33 gallon cobbled together!

[Slick Fork]

So much for getting out of the hobby for a while.... 6 months after I shut my 110 down I'm really starting to miss it so I think I'm going to stick a toe back into the water!

My 110 is still available if anyone is looking to buy it, I'd set it up but being on a well for our water I found keeping the water quality optimal is damn near impossible. Plus, we're trying to sell our house and moving a 33 is a HECK of a lot easier then moving everything out of the 110!

Here's my existing equipment list, all of it just gathering dust in my basement right now...

Standard 33 gallon tank and stand
Profilux PlusII Controller
Flow & Filtration
Aquaclear 110 and 500
Koralia 3&4 (sneaking suspicion that the 4 is toast)
Tunze 6045, 6055
Tunze Nano Wavebox

Lighting
4x39 watt Tek T5 fixture
OR
175 15k on an electronic ballast with a reef optik 2 reflector
Plus whatever fixture I decide on will get the profilux LED moonlight stick added!

Of course I've got a few heaters kicking around
Some sand and rock (all "air cured")

Plus anything I want to pirate off of the 110 setup including sump and a vertex in 180 skimmer. I played around with the idea of drilling the 33 and adding a 55 gallon sump with the vertex skimmer but... I figure I'll spend $300+ building a new stand, buying the drill bit, paying for plumbing parts etc. So right now I'm thinking I'd rather spend the money on livestock.

My goals and criteria for this tank are:

cheap and simple (I know that both of these are relative but as a student again, I don't have a lot of money to blow on hardware)
Diverse
Did I say Cheap already?


I don't have any solid plans for livestock right now and am open to suggestions. Possibly some attractive macro-algae with LPS and Zoanthids, no ideas on fish right now but I really like gobies and shrimp.
Unless I drill the tank, this one will be skimmerless with nutrient export happening via macro algae and water changes so keep that in mind when suggesting different things.

I'll try to do a better job of keeping this build up to date then I did with my last one :redface::mrgreen:

[fishytime]

Great to hear man!.....glad your getting back into it:wink:......I know all to well atm what you mean about moving a 110:mrgreen:.....if I were doin a 33 and I liked shrimp/gobies ....I would do a yasha/pistol, a pair of percs, either a dwarf or pygmy angel then a pseudochromis or dottyback of some sort....and in that order:wink:..although that might be an ambitious stocking list for a sumpless/skimmerless tank?....looking forward to seeing what you do

[Slick Fork]

Hey Doug,

Sorry to hear about your crash. I was browsing your "not so budget" thread and really liked the look of some of the gorg's and filter feeders you had in there. Also really liked the large leafy macro, is that Halmidea?

I don't think I'll have to narrow my fish down for quite some time, I've got some air cured live rock for the base and will have to figure out what I want to do for seed rock... I'm really hoping to avoid introducing pests. I'll probably put the tank together this week, so probably mid august before I'm ready for any kind of livestock.

[Slick Fork]

So, set it all up for a freshwater trial run in the living room to see how the noise is with all the powerheads, wavebox etc. going. Wavebox is a little noisy but it hasn't been used for a while so i've left it all running to rinse it off and hope it quites down a little... good news is CHECK OUT MY WAVE

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/th_HC017.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/?action=view&current=HC017.mp4)
Click for the video
Gotta paint the stand to match the furniture up here or the wife'll kill me

[The Grizz]

That is one sweet wave you have going there Chris :thumb:. A little bird tells me you are thinking of putting a nice big sump and skimmer on this tank :razz:.

[Slick Fork]

Yeah, I'd like to... Unfortunately my buyer for my old lights backed out. Part of my goal with this tank is to do the setup (hardware wise) with almost no fresh money going into it. The joys of being back in school! So, we'll have to see. I'm going to call the glass place on monday to see how much an external overflow will set me back, then figure the stand and the plumbing and see what I can scrape together. It'd kind of suck to build all of this and then have no money for a few showpiece chunks of live-rock and frags!

[Doug]

Good thing you have those end pieces on there with that wave going. :lol:

[Slick Fork]

Well, it was a busy evening tonight. After a lot of back and forth and general wishy-washiness the decision has been made.... Cut the tank, comission a stand by a Master Welder, and see if the old sump is gonna leak!

So... the new plan is to cut a notch in this tank and build an external overflow which will be plumbed to the old sump from my 110. This should double my water volume and alow me to take salvaging bits to the extreme. I plan on pressing my Vertex In-180 into service as the skimmer... that should bump my bio-capacity up to about 50 fish I think... How many tangs do you think I could fit in here? :mrgreen::biggrin::mrgreen: In all seriousness though, I am a little concerned about overskimming and was planning on just running the skimmer 8 hours a day or so, any thoughts?

