Houstoner
Active Member
Hey R2R! Posted this on my local forum thought I'd post here for everyone. Whelp here goes nothing,
Backstory: Have been told countless times to start a build thread on one of my tanks, so here is the first. I had an aquarium in highschool of 2012, but never had the money or mindset to really get going until about 2 years ago when I started my 24gal. Ever since then I have been lurking on this website and my local one for a little over a year. I'm not very creative so being able to see all your builds gave me everything I needed. This tank being featured was actually bought as an upgrade for my 24gal aquatop. I currently am renting with several other roommates (two of whoom are fellow reefers) and our lease will be up in May of this year. I will be moving back in with my dad to save enough money for a house hopefully not in the fifth ward. Knowing the woes of moving I wanted to be proactive and set up a tank already at the new house (aka my dad's). I probably should not have upgraded so quick or at least been more mindful with my spending, but none of us would be in this hobby if it wasn't for the passion. And dangit I have so much love for this hobby and the people that help the community progress.
The tank: After browsing forums and vendor websites for a few weeks I was about to pull the trigger on a brand new black reefer 170. Was looking for one used, but only found a white Red Sea reefer 250 on marsh reef (local forum). It was a deal of a lifetime if I'm being honest. The tank had been used less than 9 months and taken down due to moving and space issues along with a stubborn wife I presume. So with this reefer 250 came a plethora of goodies and equipment. Most of it is small but the dollars add up quick Hannah checkers/flipper max/BRS two part dosing mix/red sea test kits/ carbon ect... The big ones were a reef Octopus 152-s/Eflux Current USA 1050gph pump that I sold on here (local forum) along with a tub of "goodies". Thanks guys!
The plan: After having a mixed nano tank, I decided to dive into the deep end with a full blown bare bottom sps tank. I don't have unlimited funds, but I will shell out extra dollars for quality with a proven track record. For mechanical filtration I'll use filter pads, along with a Nyos 120.
I just bought the red sea filtration cups that go in replace of the socks on Amazon. For biological filtration I will use the red sea ATO as a refegium. I will use ABS black plastic 1/16 inch to cover the sides to avoid light spillage into the sump. It will double as a frag tank in the coming years when the macro algae(chaeto) is no longer needed. In time I do plan on dosing using Tropic Marine. I will do weekly 10 gallon water changes to replace trace elements and help keep the water in check.
The equipment: Lighting will be two Hydra 26HDs with the 3dreefing diffusers. I already had one so I bought the other off someone on reef2reef. So I sold my return pump and my protein skimmer to you guys guess I gotta go shopping. I had the current USA 660gph wave makers in my 24g. After going through 3 in a little over a year and receiving zero customer support or feedback I decided to never do business with them again hence me selling the perfectly functional Eflux return pump. So after a little debate I pulled the trigger on a new Vectra S2 due to noise reliability and customer service. I would have waited for a sale, but wanted to get plumbing done sooner rather than later. Onto the skimmer, I sold the big boi 152-s because it was way to much for my tank. I am very proactive at changing my filterpads along with a well running fuge I didn't need a big skimmer. I plan on buying a new Nyos 120 when it goes on sale (hopefully presidents day) mainly only because it doesn't put out alot of noise. So onto fuge lighting, I know alot of people try to go above and beyond on fuge light I try to keep it small and simple. I'll be using what's already on both of my nanos, the IM ChaetoMax. It's free of user error, you only need to tune the schedule a few hours +/- according to your tanks bio load. Onto flow, I will be using two MP40QD's (bought from a fellow Marsh reefer) on the back of the glass for most the display turnover. I plan on adding two MP10QD's or tunze pumps to bottom of each corner in the back of the glass to help kick up detritus. After dealing with 2 years of UPS Battery backups crapping out on me usually in less than 4 hours, for me going with ecotech Vortechs was a no brainer. I plan on putting a hydor nano powerhead in the sump to help keep it clean of detritus. For ato container I wanted something that looked nice didn't break the bank and could last me over a week, ladies and gentlemen I present to you a piece of acrylic that isn't insanely overpriced. The choice aquatics 10gal white ATO. Will be using my tunze 3155 ATO for top offs. For heating I'm hoping to use a 200w BRS heater along with a new wifi inkbird controller.
Ikea box: So I went to Ikea looking for a cabinet to house my power strip.
Ikea was pretty cancerous if I'm being honest, PewDiePie hyped it up. Anyway found a perfect kitchen cabinet in the discount hardware section at least that matched my white red sea. I plan on housing all my electrical components and possibly my dosing containers in here in the future.
Wrap up: Super stocked to be apart of this community. I'll try and keep this as up to date as possible while the tank build goes into the finale moving stages. In the meantime here are a bunch of tank pictures in no specific order because I made this post on my phone.
