ReeferMush's 20 Gallon Nano - New Fish and Dry Goods!!

[ReeferMush]

Welcome to ReefeMush's 20 Gallon Nano Build. I've been reefkeeping for about half a year and have a 5.5 gallon nano that have been looking to upgrade, so this is a great opportunity!

I think every good build starts with alot of planning and a goal for your tank, so I've done my planning and have an overall goal to be reached.The plan starts with wanting a complete Display Tank with Reef,Inverts,Fish, Refugium and Sump. The goal of this build is to reach a "Critter Paradise" semi inspired by the Lembeh Straight.

So here's the start!!


There are two 1" Bulkhead Drains from the display, one going to the Sump and one to the Refugium. The Refugium also has a 1" Drain Bulkhead, all controled by gate valves.
There are two half inch Return lines from the sump back to the display tank that hang over the rim. A homemade skimmer and the Power Center


I have had some equipment lying around including :
-20 Gallon long Tank inside dimensions 29.5" x 12" x 11.75"h
-5.5 Gallon Refugium Tank
-36" 4xT5 homemade Light Fixture
-12"Coralife Light Fixture
-Seaclone Catch Cup
-Maxi Jet 1200
-50 Watt Heater
-Coralife Mounting Legs

[ReeferMush]

Here is a cabinate my buddy gave me, it used to sport a 32 gallon on the top so it'll be no problem for my 20


And the end product
Just need some acrylic windows and the next step is when the diamond tipped drill bits show up we can drill the holes for the bulkheads

[superduperwesman]

Originally Posted by ReeferMush

Welcome to ReefeMush's 20 Gallon Nano Build. I've been reefkeeping for about half a year and have a 5.5 gallon nano that have been looking to upgrade, so this is a great opportunity!

I think every good build starts with alot of planning and a goal for your tank, so I've done my planning and have an overall goal to be reached.The plan starts with wanting a complete Display Tank with Reef,Inverts,Fish, Refugium and Sump. The goal of this build is to reach a "Critter Paradise" semi inspired by the Lembeh Straight.

So here's the start!!


There are two 1" Bulkhead Drains from the display, one going to the Sump and one to the Refugium. The Refugium also has a 1" Drain Bulkhead, all controled by gate valves.
There are two half inch Return lines from the sump back to the display tank that hang over the rim. A homemade skimmer and the Power Center


I have had some equipment lying around including :
-20 Gallon long Tank inside dimensions 29.5" x 12" x 11.75"h
-5.5 Gallon Refugium Tank
-36" 4xT5 homemade Light Fixture
-12"Coralife Light Fixture
-Seaclone Catch Cup
-Maxi Jet 1200
-50 Watt Heater
-Coralife Mounting Legs

Can't tell for sure but wouldn't you want your refuge to also drain to the skimmer side of your sump? You also might want a baffle between the skimmer and return pump to trap any bubbles. Just some thoughts, but I might be seeing something wrong? Also your left side return doesn't go to the pump it turns into a drain?

[superduperwesman]

I'd also turn one of you drains into a back up and split the other one to go to both your refuge and sump. The you'll have a herbie ie less noise. The drain from you're refuge to the sump may also be a source of noise as it currently is?

What is going in the sump? May also want to add a baffle(s) before the return pump if you're planning to put anything in there that could clog up the pump?

[ReeferMush]

Well I'm using that extra drain off the return lines to have as a bypass to the return system, for precautionary measures and for easy water changes. As for the sump I going to change the baffles and set up something more traditional, the pump on the far right and skimmer on the left with rock inbetween. The refugium will drain into the rock portion to help pods make their way to the display tank.

[superduperwesman]

Oh I see now. The returns split at a 4-way tee. 1 being the inlet, 2 going to the display and one being the bypass back to to the sump

[ReeferMush]

The drill bits I ordered from Honk Kong finally came in the mail and I have sucessfully drilled my first tank. I used a drill press at 640 rpm with a 45mm diamond tipped hole saw and lots of water and it turned out great.

[ReeferMush]

Here is the sump and the refugium in the back holding water just doing some testing. The sump baffles and the one baffle in the refugium are made from acrylic and held in place by silicone

[ReeferMush]

Here is the light switch for the light on the inside of the cabinet


And the light in action...Lightening up the "control room" and the sump for easy maintenance

[ReeferMush]

The time has finally came to fill the tank and the refugium. I love this part of the build, i've bought some sand had enough salt for the cycling process to start. I bought 15 - 20 pounds of rock and chucked a bag of carbon in the sump and some nice rock in the refugium and filled the display tank with the rest of my rock. There were some chunks left over for the sump and after some check overs I had everything running. Enough said lets check it out!!

Here's the full cabinate shot with a temporally light on the display while I fab up the custom T5 light, my old 12" Coralife fixture with one 50/50 and a 10,000k rest on top of the refugium(also lighting future mantis home)



A shot of the cabinate doors open


A closer look at the future mantis home, I couldn't do this build without having stomadapod, I just love the way they are.


Here's some tumbling action for beneficial algae