Boom's 60G total Reef

[Boomboy]

Well not long after I got my 20G i wanted to go bigger but i couldn't go to big because of the space and not owning my own home. so i went with a 60G nice dimensions and its rimless, exactly what i wanted. Tank dimensions are 48x16x19, now if i could just get the picture thing to work out for me.
close up of corners








and just for fun my fishtank as of now pretty much . OH AND IF someone wants a frag of those green shrooms in the middle let me know for really cheap. i saved them from another tank and i dont really want that many.5 months old with 1 move in her.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/HPIM0741.jpg

I will keep people posted, and any suggestions are welcomed. a few things that im not sure about is my return pump which one to use and well thats it so far, and sitting on the table about how to build my sump.

[scorpio73]

quiet zone pumps are good pumps thats what i ve used for 3 year on my uvand return dont hear them at all

[Boomboy]

Here is my check list of things to do still.
1. Buy sump tank, and put baffles into sump.
2. Buy overflow box, and hook up plumbing.
3.Decide and buy return pump, and hook up return loclines.
4. Hook up lights to hand over tank.
5. Paint back of tank.
6. Buy remaining equipment.

Equipment list
1. AGA 60G check
2. Custom DIY stand check
3. 60 Pounds of sugar sand.
4. Lumen Max 3 pendant check
5. 250W Icecap electronic ballast check
6. Hamilton 14k bulb check
7. Euroreef Rs100.
8. Return pump??? quietone 4000H or mag 12
9. Overflow CPR CS102 or Cs150 Model, not sure which one, but i want it to handle enough flow, if someone could really help me with one i need, that woulbe be awesome, cause im kinda stuck on this, as ive never had a sump before.
10. 2 Koralia 4 powerheads. one check
11. Misc other things , that i will get after i have set up the tank for a while.such as night leds, phosban reactors, ph and salinity monitors.

Well for my sump i want to go 36" long and 12 wide, with 16 to 18 high, but im not sure how much gph i need on the return pump to get some good flow. im going to have 4 locline returns, so i want to get good pressure out of each of them. any ideas?

and also does anyone want a frag of these for cheap, i want to get an idea how many people in edmonton would want some.

[Boomboy]

So after looking over Jdigital's tank journal and finding a link to an overflow set up, it made me think about what i was doing i was going just to use a CPR overflow box, but i really dont want to much sound, and im not sure how noisy these things are. im also limited to not drilling my tank, so is there really any other options out there for me, please chime in anyone thanks.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

How much flow do you want through your sump? Figure that out first and then you can determine which pumps would be suitable! I'm using a Hydor Seltz L35, and it's only giving me about 250GPH through my sump....which is great for me :)

The tank looks great, btw. Very nice attention to detail.

[Boomboy]

i think i want to get around 600gph (being the low end) to 800gph. im leaning more towards the 800gph, and the rest of the flow is powerheads 2x koralia 4, i also have a Kora 2 that i might use to for any dead spots. also does anyone know if this is a good skimmer or not? http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Protein-Skimmers-Octopus-Needlewheel-Skimmers/c101_105/p584/OCT-DNW-110-Octopus-Recirculating-Skimmer/product_info.html
It's rated for 125G but with my sump it will only come to a 90G system, and im guessing that heavy stocked it can handle from 60G to 80G somewhere in between. any help would be great thanks again.
The build has come to a slow creep now. Ive been to walmart to get krylon fusion white and they never have it, always all the other colours. My back and my tubing except the lighting supports will be white, even plan on painting my locline white to blend in. ( they are black to help with algea, but im ok with that for the over all look). so waiting on that to paint the back and planning out my plumbing as of now.

[JDigital]

are you able to get the glass cut? because you could get a wier cut into the back panel of glass (I'd go 36" long) and then an external glass overflow box. I was given the idea over on RC... seems good, would be real easy with your tank due to that fact that there is no framing around the top to deal with... I'm sure any Speedy Glass or something could cut the weir (and glass overflow panels) fairly cheaply for you..

[Boomboy]

what is a weir cut? could you show me the link to that forum thanks.

[Boomboy]

Well ive finally gotten the spray paint i wanted, and it is currently drying need one more coat, then i will put it on my stand, and hopefully i will have pics for tommorow to see what it looks like. Ive decided to just build my overflow, because i can then make it custom and it will be cheaper than buying one, why not everything else is diy, why not that. some designs on that later.
Here are some pics of my finished stand.


