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- Feb 9, 2010
- Messages
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Hello everybody,
I have been researching reef tanks for almost 2 years. It started off with a spark of interest on octos, now I have moved on to the cuttlefish because of it's breeding capabilities. I would like to say thank you to every member of this site who have made my research incredibly easy.
I am not a cheapskate, but I am pretty much too poor to have such an expensive hobby right now, but I always find a way to get what I want and I want a reef tank. I have never encountered something that I couldn't build. I have a stack of drawings on my desk and a stack of crumpled paper in the garbage, all the math has been worked out and I am starting to see the sketches pop off the paper.
Initial construction is planned to begin in a few months.
--the tank design I settled on is a plywood/acrylic, 77 gal, 30 inch high aquarium. I know *scoff*, just wait for pics. but I say a tank should be more about functionality than how much we paid for it... And I will make it look pretty awesome.
--leftover acrylic will be used for my in sump, dual chamber ca reactor.
-- I am planning on using a sump skimmer and live rock for filtration. (I wanted to make my live rock, I want it to be one big piece that goes all the way to the top and fits snug against the back of the aquarium, providing a small cliff with many nooks and crannies). Any thoughts on cement/aragonite live rock and filtration?
All the normal equipment like pumps, powerheads and whatever else will also be mildly custom.
One other thing I would like to bring up, has anybody ran a tank with only one larger main pump, branching off to supply water to all the other components. I will start working on a design for that, but I would feel better buying one $400 pump and relying on only one to run continuously. You couldn't get away with only one pump, but one large one and a couple of cheapos to run other (not so important systems) seems possible.
I would also like a refugium and a tank(s) to breed feeders.
Like I said, this will be a invert tank. I don't care what they eat, but I would like to provide them with a colorful array of foods as cheaply as possible.
I also have some clever Ideas to reduce water/pump sounds to (what I will believe will be) almost 0.
My goal is to complete set of plans and come up with new ideas to create a one-of-a-kind tank that runs more efficiently.
I settled on LED lighting, but has anybody come across a timed dimmer, so the lights don't just flip on and off?
Thanks guys and gals,
Jim
I have been researching reef tanks for almost 2 years. It started off with a spark of interest on octos, now I have moved on to the cuttlefish because of it's breeding capabilities. I would like to say thank you to every member of this site who have made my research incredibly easy.
I am not a cheapskate, but I am pretty much too poor to have such an expensive hobby right now, but I always find a way to get what I want and I want a reef tank. I have never encountered something that I couldn't build. I have a stack of drawings on my desk and a stack of crumpled paper in the garbage, all the math has been worked out and I am starting to see the sketches pop off the paper.
Initial construction is planned to begin in a few months.
--the tank design I settled on is a plywood/acrylic, 77 gal, 30 inch high aquarium. I know *scoff*, just wait for pics. but I say a tank should be more about functionality than how much we paid for it... And I will make it look pretty awesome.
--leftover acrylic will be used for my in sump, dual chamber ca reactor.
-- I am planning on using a sump skimmer and live rock for filtration. (I wanted to make my live rock, I want it to be one big piece that goes all the way to the top and fits snug against the back of the aquarium, providing a small cliff with many nooks and crannies). Any thoughts on cement/aragonite live rock and filtration?
All the normal equipment like pumps, powerheads and whatever else will also be mildly custom.
One other thing I would like to bring up, has anybody ran a tank with only one larger main pump, branching off to supply water to all the other components. I will start working on a design for that, but I would feel better buying one $400 pump and relying on only one to run continuously. You couldn't get away with only one pump, but one large one and a couple of cheapos to run other (not so important systems) seems possible.
I would also like a refugium and a tank(s) to breed feeders.
Like I said, this will be a invert tank. I don't care what they eat, but I would like to provide them with a colorful array of foods as cheaply as possible.
I also have some clever Ideas to reduce water/pump sounds to (what I will believe will be) almost 0.
My goal is to complete set of plans and come up with new ideas to create a one-of-a-kind tank that runs more efficiently.
I settled on LED lighting, but has anybody come across a timed dimmer, so the lights don't just flip on and off?
Thanks guys and gals,
Jim