stephent89
New member
Hey man, I came across this thread on your led review. Do you think one would be enough to support some easier sps in a 20 long?
135g Oceanic Build
- Thread starter BigCountry74
- Start date
Sinclair81
New member
Do you still have the tank?
BigCountry74
New member
I am returning...
On the 135g, the stock was sold out, tank was broken down and I parted/sold everything out. Left reefing for almost a year. Dumped the money into my gun hobby.
Anyway, it worked out since the house was sold back in July and we moved across town into Gaston county, where I now have 2 acres and a unfinished basement/crawl space to start a new. I can go total science fair down there, no wife agro. That was the main problem with the 135 build. I was limited on filtration space underneith the tank. Everything had to look clean and closed etc since it was in my wife's kitchen...
I Picked up a 55g/sand/50lbs base rock yesterday off craigslist all for 40 bucks. All this cold weather has me going crazy....not sure what I am going to build with it. Bouncing a lot of crazy ideas atm. AS all of you know, the planning/building phase is the fun part. I do know I am going to use as much as I learned from the 135 build. So I will not be spending a lot of money this time around on crap I do not need, or crap that does not work, like those cheap LED boxes!
I am sorta liking a bare bottom frag tank. Grow the frags in the 55g and filter/sump a 100g rubbermaid filled with the live rock, skimmer, macro etc. The previous owner left this HUGE old metal table in the basement along with some other stuff I might be able to use.
Going to order this RODI (http://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Reverse-Osmosis-50-Gallon/dp/B00DOG63OY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) for now and start this rock up. I knew I should have kept my old one and the skimmer.....but hobby for hobby works bad sometimes LOL
On the 135g, the stock was sold out, tank was broken down and I parted/sold everything out. Left reefing for almost a year. Dumped the money into my gun hobby.
Anyway, it worked out since the house was sold back in July and we moved across town into Gaston county, where I now have 2 acres and a unfinished basement/crawl space to start a new. I can go total science fair down there, no wife agro.
That was the main problem with the 135 build. I was limited on filtration space underneith the tank. Everything had to look clean and closed etc since it was in my wife's kitchen...I Picked up a 55g/sand/50lbs base rock yesterday off craigslist all for 40 bucks. All this cold weather has me going crazy....not sure what I am going to build with it. Bouncing a lot of crazy ideas atm.
AS all of you know, the planning/building phase is the fun part. I do know I am going to use as much as I learned from the 135 build. So I will not be spending a lot of money this time around on crap I do not need, or crap that does not work, like those cheap LED boxes!I am sorta liking a bare bottom frag tank. Grow the frags in the 55g and filter/sump a 100g rubbermaid filled with the live rock, skimmer, macro etc. The previous owner left this HUGE old metal table in the basement along with some other stuff I might be able to use.
Going to order this RODI (http://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Reverse-Osmosis-50-Gallon/dp/B00DOG63OY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) for now and start this rock up. I knew I should have kept my old one and the skimmer.....but hobby for hobby works bad sometimes LOL
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Sinclair81
New member
Welcome back, what size tank are you going to go with? I thought you liked the LED lights?
Jimmy
Jimmy
BigCountry74
New member
I liked them, but not for growing coral. Looking back they were great for FOLR, maybe easy stuff like kenya trees, etc. But over time those lights ended up killing off a lot of stuff I would bring in truth be told...
I am going to try a more traditional light setup this time around. Since I will be focusing more on growing coral.
Collecting things off craigslist atm. I have envisioned 2 55g tanks, side by side length wise (1 elevated so i can push water back and forth). I do not want anything on the floor this time. I like to work/observe/play more at waist/eye level. 1 tank filled with live rock/sand (filter etc), the other bare bottom. This setup gives me a bunch of room to experiment/play. Least that's the plan right now.
supply list:
2 50-55g tanks (already scored 1 via CL)
RODI (ordered)
Jebao WP-25 w/Wavemaker (ordered, this will run in the barebottom tank)
Sand (scored via CL)
50lbs rock (scored via CL)
50lbs more rock (still looking)
48" T5HO 4 bulb
Mag 7 (I have this leftover from last build)
Skimmer (I will add this later on, will not be needed at start)
I can hopefully get all of this setup for $400+-. Finding the 50g+sand+rock for 40 bucks really helped. And that Jebao WP-25 is only 67 bucks, that takes care of all water movement. That saves some money no doubt, good water movement aint cheap, at least it use to not be!
I am going to try a more traditional light setup this time around. Since I will be focusing more on growing coral.
Collecting things off craigslist atm. I have envisioned 2 55g tanks, side by side length wise (1 elevated so i can push water back and forth). I do not want anything on the floor this time. I like to work/observe/play more at waist/eye level. 1 tank filled with live rock/sand (filter etc), the other bare bottom. This setup gives me a bunch of room to experiment/play. Least that's the plan right now.
supply list:
2 50-55g tanks (already scored 1 via CL)
RODI (ordered)
Jebao WP-25 w/Wavemaker (ordered, this will run in the barebottom tank)
Sand (scored via CL)
50lbs rock (scored via CL)
50lbs more rock (still looking)
48" T5HO 4 bulb
Mag 7 (I have this leftover from last build)
Skimmer (I will add this later on, will not be needed at start)
I can hopefully get all of this setup for $400+-. Finding the 50g+sand+rock for 40 bucks really helped. And that Jebao WP-25 is only 67 bucks, that takes care of all water movement. That saves some money no doubt, good water movement aint cheap, at least it use to not be!
