had too many things get into my power heads and it seemed like an easy way to prevent this
Lights:
2 Viperaspectera 165W Lights supplemented by 4 80W t5 bulbs. I have a Reef-Pi that I really want to set up to control these lights and hope to implement soon. The ballasts are dim-able as well and I am working out a way to control it with the Reef-Pi system.
Filtration:
I use a canister filter, A lot of people don’t like them but I have found mine to be a great tool to keep the water clear and I use phosphate RX or lanthanum chloride to lower phosphates. This filter provides a mechanical way to remove the precipitated solids out of the water after using this method of phosphate removal.
Temp Control:
I have two Jager heaters for redundancy as well as a chiller to cool the tank during the summer. My Reef-Pi system has two temperature probes that controls these devices to ensure that in case of a heater run away they will be shut off
Maintenance routine:
I have 6 different pumps run by my Reef-pi These dose Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, trace elements, amino acids, and phyto. I make my own solution to dose Alkalinity using sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfate. I use calcium pellets for calcium and a powder for magnesium. I clean my canister filter once a month and add carbon to it to keep the water clear and prevent chemical warfare between corals. I change 5-10 gallons a week and will do larger 40 gallon changes if I think something is off with my chemistry.
I also add pods weekly to the sump and DT if the anthias look hungry. I have 2 posiden phyto tanks, one had a mix of pyto-plankton the other a mix of different pods that. I have Tisbe tiger and apocalypse pods growing in my pod tank. I am currently battling hair algae and bryopsis, I do so with a toothbrush, If anyone has any suggestions to make my life easier let me know! I believe that stability in the tanks bio is one of the biggest reasons people succeed and others fail. I don't want to but I might just use reef flux to clear out my algae problem. I have sand in my tank and I try to stir it up to keep it clear of sediment buildup but despite my efforts I believe the sand contributes to my algae problem.
Livestock:
I love a challenge to get a difficult fish in my tank, if you look at my fish list you will probably see this to be true. Anthias are my favorite, but the new addition of this blue ribbon eel I have found a new favorite fish. I Hatch brine shrimp i think that live brine is a must to getting these difficult fish on track! Once they are eating brine I slowly mixed frozen into the mix. Fish will eventually accidentally eat the frozen and them I would work them into frozen mysis and other frozen foods.
leopard wrasse
Not the greatest pictures BUT hes a fast one! One of my difficult fish would be my leopard Wrasse . He was hard to get him on a frozen diet, but his eating habits and difficulties were solved very similar to getting some of these picky anthias to eat. After a month of hatching brine shrimp I was able to get him to eat frozen food
A Blue hippo(Dory)
Of course I need a dory. Dory is a favorite of the kiddos (secretly also a fovorte of adults). They wanted a Dory and I got Dory!
a Sailfin tang
I had a big guy for quite some time and one day I found him dead
I have big hopes For this guy!Coral beauty
One of my older fish, he can be a butt sometimes but hes been around for long enough to be in charge!
Anthias:
I have A Bi-color, Scribbled, red bar, Princess, Cariberry, dispar,and a lyretail. They all get along with the Bi-color being in charge.
Bi-color
Scribbled
princess and two cariberry
lyertail
Red Bar
marine betta
He is an awesome fish that Is super chill and never causes problems for me
copper band butterfly (NEW)
This is the only fish that didn't go through a quarantine. He was difficult to get to eat, but I kept putting mysis shrimp where he would hide and eventually he started picking at it. He now eats great and will hunt through the sand for worms all day long.
two chromis
pajama cardinal
a yellow damsel
NEW ADDITION: Blue ribbon eel
I was told that this eel was a horrible idea, knowing that I bought this eel. He has been in the tank for about a month now and is doing great. He has yet to harm any tank mates; I feed him sliver sides and salmon to give him some good fatty meat. The silver sides are good because I think he needs the bones. I’ve never gotten him to accept live foods because he to shy and slow, when he takes food from me I almost feel like I have to convince him but recently he had become more excited when he sees the pincers in the water. He knows it time to eat! He is awesome and sometimes he shows off and goes for a swim.
Coral
I have a mixed tank, I love SPS LPS and softies. I am trending towards more SPS with acropora becoming more of a focus. Currently I have multiple large acropora colonies with some other sps colonies growing fact to compete. My favorite LPS coral is my acanthophyllia , I love lps corals and at one point I had a lot more but they died to a brown jelly outbreak in my tank. I have since made a plan to prevent this but It will take time for my lps frags to take off and regrow to the glory they once were. I’m not super into collectors pieces of corals but I would be lying if i said I did't want any.
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