Starting a 30 Gallon Reef

[smithpants94]

Hey, All,

I've been 'maintaining' a saltwater tank for about 6 months now.. It's gone from using big box store live rock to real reef rock.. Tap water to rodi water.. I'm going to tear this tank down and restart it how it should be..

The first step for me is the over flow.. I plan on drilling this tank with 1 inch bulkheads. My plan is to have a double overflow, with a return (just the overflows will be drilled).

I have an idea for the overflow
The green is water
The blue- bulkhead
Red- pvc connectors ( T and cap
White- straight pvc


Would this work well?

This will be an ongoing thread to help those beginners like me take the next step in their saltwater hobby..

Thanks for following along and for any and all suggestions, comments and criticisms!


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[Ravden]

Oh boy someone will flame cause you said tap water. But it looks bout on point maybe add shut off valve in case of power outage. But the more research the better when it comes to salt. I am still researching before I start my first salty

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[smithpants94]

The tap water route was pretty short lived for sure! Once you go RO, you can't go back


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[Mattyfelts]

no one flames anyone, we recommend rodi or ro strongly because of the more negative side affects of using tap (most of the time).... its sound and logical advice not flaming at all

 

[smithpants94]

Thanks to the help of Bulk Reef Supply and The Home Depot, I'm ready to drill and fill..


I ended up going with 1 inch drains.. So 2 1inch bulkheads, 45mm circular grinder, 2 pvc Ts, 2 pvc caps, a few 90s, a few 45s and about 10 feet of 1 inch schedule 40 PVC just to be safe.


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[mr_X]

So, are you going to stick with the strainer, or will you build an overflow box like in your illustration?

 

[smithpants94]

The more I've been thinking about it, the more I've been measuring the acrylic sheets that are laying around.. I like the idea of just the strainers but the overflow box will give me the water height I'm looking for.. I think I'm going to fashion my own overflow box


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[smithpants94]

We came.. We drilled...

After a few minutes of a cold panicky sweat, I now have a drilled 30 gallon aquarium!

I traced the inside of the bulkhead nuts

Made a pool with some plumbers putty

Turned the bit at an angle and let the drill do the work, tipping it straight as it began to grab and drill until...

And repeated those steps

And fitted my bulkheads!

Now just to paint the back and plumb it all together.. Though incredibly stressful, drilling an aquarium is not too too bad.. Just take your time and be patient.. Let the drill do the work


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[Ravden]

Nice job

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[smithpants94]

The background and pvc is painted, just need to figure a way to fashion my ovwrflow box and hopefully things will be up and running soon!


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[mr_X]

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_color/341

 

[Ravden]

I think I'd be scared to drill my 30, but I think I have everything except sand Rick and water so cycle should be starting soon

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[smithpants94]

Another two thumbs up to you, me_X! I'm loving your build by the way..

Ravden, the first time is always the hardest.. Just thinking about drilling it again gives me chills but it's probably one of the easier things I've done in this hobby


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[smithpants94]

Everything is in and running!

Overflow and box


The underneath sump


Fts


Just waiting for everything to break back in and I'll be working on a little better if a scape and eventually adding sand and some livestock.


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[Ravden]

Very nice. I have been tossing the idea of making up a fuge for mine before I get it up and running.

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[smithpants94]

Thanks!

Getting the sump/fuge set up is exactly what I did when stating this tank.. That way I only had to worry about adding water when I came time AND I didnt have to worry about tanks overflowing when I was doing plumbing


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[Ravden]

That's what I have been doing, just trying to get the hob situated as I can't do a sump in apartment. So alot of extra researching how to do it

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