Well my new Glass Cages tank is still a month or two from arrival and I'm getting impatient. I thought I'd get a head start on the new tank by getting my live rock going. I wanted to do my best to remove any unwanted hitchhikers before it went into the new tank, but didn't want any of the other life to die off. I have this old squat rack in my garage that hasn't been used since the pandemic, and it seemed like the perfect thing for a live rock curing and observation station.
I had almost all the equipment I needed except for a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank which I bought for around $100. My friend Jack (@UncommonSense) helped me build the platform out of some scrap lumber he had and loaned me a sump and heater he was not using (thanks Jack!). We drilled the tank for a large bulkhead I had left over from a previous project.
The rest of the equpment I had on hand:
- an old Rio 2500 for return pump
- an old MaxiJet 900 for circulation
- a mini Bubble King 180 skimmer from my old tank
- a new Kessil a360xe I bought for the new tank (to add to the other 3 Kessils I already had on the old tank)
- my 20 year-old Nurse ATO
Between Jack and I we had almost all the plumbing parts we needed, except I did have to buy 2 PVC fittings for $8. I added an Inkbird heater controller and a couple of ground probes, plus a commercial grade power strip plugged into a GFCI outlet. I used PVC pipes and zipties to suspend the Kessil, which I put on a timer.
The 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank is just the right size to hold 100 lbs of premium LR from KP Aquatics in a single layer. I think it came out great. Now all I need is a new aquarium!
I had almost all the equipment I needed except for a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank which I bought for around $100. My friend Jack (@UncommonSense) helped me build the platform out of some scrap lumber he had and loaned me a sump and heater he was not using (thanks Jack!). We drilled the tank for a large bulkhead I had left over from a previous project.
The rest of the equpment I had on hand:
- an old Rio 2500 for return pump
- an old MaxiJet 900 for circulation
- a mini Bubble King 180 skimmer from my old tank
- a new Kessil a360xe I bought for the new tank (to add to the other 3 Kessils I already had on the old tank)
- my 20 year-old Nurse ATO
Between Jack and I we had almost all the plumbing parts we needed, except I did have to buy 2 PVC fittings for $8. I added an Inkbird heater controller and a couple of ground probes, plus a commercial grade power strip plugged into a GFCI outlet. I used PVC pipes and zipties to suspend the Kessil, which I put on a timer.
The 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank is just the right size to hold 100 lbs of premium LR from KP Aquatics in a single layer. I think it came out great. Now all I need is a new aquarium!
) Build thread coming soon!
