Nat's 29 Gallon Build Thread

nattarbox

nattarbox

New member
Welcome to my first reef tank! I have been planning, reading, sketching, and wistfully thinking about this project since November. This weekend I finally got salt in the water.

The tank is a standard 29 gallon, which up until Friday had been a relatively successful planted aquarium running for close to three years. Living in the limited space of a one bedroom apartment, but not wanting to give up my freshwater tendencies, I got a dual tank stand that can support a 15 gallon below the 29. Friday night I moved all the plants and freshwater fish down to their new, smaller home.

Yesterday I spent many hours scraping and cleaning the 29, and applied a black vinyl background when it was clean. That afternoon I went to the LFS for sand and salt. I chose 40lbs of Ocean Direct Caribbean live sand, which created a roughly 2" deep sand bed in my tank. I used Seachem Reef Salt for my water mix. Once the water was in I installed my heater, skimmer and Aquaclear 70. I wanted to break in the pumps on both filters, and to see how well the heater would handle the volume of water. It was able to raise it from 58F to 81F within four hours, which seems adequate.

This week I'm looking forward with ordering some rock and getting the cycle started! I plan on going with 30lbs of Live Aquaria's select Lalo rock to start. I'll also be ordering some rubble for my psuedo-refugium and possibly also for decorating purposes.

Comments and/or mockery are welcome! When I get closer to stocking time I will need the insight of the Reef Central nano community. I have fairly good idea of the species I want to keep, but nothing beats prior experience when it comes to combining things like that.
 
And what good is a new thread without photos?

Getting ready to move the freshwater tank down to the 15 gallon you can see on the bottom of the stand:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2304/2267670267_436feb1aa4.jpg">

Some liquid encouragement:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2191/2267671125_fc7016284a.jpg">

Every aquarium keeper's favorite part of the hobby:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2170/2270762019_6f6c13cf39.jpg">

Freshly cleaned tank back in place with a new black background:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2239/2271555060_b5e0540e8b.jpg">

Forty pounds of live sand. I was concerned at how deep the bed looked when just poured out of the bag, but fortunately it compressed when water was added:

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2260/2270762609_62a33b59bd.jpg">

And finally, this morning I woke up to crystal clear salt water at a lovely 81F. Made me want to get out my snorkel. I ran a bag of carbon and foam block in the filter overnight.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2302/2271555890_e2aa9ed8e9.jpg">
 
Help choosing a lighting fixture

Help choosing a lighting fixture

While I wait on the next shipment of reef gadgets and live rock, it would be great to get some feedback on the lighting system for this tank. Right now I have a dual 65 watt compact fluorescent system with a 10k and a 50/50 actinic bulb. I was running this fixture on my planted tank (with different bulbs), and I will be using it while the rock cures.

Once the rock is ready I would like to upgrade to a metal halide. I've settled on the SunPod fixture, but its available in 150 watt and 250 watt models and I'm still not sure which I would do best with.

In terms of livestock, my eventual goal is a mixed reef, ideally to include some stony corals and maybe a clam in the future. I don't want to limit my options based on the fixture I choose, so I'm inclined to lean in favor of the 250 watt model.

On the other hand, I don't want to have to buy a chiller just because of the light fixture. I'm not sure how much a 250 watt would heat the tank, or if it is something I could counteract with fans during the summer or what. Maybe 150 watts would be enough for stony corals if I arranged the rocks to create a shelf directly under the light?

So, 150 or 250?
 
250w MH would be Ideal, especially if you have the funds for it, however, 150w in my opinion would be more than enough to create a thriving environment for SPS, and support a Clam on the bottom of your tank quite well...

As far as heating restrictions, running it open top I think you wont have too many problems, remember that the average temperature of all the world's reefs are 86 degrees. So a little fluctuation in heat isn't going to kill your tank. Using a fan would be wise, to keep good heat dispersal. Like stated earlier, if you have the funds purchase a Chiller. But I think you would be fine, using just the fans.