Now for some pic's to interrupt all this talking!

First off, after a couple of trial runs with the dremel and diamond bit I felt ready to tackle the tank. Here it is ready to go in the shop... Notice the super high-tech lighting system I rigged to illuminate my work!! One thing I did do which was neat was instead of having a dam to hold the water, I just pumped the water out of a 5 gallon pail and used paper towels and duct tape to channel it back into the bucket. This kept the cut clean and cool in shallow water.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July7021.jpg

This next one is just a break I took about 1/3 of the way through. It probably took me a lot longer to do then it had to but I figured easy does it for my first glass carving experience. You can see how the water is just flowing over the area to be cut, it took a little trial and error to set my drain channel up properly but only about half of the bucket ended up on the floor when it was all said and done (good thing I didn't try this in the kitchen :biggrin: )
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July7022.jpg

Finally, the cut's all done. Roughly 8 inches in length and a little over an inch deep. Nobody will mistake this for a job done by a pro but overall I'm pretty happy with my first attempt!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July7025.jpg

So... I'm a little concerned about the stress on the back panel when I add the overflow box and was considering adding a mini eurobrace, say 1/4"thick by 1/2" x36" just to add a little beef to the back. The whole tank is 1/4" glass and that's what I have planned for the overflow, it'll be 10" wide by 4" front to back and say another 10" top to bottom with 1" bulkheads setup for a herbie. Any thoughts on the necessity of the Euro-brace?

Cheers!

[sharuq1]

Did you sell your big tank? What kind of fish are you planning on putting in this one?

[Slick Fork]

still no firm plans on how to stock this one yet, a goby or two for sure. I think I'd kinda like a whole bunch of tiny fish darting around and being active rather then a few larger ones

[bvlester]

looking good you cam put some egg crate on the cutout with the use of silicone. you can also reinforce the overflow box side with some 1/3" glass and silicone it to the glass that is there That would help with stress or in the event you have any micro fractures they should not run.

Bill

[sharuq1]

I like it! Keep us updated with pics :smile:

[The Grizz]

Looking good Chris, if you are worried about the back of the tank and the weight of the OF a eurobrace would be your best insurance better safe then sorry :biggrin:.

If all goes well your stand will be built and painted tomorrow.:thumb:

[Greenmaster]

It's nice to see you decided to go with the larger sump... firefish like to dart around a bit... maybe a few of those with some little gobies like some of the prawn or shrimp gobies. Maybe a small school of 5 chromis. Just some suggestions :D
I'm not an expert with skimmers but I have heard people having success with having 4-12 hours on the skimmer.

[Slick Fork]

Looking good Chris, if you are worried about the back of the tank and the weight of the OF a eurobrace would be your best insurance better safe then sorry :biggrin:.

If all goes well your stand will be built and painted tomorrow.:thumb:

That's awesome! What do you drink? I think a bottle or case might be in order :mrgreen:

I did order the glass for just a rear eurobrace. Like you said, better safe than sorry and at only an inch it doesn't take up a whole lot of real-estate.

I had a firefish before and he was pretty cool, definitely on my short list. Don't think Chromis are though. My wife is gunning for an anenome and clowns though so we'll see!

[Greenmaster]

...I had a firefish before and he was pretty cool, definitely on my short list. Don't think Chromis are though. My wife is gunning for an anenome and clowns though so we'll see!

I would probably get both a pair of clowns and a small school of Chromis of some kind like the sunshine in the pic below. Or some other smaller schooling fish. The problem with say a Cardinal is that they tend to not move around much but Chromis tend to dance around the tank. Especialy if you have 1 of the smaller algae eating tangs to help them to dance a little.
http://www.aquacon.com/images/sunshinechromis1.jpg

[The Grizz]

How is the cobbling coming there Chris?:lol:

[Slick Fork]

How is the cobbling coming there Chris?:lol:

Slowly... Overflow box is built and attached curing tonight, I'll put some pic's up tomorrow maybe.

Have a nice slice of birch plywood that's going to be the countertop, just gotta find a stain that my wife is happy with!

Still trying to figure out lighting, I've got a 36" 4 bulb T5 but I REALLY want something that shimmers, maybe one of the reefbrite strips Oceanic is selling would do the trick. I could also put a 175 watt MH bulb over top but I'm worried about the heat as this tank is going to be upstairs.

