Woo Hoo My HUGE 30 Gallon Build

[Baggerhog]

BTW are you gonna do a calcium reactor or two part or both?

[JoeAyers]

let me know if you need any help doing all that plumbing I will come over and help out.  ;Dl I have plenty of pvc and glue we can hard plumb everything. I have an extra snapper laying around if you want to borrow it for your tank?

Yeah thanks. I'm thinking about the hammerhead I have in my garage instead. 

So what kind of corals and fish are you planning?

I have a pair of clowns and a clown goby. I'm thikning about adding a school of 50-60 anthias. For corals I'm just going to fill it up with anthelia.

BTW are you gonna do a calcium reactor or two part or both?

Had you bothered to read my original post, instead of looking at the pretty pictures; Kalk and two part.

[JoeAyers]

So what kind of corals and fish are you planning?

But to be real. I'm keeping the clowns and goby. Probably add some firefish and/or fairy wrasses. I'm thinking I'll use a mesh top to try to prevent jumpers. And a Orange Spot goby to sift through the sand.

For coral. Rics that I already have all over the bottom. Center piece will be the Tyree leather. Maybe a small island or two of zoas, nuc greans and purple hornets. Beyond that I ahve not decided. possibly a few of the easier SPS, but more than likely sticking with LPS and polyps.

[HUNGER]

that light looks realy good

[lazylivin]

Joe can you raise and lower the overflow box? For example the U tube style overflow has a plastic thumb screw that allows me to raise and lower the overflow box to adjust the water height in the tank. Just trying to determine if the drilled overflow box is right for me.
Thanks

[Baggerhog]

Joe can you raise and lower the overflow box? For example the U tube style overflow has a plastic thumb screw that allows me to raise and lower the overflow box to adjust the water height in the tank. Just trying to determine if the drilled overflow box is right for me.
Thanks

With this overflo you set the height by where you drill the hole. It is a really neat setup.

[jd]

Brian, The box's level is set when you drill the tank. The template is what helps determine the water level if I'm not mistaken.

[lazylivin]

Thanks

[jd]

Of course. 

[aquavista99]

As previously stated on another website, amazing build, Joe! Everything looks fantastic!

Flipped the light on and put in the big ace rock Andy gave me. It will actually be flipped over in the final set up, but you can get a general idea. The actual color of the light is less blue than the picture shows. I really like it. Hopefully it’ll be strong enough for coral.



The rock is currently sitting in my water change barrel full of bleach and water.  I’m going to let it soak until Friday then start changing the water in the barrel every day for a week or so. I’m hoping to have saltwater in the tank next weekend.

Next up is figure out exactly what I’m going to do about the sump. Once I have it I’ll be ready to plumb.

[JoeAyers]

Rock is clean and sand is in. Got the acrylic Monday to build the sump so I'll be starting on the at some point. Next steps are

1) Run the water lines to/from the tank to the Topoff, NSW and Drain. Basically just 1/4 tubing run through the crawlspace to the basement area then back up to the utility room where the RODI and NSW is.

2) Build Sump

Here's what the tank looks like now with the rock.sand and vortech in place.

[UDJustin]

Looks good Joe I may copy your sump design when you get it done lol. I am currently building a 30 gallon oceanic cube tank too. I did a calflo overflow and am in the process of building the stand for it now. Its gonna be for the wifes photography studio.

[JoeAyers]

Looks good Joe I may copy your sump design when you get it done lol. I am currently building a 30 gallon oceanic cube tank too. I did a calflo overflow and am in the process of building the stand for it now. Its gonna be for the wifes photography studio.

What skimmer you going with?

[HUNGER]

looken good the rock looks great

[JoeAyers]

looken good the rock looks great

Thanks. That is just one big rock. I'll add the few small pieces with coral on them from the nano, but that will pretty much be it.

Joe

[HUNGER]

i think big rocks look better than a bunch of smaller ones

[UDJustin]

I think a really small deltec.

[JoeAyers]

I think a really small deltec.

I'm basically going to have about 9.5" x 12" area available for the skimmer so I'm pretty limited. My wife won't let me sit my dart needlewheel next to the tank for some reason.

[HUNGER]

y not that would work great 

[JoeAyers]

Maybe when I'm home tomorrow I'll just set it up next to the tank and see if she notices.. 

[HUNGER]

she mite not

[UDJustin]

The small deltec I was looking at was a hang on the back so no real sump space is taken up.

[JoeAyers]

So. I ordered the acrylic for my sump through ebay from a guy called popdisplays. He sells his scraps which range from 20x20 ¼” to 96x48 ¾”. He will also make 5 free cuts (more if you as nicely and there aren’t a ton).  So I got a piece of ¼” x 48” x 32” and had him cut to my specs for my sump.

Here’s what I got.


I went ahead and measured each piece and they were to my specs and square so for $60 shipped I didn’t think it was too bad and I have pieces left over for other projects.   Now I will fully admit I am no expert. This is the second thing I’ve ever made out of acrylic so there are imperfections. I let the Weldon drip, I put a scratch on the back side etc. But overall turned out well. I’m happy with it and it will fill my needs.















This is ¼’ RO line that will go to the sump pump of the house so I can drain water for water changes without having to use buckets or run hoses all over the house.



AND IT HOLDS WATER!!!!!





I also created a cover for the top. I found some black pond mesh that I had bought years ago and used it. I don’t have the finished pictures but here is the frame sitting on the tank. I painted it black so it looks pretty good on the tank. You don’t really notice it.  I’ll get current pics tonight.



Still need to run the water lines and install all of the equipment. Hoping to have water in it by the end of the week.

[UDJustin]

Looks good Joe

[jd]

Looking very good Joe, thanks for all the pics.

I love the drain idea too!