Have you looked into T-5's?? Alot of people are turning to them because of heating concerns. They last longer, and according to all the research and active debates here on RC may be just as good as MH, you simply loose the shimmer effect.

If going T-5's go with individually reflected lights, and purchase a well known brand such as Tek lighting. I think 4-24w? or even 6 24w bulbs will be equivilant to your 250w lighting. Just a thought, Anyone on RC know any more information?
 
Thanks for the feedback. I waited on this project long enough so that I could do the equipment correctly from the start, so funds for a 250 and a chiller are available if needed. I would like to avoid the chiller if possible simply due to space and electrical concerns, but if it is absolutely required I can move the planted tank and get a cabinet stand to place the chiller in.

The ambient temperature of my apartment is pretty steady at around ~70F eight months out of the year, but in the summer it can get quite hot. We generally only air condition the bedroom during those months, and last summer I saw a few days where my planted aquarium spiked up to 86F. I think on a hot day it won't really matter which light I have, its going to be the apartment temperature that affects the tank. I will probably go with the 250 knowing that. I've actually been considering getting a more powerful AC unit and chilling the entire apartment; it would be about the same price as an aquarium chiller and it would benefit myself as well as the corals. ;)

Will keeping lower light specimens like mushrooms or soft corals be a problem in that case? Or if I effectively plan my rock work and place them low and to the sides of the MH will they be able to thrive?

I looked into T5 lighting but didn't see much in stock fixtures for the 30" length of this tank. Its a bit of an unusual length actually. My ideal fixture would be one of the Solaris LED units, both in terms of geek gadget appeal, energy consumption and heat production, but unfortunately they don't make a 30" model.
 
what are commonly viewed as low light corals, will adapt and will usually not have a problem with higher light intensities. Mushrooms, zoas, leathers ect. will all be fine, and you'll expierence faster growth rates.

my personal opinion would be to avoid fast growing "nusiance" corals all together. ie Mushrooms, xenia, GSP, only because they can spread to uncontrollable proportions. Just be cautious when these corals are added and place them accordingly. Just a personal opinion. Sounds to me like you have a well planned out tank, i'm looking forward to following your thread.

250w is more than enough light, and you should be able to keep anything you want good luck!
 
This conversation is starting to veer into another open question on this project: what coral species to stock, and in what order. It seems as if the conventional wisdom around this is that starting off with an empty tank, one should begin with more hardy species, such as mushrooms and zoas. Dropping stony corals directly into a tank that contains nothing more than cycled live rock doesn't seem to be the best option, especially for a first time reef keeper like myself.

I'm at a bit of a loss deciding on what my first corals should be. I really like the Montipora and Seriatopora families and would eventually like to head in the direction of those being the dominant specimens in the tank. Whatever I choose for the first guinea pig should be something that would get along with those additions in the future.
 
As you stated, it would be a wise decision to start off with as you said, mushrooms and zoas, your soft corals... Zoa's and your leather corals would be very hardy and unique additions to your tank. A personal favorite is the Fiji Yellow leather. Keep an eye on ur perameters and then sart to keep the more delicate stuff, Move into the Hardy LPS, frogspawn, candycane's, open brains and monitor your CA levels, only when you feel your tank is stable, your CA, MG, ALK levels are consistantly stable, I'd wait 2 months before adding any SPS, go with your Monti's and Seria's, they are very hardy SPS and I highly doubt you'll have a problem with them.

Keep in mind coral placement, chemical warfare, and its usually best to try not to let corals come too close. Especially your LPS as they do have very long Sweepers.
 
I'm running a 150 watt HQI over my standard 29. I have a T. Crocea clam near the bottom with good growth & color. My mushrooms shrink up & shy away under the light, but do fine in the shadows. I have good growth from my acroporas, birds nest, etc.
Just my opinion but I think 250 watt would be overkill - extra heat - higher electric bills.
 
Good, thanks for the feedback. I've always been leaning towards the 150, and I'm pretty sure I'll end up going that route.

Today I got some boxes delivered with more reef goodies. A 65 watt light fixture for my planted tank, refractometer, test kits, a Koralia 3, and some underwater adhesive putty for cementing the rock in place. Also a Pinnacle RO unit, which I will hopefully be able to mount under the bathroom sink without issue.

