Fernie BC Reef Tank

[mikeclarke]

Hi there,

I've had a 20gallon tank (just a heater and a filter) for over a year and I have started on the road to a bigger tank that has a few more bells and whistles (skimmer, RO, ATO, etc).

I bought a stand, sump, and display tank from a fellow Canreefer. It is 72"x18"x18".

My order from J&L arrived on Friday and I've got the sand, rock, and water in the display tank and the sump plumbed. The plumbing seems to work okay. It took a little while to get the gate valve adjusted to limit the noise.

I've put all the little bits of live rock that I have in the big area in the sump where my heater is and where the skimmer will eventually sit. Is that okay? What is the best way to aquascape? I've got some really nice big pieces and I haven't epoxied anything yet. I've tried to make lots of caves. I have 75lbs of rock in the big tank and have 30lbs in the 20 gallon that I will bring over once I transfer the live stock. I am planning on making the old 20 gallon a quarantine tank.


The water doesn't make noise now but the Gen x pcx 40 external pump is quite loud. I mounted it to the stud wall. There isn't insulation in the ceiling in the furnace room but it is loud in the basement as well. I thought I could use foam instead of the piece of 2x4 to space it from the wall. Any suggestions? I only paid $60 for those three pumps (2 worked and the other doesn't) so it isn't like I am into them for a pile of cash.


I haven't put the skimmer in yet and probably won't until I order some live stock.

I am waiting on getting my garage drywalled so I can get back to stain and varathane the shaker doors I made for the stand. The wood for the canopy and to skirt is 1x8 spruce/pine I picked up in the states. The doors are 3" frames with ¼" fir plywood in the middle.

I still need to set up the RO and ATO but not a super rush. Just need to get it done before the fish move in.

I'd like to get corals eventually and obviously fish. Any suggestions would be great.


Attached are some pictures,

Mike


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[ChrisKrillz]

Disregard this post. Sorry :S

[molotov]

Beautiful tank. Nice work on the plumbing too.

[mikeclarke]

Thanks for the comment. I got my protein skimmer set up last night and this weekend I want to get the ATO and RO set up. I don't think that it should be too difficult.

I noticed my nitrate spike yesterday so my tank is on its way to being cycled. Any suggestions on what should go into my tank?

What have people done to muffle or quiet their return pumps? I've heard using gel mouse pads. Does this work well? I attached my pump due to space contraints to the wall in my furnace room and it vibrates quite a bit.

[Bblinks]

Those pumps are generally a bit noisier then lets say reefflo pumps, because it is anchored to the stud it will amplify the humming noise through out the whole house. You can try a sound dempening pad from Jl or bulk reef supply if you want or maybe some high density foam from HD but i still think it will have a vibrational humming sound. If in any case nothing is helping then I will be leaning towards a relocation program for the pump. Remove it off the stud and build an extension for it in front of the sump.

Tank is coming long nice. Keep up the good work.

[mikeclarke]

Yeah, I'd say that I am not totally impressed with my Gen x pcx40 pump.

I can't really make the pump go further away from the tank like you are suggesting as I don't have much room in my furnace room. I didn't really think about a sump room when we finished our basement so I am stuck with what I've got.

Would getting a submersible pump be better overall for noise? I only need to pump the water up 10 feet or so. I know that J&L has a sedra 20000 pump that could do the trick.

[mseepman]

They tend to add a lot of heat to your system and I find that submersible pumps need more maintenance. It's also pretty big...it would need some decent real-estate in your sump. Try getting a couple of mouse pads and putting them between the pump and your wall. It won't be perfect, but for $2 or so, I would try that first.

[Bblinks]

my thoughts exactly, I like external pumps since they usually don't transfer too much heat into the water. I think you should try the high density foam first and if its still unbearable then look for other options. That will also be the cheapest fix atm.

Another thought will be to spin the pump 45 degrees counter clock wise and and it mount onto the stand of the sump. That might alleviate the vibration from traveling through the house.

[mikeclarke]

Thanks, I re-plumbed the return pump and mounted to the stand with lots of foam and it is way better. I think that I will try and stuff some foam in between the stand and wall if I get ambitious.

My parameters seemed stable so I moved the crabs, two clowns and the azure damsel over this weekend along with all of the live rock from the "hospital-to-be" tank. They seem to be doing well. I ended up getting the Sunbrite LED light. I liked how it was a fixture and I didn't have to hang anything or build a rack to hang it. So far I have everything at 20% during the day and it seems to be going well.

[Nano]

Lookin good so far, btw I have the same surround system :P