Stand Specs
54"l x 18"w x 37"h
2x4 frame for support with birch plywood, Custom made doors (hahah by me)
and again i made this all including the doors with just a jigsaw, mitresaw for the 2x4 frame and a powerdrill for drilling holes for screws for 2x4 frame. Also the bottom is water proof in case of spills it can hold up to 2" of water, and the bottom has adjusted legs to level the stand out.

and one more pic because im trying to get the hang of it with my little digi camera. Was taken under 14k hamilton bulb( camera is a HP Photosmart R742, its not really made for close ups, i can only get so close but it does the trick)

[JDigital]

what is a weir cut? could you show me the link to that forum thanks.

I was never provided a pic or link over on RC but imagine a 36" long (or however long u want), 2-3" deep section of glass cut out from the top edge of the back panel... Your water level would be determined by how deep you get the "weir" cut.

when the tank level gets to that height, it pours over the "weir" and into your external overflow box, and from there everything else is as it should be.

I think it would look smooth with your tank since you don't have a pesky rim to deal with, get it cut, grind down, and polished to match the rest of the tank lip! :D

Hope that makes sense! haha!

[Boomboy]

yeah but doesnt it mean if you cant get it drilled you cant get it cut also? isnt that was tempted means? anyone want to chime in who knows.

[Boomboy]

i think im going to go with this skimmer. OCT-DNW-110 Octopus Recirculating Skimmer. Unless someone says anything other wise, its a good RECIRCULATING skimmer, which i will just plumb from my overflow, its rated easily for my tank, and its much cheaper than a euro-reef skimmer. about a hundred bucks less. my mind might be changed about making my overflow, because its alot of work, and if it didnt work that well, it would suck.

[Boomboy]

well due to getting married in october, the tank build has been put on hold, and when i mean hold i mean i cant spend anymore money on it. Thanks to billy i was able to get some free sugar sand which was WAY more than i needed. i just decided to go without a sump for now, and things are just all over the place, always looking for some free fish that people just want to get rid of, i wouldnt mind taking them, im in edmonton.working on a HOB custom carbon/ fuge right now seeing how that works out. i will post pictures of it later.

[Boomboy]

well been a while since i updated, my tank is up and running, but its sumpless. thanks to rayfong (fish) and sonymdcdvcd (sand) i was able to get it going and looking good.Im going to build a HOB fuge to hold the heater and to get rid of the other HOB filters because i cant stand them. Here are some pics of it to satisfy those who are picture hungry.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/Picture740.jpg

I dont get end to end coverage with the light but i cant spend another 400 to get the other one in, one day i will.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/DSC00845.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/DSC00855.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/DSC00859.jpg

Wondering if it food or not, they always come to the surface when i put my finger in, none of them are afraid.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/DSC00863.jpg

[hecks220]

if i can give you any advice, don't skimp on the skimmer. my biggest past mistakes were trying to save a few bucks on it. get a good one and then put it in your pre-nup

[Boomboy]

well, not to much to update, have a bit of a cyano issue, due to not enough sand being stirred up,and didnt do a water change in a while, but i did 1/3 of the tank, over the course of a week and a half. and sucked some of it off the sand. i got some snails for that, and also built a 5g refuge so one day i can get a mandarin,and a place to put my cheato, and my heater and temp probe. i also need some more live rock, but will be getting that soon. Added a feather duster, cleaner shrimp, blue tuxedo urchin, and sallylight foot crab( it only has one claw, which i saw once i got it into the tank) hopefully it will grow back but probably wont. things are slow, because im getting married, but she wants my tank to look great and is willing to let me spend some money to make it nice. and that way i wont want to just upgrade to a bigger tank. also noticed my first bubble algea, ever! gonna have to figure out how to get it out before it spreads without making it worse. any ideaS?and some boring pics too of my ghetto refuge, but hey it works.


i just built a quick 2x4 stand for it, and built a shelf on the back, and screwed the shelf into the 2x4 frame.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/Picture767.jpg




and here i just used a left over container and cut it out and siliconed it into place, it isnt totally sealed but its only there to stop cheato from coming out.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/Picture768.jpg

and a FTS of current aquascape. its a little more blue in real life, but im not using a good camera.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/aug2.jpg

trying to get rid of the three corals on the bottom left, any takers, just really kinda dont want them at all in my tank, as im getting away from mushrooms.