[Slick Fork]

Well, overflow is built and was siliconed on Sunday after a night out at the movies. Set it up in the garage and filled it up, we'll see if it's exploded overnight. Any thoughts on how long to run the leak test? I was thinking it wouldn't hurt anything to leave it full for a few days, maybe even a week? I may even set the wavebox up on it to see if it will handle the wave or not. Anyways, more pics less chatter as they say so here we go:

First is the tank on the sheet of birch so I could map out the holes I'm going to have to cut in the countertop to accomodate plumbing. Check out the awesome looking steel stand I picked up last weekend! Thanks Grizz
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Aroundthehouse040.jpg

This next shot is just a view of the bottom of the external overflow, gives you an idea about how far out it extends. It's about 4" sticking out from the tank (so I can fit my hand in or use it as storage) and 10 wide and 10 high. I ended up with the holes about a quarter inch too big so I just ran a bead of silicone, if it works great, if it doesn't I guess I'm moving up to the next size bulkhead!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Aroundthehouse025.jpg

Finally, and I guess it should've been first but meh, a quick shot of the fancy clamps I used to glue the overflow together. I think without those right angles it would've looked like a drunken nun had tried to put it together for me!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July2010001.jpg

[Greenmaster]

Just a caution about the wave box... you should make sure the table is sturdy :D

[Slick Fork]

Funny you mention that, it's how I talked the banker into letting me buy that steel stand. I had put it up on the fancy big Al's particleboard special, turned the wavemaker on for a test run and you could actually see the stand swaying. That and the fact that the old stand looked horrible in her living room was all it took!

I also got a fancy new micro-pinner to help with the trim on the tabletop. With the sale at Windsor Plywood it was about $50 and she figured that if it saved me $1 for every swear word uttered during the trim portion it would pay for 2 of them!

[The Grizz]

No problem Chris, happy to build the stand for you. I am sure that the stand and the birch top will hold up just fine for your wave box. :biggrin:Looking good!!

[Slick Fork]

I have no doubts about the stand. Curious about how the tank will do with the wavebox!

I've gotta decide too, whether I want to do the back of the tank in black or white. I know Blue is the standard but it just doesn't appeal to me

[Greenmaster]

I have seen some killer air brushed tanks... they look like the tank goes on for ever...

[The Grizz]

Well I would vote for black, I built an internal overflow out of black acrylic and I like the look of the black.

The only thing I would be worried about with the wavebox is the splash into the overflow box from the wave. Just my thought as I have never seen a wave box working in person.

[Slick Fork]

Yeah, the overflow will have a dampening effect on the wavebox, might even make it not worth while. Plus, the wavebox takes up a LOT of real estate so it may just stay on the shelf or go up for sale

Green, an Airbrushed back would be amazing. But probably like the white... nice until it got dirty!

[The Grizz]

or go up for sale


.......hmmmmm..... wave box in an 8 footer........hmmmmmmmmm:lol:

[Greenmaster]

http://glassbox-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/img_8463.jpg
http://glassbox-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/uwe1.jpg

[Slick Fork]

http://glassbox-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/img_8463.jpg
http://glassbox-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/uwe1.jpg


WOW is all I can say

And Grizz, you would love the effect I have no doubt but I don't think mine has enough OOMpH for an 8 foot tank! But I do highly recommend them!

[Slick Fork]

Thought I'd update with a couple of pics. Leak testing is done and after a significant amount of swearing the sump got squeezed into the stand and the countertop and display were put on and plumbed.

Went with a white background, I like black but we felt it would be too dark.

Here's my herbie plumbing!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newbuild005.jpg

Kinda top down showing the return and the overflow, I'm hoping most of the return goes to the "T" on the bottom, but I wanted the loc-line up top as a siphon break and for surface agitation
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newbuild007.jpg

Couple of FTS
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newbuild008.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newbuild009.jpg

In anticipation of a few comments, yes it will be pushed back against the wall and No, that's not the door we use regularly!

With a little luck I'll get some water in the display tonight and possibly some rock!

[Greenmaster]

Looks good... just make sure it's against the wall before you add the water :lol:

[The Grizz]

Looks good Chris, what was all the swearing about? :lol: Looks like the sump fit like a glove.

LOAD THAT SUCKER UP!!!!:biggrin::biggrin:

[Slick Fork]

Fitting like a glove means lots of pinched fingers sliding it through :mrgreen: Hung the light and starting to think about rock and water for tomorrow!

