My 30g SW Reef Build w/pictures

[Frogspawn]

The time has come to build my new 30g reef. All my equipment is here except my custom overflow, still waiting on that.

As seen in picture

30g acrylic Aquarium
2- 50watt heaters
1- EV120 Skimmer w/Mag5
1- 65GPD RO/DI unit
1- Mag7 water pump
1- Coral life 2x65 watt PC and 150watt HQI
25watt Lifegaurd UV light (not shown)
1- Digital Aquatics Elite Controller
1- CPR HOB refuge
1-20g Sump (not shown)
1-1inch Bulkhead
2-1/2inch bulkheads for the returns
1-1inch ball valve

I also have about 10 pounds sand and 25 pounds of LR from my previous aquarium i am going to add to the bottom of this aquarium. i dont think i want a deep sand bed, too hard to suck up waste beside the LR.

Any suggestion or comments would be helpful
-Frogspawn-

 

[GhostKnife]

I would consider if putting your UV in the return line, putting three true union ball valves. One to block/determine flow to your UV the other two on either of the downsides which completely block the flow to your UV.

 

[Frogspawn]

i not quite following you there. i understand when you say place the UV on the return side of the pump, with a ball valve to control the flow to the UV light, thats a good idea. Where i am not following you at, is why and where to place the other 2 ball valves. i just dont understand what the reason is behind having these.

-Frogspawn-

 

[Tank2379]

The ball valves is to control the amount of flow that is going into the tank. Some Return pumps, pump more water out than expected sometime so the ball valves are needed to control the water flow, and if you need to maintenance you can shut the valves for no water leaks. Also putting a ball valve before the UV is a good idea.

 

[GhostKnife]

Basically the two that are running perpendicular to the UV are to completely shut off flow to the UV other than that they are always wide open. The one that is in the middle of the two pipes running perpendicular(on the pipe parallel to the UV is to control how much flow is actually allowed to run to the UV. This I keep about 1/4 closed so that only a fraction of my 900 gallons per hour gets sent to my UV. In the pic you cant really see the other pipe running down on the left to the UV because it is behind my drain line, but it is the same as the right and the ball valve in the middle is behind the skimmer.

 

[Frogspawn]

O OK, i understand now. thats a great idea!

I am running around looking for fittings and PVC to make all my connection so i hope to have a picture up soon of all my progress. I also need to find a way to make a 24x13 inch tank fit on a 20x20 inch stand.

 

[Frogspawn]

Today i just finished painting my new Acrylic Aquarium. I painted the back side flat-black to help reduce some of the glare when taking pictures. Turned out very nice if i say so my self. I so impatient waiting on my custom overflow. seems like it will never get here.

 

[Frogspawn]

Well guys, i am having such horrible luck with this custom overflow i ordered. the business i bought it through did not say anything about them being closed due to repairs in their wear-house. I would think they would have something on their website letting people know, they cant provide the goods. Am i wrong?
Two weeks go by and of course they take my money but never say, hey it will be 2-3 months before we can ship this overflow, and to make things better i tried to reach them by their phone number listed on their website, which came back as a non working number. you can only imagine what was going though my mind at this point. Scam? LOL i spent 5 days emailing the heck out of them and calling hoping the number got hooked back up. then i seen a fax number on their web site and decided to give that a try. Man i let into them in that fax! WOW, i threatened just about everything shy of getting the president him self to go fire who ever was in charge. LOL but it worked! they emailed me back with in 4 hrs of that fax and their suppose to credit my account back the money. in the mean time i just found a different overflow i liked on EBAY and it should be here soon. So with a little luck it might be up and running this weekend.

 

[Frogspawn]

I have been working on my sump all night making sure no leaks in the seals exist and trying to figure out how to place my HOB refuge.

Next, i have to try figuring a way to plumb this to where my aquarium is going to be sitting.

 

[Frogspawn]

Heres my tank and sump, i know its sitting in front of a window but i am covering it up with a nice dark curtin and i painted the black of the tank Black so i am hoping its good. i am limited on space so this was the only place i could put it at.

 

[melosu58]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[GhostKnife]

Lookin good.

 

[Frogspawn]

thank you, i got my LR home 2 days ago and gave it a good scrubbin and have it in some nice clean SW with the temp much higher then normal, hoping that will speed up the death of whats left of the hair alage. My RODI been working good or atleast i think it is doing good.

Just waiting on the overflow to proceed...

 

[Frogspawn]

Great news, my tank is all plumbed, LR is looking good, and filling up the tank now with some nice fresh SW. Decided to hold off on hooking up my UV light. i am going out tomorrow to get some sand not to sure if i am going with a DSB maybe just an inch, might also get some egg crate to put LR on so it dont scratch bottom os Acrylic tank.

i guess next project is trying to arrange the LR. i have a 24-inch tall aquarium so, i am thinking of having very little LR in tank and having most of the LR being held in Sump and fudge area. Not sure yet

 

[melosu58]

Progress is a wonderful thing.

 

[Frogspawn]

well things looking good, but i think i may have a small problem.. nothing to big i hope. i had my daughter put the sand i had in my previous aquarium in my new aquarium this evening, and i forgot to rinse the sand before she dumped it all in the aquarium. It was wet sand that sat in a bucket for about 1 month, and looked ok on top but at the bottom she said it smelled really bad, she is only 8 and didnt think to wait till i got home to ask me, she was so excited to help. its not her fault, its mine for not thinking ahead. Will this be ok with a few water changes?

 

[melosu58]

Well it looks like you have your ammonia source for the cycle now. Nothing you can do now but let it cycle your tank. You have the LR ready?

 

[Tank2379]

Wow looks great! keep up the good work...

 

[Frogspawn]

yep, its all ready.. i still working on learning how to use my reef keeper elite from digital aquatics. its really nice, controls just about everything i can imagine.
i trying to figure out a way to cut down on the water noise in my sump. the Aqua-C Ev-150 is kinda noisy dumping the water back into the skimmer chamber, plus, the falling of the water coming from the overflow into the LR chamber... that might not make any sense LOL but i dont know how to better describe it.

 

[Tank2379]

You can try a filter sock and make sure it's fully submerge in the water if you want to cut the noise level down.