# Newbie (kind of) Reef Tank, here we go again.



## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Yes, a reef tank. I know this doesn't happen often on BCA any more and there are other forums that is more specialized for Salt water aquariums. However, BCA is where I got lots info when I first getting into the hobby 16 years ago and I enjoy the vibe here more than some other larger forum. So here we go!

Little bit about myself to start. I am treating myself a newbie (kind of), because the last time I was keeping any type of aquarium was almost 3 years ago. 
16 years ago when I moved out from my parent's place after I got married, I started my first 20G tank that I got from metrotown's Pet Habitat. At that time, all I was keeping is guppies. One day, I walked into Big Al near Lougheed Mall with my wife, both of us were amazed by all the marine fish and corals and how keeping a piece of ocean in your living room is no longer a dream. Like most newbies, I rushed into getting live sand, live ROCK and almost immediately put my fish in after just 2 weeks of cycling with my 20G ( all our guppies were given to our friends at that time). After some issues with algae due to the new tank not fully cycled, I start to really research everything. This was how I started my journey in Salt water fish keeping. Over the next 13 years, I have upgrade and downgrade multiple times. Going from 20G to 75G to a BioCube 29G then back up to a 120G and back down to 60G. Finally 6 years ago, I sold my 90G tank and pretty much convinced myself would never get back to the hobby due to my health took a down turn and I want to spend more time and money on my family.

I moved to a bigger last year and with my health getting better, I decide to take another shot at reef keeping. So I am back!

The differences for this time is that I want to take it real slow and make informed decision on pretty much everything.

1) Tank selection.
This is a tough choice. I am a cube tank lover and I also like the idea of shallow tank. So I always looking for rimless cube or semi cube tank. The space I have is roughly 36x36 so I was looking around for something that can fit to that area be a center piece of my living room. After poking around on Craigslist and Kijiji without success, I came across couple tanks in JL aquatics after a drop-by visit just to see how things are. Two tanks caught my eyes. One is the Innovative-Marine's EXT 75G tank and the other is the Red Sea Reefer 250. I end up going with the IM EXT 75G tank because the larger size and the idea where the overflow is outside of the tank to give my display tank a very clean space to work with. It also a lot cheaper compare to the Red Sea Reefer 250.

I have to say this tank has really good quality in general, very sick glass and smooth silicon work in general. It is also very heavy, my son and myself took almost an hour to move both the tank and the stand into our 2nd floor living room.
We did it and I am super please with how it look.








Back overflow box








2) Sump
This is another hard choice, I want to have proper plumbing this time. In my past tanks, I always use flex tubing for return pump and overflow intake. I want this setup to be as professional looking as possible. Because of that, I have been doing plenty research on what might be a good options for this size of cabinet. Many of the pre-made sump such as those Esshopps or Trigger sumps doesn't have the dimension I want and those that fits the cabinet would have no refugium space. So at the end, I decide to buy a DIY kit from EBAY that would give the proper setup I will update this one once I received the kit and completed the transformation of my old 29G tank to the sump.

3) Protein skimmer
I decide to go with the Bubble Magus Curve 5 which I also picked up from JL today. When I last keeping proper corals, I had an old Bubble Magus and it was quiet and efficient so I decide to go back to them again.
After I take it out of the packaging, I am surprised by how simple the setup is and how small the footprint it is.4 years ago, it is impossible to find a small footprint like this to be able to support anything more than 50g.









4)Lighting.
Those that know me from before, knows that I used to sell LED light fixtures from a brand call Zetlight. Ever since my health went down hill, I basically stopped all the LED business as I do still work full time and I can't really afford to spend that kind of time and effort to do this side business any more. That being said, I still have some LED in stock with me that I never bother to sell them. For this build, I am going to use a ZT6500. It is 90W and small fixture that I will raise a bit higher to cover most of the tank. My idea for this tank is going to be a Zoa garden so I don't need blazing bright LED coverage here.









I am still yet to fully decide on the return pump and the powerhead/wave maker. So more to come...


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you. I've been debating switching to Marine for years and I look forward to learning


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Welcome back, Frank. It’s good to see you back in action!

Best regards,

Stuart


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Thanks Stuart, Glad to be back and have some fun again.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Well...Lights are up!


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

wow looks great, was this the nuvo 75g in the displauy area of j&l, i was eyeing it for so long, what a beauty!


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

rwong2k10 said:


> wow looks great, was this the nuvo 75g in the displauy area of j&l, i was eyeing it for so long, what a beauty!