Backstory: Have been told countless times to start a build thread on one of my tanks, so here is the first. I had an aquarium in highschool of 2012, but never had the money or mindset to really get going until about 2 years ago when I started my 24gal. Ever since then I have been lurking on this website and my local one for a little over a year. I'm not very creative so being able to see all your builds gave me everything I needed. This tank being featured was actually bought as an upgrade for my 24gal aquatop. I currently am renting with several other roommates (two of whoom are fellow reefers) and our lease will be up in May of this year. I will be moving back in with my dad to save enough money for a house hopefully not in the fifth ward. Knowing the woes of moving I wanted to be proactive and set up a tank already at the new house (aka my dad's). I probably should not have upgraded so quick or at least been more mindful with my spending, but none of us would be in this hobby if it wasn't for the passion. And dangit I have so much love for this hobby and the people that help the community progress.
The tank: After browsing forums and vendor websites for a few weeks I was about to pull the trigger on a brand new black reefer 170. Was looking for one used, but only found a white Red Sea reefer 250 on marsh reef (local forum). It was a deal of a lifetime if I'm being honest. The tank had been used less than 9 months and taken down due to moving and space issues along with a stubborn wife I presume. So with this reefer 250 came a plethora of goodies and equipment. Most of it is small but the dollars add up quick Hannah checkers/flipper max/BRS two part dosing mix/red sea test kits/ carbon ect... The big ones were a reef Octopus 152-s/Eflux Current USA 1050gph pump that I sold on here (local forum) along with a tub of "goodies". Thanks guys!
The plan: After having a mixed nano tank, I decided to dive into the deep end with a full blown bare bottom sps tank. I don't have unlimited funds, but I will shell out extra dollars for quality with a proven track record. For mechanical filtration I'll use filter pads, along with a Nyos 120.
I just bought the red sea filtration cups that go in replace of the socks on Amazon. For biological filtration I will use the red sea ATO as a refegium. I will use ABS black plastic 1/16 inch to cover the sides to avoid light spillage into the sump. It will double as a frag tank in the coming years when the macro algae(chaeto) is no longer needed. In time I do plan on dosing using Tropic Marine. I will do weekly 10 gallon water changes to replace trace elements and help keep the water in check.
The equipment: Lighting will be two Hydra 26HDs with the 3dreefing diffusers. I already had one so I bought the other off someone on reef2reef. So I sold my return pump and my protein skimmer to you guys guess I gotta go shopping. I had the current USA 660gph wave makers in my 24g. After going through 3 in a little over a year and receiving zero customer support or feedback I decided to never do business with them again hence me selling the perfectly functional Eflux return pump. So after a little debate I pulled the trigger on a new Vectra S2 due to noise reliability and customer service. I would have waited for a sale, but wanted to get plumbing done sooner rather than later. Onto the skimmer, I sold the big boi 152-s because it was way to much for my tank. I am very proactive at changing my filterpads along with a well running fuge I didn't need a big skimmer. I plan on buying a new Nyos 120 when it goes on sale (hopefully presidents day) mainly only because it doesn't put out alot of noise. So onto fuge lighting, I know alot of people try to go above and beyond on fuge light I try to keep it small and simple. I'll be using what's already on both of my nanos, the IM ChaetoMax. It's free of user error, you only need to tune the schedule a few hours +/- according to your tanks bio load. Onto flow, I will be using two MP40QD's (bought from a fellow Marsh reefer) on the back of the glass for most the display turnover. I plan on adding two MP10QD's or tunze pumps to bottom of each corner in the back of the glass to help kick up detritus. After dealing with 2 years of UPS Battery backups crapping out on me usually in less than 4 hours, for me going with ecotech Vortechs was a no brainer. I plan on putting a hydor nano powerhead in the sump to help keep it clean of detritus. For ato container I wanted something that looked nice didn't break the bank and could last me over a week, ladies and gentlemen I present to you a piece of acrylic that isn't insanely overpriced. The choice aquatics 10gal white ATO. Will be using my tunze 3155 ATO for top offs. For heating I'm hoping to use a 200w BRS heater along with a new wifi inkbird controller.
Ikea box: So I went to Ikea looking for a cabinet to house my power strip.
Ikea was pretty cancerous if I'm being honest, PewDiePie hyped it up. Anyway found a perfect kitchen cabinet in the discount hardware section at least that matched my white red sea. I plan on housing all my electrical components and possibly my dosing containers in here in the future.
Wrap up: Super stocked to be apart of this community. I'll try and keep this as up to date as possible while the tank build goes into the finale moving stages. In the meantime here are a bunch of tank pictures in no specific order because I made this post on my phone.
