Hi Everyone. I’m new to the club and am just getting back into the hobby after an almost 15 year hiatus. Needless to say, I’m basically starting from scratch. At this point all I’ve got is a standard 120g tank, a 40g breeder tank (for a sump), and a limited budget. I’ve always been a die-hard do-it-yourselfer. So I plan on building a lot of my equipment. I’ve already drilled the 120 and built an overflow for it.
Quite a bit of the methodologies for doing a mini-reef have changed since last I was involved. So I’m taking this one nice and slow. Got a lots of catching up to do. :
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Anyway here are the pics (so far). Got my son to help me carry the tank downstairs - guess teenagers are good for something (who knew?) lol
Here are some pics of me installing the tank and doing the trim.
Looks real nice ::thumbsup::
Decided to try my hand at making some base rock (thanks Faralon for your DIY Base Rock videos). I just made one small batch (nothing fancy), to learn the technique and get some experience at it. Good thing I didn’t do much, cause I screwed up the mixture ratio… not enough cement, so although it held together - its still to brittle to use. oooops I’ll get the next batch right.
Good job with the 1st run of rock. From what I can see, maybe it was a little dry? Perhaps a bit more water might have helped bring everything together? You’re on the right track, getting the mix right is key…sorry I wasn’t more specific in the videos…shoulda used a measuring cup for everything. verdict_in
Love the corner tank setup!
I haven’t seen the video lately, but I think I remember you saying 1 cup of each of the red cup that you were using. Maybe 2 of the RODI water.
The ratios from the video were fine I’m sure. In my case the cement I used wasn’t standard Portland white cement - I used Portland white stucco cement. Very similar stuff (ingredient wise), but has a somewhat different texture/viscosity. I just need to up the cement ratio by about 20% in the next batch and I should be good.
Had a productive Memorial Day weekend. My Reef Octopus skimmer and my Mag sump pump came in last week - so it was time to get started building my sump. I used a 40gal breeder and broke it out into 4 compartments. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to go with a Fuge or an Algae Scrubber - So I setup the sump up in a way that should allow me to go either way (with only minor modifications).
I also got my hands on an old 4 stage ROF filter at a yard sale for $10. It was in pretty sad shape - all the hoses were cut and of course the filters needed to be swapped out. Ordered replacement filters for $35 and got replacement hoses, etc at Home Depot for another $25. So with a little elbow grease I’ve got a nice ROF unit for about $70. ::
Also spent an hour making some more base rock - haven’t pulled them out of the sand yet, so I don’t know if this batch came out better than the 1st one yet.
Looks like it’s coming along nicely.
The ATS and refugium are mutually exclusive. The ATS WILL outproduce any algae in the fuge because the ATS has more access to flow, light, and CO2. If you wanted to use the fuge for growing microfauna, then some rock rubble is all you need. Depending on your design, you could probably have the ATS flow into a rock rubble area.
I’ve been running an ATS for 2 years now and love it.
