Reef Tank DIY - For Dummies

[Dash]

I order a fair amount of stuff online (pick up in Blaine) but having said that, after mooning over all the pretty colours, I decided to stick to something that's a bit of a myth in this hobby - a budget. I think I'll just paint the pipes black. No one will ever see them behind the tank and I can use the $$ towards something else (like coral!). Sigh...it's a compromise.

I do want to change this though...



The white part is really bugging me. Not sure what it's called, but I'll have to take out the bulkhead as it's glued in.

[Tigweldpro]

Yes bulkheads with threads on both sides are best. unless your using slip on the inside and not gluing your standpipe or elbow. If you use slip glued on the outside and the rubber seal ring needs replacing you have to replace that whole section of plumbing.


And you wont have the cheesy white slip x thread adapter inside the tank

[Dash]

Ok thanks for the info. I've been trying to read up on this stuff but it's hard to get a lot of detail. It's a bit of a slog going thru this learning curve but it's a real benefit to get a better understanding of how the tank runs. I'm trying to sit through the BRS 52 Weeks of Reefing, and they did mention that it's best you're able to take stuff apart for maintenance.

[Frogger]

I wouldn't worry too much about the white coupling on the inside of the tank. Within a couple months it will be covered in Coralline algae and it will look the same as the black at that time.

[Dash]

I picked up my Black Friday skimmer purchase today! Kinda excited as this is the nicest thing I've bought for my tank. The packaging was pretty slick.




I really like it - clean lines and very solid construction. Love how smoothly the cup screws in. Well, it looks nice anyway; I'll have to wait a bit to find out how it works. I didn't want to finish up the plumbing until I was sure that it would fit, so that should be done sometime this week.

[Dash]

Plumbing is done! We also put the top trim onto the stand so I can be sure it is all fitting nicely before the tank is filled and immoveable. I am not 100% sure that I should paint the stand black. Wondering if it will be too much of a huge black thing. However, I don't have any other furniture that is white in this room so that wouldn't look right either.

Untitled by Magdaline Chu, on Flickr

No more ugly white connector!
Untitled by Magdaline Chu, on Flickr

I'm not sure about the next step. I need to test if the pipes are water tight but if I fill the whole tank with water, I won't be able to push it back against the wall to its final spot. I was thinking I can just add enough water to overflow to have water drain into sump. Or is this not testing it properly?

[WarDog]

Fill it with tap water to test everything running. Also test your sump volume when the return pump turns off. After testing, add some vinegar to help remove oils and such. Run for 1 or two days. Drain it all and then push it into final position.

Also, it looks like your main drain and emergency aren't low enough into your sump. Water is going to splash everywhere.