SCA 50 Gallon PNP System EcoTech Marine Edition

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So at 7:00pm last night I received shipment of my new SCA 50 gallon cube, rustic grey stand, SCA 301 skimmer, atman ph2500 return pump, filter floss, media balls, sponge media, overflow cover, 18.5 gallon glass sump, Reef Link, G4 Radion XR15 pro. I'm still waiting for a backorder from SCA of an Ecotech MP10WQD and XRS mounting arm for the XR15 which were included in the system. I may not be updating this for awhile as this won't be set up until the beginning of June, but I will update as I acquire new items for this setup. I'm new to the hobby and still collecting everything needed to properly run and care for this aquarium and it's soon to be inhabitants. My plans...So I really want a mandarin dragonet it's a deal breaker so I'll start there and do realize that won't happen til xmas at the earliest. I know I need pod population and will build a feeder via Paul B. (I love this place; R2R and my local reefing forum TCMAS.) I would also like pair of clowns, a wrasse or two, diamond goby, royal gramma. Corals; gotta have frogspawn or torches for movement, toadstool, and some zoas. Also would eventually like a BTA for the clowns. As for the sump I will KISS at first, running mini refugium in the middle chamber, skimmer and return on the right side with the drain and a filter sock setup being on the left. Tank is drilled for a herbie, I will hard plumb it. Last weekend I grabbed a used Apex system with temp and pH probes, display an extra eb8 and all cables to run everything. I'm planning on running Red Sea salt blue bucket, BRS reef saver rock, special grade arag alive sand, red sea marine care test kit, BRS 4 stage rodi 150gpd plus kit, fishless cycle with Dr. Tim's one & only, Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride, calibration fluid for pH probe, IC Gel for rocks, taotronics led refugium light, sicce syncra silent 1.5 for water mixing, filling and changes and I'll probably end up with a Tunze ATO. Any thoughts, suggestions, criticism please leave them for me. Thank you all in advance.

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So today I received my tank mount and mp10 as well as a few back issues of coral magazine that I ordered. Oops, they accidentally sent me Hitchhikers instead of Dragonets, hopefully they'll send me the correct issue.
Been thinking I may cycle a single rock (cost reasons) until I set everything up...Is this even advantageous cycling one rock? Also yesterday I cleaned my old 5 gal freshwater glofish tank that will be used as my QT. Slowly getting things ready. Many more things to acquire and now vacation will be eating up the rest of my money so I may not post too many updates on this until June.

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So a little update here, no big ticket items yet like RO/DI system, salt mix, or rock as next month's vacation has priority over everything right now. But I did make it to the TCMAS frag swap expo last weekend in a complete blizzard up here in MN...fun times ;)
I'll start right where I left off; Coral magazine rushed me the correct issue of Dragonets:D
Now, I ended up bringing a bunch of things home from the from the swap for my setup
4 Coral magazines
IM return pump 476 GPH (to be used for saltwater mixing/pumping to DT)
Kent tank scraper
IM magnetic probe rack nano (4 probe slots 2 dose tube slots)
25ft silicone airline tubing
4x 200 micron filter socks
2x used BRS dosing pumps
used Bubble Magus Curve 5
used Fluval Sea wavemaker
used IM gourmet defroster
used 2LF magnetic veggie clip
used Vertex refractometer
used Hanna alk checker ppm; just needs re-agent
Light hanging kit (in case I don't like the RMS tank mount)
used 10 gallon tank for QT
used 20 gallon tank will be set up as clown tank for my daughter
used Aqueon Quietflow 30 came with the 20gal, will stay with it for her clown tank
40lb bag Carib Sea Ocean Direct live sand
30lb bag Carib Sea Aragamax Select sand
2x Mag Float glass cleaners 1 small for daughter's 20 clown tank 1 medium for my SCA 50
And on top of all that stuff I won a raffle; behind the scenes tour of the MN zoo's Discovery Bay aquarium, get to feed stingrays and watch sharks feeding. Not sure who's more excited between my daughter and myself.
I'll post pics.
 
