Brad's 65 gallon reef tank, 20 gal sump

[Fritz0id3937]

I recently joined wamas and I am going to start a build thread to document my process on my first saltwater tank, and to hopefully get plenty of advice.  I have been researching stuff for the past few months, ever since my wife gave me the go ahead.  Its a 65 gallon, 36x18x24 with a 20 gallon long tank for a 3 section sump.  I want a to do a mixed reef tank, but probably soft corals will dominate.  Basically, whatever is easy to keep and grows quickly, but still looks good.  The tank is in the main TV room so I want it to be as silent as possible, going with a herbie style overflow. 

[Fritz0id3937]

Equipment list so far:

ehiem 1262 (900gph) return pump

NWB reef octopus 150 protein skimmer

it2060 LED lights (once they come in from the evergrow groupbuy)

BRS 1200 GPH overflow box

20 gallon sump, 3 sections, for drain, refugium, and return

 

I still need powerheads, I want to start with one ectoech MP40, but do these expensive things ever go on sale?

[smallreef]

Looks like a good start...and as far as certain things going on sale...not really...black Friday was as good as it got with a mail in rebate...most higher end equipment has MAP pricing standards which do not allow for decent discounting...

I have forgone the "expensive" equipment and done moderate stuff like instead of the Ecotech MP40 I chose the jebao wp25's

But it really depends in what your willing to give up...

Also, now that your a member, you can look in the for sale section...which will sometimes have mp40's.....

[Fritz0id3937]

Here is my sump.  Took me a few days to make it, used DVDs to help space/hold the baffles while they dried.  I used DAP slicone aquarium sealant.  It was hard to size each section, a 20 gallon tank is pretty small.  The drain section for skimmer is about 10 inches long, refugium is about 13 inches, and the return is about 7 inches long.

[Fritz0id3937]

What are other options for powerheads - if I want programmable flow like the vortechs?  What size/amount jebaos with controller would work well for a 65 gallon? are they quiet? I am trying to keep this tank as slient as possible.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Fritz0id3937

[YHSublime]

First off, welcome. Second, thanks for starting a build thread. Td, everyone will want to talk about your MP40 and I don't want your build to turn into a MP vs. JB story. SmallReef pretty much answered your question, no, the MP's are map priced, so you'll either have to buy used, or get ready to spend some dollars. Unless you want to look into the JB's, which are a fraction of the price, and do a good job. They are also larger, and made in China. Fourth, congratulations on getting the go ahead from your wife. Spousal approval is huge, with any luck, she'll get into it a bit as well, although she will want all the things that you can't keep most likely (usually fish in my case.)

 

You've got a nice sized tank there, and your sump looks good. Welcome to your new adventure!

[Fritz0id3937]

I drilled 3 holes through the glass myself.  It took forever, a 65gallon has pretty thick glass.  I was rotating 3 battery powered drills as they ran out of power.  I followed the advice I saw on here, which was to go slow, slow pour water on it and let the weight of the drill do the work.  It worked out well, just took forever.  I also painted the back black with rustoleum ultra cover 2x plain black.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

Thanks! My wife is slowly getting into it.  She already wants some bigger fish we probably can't keep, like a yellow tang and a blue tang (dory).  I at least want a mated pair of plain clowns (dont know the actual name), and a goby/shrimp pair.  Oh, and the boss lady's favorite fish is a bicolor pseudochromis.

[Fritz0id3937]

Here is the overflow box installed.  I used 1 inch schedule 80 bulk heads, with 90 degree slip elbows.  One is turned up for the emgency drain, and the other down for the full siphon herbie drain.  The elbows are just friction fit in place with plenty of teflon tape so i can adjust them later.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

Here is a pic of all the plumping finished.  The guys at quantum reefs helped set me straight on a few bad ideas I had.  I ended up going with two 1 inch drains (emergency and herbie), and a 3/4 inch return.  I used black vinyl tubing instead of clear brained vinyl since I will be running a fuge and don't want the extra algae.  Also, the black vinyl was a lot easier to work with.  I used a sears gate valve - schedule 80 from BRS, for adjusting the herbie silent drain.  And a check valve right after the return pump.  I also used a ball value on the lock line, that seemed a lot easier and cheaper than plumping a ball valve on the return line.  The herbie drain only has the gate valve, in hindsight I kind of wish I included a ball value so I don't have to readjust the gate value.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

There is not much space in the stand, I had to build the stand around the 20 gal sump.  I thought a 10 inch drain section in the sump would be big enough for a decent skimmer.  I was going to get the NWB 110 reef octopus, but since the NWB 150 only cost a little more I went with that,  not to mention its pump is about over twice the flow I think.   The NWB 150 barely fit in my 10 inch drain section.  I didn't account for the lip on the rim of the tank.  After 30 min, I finally shoved it in, but I had to remove the rubber risers on the bottom of the pump in order to make it fit.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

I added 60lbs of live sand of arag-alive (40lbs of pink fiji and 20lbs of slightly larger special grade) and started my cycle a few days ago.  It looked pretty dirty.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

The water cleared up after just one night.  I think the 900gph ehiem return pump with a filter sock works pretty well.  Also, I have 50lbs of base rock from reef cleaners (they sent me 53).  I think it is Florida rock.  Also, the herbie drain is dead silent, the only thing I hear is a slight trickle from a 1 inch drop in the overflow box.  The ehiem pump has a very faint hum, but I think I can fix that if I put something under it.  Right now the loudest thing is the reef octopus skimmer, its not very loud though.

