A Cheapskate's Journal - I know I shouldn't,

[NguntalKawat]

Hello all,
Wishing you all a good health and prosperous life... and addictive reefing too!

I'm totally new to saltwater / reef tank stuff and just gonna start one after my wife has given me a green light in one condition: it must be cheap... as we're going to pay off mortgage and starting a clinic business, tank's gonna be on a budget, say approx. $820 (conversion from IDR11,000,000 - on 13,400+ per US dollars). Yeah, think I can do that , although i know i shouldn't.

So, I've made some quick to-buy-list like this one:

1. Custom made tank (62 gallon) - $108
2. Custom made sump (42 gallon) - $45
3. Custom made cabinet - $41
4. Custom medium-light LED from local hobbyist - $193
5. Chiller rated for 100 gallon - $268
6. Two JebaoRW-4 wave maker - $89
7. Refugium LED - $51
8. Dead Rock; due to project aragocrete failure (44 lbs.) and live rock (6.6 lbs) - $17
9. Bubble Magus pump WP1000 - $27
10. Natural aragonite (88 lbs.) - $10
11. Sera test kits (NH4/NH3, NO3, NO2) - $32
12. Electricity and plumbings - $15
13. Refractometer - $24

OK, it's over budgeted, gonna sell my Mexican Strato and amps for approx. $600 fresh money and still hadn't meet the requirement... but, as the list is pretty much minimum, i wasn't going to amend it, thus shop for the more important stuffs first,

The other day, i sketched out a bit the display tank and sump. Simple as they are:

Display tank:


Sump:


and this one i picked up from some other forum - the cabinet:


Tank's gonna be rimless 8mm Asahi glasses (can't afford Starphire) on the edges and 10mm on the base, Sump's gonna be 6mm. Cabinet's made of local mahogany with melamine finish build by a friend who has carpentry business.

I've put on the job queue to the glass craft and the carpenter today, expecting it to be done before 15th of June.

Well, I'll keep posting here with updates if there's anyone care to see it at all

[Devaji108]

welcome to RC,

looks like it going to be a very nice tank! are you gonna to natural seawater?

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by Devaji108

welcome to RC,

looks like it going to be a very nice tank! are you gonna to natural seawater?

Hi Devaji, thanks for stopping by
Oh, i really hope so... I'm doing it real simple, let's find out if it works for me.

Yes, i am going to use natural seawater because it's sold by almost all LFSes
here for such a cheap price at IDR400 per liter, that's 15 cent per gallon!
How cheapskate of me

[Devaji108]

^ nice and you should use it live in Java there is no need to ship in salt mix.

have fun with the build

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by Devaji108

^ nice and you should use it live in Java there is no need to ship in salt mix.

have fun with the build

Yes, that's an advantage for living in the tropics, here we're just 2 hours away from the nearest beach with reef.

[CrayolaViolence]

Originally Posted by NguntalKawat

Yes, that's an advantage for living in the tropics, here we're just 2 hours away from the nearest beach with reef.

Are you able to snorkel for your own corals? I've always wanted to be able to do that. Go somewhere I could hunt what I wanted for my tank and collect it by hand

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by CrayolaViolence

Are you able to snorkel for your own corals? I've always wanted to be able to do that. Go somewhere I could hunt what I wanted for my tank and collect it by hand

Hi,
I haven't tried snorkeling before, problem is; I can't swim.
Yes, I would definitely do that once my tank is finished, there are shallow spots on the beach I was talking about, you don't even need to snorkel to catch the organism living there. Some sort of tide pool.

[patmos]

I will follow this project as I am also planning to build one of same size. I'm also from the tropics and intended to use natural sea water and corals.
Wishing you good luck for the completion of your project.

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by patmos

I will follow this project as I am also planning to build one of same size. I'm also from the tropics and intended to use natural sea water and corals.
Wishing you good luck for the completion of your project.

Thanks! and please post yours also in the Tank Journals & Builds forum, I'll subscribe. Mauritius' surely some kind of reef paradise, right?

[patmos]

Originally Posted by NguntalKawat

Thanks! and please post yours also in the Tank Journals & Builds forum, I'll subscribe. Mauritius' surely some kind of reef paradise, right?

Yes Mauritius is a paradise. White sandy beaches with lagoon protected by coral reef. I'll take all of my marine stuff from nature itself. Will surely post my project.

[ecotanker]

Nguntal,

what will be your filtration system? I do not see anything in your equipment list so far to serve that purpose.
Welcome to RC.

cheers

Max

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by ecotanker

Nguntal,

what will be your filtration system? I do not see anything in your equipment list so far to serve that purpose.
Welcome to RC.

cheers

Max

Hello Max, thanks for stopping by,
I am planning to run the tank skimmerless with biological filtration in the first chamber of the sump (probably Seachem Matrix, and some crushed corals) complemented with the utilization of refugium and
benthic zone in the second and third chambers respectively.
As I'm going to run medium-stocked tank with few corals, I think It'll suffice.

Well, what do you think?

[ecotanker]

Yes. It may suffice. Looking forward to see how the tank turn out.

cheers.

[NguntalKawat]

Tank updates:

• The backside paintwork; turned out to be 'not bad' but not as neat as expected...
  
  
  
  
• The sump goes totally wrong, painted black on the wrong side. I wonder if they can reassembly this mess...
  
  
  
  
• This is the Herbie, turned out to be okay... neat glue works... and it's me ruining the day with wrong calculation for the overflow glass height, causing the comb to be taller than the tank. Bad news.
  
  --->

Alright...

[patmos]

Originally Posted by NguntalKawat

Thanks! and please post yours also in the Tank Journals & Builds forum, I'll subscribe. Mauritius' surely some kind of reef paradise, right?

The reef is not too far in Mauritius....

[NguntalKawat]

Originally Posted by patmos

The reef is not too far in Mauritius....

I believe everywhere in your country is a beach region, yes?
And almost every beach has reef nearby. Every day's a blessing.

By the way, it's been awhile since my last post, my tank will be delivered tomorrow morning. Can't wait. All the holiday hype makes tank building such a long process.

I'll be posting it tomorrow, and hopefully, can kick off the cycle in the evening.
Cheers!

[NguntalKawat]

Meanwhile, rock work will look like these:



I've glued every junction point with an Epo-putty. Meanwhile it's soggy, hope tomorrow it'll harden and start curing.

[patmos]

Any update is most welcome.