Third time's a charm.

briwill99

briwill99

New member
I have made two attempts in the past at this reef keeping hobby. The first time was in 2007. I set up a 29g with some easier corals and a pair of clownfish. All went well but gave up do to personal tragedy. I ended up giving livestock to a coworker at the time. I ended up keeping and storing most of the equipment. Decided to start again in 2013. I set up the 29 gallon again, and purchased a used 60g that I was going to upgrade to. I had about a dozen corals doing pretty well. Unfortunately I made the stupid mistake of allowing the ro/di run into the sump for about a day. Everything was lost. I tore the tank down again. Three years later and I am going to make another run at it. Glutton for punishment. This time I am going to set up the 60 gallon and use the 29g for a quarantine tank. I have ordered all the cartridges and media for the ro/di unit as well as an ato. I will be asking plenty of questions as I go. Hoping to be ready to take advantage of the frag swap in the fall.
 
Auto topoff is nice but a potential disaster maker. If you're able to top off daily I'd leave that off to rule out one easy cause of failure. Get someone here to help you with this build before hand, not afterwards;)
 
Glad to see you back. What kind of equipment are you going to be running and what corals/ fish are you planning on keeping?
 
Thanks for the replies and the heads up on the ato. I have a 65 gallon reef ready and a 20g long I will make into sump/fuge. I have ati sunpower 8x39, mag 9.5 return pump, assorted power heads, phosban reactor and a couple 300 watt heaters. In the market for a skimmer. Thinking about octopus 110. Also considering a controller.
Wanting to do mixed with a few easier sps. Thinking of goby/shrimp combo. Maybe some clowns.
 
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Welcome back. Just as a suggestion on the ATO. Run an ATO but run it from a container around 5% of your total tank volume. That way if you have a failure and pump all the topoff water in you will not have enough to destroy your reef. Infinite supply of anything is usually a chance at a disaster. In case you are interested I have a bubble magus curve 5 skimmer, I just pulled from my system when I upgraded and a reef keeper controller both used and for sale. Like Nook said consider talking to several people on here. Maybe even see a couple people's setups to generate some ideas before completing your setup. Research :reading: is important and recommended. :beer: We have a pizza night coming up also. Good chance to meet a lot of people and ask a lot of questions.
 
@ mpgrant77 Thanks for the advice on the ato. That sounds doable. I think the bubble magus needs a higher water level looking for something that will operate in 7 inches of water. I will send pm on controller.
 
And welcome back, third times the charm:) Got to give you credit for perseverance!
 
Tried to go to the website to sign up for SLASH membership but link is bad. Assuming I need to show up somewhere in person.
 
I will try to make it to pizza night, but am picking up my wife at the airport that evening. What time at Gateway?
Definitely looking forward to the frag swap too. Pretty close to home. My father in law is a regular at that elks lodge so I am familiar. Hoping to be ready to add frags then.
 
briwill99 said:
I will try to make it to pizza night, but am picking up my wife at the airport that evening. What time at Gateway?
Definitely looking forward to the frag swap too. Pretty close to home. My father in law is a regular at that elks lodge so I am familiar. Hoping to be ready to add frags then.
Click to expand...

Meeting at Gateway between 6-7 pm.
 
So what do you think about running 8x39w t5 fixture over a 2' deep 65 gallon. Can I grow most sps corals? Do I need to keep them pretty high?
 
briwill99 said:
So what do you think about running 8x39w t5 fixture over a 2' deep 65 gallon. Can I grow most sps corals? Do I need to keep them pretty high?
Click to expand...

I'm running 8x39w over my 72"x18"x22" tank. It's a 6' fixture, so 4 bulbs per side. I had to raise my fixture 16" to keep from frying my SPS corals. So, yes it will grow most Sps. A par meter would help on your fixture height.

Then the selection of bulbs is what you should consider going forward.

Check this out: https://youtu.be/Y-TbkPJhHkY

And this one: https://youtu.be/6OSS_PoUX6o
 
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