Yes it is! I was actually surprised my wife gave me the green light to go for the tank. I think it actually quite a bargain for the quality. As I mentioned, it is not red sea but i really like the design of the tank with the ext overflow instead of inside.


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## Marillion (Aug 6, 2019)

Looks great! Looking forward to hearing more about this.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Marillion said:


> Looks great! Looking forward to hearing more about this.


Thank you!


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

So today I was able to dig some old "new" equipment out of my piles of moving boxes.
I got both of these from a long time ago.

The RO/DI unit was almost 6 or 7 years ago and because I was renting at that time, so I never got the guts to set it up. Surprisingly I got everything intact and all my filter media in sealed packages. I am a bit concern about the membrane as I know if I leave it out too long and it would dry out and no longer working. However, I am not sure if it still does the same if I never used it and kept it in the original sealed packaging. If someone know the answer, please share. I know this company no longer in business but I am sure all RO/DI medias pretty much the same.








I got this seneye from almost the same time. I also never got the chance to set it up because I couldn't get a computer close enough to keep it connected. I checked their site now and seems they have a WIFI option, I am thinking once I get the tank up and running 100%, I will invest to get the WIFI adapter for it.









I am still waiting on my DIY sump Kit to arrive, it takes forever to get thing shipped during this crazy COVID-19 time. I also picked up couple 40 lb sand from a fellow reefer. I also placed order for roughly 35 lbs of LR as well as my return pump as well as some miracle mud that I am planning to use in my refrugium. Hopefully I get those the same time as my sump kit so I can start doing some plumbing and aquascaping. More to come!
View attachment 179472
View attachment 179468


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Got my shipment for my rocks and pump. I also got bunch of plumbing from homedepot and will be start the plumbing shortly. The only thing I am waiting on is the Sump kit now and hopefully I can get it before end of the week.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Starting to get the plumbing going now.
Dry fit.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Sump parts finally arrived!!!









I would have to say it is really nicely make. Pretty much fit to the exact size.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

spend the whole night completing the dry fit. This is how it looks like.

Back view








Front view








Running Bean Animal overflow. My original design runs on 1 return pump like everyone else does. For this one, I want to be a bit more complete. So I am basically running 2 pumps. I got a new pump and had a old Speedwave DC pump. Both are graded for over 700GPH. These two should act as a fail safe where 1 pump fail, the other should still keep my filtration system going. I still want to enjoy my couple weeks vacation every once a while so this should give me the best peace of mind when I am away.

I also added couple intakes just in case I want to add some other devices in the future such as Calcium reactor or media reactor. At this moment, I am only thinking about doing Zoa and Softies but keeping options to move towards SPS in the future never hurts.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Water is in! Very impressed by Jebao DC pump..I couldn't hear a thing at 98%...it does roughly 730GPH right now. Also no leak, my first plumbing seems working well so far.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

Quick update. Nothing much happening as I am waiting on the tank to complete the cycle. I did seed the tank with Pods. One bottle of Tigger Pods from JL and also a bottle of mix pods from Copepods.ca 








to be honest, I wasn't 100% satisfy on the coepods.ca product not due to their item quality but more to do with their service. Purolator shown out for delivery on May 21st 6am but never got to me until the next day morning. I was a bit concern for live stock to kept on delivery truck so I emailed the site. The pods got to me early morning os the next day and was never ring the door bell or anything so it sat at my door step until I woke up. I totally get it this is COVID-19 related and delivery issues got nothing to do with the vendor themselves. However, they didn't even show any interest to reply my question about whether the live stock would be safe after stuck on the delivery truck for full 24 to 26 hours. The communication is extremely lacked and I am not sure if I can count on them next time if the order is actually having some kind of legit problem.

That being said, I am happy with the result after seeding the tank. The pods are everywhere in my main tank as well as my mud refugium.


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## oyf709 (Sep 18, 2010)

It has been sometimes since i last update.

Things are rolling along nicely though.
All water reading are good.
0 ppm Ammonia
0 ppm Nitrite
close to 0 Nitrate

I have been doing a small amount of RedSea AB+ dosing fir a week now. I want to see how is the growth on my Zoa after the dose. I can tell my mushroom and GSP likes them. Huge Polyps extension whenever I target feed them the AB+ . I also do Phyplankton dose every other day to make sure my pods population growth to a optimal level. So far I can tell it has been a huge success as they are everywhere.


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Slick setup


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