Phlex's 30g SW Build Thread! (With Ups and Downs)

[Phlex]

Hi Everybody,

Today started the beginning of my 30 gallon Saltwater Tank Build.

And the 10g Sump

Heres a 32 gallon Trash can that will be used for mixing Saltwater. Right now its got all the plumbling equipment.

Here is the eggcrate, with my DIY custom eggcrate shelf.. You'll see what its for in a Minute..

And the sand after my 2 girls have been rinsing (playing in it) for the last hour.

Overflow box and plumbing

Glue dried, so plumbing is in.

Some sand in the sump

More to come!

 

[Phlex]

Another photo of the eggcrate shelf

Shelf in the tank

Using a pool filter basket

Heres why i needed the shelf

Got the Mag 5 in..

Tank filling with water notice how clear.. (girls did a good rinse job)

Another tank shot.

Everything running fine? we think.......

So far so good...

 

[Phlex]

Disaster happens..

I noticed a leak in the bulkhead.. After i lost 20g of water on the floor..

Found that i forgot to put plumbers tape on the bulkhead. Tried to do that.. and Look what I did!!!

Final disaster shot for the night..

More to come when i get a replacement bulkhead.. Hopefully my local lowes will have what I need..

 

[Phlex]

Day 2

Well today went fairly well, Went to Lowes to rebuild the broken bulkhead. Ended up having to purchase CPVC plumbing. Extra expensive, but it seems to work. Only 2 visible leaks, that I plan on patching up tomorrow with silicon.

Next will be lighting. Still researching what Im going to use.

 

[Epuerto]

I will be Watching!

 

[iDream]

Sorry for the leak, but at least it happened at this point than later when you have an established tank.

I'll definitely be following since this is IMO a nano still, and it looks like a 30 Breeder which I love the footprint of any breeder tanks.

How long is the tank? I'll definitely suggest T5HO unless you have another idea as to what you're going with

 

[Phlex]

Yep right now im in the research phase, its a 36" long tank, which is perfect in my opinion for what it will be used for. This tank will house strictly young corals in growth, waiting for next year when my 360g can be built.

So far I've researched everything from T5HO to MH, to LED, and Im leaning towards starting with a 36" 6 bulb t5ho setup, then as the corals i do aquire begin to start growing I think the next lighting purchase will be the 36" Aqua Illumination LED setup. Those lights alone are retail 1699.00. Im hoping that I can start picking those lights up at wholesale pricing, I've got an application in with AI, so we'll see what they think. I dont currently own an LFS but as funding becomes more available, and my experience in the hobby becomes more useful I will be working towards expanding my current business (Retail Computer Sales and Repair store) to add a Saltwater reef store adjacent to my current building.

Im getting more and more disgusted with the retail computer business every day, my products aren't moving like they were 2 years ago, or 15 years ago. I still make money on repairs, and my yearly service contracts, but income has substantially declined since the economy took a nose dive back in late 2009 early 2010.

 

[Phlex]

Ok well its been a few days since the last post, Tank has been running non-stop, seems that I have patched up all leaks.. Today we added some base rock, and some LR from one of my other Established tanks.. Now I wait..

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Are you going to be keeping any fish in this tank?? or just the coral frags?

 

[Henry405]

I wished I had washed my live sand now, after the tank finally cleared up a bit, any fast current of water still stirs up a cloud of sand

 

[iDream]

Yeah that stuffs a big ol' waste IMO

As far as a cycle you probably won't see much of one bringing rock from an established tank

 

[Phlex]

yeah, I dont expect to see any kind of spikes, the live rock from one of my other tanks should be sufficient.
Im dosing phytoplankton to the tank, to feed the one feather duster that was attatched to one of the LR peices.. and the hermits I threw in there.

Just gotta get my temps right, I picked up a Hydor Theo 150w heater, and placed it in the sump. I set it to 78, but its just not powerful enough to heat the whole thing, so its keeping it at around 75.. Gonna adjust to 82 on the heater, and see how it does then.

This is going to be a coral frag/growout tank, there will only be 1 fish in this tank, if at all.. I only plan on housing a very small Brown Scopas Tang, to help keep the hair algea problems down, because this tank will have 400w of lights on it for 12hrs a day..

 

[Phlex]

Forgot to add a picture of the sump and the sump lighting.. so here they are.

The lights are just a standard 10g fixture mounted to the bottom of the stand.

 

[Epuerto]

Your getting there

 

[Phlex]

Well its been a few days since I've posted up a few photos, more will come tomorrow.

 

[iDream]

I like the rock! Corals are looking good too!

What lights are you running?

 

[Phlex]

I picked up a 4 bulb T5HO by coralife its the Lunar aqualight, with the moonlight Led's.. i'll get some photos.. its a sweet light IMO

 

[Phlex]

Heres a couple of photos of some of the new inhabitants, and the problems that has come about after a PWC..

Here is the goby - looks like hes dying

Here is one of the Singularia that I've had since January.

And another one I've had about 2 weeks

And here is a before the PWC Shot of a portion of the tank.

 

[Henry405]

Very nice tank, I love it! What kind of overflow box is that and how is it working? I've been researching about overflow boxes to do a tank for my uncle, but I'm quite concern about the noise level some boxes produce

 

[Phlex]

Henry the overflow box is just a standard overflow with a U shaped tube that goes from the in tank overflow, to a HOB overflow box and then the water drains down to my sump.