RavieReefer
Guest
Hi everyone,
I have been meaning to add something about my tank for some time. Now that Christmas is over, I have a moment.
My first tank I had gotten was a 12 gallon Nano cube. Absolutely loved it (at first), now I have it somewhat converted to a quarantine tank. I say somewhat because I have not taken the sand from the bottom yet and the feather dusters are still there. I was finding my Nano tank very limiting for me. I was having problems with nitrates, phosphates, algae and not able to put a sump on it to give it additional filtration or skimming. I was also doing 50% water changes weekly. So began the journey of my new tank.
My first hurdle was to talk my husband into letting me get something BIGGER. What I bought was an Oceanic Ultimate 58 gallon display with internal overflow (I wanted something even bigger, but we are renting). Stand and hood are of a cherry wood color. The hood itself is a 15 inch with a door on the front and houses one 150w MH and two 65w PC. Plenty of room to get in and reach all areas of the tank. Overall the system is 66 inches tall. There is a sump located in the base which is a 20 gallon tank, filled to 14 gallons. The system is 72 gallons altogether.
In my sump, I used acrylic cut to size for baffles. Silicone was used to keep in place. Originally I had designed the water in the sump to flow a certain way, but I actually had to reverse how I intended it to work because my return pump did not have enough room to sit. I wanted to create a refugium in there, but there is just not enough room! An AquaC 120 protein skimmer sits nicely in the center.
I perform a 5 gallon (7%) water change weekly and use the water removed for my water change in my quarantine tank. I was testing the water daily, to every other day. Now I am only testing weekly.
I have recently added an automatic top off system coming from a 5 gallon container into my sump. I absolutely love it! No more carrying water back and forth daily! I have also begun to use kalkwasser in the top off. My system does not have much of a demand for Calcium and Alkalinity at this time (no corals yet). But I do have some coralline algae beginning to grow on the back and the coralline that is on the rocks, so very little kalkwasser is being added to the ATO.
I did get an RODI filter system 100 gallon per day. We also use the RO only water for drinking too. It was a good investment.
I have been meaning to add something about my tank for some time. Now that Christmas is over, I have a moment.
My first tank I had gotten was a 12 gallon Nano cube. Absolutely loved it (at first), now I have it somewhat converted to a quarantine tank. I say somewhat because I have not taken the sand from the bottom yet and the feather dusters are still there. I was finding my Nano tank very limiting for me. I was having problems with nitrates, phosphates, algae and not able to put a sump on it to give it additional filtration or skimming. I was also doing 50% water changes weekly. So began the journey of my new tank.
My first hurdle was to talk my husband into letting me get something BIGGER. What I bought was an Oceanic Ultimate 58 gallon display with internal overflow (I wanted something even bigger, but we are renting). Stand and hood are of a cherry wood color. The hood itself is a 15 inch with a door on the front and houses one 150w MH and two 65w PC. Plenty of room to get in and reach all areas of the tank. Overall the system is 66 inches tall. There is a sump located in the base which is a 20 gallon tank, filled to 14 gallons. The system is 72 gallons altogether.
In my sump, I used acrylic cut to size for baffles. Silicone was used to keep in place. Originally I had designed the water in the sump to flow a certain way, but I actually had to reverse how I intended it to work because my return pump did not have enough room to sit. I wanted to create a refugium in there, but there is just not enough room! An AquaC 120 protein skimmer sits nicely in the center.
I perform a 5 gallon (7%) water change weekly and use the water removed for my water change in my quarantine tank. I was testing the water daily, to every other day. Now I am only testing weekly.
I have recently added an automatic top off system coming from a 5 gallon container into my sump. I absolutely love it! No more carrying water back and forth daily! I have also begun to use kalkwasser in the top off. My system does not have much of a demand for Calcium and Alkalinity at this time (no corals yet). But I do have some coralline algae beginning to grow on the back and the coralline that is on the rocks, so very little kalkwasser is being added to the ATO.
I did get an RODI filter system 100 gallon per day. We also use the RO only water for drinking too. It was a good investment.