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Sinclair81
New member
Looks like a good start, I am interested to see how the combo tank set up works. When you get the wp I want your honest opinion about it. For the other tank you could wait for the petco $1 gallon sale.
BigCountry74
New member
I found a guy selling a 36x36x9 cube close to the house. The wp would rock that tank perfectly. I might pick it up. It's definitely more than I want to spend on a used tank but it is a very rare opportunity to have something cool! Still debating..
Sinclair81
New member
Is it like an old frag tank, 9 inches deep?
BigCountry74
New member
Ya, 3' by 3' cube, 8.5" deep
BigCountry74
New member
Picked up the frag tank today! A guy that works at Fintastic sold it to me, he picked it up from a buddy of his and never had the space to set it up. Will be covering the old concrete floor with cheap landscaping rock pebble eventually. Sorry for the mess. No wife agro down here though!!!
I literally about killed my wife getting this tank thru door, down the steps and onto the stand. 1/2" glass it weighs a lot lol
Need to clean the tanks. Will extend the overflow so it drains into the 55g. Also need to secure the stand.
Found a 250w mh pendant on CL, will pick that up tomorrow and hang it here
Leftover 20g long. Use it as a quarantine I suppose.
I literally about killed my wife getting this tank thru door, down the steps and onto the stand. 1/2" glass it weighs a lot lol
Need to clean the tanks. Will extend the overflow so it drains into the 55g. Also need to secure the stand.
Found a 250w mh pendant on CL, will pick that up tomorrow and hang it here
Leftover 20g long. Use it as a quarantine I suppose.
Sinclair81
New member
Awesome, that is going to be cool, and being in the basement you wont have to worry much about heat.
Welcome back to the hobby! I just got back into it a few weeks ago as well and super stoked to be at it again. I had a frag tank like that before. I loved it. I'm going to have to get another one in the future for propagating corals/frags.
Just a little piece of advice, myself and a friend of mine both had our systems in the basement like yours, and at both our houses it caused a lot of damage. Lots of mold growing through the basement and the evaporated salt water rusted everything in in the room, including both our furnaces. Might want to consider some type of ventilation or air exchange.
Just a little piece of advice, myself and a friend of mine both had our systems in the basement like yours, and at both our houses it caused a lot of damage. Lots of mold growing through the basement and the evaporated salt water rusted everything in in the room, including both our furnaces. Might want to consider some type of ventilation or air exchange.
Sinclair81
New member
updates man!
BigCountry74
New member
OK I am back. Finally got some motivation after following Bill Wann's pipe crack, his tank drain overnight and his reboot/motivation on facebook to rebuild.
Kids sports, work, old farm house, 2 acre yard, free time and motivation is hard to come by these days lol
I am leaving the cube tank down in the basement for now, empty. I have a problem with water sitting down there after large rains and in the summer the humidity (mold) can get pretty bad on anything like wood for example. So I gotta figure out how to address that. Plus I still want to gravel the entire floor down there. Still need to do that.
SOOOOOOOO I dragged the 40g breeder out of there (w/stand) and revamped it. My wife painted my office Carolina Panther's gray, so I painted the stand a really bright Carolina Panther turquoise blue. Theme is Carolina Panthers
I am using all parts laying around, total budget build. I have 60lbs of dry rock for bio, and am going to use a old HoB topfin 60g for mech filtration.
The only things I have purchased was a used orbit MH light off craiglists, new bulbs for it (phoenix 14k and CF (blue and pink)). I also picked up a jebao WP-40 wave maker (these things are cheap and work REALLY well so I hear). I am done with LED. Unless you can afford the top end LED fixtures, which I cannot atm.
It's gonna be a simple, clean build. Bare bottom (the top of the stand was painted a bright white). Few small fish, ALL coral
Kids sports, work, old farm house, 2 acre yard, free time and motivation is hard to come by these days lol
I am leaving the cube tank down in the basement for now, empty. I have a problem with water sitting down there after large rains and in the summer the humidity (mold) can get pretty bad on anything like wood for example. So I gotta figure out how to address that. Plus I still want to gravel the entire floor down there. Still need to do that.
SOOOOOOOO I dragged the 40g breeder out of there (w/stand) and revamped it. My wife painted my office Carolina Panther's gray, so I painted the stand a really bright Carolina Panther turquoise blue. Theme is Carolina Panthers
I am using all parts laying around, total budget build. I have 60lbs of dry rock for bio, and am going to use a old HoB topfin 60g for mech filtration.
The only things I have purchased was a used orbit MH light off craiglists, new bulbs for it (phoenix 14k and CF (blue and pink)). I also picked up a jebao WP-40 wave maker (these things are cheap and work REALLY well so I hear). I am done with LED. Unless you can afford the top end LED fixtures, which I cannot atm.
It's gonna be a simple, clean build. Bare bottom (the top of the stand was painted a bright white). Few small fish, ALL coral
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BigCountry74
New member
BigCountry74
New member
8 degrees Wed night. 5 degrees last night...
To cold to make RODI atm so tank is still not full. SUCKS! Really wanted to get the rock cycling before the weekend...
To cold to make RODI atm so tank is still not full. SUCKS! Really wanted to get the rock cycling before the weekend...
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