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First Tank Setup Finally Finished

D

Dabooth

New to the Forum , so I thought it would be a good idea to share my new setup . This is my first salt water setup , so I decided to go with a 46 bowfront , to keep costs down and experiment to see if I like the Hobby. I Read a couple books , surfed the internet for a lil and decided I wanted to put an overflow in and run a Sump.  Didnt have  that much room in the sump ( Only enuff for a Protein Skimmer ) so I hooked a bulkhead and ran a barb to my mag 7 pump.   Heres a List of the stuff I used

46 gallon Bowfront/Stand  ( Two ( 1.5 inch overflow holes) drilled in tank ( Spray painted black backround )   
36 inch Current light with 2 PowerCompact lights 96 watts along with 4 led moonlights
1 Koralia (4 ) powerhead
Aquaclear model 125 Sump
Supreme Classic Mag 7 Pump
Jebo Protein Skimmer
Gen X  500 watt heater
Digi Thermometer


Thats about it , I basically got everything from what my friend had laying around and some stuff I picked up New .

I got a lot of help from the people at Ocean Gallery on Route 22     Brian , and Craig pointed me into the right direction.
It was my first setup of this kind and didnt really have any problems so far . Some minor leaks , but nothing a little extra tightening couldn't fix

Im running freshwater for the next couple days just to make sure I dont have any problems , then Im going to empty it out and throw some mixed RO water I have mixing up in my garage .


By this weekend Im gonna be looking for some liverock   ( prob  50- 60 lbs ) of Figi and Tonga
I already have about 30 pounds of live aragonite mix ( might mix that with 10 lbs of fine live sand )

Hope Everything goes well , and my tank cycles sooner than later
Take Care
Dabooth


Here Are Some Pics
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fixed image tags
 
C

chase33

Welcome. Sounds like you did your homework and have a nice plan. No need to purchase anymore LS. I would get regular sand and mix with the live sand you already have. Purchasing more is just a waste of money as you have enough and didn't need that much imo.
 
JohnS_323

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Welcome to NJRC! Nice job on the setup and doing the appropriate research. It sounds like you're off to a great start. That will really improve your chances at success and enjoyment of the hobby. It's also nice to hear that the crew at OGII helped steer you in the right direction.
 
D

Dabooth

Thanks , As far as drilling myself , yea I did drill the tank. Actually I drilled two tanks . The first one my friend gave me and I got it all ready , drilled the overflows , painted the background and cleaned it . After I cleaned it i realized it had some scratches that I couldnt bare to see . So I went to Ocean Gallery 2 and purchased the same tank brand new and did the same thing. It was pretty easy the 2nd time i did it, the holes actually came out better . A little pressure and your drill clutch set to 17 and everything seemed seem to come out golden. with no leaks. Everything is running fine right now however the way I have the pump hooked up is pretty rigged. I have it hooked up out of the water and the way it is hooked up isn't leaking now but I would sleep better if it was hooked up differently .

I have it from the sump coming out of a 3/4 barb going into another 3/4 barb which has an opposite 1/2 barb on it going to the 1/2 barb on the pump (intake ) . ( if that makes sense ) I had to do it that way because the barb that comes off the sump is 3/4 and my pump is 1/2 . Home Depot or Lowes didn't have a barb that was 1/2 to 3/4
Anyways that is one of my problems then my other problem is my return is a 1/2 male which is threaded . The hose i have hooked up has no threads , its a reg bendable fish hose . So what i did is rap the threads with some Teflon tape and tighten it down with a clamp.
It hasn't leaked so far in about 24 hours , but I have no idea how that will hold up long term. The tank is the a music recording studio and I would hate to see a leak on the cherry wood floor . ( esp. the 8 gallons of the sump )

I plan on first upgrading my protein skimmer , once again my friend gave it to me and it was brand new. Hooked it up and the thing barely gets bubbles to the top chamber if any. ( what a POS ) I tried adjusting it with no diff.

After I get that all figured out and my tank is stable , I'm going to be looking for some liverock , about ( 50 ) lbs and let that cycle for about 2 months. Once that is good to go I'm going to dump in the sand and wait about another 2 weeks check the levels of everything and start planning what fish I want to put in . I was thinking first start with a pair of clowns , and a mandarin and see how that goes.

Oh yea the temp of my water with no heater is ranging from 79.5 to 80 I'm thinking that is a good range to leave it at

Ill keep ya guys posted

PS. Let Me know if anyone has some nice LR for sale in the central Jersey Area

Dabooth
 
B

bconn

Gives most of the dead stuff a chance to float away :) when the first water change is done before adding the sand.

Yes, yes, everyone has their own opinion.
 
D

Dabooth

Yea , thanks Bconn for the sump hookup . I made sure everything didn't leak and set everything up. Now I'm having second thoughts on the way I hooked it up , I'm getting way to many bubbles coming back into my return. I might add some baffles or something . It looks like I have a snow storm going on in my tank. My skimmer doesn't appear to be working that well also , I don't know if that is because the water isn't dirty or it is just a poor working skimmer. I tried adjusting it for an hour with no positive results. Well now I know I don't have any leaks so I'm taking everything back down and doing some revisions . Ill let you know how it goes
Dabooth
 
magic

magic

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Dabooth

Get rid of the skimmer and you may want to wait until you tank matures before you buy a mandarin. There won't be a food source(pods) for it in a new tank.

Bob
 
D

Dabooth

Well its been awhile , and finally the tank is up , no bubbles , live rock in sand in . I changed the protein skimmer to something that works and now everything looks right. I also added one more stage 2 powerhead in the right corner of the tank to complement the stage 4 on the left side of the tank. I also purchased a 100 watt heater and got rid of the 500 watt. The levels all read properly and after 3 weeks I added some fish . Here are some pics and a vid of the setup . So far I have 2 clown fish and a sailfin tang. Enjoy.
Dabooth

ps. thanks everyone who helped me get my tank running ... Ocean Gallery 2 ( Chris, Brian, Craig ) Bconn for the Sump help
 
D

Dabooth

Its actually a very cheap Nikon I picked up a couple years ago ( point and shoot 6 mega pixels ) . The key is using a tripod and having the right lighting ...
 
C

curt

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
very nice i like it. your sitting at you desk looking at the tank or the TV.
can't get any better unless you have a refrigerator under the desk
go slow and good luck
 
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