Its going to be a long afternoon until I can get all these toys home. ;)
 
Rather anti-climactic..

My RO unit needs an adapter to work with either of my sinks.. Looks like a female garden hose fitting on the end and I'll need to get that working with the smaller fitting on my bathroom faucet.

The Coralife lamp for my freshwater tank didn't come with mounting legs, so I'll need to pick up a glass canopy or some legs before I can put that to use, so still no illumination on the reef tank.

I got my test kits, although I expect there isn't much to test for right now. Also got a Koralia 3 which is running in the tank right now, some underwater epoxy for securing rock and frags, and my refractometer. Quick question regarding salinity.. I've seen people targeting 1.024 for a specific gravity on this forum, but Borneman's Aquarium Corals book says that natural reef specific gravity is closer to 1.027 and that is a better target for the aquarium. Any insight on that? I'm at 1.023 right now, and probably won't attempt to adjust it until after the rock has been curing since I'll be doing multiple water changes.

Rock should be here on Thursday!
 
Another note, Live Aquaria wouldn't ship live rock rubble without a minimum order of $29.99.. I was positive the 10lb bag for $19.99 would be far more than I needed, but even when added in with my order of Tonga rock they said I needed to add another $10 work of "Caribbean rock or sand". Not sure what that was all about, and its put a bit of a cramp in my plans for the fuge.

I might go ahead and do the light and low water flow modification so I can keep chaeto and mud in it, but I'm going to wait a few weeks before making the final decision on that.
 
I got the new Aqualight in place over the planted tank, which let me move the other fixture up over the soon-to-be reef. I had an actinic bulb leftover from when I first bought the fixture, so I threw that in with a 10k just to see how it looks. I really like how the 6700k bulb looks over the plants.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2280121577_1c65827b0c.jpg">

Then I started to fool with the RO unit. I got a faucet adapter today. It fit on the bathroom faucet, but not with a washer. This eventually led to a lot of dribbling and fine misting, which was obviously not something that could be sustained over the long term.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2003/2280911990_a52c4264ce.jpg">

I really wanted this installed in the bathroom so that I could leave the bucket to be filled in the tub, reducing any possible mishaps. Doing a more permanent installation in a rental apartment doesn't make much sense. Next I tried the kitchen faucet, which worked like a charm. I mounted the filter to the back wall under the sink. Going to look at a better way of running the hoses, but for now they're coiled up underneath, ready to be deployed on weekends when I do a water change.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2280912540_40aae4aefc.jpg">

Tomorrow we get rock and things will start to get interesting.
 
Are you ready to rock?!

Are you ready to rock?!

I was able to get shockingly close to my original layout sketch with the rocks that arrived. My original plan was for the left side to be a little bit higher, but its probably good to leave room for the corals right? The one thing I really wanted to accomplish with the layout was to have a large, interesting piece isolated off to the right. I've seen several other builds on this board that featured a design like that and was really drawn to the effect. It was also something I had observed on vacation earlier this month while snorkeling.

Box of rocks!

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/2282378294_38d02b1061.jpg">

Tentative layout. Magazine on the right marks the size of my tank from the table edge.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2066/2282378476_6a17baa9c2.jpg">

Something interesting looking. These rocks are virtually covered with stuff that will either show up in my tank or protein skimmer. ;)

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2281586829_2b508ef24a.jpg">

Its not often that chunks of South Pacific rock show up on our kitchen table. Someone was very interested in the matter.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/2282378916_9f713da488.jpg">

Looking in from the right at my solitary piece.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2282379596_acbd5fb9bd.jpg">

Close up:

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2281587631_92f7d499b6.jpg">

Fantastic colors on the biggest piece to arrive:

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2282381430_1972297fba.jpg">

And the full tank shot:

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/2282383508_3008bf2780.jpg">
 
adding some SPS later on will help to fill in that gap between the rock and the top of the tank......gives good room for growout if you are going this route....looking good!
 
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