# James' 47 gallon first Salt Water tank



## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

*And so it begins...*

After tearing down my larger planted tank when I moved I have had a hard time deciding what to do next. I had planned on setting it up as a high tech planted tank again but I have a smaller one at my office now and wanted a new challenge.

My goal is to set up a salt water tank that is somewhat in the ADA style of being very minimalistic and clean looking. I want there to be very little visible and make it as neat as possible. I have a 44 gallon starphire tank that I am going to use for this as I wanted it to be shallower than the 57 gallon tank I was using before.

Here is what it looks like right now.



Cat for scale:



I am not sure how I am going to set it up underneath as the stand has a 2x3 that runs down the middle. I will need to either take it out and shore up the stand or build a platform? Take a look and let me know if you have any ideas.



I am going to start with drilling the tank and doing most of the plumbing. I could have gotten all the parts separately but I figured for my first time I'd try to keep it simple. I ordered an overflow and return kit from glass-holes.com and am so far very happy with it. I think I have pretty much everything I need. I plan on plumbing the overflow on the right side as opposed to the middle to try to give it a cleaner look. I had originally planned on putting it in the middle and painting the back black but I think I like the look of a clear tank better.



So far what I have is:
Tank - 47 gallon starphire
Stand - black ADA style
Controller - Neptune Systems Aqua Controller Jr
Plumbing - Glass-holes.com kit
Light Stand - DIY conduit

What I need to get:
Light - LED preferably but open minded
Sump - I don't know a lot here... but it needs to fit in the stand and I don't know if I have the space to make one from scratch
Skimmer - something good
Powerhead - I want minimalism so either a MP10 and and a bigger sump pump or an MP40 and a smaller sump pump
Pump - depends on powerhead.

I want to try to put this all together slowly over the summer. If anyone has any advice or a line on some equipment I should pick up, I'd greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, feel free to follow along and chime in at will. Thanks for looking!


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## crimper (Oct 20, 2010)

Jimbo said:


> *And so it begins...*
> Powerhead - I want minimalism so either a MP10 and and a bigger sump pump or an MP40 and a smaller sump pump


Anthing above MP20 on a 3ft tank is too much, you don't want tidal waves and hurricanes in your tank, unless you are building a 6ft sump :bigsmile:

Keep the build pics coming.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

Nice can't Wate for LEDs check out The ever grow fixtures on reef supply Canada best servace and bang for your buck


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

crimper said:


> Anthing above MP20 on a 3ft tank is too much, you don't want tidal waves and hurricanes in your tank, unless you are building a 6ft sump :bigsmile:
> 
> Keep the build pics coming.


Yeah I think you are right. I think I am going to start with 1 MP10 and see how much flow that is with the return pump and then maybe add a second. I am going to try to drill the tank this week and do some work on the stand. I will try to put pictures up every step of the way.



scott tang said:


> Nice can't Wate for LEDs check out The ever grow fixtures on reef supply Canada best servace and bang for your buck


Yeah I just heard about those evergrow fixtures a little while ago. Seem really good for the price. I am going to do a little more research but that is where I am leaning right now. Know anyone that uses them?


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

UOTE=Jimbo;686489]Yeah I think you are right. I think I am going to start with 1 MP10 and see how much flow that is with the return pump and then maybe add a second. I am going to try to drill the tank this week and do some work on the stand. I will try to put pictures up every step of the way.

Yeah I just heard about those evergrow fixtures a little while ago. Seem really good for the price. I am going to do a little more research but that is where I am leaning right now. Know anyone that uses them?[/QUOTE]

Yep I use em I can honestly say that it's amazing within the first three days Almy corals actually brighter


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

crimper said:


> Anthing above MP20 on a 3ft tank is too much, you don't want tidal waves and hurricanes in your tank, unless you are building a 6ft sump :bigsmile:
> 
> Keep the build pics coming.


no such thing, i ran 4 mp40's at 90% on my 3' 75g tank and 1 mp40 at 100% on my sump


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## crimper (Oct 20, 2010)

spit.fire said:


> no such thing, i ran 4 mp40's at 90% on my 3' 75g tank and 1 mp40 at 100% on my sump


Wow 4 MP40s on a 3 ft 75G?? Yeah I guess if you run all of them on lagoon mode and one or 2 at a time. :bigsmile: But I could not justify the cost of that against the benefit of wave makers running not in full power... Sorry maybe its just me.


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## crimper (Oct 20, 2010)

check this out, do you want your tank to have a tidal wave like this... imagine 6 of them :bigsmile:


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

crimper said:


> Wow 4 MP40s on a 3 ft 75G?? Yeah I guess if you run all of them on lagoon mode and one or 2 at a time. :bigsmile: But I could not justify the cost of that against the benefit of wave makers running not in full power... Sorry maybe its just me.


I ran all 4 reef crest 24/7 my corals loved it, got awesome growth and next to know nutrients in the tank


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Here's a question for all you cat owners...Does the cat fur get into your fish tanks? 
Nice build btw


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

So I finally got to drilling the tank. It took longer than I though it would but worked out well. I drilled the overflow and the return on the same end. I am just now finishing up the plumbing then I need to get a sump. I forgot to take any pictures while I was drilling the 2 big holes but you can see from the little hole how it went.







I did the renos to the stand so that a sump will fit in the now. Does anyone have a decent sump that would work? I was looking at those fancy aqueon sumps but I have two hoses from the overflow and those only have one inflow. The dimensions of the inside of the stand is 13 1/2" x 34". I ideally want a stand that is really close to that width but not that long so I have a bit of room in the stand.

Thanks for looking.


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## opt-e (Jan 25, 2014)

Hey Jimbo really interested in this build as I'm thinking of getting a similar tank for a planted setup. Where did you get the tank? BTW looks great so far; any more updates?


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

opt-e said:


> Hey Jimbo really interested in this build as I'm thinking of getting a similar tank for a planted setup. Where did you get the tank? BTW looks great so far; any more updates?


Hey thanks for the kind words. I got the tank from someone on here who bought it from Frank at aqled. I bought another tank off him and some lights as well and it's all been great. I am going to post an update tomorrow hopefully.


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## opt-e (Jan 25, 2014)

Jimbo said:


> Hey thanks for the kind words. I got the tank from someone on here who bought it from Frank at aqled. I bought another tank off him and some lights as well and it's all been great. I am going to post an update tomorrow hopefully.


I'm selling off some tanks so I can buy the same tank! Can't wait.. going to have to build a stand (also same as you, ADA styles). Are you happy with the quality?


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