# Reef Build



## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

I'v been wanting to get back into sw but hadn't been in full time employment for a while. Now I'v finally got a full time job I can afford to get a tank up and running.
I'm thinking 4'x2'x2' but I'm abit concerned about it going through my bedroom floor! What do you think?
I'm going to do a reef, with the plan being to have a low rockwall going from each corner then a big island in the middle. I'l have a halide light over the middle where all the corals with high light requirements will be then probably T5's covering either side.

The whole process will be done VERY VERY slowly so don't expect too many updates.

Also, if you think 4x2x2 will be too heavy for the floor to take, what size tank would you reccomend?


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Shouldnt be too heavy. 4x2 is a pretty wide area and should spread out the weight nicely. Sounds like a nice plan.


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## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

Just bought this tank click here
It was £400 in the shop but they only had the display model in stock so I got it for £350, I'm not complaining about £50 off for a little bit of dust in the bottom! Then I got some MH lighting aswell. When I said I was going to get them off the net the bloke in the shop said he'd price match whatever I'd seen. So I was going to get the aqua medic 150W halides with 2x 24W actinic T5'sfor £175 , but they werent in stock so he gave me a 250W halide kit for £190! My tanks going to seriously glow!

Looking at skimmers now, probably going to get one that sits in the sump such as the TMC V2 600, any others you would suggest?


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## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

The tanks arrived, but they dont have the pipework for it so they're delivering that in a couple of days.

The MH will eventually be suspended a foot above the water.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Damn thats a nice setup-
Wish they had stuff like that in my area.....Damn AGA


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

cubes FTW.. sweet tank..


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## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

After spending the whole day working on it, the halides are up! What a nightmare job it was! Went to b&q this morning and got a shelf, some brackets and wall plugs etc. Got the shelf attached to the wall then spent about 2 hours trying to attach the wires to the shelf. Finally did that then the other end wouldn't attach to the halides! Went back to viscum and got it sorted and treated myself to a skimmer while I was there, returned home and realised I'd dropped two little ball bearings somewhere in the house. These things are like 2mm in size and vital in suspending the light. Now bare in mind I said they were SOMEWHERE in the house! You an imagine how ennoying that was! I found one on the living room floor and one under the sofa after about an hour of searching. The whole process took from about 9.30am untill about 4.15pm. You can tell we don't do much DIY in this house!


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## Trillion (May 10, 2004)

coming along real good, keep up the good work and i hope it comes out good for you!!!


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

If that is any sort of filter floss or padding under your skimmer and in the bottom of the sump i would recommend you remove it now, before it becomes a hassle... stuff like that needs to be cleaned literally daily otherwise water quality will suffer, and taking everything out of your sump to do that isnt really a practical idea... avoid sponges and pads in tricky areas, and if anything *just* use a filter sock on your drain into the sump, if you have a spare its easy to swap them in a matter of seconds every other day or something... instead of getting balls deep pulling out pads and whatnot (which also release most of the crap they captured when you move them or lift them out of water) Avoid large amounts of bio balls also in your sump... a few are fine but you are better off with live rock and rubble

Just 2 things i wish i would have known when i started

Sweet looking tank also... cant wait to see the progress


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## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

yeh tjeres filter pads in all three sectionsof the sump but im going to replace them with a DSB, liverock rubble and cheato.
I'm currently in the process of filling it with RO. Bit of a hassle though when you only have a 25gpd unit ad you have to go to work aswell!


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