New adventure in reef hex tank

h2o517 · 04/04/2013, 08:53 PM

Hi to all of you

Recently I've decided to make a reef tank, I've heard a lot, that having one, will consume a lot of effort and work to keep it neat.I have been reading a lot of articls and post in forums and have lots of mistakes in the ways that I have changed, I already had one setup a year ago which was just FO, my tank is a second hand 30 g hex that I purchased 2 years ago it was only the tank and the base they were in poor conditions and I repaired them, made the canopy and tint the base in cherry ,paint the inside in wetproof and clean it very well. Now I want to dive into the reef keeping, starting from cero, but planing as much as possible, to have great results, now I have some pictures to explain my process in the work and how much I have done........

first of all I tought in having the berlin filtration method which is based in live rock and skimmers, having real live rock it soo expensive where I live and I mean 8 dll per pound needing at least 30 lb in my aquarium, if I follow the rule 1 lb per gallon , so reading in DIY projects I found oyter shell live rock and I decided to make some in diferent shapes as possible, 2 hours far from here is the ocean and in this vacations I traveled there and gather sand and ocean water which I tought would be useful, I didnt bring ocean rocks cause all the rock there ar volcanic rock, which are so flat and not porous, so using the recipe 3:1 I made this rocks

I really like the porosity of them , now they are made its time to cure them but for that I was planing in my tank to stick them together to cure them in the form I will finally have them,

for my aquarium I was thinking in the circulation of the water , one of the things I dont like is to have powerheads inside , which are visual disturbing for me , so I decided to make an structure that will run under the rocks and the back wall where the return water will flow with a power head rated 1050 but with the head loss and the pcv tubing will have a moderate flow of 700-600 gallon per hour, i have test the structure and works fine creating random movement in the water without pointing to any rock, and for the return will be a 1.5 overflow that is in the way ....

if you can se in the picture the pvc is running backwards and under the sand(the sand Im using is just for testing , its ocean sand I took but I will be using caribean sand instead of that one ) the pvc has some reductions in some parts to improve the water pression in the tube and to have more pressure in the all the outlets, so I calibrate them using 3/4 , 1/2 and some other reductions

I will put the pvc and cover it with the rocks I have made and cement all the rocks together with more paste but until I install the overflow so i can cover it also with oyster shell paste to hide every thing

underneat my base its going to be the sump wich will have one section for the drainage , having filter mesh , carbon, phosphate and ceramic rings bags and filter mesh to reduce the big particles going into the stuff , then will be the skimmer and finally the return pump

glass hexagon sump diy so it can fit under my cabinet

for skimming Im using SC aquarium 302 skimmer it rated 150-180g ... it has been working exellent in a spare that that I fit with real ocean water and some live stuff I brought from the ocean including some octupus and snails i got ....... SUPER Skimmer for just a nano reef I know but I thought that if I move on to a bigger tank I wont have to buy a bigger skimmer ....

this is my base and my canopy , it has one 46 blue led strip and one 15 w flourescent tube which is gonna be replaced ahead , I have been looking for a decent lamp in a reasonable price , 1 w per gallon or so something that could fit under my canopy , I was thinking in a compact flourescent 50/50 36w which fits under perfectly

this it my lighting results with the ones I already have

it will have the back tower going all the way up covering the overflow...

I will be posting in the way up ..... hope to count with your help and improving helpfull comments plss......

04/04/2013, 08:53 PM	#1
h2o517 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: San luis Mx. Posts: 27	New adventure in reef hex tank Hi to all of you Recently I've decided to make a reef tank, I've heard a lot, that having one, will consume a lot of effort and work to keep it neat.I have been reading a lot of articls and post in forums and have lots of mistakes in the ways that I have changed, I already had one setup a year ago which was just FO, my tank is a second hand 30 g hex that I purchased 2 years ago it was only the tank and the base they were in poor conditions and I repaired them, made the canopy and tint the base in cherry ,paint the inside in wetproof and clean it very well. Now I want to dive into the reef keeping, starting from cero, but planing as much as possible, to have great results, now I have some pictures to explain my process in the work and how much I have done........ first of all I tought in having the berlin filtration method which is based in live rock and skimmers, having real live rock it soo expensive where I live and I mean 8 dll per pound needing at least 30 lb in my aquarium, if I follow the rule 1 lb per gallon , so reading in DIY projects I found oyter shell live rock and I decided to make some in diferent shapes as possible, 2 hours far from here is the ocean and in this vacations I traveled there and gather sand and ocean water which I tought would be useful, I didnt bring ocean rocks cause all the rock there ar volcanic rock, which are so flat and not porous, so using the recipe 3:1 I made this rocks I really like the porosity of them , now they are made its time to cure them but for that I was planing in my tank to stick them together to cure them in the form I will finally have them, for my aquarium I was thinking in the circulation of the water , one of the things I dont like is to have powerheads inside , which are visual disturbing for me , so I decided to make an structure that will run under the rocks and the back wall where the return water will flow with a power head rated 1050 but with the head loss and the pcv tubing will have a moderate flow of 700-600 gallon per hour, i have test the structure and works fine creating random movement in the water without pointing to any rock, and for the return will be a 1.5 overflow that is in the way .... if you can se in the picture the pvc is running backwards and under the sand(the sand Im using is just for testing , its ocean sand I took but I will be using caribean sand instead of that one ) the pvc has some reductions in some parts to improve the water pression in the tube and to have more pressure in the all the outlets, so I calibrate them using 3/4 , 1/2 and some other reductions I will put the pvc and cover it with the rocks I have made and cement all the rocks together with more paste but until I install the overflow so i can cover it also with oyster shell paste to hide every thing underneat my base its going to be the sump wich will have one section for the drainage , having filter mesh , carbon, phosphate and ceramic rings bags and filter mesh to reduce the big particles going into the stuff , then will be the skimmer and finally the return pump glass hexagon sump diy so it can fit under my cabinet for skimming Im using SC aquarium 302 skimmer it rated 150-180g ... it has been working exellent in a spare that that I fit with real ocean water and some live stuff I brought from the ocean including some octupus and snails i got ....... SUPER Skimmer for just a nano reef I know but I thought that if I move on to a bigger tank I wont have to buy a bigger skimmer .... this is my base and my canopy , it has one 46 blue led strip and one 15 w flourescent tube which is gonna be replaced ahead , I have been looking for a decent lamp in a reasonable price , 1 w per gallon or so something that could fit under my canopy , I was thinking in a compact flourescent 50/50 36w which fits under perfectly this it my lighting results with the ones I already have it will have the back tower going all the way up covering the overflow... I will be posting in the way up ..... hope to count with your help and improving helpfull comments plss......