This is my first reef setup that isn't an all-in-one setup. I have had a couple of Innovative Marine nano setups, but that's about it. So this is a nice step for me to get into something quite a bit larger and something with an external sump... wish me luck! The killer part of all of this is that my wife agreed that it would be a good idea to convert our dining room into a reef viewing/sitting room!
Unpacking it for a leak down test:
Dining room table and chairs out of there!
Stand and light mounts assembly:
One of my helpers getting anxious for sand and rock:
Very nice setup... I have a reefer 250.. I wish that my other half would let me convert the dining room; I would have a 14' tank haha... Are you going to do two other Hydras?
Very nice setup... I have a reefer 250.. I wish that my other half would let me convert the dining room; I would have a 14' tank haha... Are you going to do two other Hydras?
Nice. I hope you have more pics to show of the insides of your tank. I saw your posts in the Red Sea Reefer Series thread and I hope you'll put in more details in this build thread! I can't wait to see more.
Nice. I hope you have more pics to show of the insides of your tank. I saw your posts in the Red Sea Reefer Series thread and I hope you'll put in more details in this build thread! I can't wait to see more.
Thanks man! The first few batches of images will mostly be the same as in the Reefer thread, but as this thread gets going, I will have many more that won't be in that thread.
As stated earlier, I have only had a couple of nano reefs before this. Although water changes were 5 gallons or less, I still despised doing them. My RO was under the sink. It was inconvenient to have a 5 gallon jug sitting there to fill up with RO the night before, setting a timer for 100 minutes to get roughly 5 gallons, mixing in the salt etc. I knew on this setup that I wanted to do a mixing station and I didn't want to have to lift a bucket to do a water change... especially on a tank this large. Since this tank is on the main floor, and my basement isn't finished, I had the perfect place down there to set up my station.
First off was finding some nice containers. I shopped online, at various places, to see about having some shipped... but freight was a SOB. So luckily my local Farm & Fleet actually had some in stock. They are 65 gallon with the nice screw on top and also include a 1-1/4" bulkhead at the base. I also picked up a bunch of 3/4" schedule 80 and nice Viton seal true union valves. I'm using a Sicce 3.5 pump to transfer fresh water from the RO container, to mix the salt and to pump water up to my sump for water changes. I didn't want anything with super high flow since I don't need to complete a water change in 60 seconds. So this Sicce was perfect. To drain the sump, I simply prime the line going to my sump, shut off the pump and close the valve above the pump. I then open the valve in my sump and then open the valve on the drain... instant syphon! The drain pipe in my sump is only about 3/8" off the bottom, so it drains virtually the entire thing. I then simply close the valve at the drain pipe, open the valve above the pump and turn the pump on... fills the sump with fresh salt water in about 7 minutes. I have the pump connected to my Apex, so turning it on and off with my phone sure is handy!
This was my first time doing any sort of plumbing, so it was really fun to have this be my first.
My wife wants an old muscle car, but I think she'll end up getting a Hellcat. Just haven't decided on 4 or 2 door. Hearing the Charger is getting a full redesign soon, so maybe we'll go with the Challenger. Also she wants a manual, so leaning heavily towards the Challenger.
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