The not so budget, 25g add-on
 

As some of you may already know Ive decided to plumb in a 25g tank to my 110g mixed reef. I have had a NNTC(no new tanks clause) in effect from my g/f since we moved into this house a year and a half ago. She has always really wanted seahorses and she has been upset with the direction Ive gone with the big tank. Ive removed all the softies and most lps that move and sway. (10000 gph and things that sway dont mix well:mrgreen:.I say "the polyps on those sps sway and move":biggrin: She misses the xenia, gsp and frogspawn that I used to have. So I told her if I did a smallish, inexpensive add-on tank, then she may be able to get her ponies and some other corals that sway and move......she said yes:twised:

Ok.....so phase 1 of the whole project is what ended up being the "not so budget" part of this build. The big tank's total system volume is around 130-140g and Ive been running a euro-reef RS135 skimmer. Some may say that the system is somewhat heavily stocked, so the first thing that would need to happen is a skimmer upgrade:biggrin::biggrin: . After carefully measuring my skimmer section and going over the specs on the skimmers easilly available to me at RC, I had my choice narrowed down to two....a Hydor.....or a BK mini 200.....what would you get if you could?:lol:.....So.....gettin a BK *does geeky little happy dance*.....shhh...dont tell the g/f....about the BK or the happy dance:biggrin:

The BK is on back-order atm:neutral: , but that gives me time to get the rest of the parts together and a stand built. So as Im sitting here one night looking at the sump area of the current tank I realize that a 12"x12" footprint skimmer is not going to go in the 8" of space I have between the top of the sump and the display above it.....:doh:.....Then I got to realizing what a pain in the butt this sump has been to work in and around..... so I decided to get a custom sump built:biggrin:.....The old sump was one I built from a 55g tank(48"lx12"wx20"t)....It was both too tall and too narrow....so the new sump is 54"lx15 1/2"wx15 1/2"t which works out to about 56G...not a huge change in volume, but way easier to work in (I will include the pics in this thread as well, as it is a integral part off this tank build).


http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3512.jpg
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your tank looks amazing.

+1, can't wait to see how the horsy tank evolves :biggrin:

"Not so budget" :lol: That's awesome!

Should be great little project, can't wait to see more. :cool:

Thank you both....I sure hope I can do the ponies....already iffy because of temperature issues....again shhhhh dont tell my g/f

I honestly thought(before I got serious and started really planning and gathering equipment) that I could do it for a couple hundred bucks....and if it wernt for the need for a bigger skimmer it probably could have been done for about that much.

I have to admit that I am farther along than the thread reveals....I was lazy starting this thread, so I am playing catch up:mrgreen:

The tank I got free...literally from the alley....its wasnt a coincidence....Mikey(El Gauppo) recently moved and left the tank in the alley where he used to live....it spent a couple weeks back there, before I went and got it(leak tested it in the tub and it still holds water(I hope)). I waffled back and forth about grabbing it because Mikey had painted the back of the tank blue and this wouldnt work for my plans.....so it was like...."spend a couple hours scraping the back of the tank" or "just go and buy a new one for $60"..... Im cheap, so scrape the tank it is.


The add-on will go beside the main system (where the speaker is now) peninsula style.
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3502.jpg

The longer and wider sump meant that all the products and other crap that you see in and around the sump in the picture above, needed to find a new home... so....(this makes the g/f happy)
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3547.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3548.jpg

Heres the tank before scraping and clean up (which only took an hour)
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3504.jpg

then I punched three holes in it (middle hole is the return, outside holes are for a herbie style drain)
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3509.jpg

Very cool Doug! Can't wait to see it set up with WATER!

Rad dude. So you just have a pump in the sump pumping into the new tank and it gravity feeds back?

I think the best part of your amazing looking tank is the beautiful wood-skin you have on your stand. I mean you're a skilled carpenter so why wouldn't you finish it off. Impressive :mrgreen:

Me too....gotta build the stand.....thats about the only thing holding me up(got material for it today)


Thats the idea... I have an OR 2500 that I will use for the return...for now....thinking on drilling the sump and and doing a dart with a manifold to feed things, but that an upgrade that will have to come later...
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3507.jpg


:rofl2: Have you been talking to my g/f, Brett??? Thats exactly what she keeps bugging me about....."when is the stand gonna get skinned?".....my excuses are numerous......some of which include; "I do carpentry all day....I dont wanna do it when I get home", "Im workin seven days a week and doing household chores and keeping up with the tank. When am I supposed to skin the stand" and my personal favorite excuse " you know when you have an old Camaro with the engine all supped up and chromed.....and you leave the hood off so people can see the engine in all its beauty....thats what this is like":mrgreen:

we have the exact same tank, except mine has no budget and yours is much bigger, its nice to be able to plumb smaller tanks into bigger ones. cant wait to see how this one turns out.

I haven't seen a Camaro this sweet man but I get the basic idea =)

Finally getting around to this eh? Nice work so far... When do u expect to have the stand finished?

