trukgirl's 65g build

trukgirl

Ok... here's a pic of both tanks...

I don't have to paint the back of the tank, it was already painted black, quite well! (i was gonna do blue, oh well lol)
It came w/the 1 light fixture, 3 ft long, 1 bulb. Yeah so it will definitely have to be added to when we get to the coral stage lol.

The stand needed a little help, hubby has it out in his shop. he reinforced some places and has it glued and clamped down for the night. Tomorrow he's going to add some supports for the sump, add some trim pieces, & build a hood for it. (he's off work for a bit since he hurt his knee lol)

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to configure the sump with how the panels are siliconed in there...any ideas??

trukgirl

This is the protein skimmer I just bought off Ebay earlier today...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Its a Jebo 182 II. Yeah I did a bunch of research on it... I found out from a really massively long thread on reefcentral that it can be made to whoop protein skimmers that cost 4x what I paid for it with a tiny bit of modding, so a little modding is definitely worth the difference in price!!!!! Its just a little bit more than what I paid for the nano skimmer for my 10g! :D

GradyBaby16

Ha ha i c u in da reflecion on the couch, i have a refugium but my panels arnt so close to the edge, i can try and give advice though :D, ok i think you should put your skimmer, thermometer and overflow pipe on the larger side, then on the smaller side just find a powerful enough return pump that is small enough and will push the water back up :D, but if not and you feel like doing extra work it is possible to fit skimmer, and thermometer on small side and have return pump on larger side, for that you have to place the skimmer outside the tank or even on the same larger side witht he return pump but it needs a custom pipe to extend the skimmer to the smaller side, i hope dat makes sence. oh well :( it prbly doesnt i never do

trukgirl

Arr harr harrr!! That's my 16 month old daughter sitting on the step into that room, LOL!!

Well, I wanted to run the water through my skimmer first, but I ended up getting an in-sump skimmer. I actually wanted to do a wet/dry trickle... maybe putting bio balls, etc in the skinny side?

GradyBaby16

its so hard to tell the true amount of space in their until that skimmer arives and is placed in.....r u going to put rocks in there or plants? may b u could put return pump n bio balls on small side and still have heater and sump on big side and may b even sand, algae, and rocks on big side..idk oh wait may b u have enough room to ad one more baffle, you could put sump on big side then measure and put a bafle right against the sump then the middle could hosue algae and rocks....im sure youll figure it out, ima happy watching someone else start a saltwater build the same time as me :D so i can learn lessons b 4 by your exprience, but i only have a mere 15 compared to your 65, your tank will b so nice when its up and running, i should post my build for ideas and opinions too

trukgirl

I suppose I could always add a bulkhead... man there are just so many options........
Hubby does not want to put another light in there for algal growth... I wonder if I should fight him on this? I have seen several really successful big tanks with lights and algae growing in the sump.

GradyBaby16

Yes its really beneficial for the fish, it also can feed them you know pods and all but i wouldnt fight him, he seems to b on board like you said before better to play it safe and show him what you can do, he already let you get a big tank n stuff :D, just sneak it in one day ha ha

bearwithfish

this is just an oppinion... were it me (and its not!!!) i would remove the baffles carefully and then measure your skimmer.. then i would make the first chamber the in flow from the tank and the spot for the skimmer... now go under and over (baffles) into the next chamber put in a DSB and some LR or rubble rock.... now over and under and over (baffles) into return section.... in large chamber with DSB etc.. add your heater... if you dont want a full light set up for now perhaps using an all glass top with a desk lamp or clip on lamp with a 50/50 CFL bulb (low energy and plenty of light for growth on LR and sand) ..... in fact this is pretty much the plan for the 20 long sump i am starting to build !!! (i just got it free from a friend LOL)

trukgirl

Hmmm.... ok :)

bearwithfish

did i just confuse you more? i hope not LOL.. this looks like a fun project you got going