MrH 55 gallon reef

[MrHermit85]

Hi everyone!

It's been well over 8 years since my last tank. The usual having kids, moving and busy life forced me not to start a reef tank again for a while. But here I am ready to jump in again, things are pretty relaxed these days and a tank is definitely in order. I know the forum has been quiet for a while but I am pretty sure there are the usual lurkers (me included) out there so thought I would share.

I have decided to keep it small, (55 gallon) but automate it as much as possible. Also to have a proper water change setup/system considering that was my biggest problem previously. (Nothing makes your wife hate fish tanks more than a flooded laundry room )

My plan is to have an lps and softy tank as usual. Probably a monti or two (I have never been a huge "stick" fan...).

The tank is a plain old standard 55 gallon. I couldn't pay the crazy "kit" tank prices. I figured I would rather spend that money on livestock and half decent equipment. I am also a huge DIY kind of guy so having things my way is more my thing. I decided to do a peninsula as I always have a nem that settles at the back of rhe rock work and then I miss out plus more room for stock. The position of the tank is not perfect in the room but it works to keep the room functional.

More to come....

 

[chrisstevens]

Welcome back, I look forward to seeing your build progress.

 

[MrHermit85]

Welcome back, I look forward to seeing your build progress.

Thanks! I look forward to getting started.

 

[MrHermit85]

The first project I pieced together was the light fixture. I wont go in to too much detail as I feel like there were led builds galore way back when so I wont bore anyone. If there are any questions I will be glad to answer them.

I used a makersled heatsink (they go for very cheap these days), ledgroupbuy leds which are bridgelux i believe, ldd drivers and a coralux storm x controller. Not my finest work but once the controller door is closed I will hopefully not go in there too much

 

[MrHermit85]

So the build continues. I decided to use aquaforest rock this time around. It seems to get good reviews and is pretty reasonably priced. I will also add some live rock once things are up and running.

Equipment wise:

-In110 reef octopus skimmer
-reef octopulse 2 powerheads
-varios 4 return pump
- bashsea sump (picked up used from firehouse pets.
- diy LED lights
- heaters still need to get, likely just 2 x 100w eheim jagers
-modular marine 1200gph overflow
- for control I have been collecting hydros, I have e the launch and waveengine v1.

Hopefully everything works as I have been collecting it all over the last few years so most warranties are likely up haha.

I still need to figure out a control panel. Will likely create something out of pvc trim from HD instead of dropping cash on pre-made stuff. Might redo the light control box so that it fits in a low profile board instead. Been running as is for the last 5 hours and no excess heat or anything yet. I will also lower the lights of course. I just put them up for testing that high.

 

[Painter Steve]

How's the build going? Any updates??

 

[MrHermit85]

How's the build going? Any updates??

Haven't done anything major other than level the tank and lower the lights haha, I will likely be doing the rockscape this week so that will be exciting and I bought two drum for my water makeup setup. I will report back with a more detailed post

 

[MrHermit85]

So I have been all over the place these last few weeks trying to get my house organized but a few things have arrived, I made a home depot run and picked up some water barrels, nothing fancy but should serve my purposes. I will obviously clean them up and design a decent make up station.

I have decided to hard plumb almost everything and decided to go with a modular marine 1200gph overflow and i must say i am glad i did. It is very nicely put together and well thought out.

I hope I grabbed enough fittings lol, I wanted to do all orange but there was no way I was paying what they wanted for the fittings so just went with white. I still have to pickup some ball valves for my manifold and some hose for the return pump.

 

[MrHermit85]

Another project that has been keeping me busy these last few weeks is finding a place to hide my 3d printer and supplies. I am printing a few things for the build so figured i would include what I have done for it. My house is quite small with loads of crawl spaces so I just cut into one of the walls the living area and crawl space share and built a little recessed cabinet for it. Still need some sanding, paint and a handle but one step closer.

I did a quick mock up for some pipe clamps for when I get the plumbing going in a few weeks aswell as some inserts for my control panel when I get there. I will probably also print some grommets for the cable pass through holes on the control board I have planned. I aslo want to print some random flow generators for my return lines.

 

[MrHermit85]

I had a nightmare of a time leveling the tank, my basement floor is quite sloped from the one wall but with a bit of patience and many shims I managed to get it level enough

I also lowered and completed the 10 series light stand i made up, I have it mounted so I can just undo a few bolts and slide the fixture up and down if needed. Might have to add a few more supports but I think I can live with it the way it is. I still need to print some inserts for around the fans to try and seal the fixture a bit better but quite pleased with the beast, it is so bright or at least it seems to be and I had alot of success with my cheapo diy lights on my first tanks.

After many hours research and alot of back and forth I decided to try the hydros controllers for this tank. I have been collecting for a few years now and I think I have what I need but I am sure that will change as things progress, off to a decent start though.

 

[teebone110]

Very nice- quality build! Looking forward to watching progression!

 

[MrHermit85]

Very nice- quality build! Looking forward to watching progression!

Thanks! I have been having fun taking it slow piecing everything together how i want it.

 

[chrisstevens]

Coming along nicely

 

[MrHermit85]

A few more pieces to the puzzle. Going to stick with the tried and true eheim jagers, 2 for safety and a separate controller for extra precaution and I will also monitor temp with my hydros for extra backup haha. Also picked up 4 ball valves for a manifold. Doubt I will make use of it for a while other than providing a means to divert water for water changes but good to have for the future.

Started on the plumbing, going to try the bean animal as there are 3 drains, using a few true unions so that i can pull it all apart and clean everything when I am bored. One thing that is nice about the overflow I went with is that you can remove the inside box to clean, not sure if they all do that now but I thought it was a neat idea.

Glued in the gate valve for the main drain. This makes it accessible from above so that it can be fine tuned or shut off without contorting my body in the tiny sump area. The plan is to trim out the back with a removable piece to hide all the plumbing and cables.

 

[MrHermit85]

The pipe clamps/supports needed a little rework... Beefed them up a fair bit and tightened the tolerance around the pipe to make them more snug. Also added the flanges to make screwing them in easier. They seem to be working perfectly.

Another project to start soon would be re doing my lighting control box. The plan is to separate everything to fit in the control panel on the side wall. In the meantime I printed a new controller case (thanks to ozulejo on thingaverse) which will be mounted higher up so tinkering won't be such a pain. Unfortunately this controller does not have an app or wifi control but hopefully it can be set up correctly without out too much tinkering.

 

[MrHermit85]

I am on the fence with my rockscape, what do you more experienced folks think? Too high? Too much? The plan is keeping lps and a few montis, zoanthids and different kinds of mushrooms... Will have predominately small not too active fish like clown gobies, clownfish, firefish and a blenny. Any criticism is welcome .

 

[Shooter000]

Maybe lower that front island a little, give a little eye room to see the back rock island front the front of the peninsula