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Reef Aquarium Hobby

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin



click on Image to enlarge

This is my favorite current hobby, I’ve been trying to setup a reef aquarium for some time now but have always managed to fail. But being as stubborn as I am I’ve never given up and every time something disastrous happens I manage to tell myself that it was a lesson learned and I try to move forward.

My latest project is this 72 Gallon bow which I transferred all my live rock
from the last tank and bought an additional 60lbs

I became a member of www.njreefers.com which is a local reef club for the tri-state area. Its a great place to meet other addicts, I mean hobbyists. My username there is Lithivm.

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DIY Stand

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin


DIY 55/65 Gallon Aquarium Stand


I wanted to build a stand for my 55G tank that could also fit a 65G, the stand
that I currently have was made for a fresh water tank and it doesn’t have the
necessary room for a sump. I’m not really good at working with wood so this is
definitely a beginner DIY and there are tons of other DIY stands that are better
than this, but at least you can get an idea so you can start building your own.



Click on Image to download the plan as a PDF

After I figured out the dimensions I wanted I bought
the 7 2x4x8 and started cutting them to size
I cut all the pieces by first taping the 2x4s together
to insure they would be the same size, I used a
table saw which helped getting straight cuts.
In this picture I aligned the front face of the stand
and used 2x4s to align and leave space for
other pieces I would use later.
Here the same pieces screwed, I also used wood glue.
Once the frame was completed I used 3/4″ plywood to
cover both the top and bottom of the stand, The top piece on ply wood
was the exact size of the frame and was screwed/glued in the bottom was
a trickier since I had to cut around the 2×4′s.

I used 1×4 to wrap the front and sides of the
top/bottom of the stand they cover the 2×4′s.
On the sides I used 1/4″ plywood, the right side panel is removable so I
could fit the sump.
I made the doors from 1/4″ plywood and the edges from
1x2x1/4 cut at 45 degree angles. I cut them again while taped to make
sure they were the same size.

I’m still working on this and will post more pictures
once I’m finished.

TIPS:
Use the same type of wood, I used poplar for the 1x4s, door edges and
the two vertical strips that you can see on the front and tried staining
it but it came out really horrible the color didn’t match the plywood
top or sides. It was blotchy and just ugly I almost broke the thing down
and gave up. I decided to paint the stand a wood color and by giving it
a very thin coat a achieved the color that you can see on the picture
I’m happy with it and will only clear coat it.
Its almost complete now, I have to place a piece of
wood in between the panels and paint it to hide the white color that’s
showing
Here’s the removable panel that will let me take out
the sump if anything happens. (Sump doesn’t fit through doors)

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Curing Live rock

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin

I bought recently bought a 60lbs of Uaniva liverock from an NJreefers.com group buy, and of course it had to be cured before adding
it to any tank.
When curing live rock some people like to use regular tap water with marine salt mix and maybe a de-chlorinator. I chose to use RO/DI water for my curing process. I did water changes every 4-5 of days an used activated carbon, changing it every other day. During the first 5 days the rock and water will have a real foul smell…. since I was curing the rock on my basement the smell pretty much took over the whole house. Pictured on the right is my RO/DI filter, I have it connected to a garden hose timer so I can have run for about 3 hours at a time
The orange hose is the “waste” water which I feed into my washing machine so it can be re-used
The clear hose is the RO/DI water which I collect into a tapped 35G Garbage bin
This is the tub I used for the curing process, its running an
aquaclear 4000 powerhead to pump water externally though a heater and then back into the tub via spray bar. Its also running a skimmer that has a carbon media bin. The lighting is optional and I decided to only use it during the last week 8 hours a day
The window pictured is just there to support the bulbs and reflector
Here you can see the whole tub which I have raised 5″ from the floor to insulate it a little since the concrete floor in the basement can be quite cold in the winter


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20 Gallon

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin

This was my first salt water tank I used tap water!!!! and
within a month the tank was taken over by algae…. newbie mistake….

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28 Gallon

Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin

JBJ 28 Gallon HQI Reef


 Here’s my JBJ 28 HQI, I ordered it from nanotuners
with their upgraded canopy which adds 2x18w atinic PCs.That’s one heavy box! and no handles! The stand was also
pretty heavy.
I bought a plastic non-porous cutting
board from wallmart that I used as the bottom of the tank. I will be
running this with no sand and the cutting board reflects some of the
light back. It also keeps the the liverock off the glass.  

The board is 18×10 I had to cut it to size.

Here’s a photo of the cutting board bottom before the
water fill-up.One tip; the board will float so
place some live rock while filling the tank with water.
The stand that came with the tank had a
defect. One of the base columns was about 1/4″ longer. I didn’t notice
it while assembling so the tank would not seat evenly. Nanotuners was
going to send me a replacement piece but I was able to hack-saw it
myself.

Here’s the tank filled water. I used some spare dried
rock from my previous tank and added three pieces of liverock on the
front.
Here’s the back of the tank after the Auto-Top-Off
float was installed. I’m waiting for the chiller to come in before I
install I setup the fresh water reservoir.

You can see the Auto-Top-Off device on
the shelf. It will be on a timer so it can run for 3mins a day in case
the float gets stuck it shouldn’t over fill the Aquarium
One thing I hate about
this tank is the “Three Stage” filter. As you can see its a sort of
drop-in tray that holds a sponge, carbon, and there’s a spot for other
media.The box is half the depth of its
enclosure so water can by-pass it completetly and go around it. If this
box was twice as wide it would have been perfect. 

One problem from this design “feature” is that if you stir anything in
the tank it will end up back into the tank since it can just go arouns
this filter box.

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none		 Here is the inside on the box
and here’s the bottom on the box

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I decided to remove the filtration “box” and replace
it with something that can actually filter…
I used this blue filter foam
This is how the back of the tank looks.
you can see the media basket hanging in the middle it doesn’t quite
touch the bottom of the compartment.All kinds
of junk goes around that filter box and makes its way back into the
tank.

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I used about 3″ of the foam block and stuff it to the
bottom until it touched the base.
I then placed bags of carbon, Phosban and Zeolite.
Finally I added a ~2″ section foam.
I then used really fine filter mesh and
placed it under the lip of the return and on top of the ~2″ section of
foam.

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none		 Sorry about the crappy quality on the
pics… Here’s how it looks from the top.I
looked at it today and its full of crap I will have to rinse weekly
I’ve been hit with an algae bloom it on
the higher rocks. I hope this new filter will take care of the excess
food. I also have to purchase a real filter.

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