MiamiLeos first ever reef tank build!

MiamiLeos

Holy cow!!! And I thought the silocone was strong!!! Geez! Glad I did the primer and glue outside! But I have to do parts of it inside, to glue everything to the bulkhead. I'm sure my whole house is gonna stank after this :(

Reefing Madness

Umm, yea pretty much stanky. You waiting 24hrs for the silicone to set up?

MiamiLeos

Yea, theres no water in the sump until tomorrow evening. Everything will have been drying for more than 24 hours by then. I'm really not looking forward to having my room smell like this lol. I already have a bit of a headache from it outside :P

MiamiLeos

Alrighty, everythings glued and in place. I took some pics to see what you guys think. My only real concern is with the drain pipes. I've seen people use no elbows, one elbow, and two elbows (like I have here). I really just want the quietest set up possible. The drain pipes arent glued so things can be changed if needed. What do ya'll think?

return on left, drain on right




return on left, drain on right


sump, left




sump right


It's not the prettiest sump, but cut me some slack, I had to glue all the baffles without taking the tank out from under the stand lol. All I care is that it works and I think it will. ANY suggestions welcome! If I'm gonna change anything it's going to be now, so all comments and opinions welcome! :D

Reefing Madness

LOOKS GREAT !!

MiamiLeos

Yea?? Do you think I should glue the drain pipe into the bulkhead? If the power goes out, I know the sump can handle the excess water from the pipes and such, but I'm not sure if it could take everything from the overflow too. So I'm wondering if the pipe may slowly leak it into the sump because it's not glued... However.. it would be nearly impossible to disassemble this then. Would have to cut something.

Reefing Madness

Sure, you could glue the drain line in place. You could use a PVC Union just a fwe inches form the bottom there, this will allow you to remove the pipe from the sump if yoiu had an issues.
Shop pvc union at Lowes.com: Search Results

MiamiLeos

Awesome thanks! For now I siliconed it. Makes me feel better about it not leaking and I know I can detach the pipe if I need to.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!! I WANT TO RUN IT NOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!

Should I go get the live sand and chaeto for the fuge now or should I wait, run it empty to see how everything works, then add the sand and chaeto?

bigehugedome

ugh so jealous.... looks great

Im not an expert, but my though would be ro run it empty incase you have an issue........ IMHO......i just wouldnt want you to spot an issue after the fuge is setup....i may be wrong since you know...i never ever did this before....haha

MiamiLeos

Yea, I'm thinking I should hold my anxiousness and run it empty as well. I dont have any fish even so a fuge isnt going to be any great benefit right now anyways. I cant wait till the skimmer cleans up the water though! It's been sitting in the DT for about 2 weeks with just powerheads for movement. Theres def a nice "skin" on top of it lolol