 

[Fritz0id3937]

My tank has been cycling for the past 5 days.  I think it finished after only 3 days.  I started with 60lbs of live sand, ro/di water, and a bottle of biospira and a 1 inch piece of raw shrimp.  I didn't test for the first two days.  I saw the slightest uptick in ammonia, like .25 ppm or not even, once the shrimp started getting really nasty and fuzzy looking (ended up looking like a dead jelly fish).  Since then its been 0 ammonia, always been 0 nitrites, and steady 5 ppm nitrates, PH is steady 8.2.  I have since taken out the piece of shrimp.

 

i'm getting anxious, when can I start adding stuff? and what should I add first?  I was thinking of ordering a clean up crew soon with a nice mix of snails, hermits, and maybe a crab.  They would have to be coral safe.

[smallreef]

You should wait atleast another week to make sure you cycle is done..,

If you have some flake or pellet food around, feed the tank as if you were feeding a fish and see if the nitrites/ nitrates, ammonia, and phosphates are still zero...with all of my tanks it took atleast 4 weeks to completely cycle...you don't want to add anything before its done...as you could end up with an ammonia spike and kill everything...

 

But your first things to add after the cycle would be the start of a clean up crew...snails mainly and hermits if you would like a few...

I always try to wait atleast 2 weeks between adding anything so the bacteria load can catch up....

Then I'd start with your least aggressive fish on your list...

 

Oh but wait...so far the only things on your list are a dotty back, goby shrimp pair, and a pair of clowns....

What are your other thoughts? It's much easier to compile you list while you are waiting and getting everyone in a suitable order before buying anything....and.. Have you thought about quarantining fish? Or what is going to be your routine for adding fish?

Hopefully you've done alot of reading and have these answers, but please feel free to let us know

[YHSublime]

Great questions and comments from Smallreef! Always remember, nothing good happens fast in this hobby!

[Fritz0id3937]

Thanks for the advice.  I added 20lbs of live rock from marine scene last night, which seemed to really jump start things.  Today the params were ammonia .1 ppm, nitrites .2 ppm, nitrate 40 ppm.  I think I should do a big water change soon. 

[Fritz0id3937]

I haven't thought too much about a quarantine plan yet, but I got an empty 10 gallon tank, would that be ok?  I need a cheap heater and HOB filter for it.  Maybe this is a dumb question, but do I really need to QT the first few fish if they are the only thing in the tank? Are any LFS's safe enough to skip QT?

[Fritz0id3937]

Here is a pic with the added live rock, about 70 lbs total now.

 

[YHSublime]

Are any LFS's safe enough to skip QT?

Only place that qts to my liking is Marcos at ERC, but do your homework, and find out what's important to you.

[DCReefer1964]

Redo aquascape

[Orion]

I haven't thought too much about a quarantine plan yet, but I got an empty 10 gallon tank, would that be ok?  I need a cheap heater and HOB filter for it.  Maybe this is a dumb question, but do I really need to QT the first few fish if they are the only thing in the tank? Are any LFS's safe enough to skip QT?

A 10 gallon would be ok for one small fish. I prefer a 20 gallon long as there is a lot more room to swim, and it'll be easier to keep ammonia levels down. I highly recommend Mr. Saltwatertank's Quarantine Guide as it has a step by step process to QT'ing. Even if you don't plan on doing the QT yourself, and letting ERC/Marco (+1 to Isaac's recommendation for their QT process) it will be a guide to have in case one of your fish develops a bacterial disease down the road.

 

Remember, slow and steady wins the race in this hobby. QT'ing not only ensures your tank will remain parasite free, but will force you to take things slowly. If you start adding a bunch of livestock right away you will have nothing but issues starting out. You'll get frustrated, and possibly end up losing livestock. Do things right the first time. Quarantine. I learned my lesson the hard way 4 months ago and lost most of my fish.

[YHSublime]

Redo aquascape

 

You can be more helpful than that, H.

 

I think what he meant to say was "have you tried creating more dimensions and caves for your fish? I think you could really work with that space and rock!"

[Fritz0id3937]

I am sure I will rearrange it a few more times. Trying to avoid gluing things down early on, I have some epoxy though. I want it to be higher and similar to a 2 islands setup vs just a solid wall. Maybe I will have to take a hammer to some of it so I can go higher and have it fit together in a more stable way.

[DCReefer1964]

I am sure I will rearrange it a few more times. Trying to avoid gluing things down early on, I have some epoxy though. I want it to be higher and similar to a 2 islands setup vs just a solid wall. Maybe I will have to take a hammer to some of it so I can go higher and have it fit together in a more stable way.

Use Marco motar and fiberglass rods from Lowes