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Been thinking up and planning a water mixing station here in my tiny house, very limited space right now. But I do have this unused closet that is right outside my bathroom, perfect for fitting 1 or 2, 25 gallon vertical tanks. My thought is RO/DI at above or below the sink in bathroom then run the line through the bathroom wall into said closet. My DT is 50 gal, sump 15 gal, Emergency hospital tank 5 gal (always stored broken down kept for just in case), Daughter's mini reef 20 gal, QT 10 gal for a total of 100 gallons at any one given time but unlikely all at once. I sketched something up, forgive my crude sketch lol. Top tank being fresh RO/DI and bottom being the mixing tank with heater and pump to mix and pump into any of the above mentioned tanks. Fwiw; the closet opening is 18" wide but the closet inside is 20" deep and 23" wide. Will this work? Also that red line for a shelf should probably be a 4 legged stand right? Here's the TANKS 18 x 30
Please post shots of your mixing station setups. I'm also having problems visualizing the plumbing setup needed for this. Thought of gravity feeding the bottom tank, I have an internal IM return pump I was thinking of using in the bottom tank for pumping to whatever tank needs the SW, but I see lots of external pumps for mixing stations. I always see everyone's mixing station setups with 10ft of plumbing seemingly going nowhere but back to the same containers. To me it's confusing and overwhelming. I'd really appreciate a crash course in mixing station plumbing.
All that being said do I even need a mixing station? I could get by with a 5 gal WC each on both my 50 DT and my daughter's 20 DT weekly right? 10gal/week do I even need this mixing station?

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Very long story short I had another back fusion, so things got put on hold. BUT. I'm now recovering and still collecting the things needed to get this all set up.
Since my last post here are the updates I have done.
I have decided to replace the return pump with a controllable Jebao DC pump.
I bought a gently used BRS 6 stage deluxe 150gpd RO/DI system

I still need: rock, salt, test kits, hanna alk reagent, Brute can, all basic meds for QT and RO/DI filter replacement kit.
So I'm getting closer, if I had to guess February or March I should be finally getting it wet.
 

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You are about where I am. I also got the brs 6 stage. I have been held up from an injury and surgery bout not as bad as yours. I’m hoping I can start getting wet in the beginning of January.
Heal up soon.
If you where closer I would donate some left over rock.
 
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It's been a while since my last update so here's where I'm at right now:

I now have two new Eheim Jager 150 watt heaters and a BRS replacement filter kit for my 6 stage RO/DI system.

I bought a digital finnex heater and egg crate for my daughter's tank.

I'm on tight budget currently so I'm making a monthly item list.

This week for February's budget I'm ordering 80lbs of rock and E-marco 400 pink mortar. Trying to decide between Nature's Ocean Base Rock or Reef Cleaners

March - will be small bucket Salt, Brute can w/ lid, Red Sea test kit and Fritz turbo start 900

April - will be all the plumbing, fittings etc.

May - will be the final pieces like QT meds, big bucket salt, King Starboard

June - My daughter needs a light for her 20G tall. Hope to grab something for her, so they can both be set up.

As you can all probably see my plan here is to get the rock aquascape it then cure/cycle the rock in a brute in my garage for the remaining months while I collect the final pieces like plumbing, QT meds and possibly some King Starboard so I can go BB on this tank.

I'm also throwing around the idea of getting a Pentair UV from BRS.
 
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Today I got 80# of @reefcleaners rock, it looks great! Mostly big chunks, 1 or 2 flat pieces and some smaller chunks, perfect selection.
Monday I got E-Marco 400 pink mortar for my aquascape. I'll be starting that soon and will post pics.
The rock looks great, very porous, clean and just dusty. Almost no breakage during transit, minimal rubble left over.



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Philipgonzales3

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Today I got 80# of @reefcleaners rock, it looks great! Mostly big chunks, 1 or 2 flat pieces and some smaller chunks, perfect selection.
Monday I got E-Marco 400 pink mortar for my aquascape. I'll be starting that soon and will post pics.
The rock looks great, very porous, clean and just dusty. Almost no breakage during transit, minimal rubble left over.



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Awesome! Can't wait to see how it turns out!
 
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I'm excited, need to aquascape both mine and my daughter's tanks then next month is Brute/lid, salt, fritz turbo 900 and some test kits......The cycle begins in March!!!

@Philipgonzales3

You really should start a build thread!
Document your progress in one place, extra entries into the monthly giveaways and everyone else can follow along easier.
 
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I'm excited, need to aquascape both mine and my daughter's tanks then next month is Brute/lid, salt, fritz turbo 900 and some test kits......The cycle begins in March!!!

@Philipgonzales3

You really should start a build thread!
Document your progress in one place, extra entries into the monthly giveaways and everyone else can follow along easier.

Hmm, maybe I'll look into this but not sure I will find the time anytime soon.
 

Fusion in reefing: How do you feel about grafted corals?

  • I strongly prefer grafted corals and I seek them out to put in my tank.

    Votes: 3 3.0%
  • I find grafted corals appealing and would be open to having them in my tank.

    Votes: 55 55.6%
  • I am indifferent about grafted corals and am not enthusiastic about having them in my tank.

    Votes: 31 31.3%
  • I have reservations about grafted corals and would generally avoid having them in my tank.

    Votes: 7 7.1%
  • I have a negative perception and would avoid having grafted corals in my tank.

    Votes: 3 3.0%
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