50G build, upgrade from 20G

[HN1]

Ok, so my wife (severum mama) convinced me to go to the salty side while we were dating so we set up a simple 20G with HOB filter and everything has pretty much thrived under our 2x65 PC lights. She already had a drilled 3' 50G tank waiting and it's way past time to upgrade. I blame you folks for enabling me and showing off such gorgeous reefs.... our 20G has turned into coral storage. No aquascape, purely "where will that fit?". lol

I realized after 122 trips to hardware stores that I really had no clue about plumbing and had a mental block regardless of how many posts, pages, videos, etc. I tried to learn from. Yesterday I got frustrated and desperate and posted a thread on our local club site (Atlanta Reef Club).

I still can't believe how many offers of help we received. Everytime I start to get frustrated with the club drama, I will remember how willing folks are to go way out of there way for one another. It kinda reminds me of my family... gripe and complain about everything until something is really needed and then it's all for one... blah blah. I digress....

A member and his wife drove an hour to come help out Friday night. Three other members were ready to carpool over to spend a Saturday helping me with my problems. Just amazing....

Well, I got froggy yesterday and hit Lowe's for the last time to get what was needed for the return before we met another member to do a trade for frags. He made us a great trade that I almost feel guilty about. Like I needed more motivation to get this thing done right?

Then we didn’t like the output options and look of the PVC so on a whim I called a local LFS. OMG! They had loc line in stock! So after going for loc line and returning with that plus more LR, fish (both FW & SW), frozen food, etc. (This store is like an ice cream shop for a fat kid, seriously!), we finished the return plumbing and waited anxiously for it to cure. After waiting several times, had a few leaks, we got to fill the system with tap and test it out. Everything looked good last night except for a small seepage leak at one union so we drained it, smothered on more cement and went to bed. This morning all looks good after our first run and we’re rinsing sand.

Anyways, here's the actual start...