Not sure man....got no place to build it atm

Heres a couple pics of the overflow installed
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3572.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3573.jpg

Any update?

looking good.

Bahahahaha!!! :lol: A cheap add-on tank! Funny how that happened. :p

Big....large...huge....massive update:mrgreen:....I got the eggcrate siliconed in at the top of the overflow:lol:.....I havnt been feeling to well lately so progress has kinda slowed:neutral:
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3577.jpg

Haha...well if you move at my pace you should be done by spring. ;)

Did you spray that black Doug? Hope ya feel better. I'm at chuck-e-cheese with a hangover right now.

Nope....tis black EC....you looked like you survived CC well enough:lol:


Got the stand done....nothing fancy....I will add some doors to it after things are up and running and Im done tweeking the tank....Shouldnt be to long now before I have water in this thing....still waiting on the skimmer:neutral:
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Looks good with both tanks being the same height.

Your's starting a new small tank, laurier is starting a new small tank, ........... Uh oh! :lol:

nano's are coming back. umm now who will have their's finished first :)

That just means I know how to use a tape measure:lol:

Im not in any real hurry....we all know what happens when you rush things:wink:

I'm really enjoying your build thread so far :) Keep the pics coming.

I wouldn't have the slightest idea. Sounds pretty cool to me! The dimensions of that tank are pretty cool. What do you have planned for the horses to hitch up to/too?

I'm not rushing at all. Its going to be a month-6 weeks before i put anything in the tank. just bugging you buddy:mrgreen:

Thanks Kelly.....You know me...Im certainly not afraid to share pics

About 8 months or so ago RC got in a metric whack of tonga branch rock so I snagged a few pieces then....Hopefully the ponies will find them hitchable....Yup been kinda thinking about this for that long.

Month to six weeks?.....Well I got you beat then.....all my rock has been in my sump for months (with the exception of one piece)....Plus with the tank being plumbed into the main system there wont be a cycle at all:mrgreen::wink:

i hate my 25G already, its too tall to get any really nice aquascape and not enough space on the sand. luckily you will only have sea horses in there, so thats good. we need more pictures hows it coming along?

Your tank doesnt look bad....
Its coming along really well actually....I finally felt well enough to get the thing plumbed and running....heres a couple shots of the plumbing....I used a combination of flex and hard to get er done.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP3585.jpg
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Looks great man. When it comes time to blow those badboys out think of Lance.

Heres some shots of the aquascape and a shot of the two tanks together.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...IMG_0017-2.jpg
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Wow like it was MEANT to be! Awesome. I had a good laugh (maybe not LOL but still...) when I saw all your fish looking at me through the new tank! Horsies are going to love that rock.

When you skin this thing you should have the front panel go up inbetween the two tanks so the space is hidden...

agreed, this tank looks sweet next to the other tank, makes your tank look alot longer also. going to have corals in the tank too? might as well and just have sea horses also. cant wait, what type of sea horses are you going to get?

Thanks Brett....It funny you mention that....All the fish in the big tank kept taking turns examining the new tank through the glass last night...the g/f said theyre gonna get bruises on their foreheads if they keep it up.

Im not sure the big tank will ever get "skinned out"....I have an even bigger reason to want to keep an eye on whats going on under there now. A power out scenario doesnt leave me with a heck of a lot of room to play with in the sump....in fact I had to drop the water level a bit in my return section and raise the height of the primary drain in the overflow box of the pony tank, to get a little more room for drainage in the sump and so a little less water would drain from the PT(pony tank) overflow. With both the returns off and the skimmer off I have about an inch and a half of space at the top of the sump.....thats cutting it close....I should have made the sump an inch or two taller:redface:

Thanks man....Its for sure is gonna have corals in it....probably a mix....some sps up top, zoanthids, acans and maybe a leather to make the g/f happy....we have kudas(I think) at the shop at atm so thats probably what I will end up with...

very nice man

WOW Doug that looks great... Awesome job.:thumb:

damn it, he beat me. looks awesome dude. rockwork is amazing

Thanks a lot guys

I ran into a bit of a snag....I came home from the shop yesterday to a bunch of water on the floor:bad-word:.....It seems as though the top plastic trim on the tank leaks.:neutral: Not much mind you but enough to slowly trickle down one corner of the tank.....I temporarily fixed it by lifting the tank and shimming it out of level *makes flexing type motions with his arms* (even surprised myself, that I could lift the tank(amazing what you can do when your ****ed off))....I didnt have the loc-line installed yet as I forgot to pick up a "Y" for it....Im hoping with the LL installed that I can direct the flow so it doesnt shoot straight out and up against the glass causing it to roll up and hit the trim....I could also throttle the return back a bit if I have to, but will do that as a last resort.....Well not really the last resort.....If I have to I will shut the return off for a day or two and re-silicone the top trim.

I added some acan frags to the tank.....yay a place where I can do acans without my regal tang eating them:becky:....I will snap a couple pics when they adjust a little....

Lookin good!! I would just run a bead of silicone on the inside edge of the trim.