[Slick Fork]

IT'S ALIVE!!!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewBuild003.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewBuild006.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewBuild007-1.jpg

White balance is off, it's not quite that blue, more of a crisp white. Will probably change out a bulb or two to get it a little bluer!

Now, I Cycle and wait!

[Greenmaster]

Wow that looks great... I'm about 3-4 weeks from that stage... what are you using to cycle?

[Slick Fork]

Just gonna let the rock cycle itself, maybe add some food every other day to help feed the bacteria.

All the rock on the right is some choice pieces I had left over from my previous build but was completely dead. I stuck it in a salty rubbermaid a couple of weeks ago, whenever post 1 was dated. The stuff to the left I picked up at Ocean City in Calgary on Saturday. Thinking I might need to beg a handful of chaeto from someone to get some pods and brittle stars going.

I'm not completely done picking up rock, Red Coral is getting a fresh shipment in towards the end of August so I think I'll probably wait till it comes in and see if I can cherry pick some stuff with great life on it.

[Slick Fork]

Thought I'd update with some goodies! The Zoanthids are from Red Coral as are the Acans. Frogspawn, Favia and Cocoa worm are from Blue World in Edmonton!

Enjoy
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium010.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium022.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium017.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium016.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium013.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewAquarium011.jpg

[Slick Fork]

So, It's been a while since I updated anything and in the meantime we've sold our acreage and moved to Red Deer. I upgraded my tek fixture to include a pair of Reefbrite LED's that thread is here:http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=67874

And Just last weekend I picked up a purple firefish and a sailfin goby from Calgary. Here's some shots from today.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec15.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec09.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec08.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec02.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec11.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec13.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/4dec14.jpg

Definitely in need of some more coral and still trying to figure out what else I should add for livestock.

Cheers

[The Grizz]

Looking good dude, glad to here you finally sold and got moved to town.

[MMAX]

Tank looking good, everything survive the move ?

[fishytime]

lookin gooood there yous two!

[Slick Fork]

Tank looking good, everything survive the move ?

Yeah, surprisingly the move went REALLY smoothly as far as the tank went. The Acan's sulked for a couple of days and I thought the snails were toast but everything made it!

[Slick Fork]

Did some trading last weekend and got some pic's finally today. A couple of nice "Bird of Many Colours" and Orange Monti-Digitata Frags and an interesting Blue-Tip SPS that I think is an Acropora. Thanks Argentiner!

Also picked up a Beautiful Beauty from Gold's
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-46.jpg

These SPS frags will be a real test I think of the Reefbrite LED strips.

Birdsnest
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-30.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-33.jpg

Monti-Digitata
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-31.jpg

Blue-Tipped SPS
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-34.jpg

And, just cause I like photographing the Acan's
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Jan2011Fish-28.jpg

[Slick Fork]

So, I took some pic's in mid-march but haven't had the time to do much with them. Now that I've got some time, here they are:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-33.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-30.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-23.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-22.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-18.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-16.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-15.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March11-3.jpg

I've done some re-arranging so hopefully I won't be too long in getting some more up to date pic's up there!

[Greenmaster]

WOW! Looks great.

[Slick Fork]

Been a while since I updated so here's a couple of quick ones I snapped today!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/8june-49.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/8june-39.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/8june-37.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-7.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-8.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-14.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-17.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-19.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-21.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/june9fish-22.jpg

[fishytime]

Great looking pics!......and that favia looks amazing under your lighting:wink:

[Slick Fork]

Some shots of the new stuff I've acquired in the last couple of weeks.

These are all under my "mid-day" lights

From Gold's $15 Acan blow out tank... 1 is definitely the kind of Acan I'm used to, the other i'm not sure if it's actually an Acan or not, looked nice and for $15 why not! The colours on the first one are much better in person... I couldn't seem to get the white balance on it. Second one looks pretty close to how it looks in the tank
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-36.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-46.jpg

From Red Coral I picked up a beautiful green and purple Acan
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-44.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-43.jpg

From Fishytime, a couple of frags. Blue polyp birdsnest and Acropora Convexa
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-35.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-47.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-39.jpg

And the obligatory FTS... I also added some dry rock, I'll bet you can't guess which pieces! I did some rescaping to get my blue and green acroporas up closer to the top. I have been having trouble with my SPS losing colour slowly... I think it's because the reefbrites just don't cut it :( so I'm hoping the move upwards will give them their colour back!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/July31-1.jpg

[The Grizz]

Looking good there bud, some really nice colors :thumb:

[Slick Fork]

Looking good there bud, some really nice colors :thumb:

Thanks, coming along slowly!