[JDigital]

Wow... nice to see you got this up ang going Boom! Really cool aquascaping..

What do you have it stocked with? The 2 Clowns and 3 Chromis?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Looks good! Keep it up....and maybe I didn't catch this, but did you decide on/purchase a skimmer?

[Boomboy]

thanks JDigital, i wanted a bunch of tunnels in the aquascape but flat tops to put corals, going to put a big plat area on the left with 3 pillars underneath for the fish to swim and hide. i have male and female clowns, 3 green/blue chromis and one tiny little black and white 3 striped damselfish, that is it, going to get rid of all of them except maybe the clown pair, because i got a good deal on them 3 chromis and 2 pair of clowns 20 bucks couldn't turn that up when i only have the one fish in it, and der iron chef, no i haven't bought one yet, i haven't gotten a sump going because of the extra cost of the sump overflow box and skimmer, and getting married comes first, im using my crappy red sea HOB skimmer at the moment looking for good deals and more rock. i want to get a mandarin eventually but i think i will wait till i move the tank again once i get married, moved 3 times with the tank im getting good at it. thats all for now.

[Boomboy]

Theres been a death in the family.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/Picture784.jpg


Heres how i think it went down, either one of 2 ways, first one was that the urchin caught the cleaner ratting him out about stabbing some coral with his spines, so he took him out.

second way, the classic falling piano, the cleaner shrimp was cleaning the sand minding his own business eating algea, while the urchin got himself upside down and couldnt hold on anymore, and fell, luckily for the urchin the shrimp was their to break his fall, poor cleaner, but to not get caught he is trying to finish him off and get rid of the evidence, but i caught him just the same because he takes to long to eat stuff.

or third it was a molt, but i had a feeling this guy would die for some reason, but if in a couple days i spot him cool, if not oh well, have to get me another one day, not anytime soon though.

[Marlin65]

yeah but doesnt it mean if you cant get it drilled you cant get it cut also? isnt that was tempted means? anyone want to chime in who knows.

Do not Drill or Cut it will explode.
The only thing you can do is grind off half the thickness of the glass.

[Boomboy]

what does that mean? only have the thickness down or half the thickness in?
got me a madarin yesterday, still nervous but is roaming around the back of the tank. i will get pics when ever i can.

[Boomboy]

well im currently in hawaii, on vacation. hope to bring back some good pics of everything, not much is going on with the tank, cyano, has a good hold on it, my own fault i use tap water, hopefully the tank wont crash when i get back. i will post some pic when i get back.

[Boomboy]

well i got back and my bulb burnt out on me, dont really know why i updated this, i guess just for myself, when i first got the bulb it had some brown on the inside, me getting MH for the first time, didnt know if that was supposed to be there or not, but the bulb is gone, and i have to find a cheap replacement for it now, i will get a nasty FTS when i get a new bulb in there. im kinda in the same boat as JJDigital , wanting to start over and do everything right, but its more of a challenge when you try and fix it.

[JDigital]

You've got a bit more invested already with fish and corals that I did, when I shut it down last week... So not quite the same challenge. I've already got it all mapped out for my piping and stuff... just need to get it rolling..

[Boomboy]

well not really, all of my fish are 25 bucks and my corals all fit into my 20G i didnt get anymore since i upgraded.

[Boomboy]

well, i am shutting down the bigger tank for a smaller one until i can raise enough money for a custom made cube, want to do it different this time around, so im trying to sell most of my stuff. so if anyone wants to help me out and buy my corals and fish that would be great, heres a final FTS before it comes down.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/Boomboy85/invitation.jpg

[Ken]

You did a great job on the stand, considering that all you used was a jig saw, a mitre saw and a drill. Regards Ken

[JDigital]

Sorry to hear you are shutting it down man! :sad:

[Boomboy]

im surprised no one said anything about my fake anenome in the tank hahah.

and thanks for the comment, it was really well made, looks great, shame to get rid of it after all the work i put into it, but getting married in just one week, and moving in three days, into an apartment, so this is the chance to shut it down and starting a new, going for a bigger size, 28x28x24 comes to 80 for display and probably 20 for the sump, so 100 total i think that is a good size for a couple of years.