I guess I can finally start a tank build thread since I have begun. This thread could come to an abrupt end though if I do not succeed in drilling my first tank.
I have had some stuff laying around my house and I decided to take a shot at building some sort of frag tank, whether its just temporary to prove I can drill a tank or a permanent solution, I have no yet decided. I am trying to keep the budget as far down as possible. I am looking to house just lower demanding corals at first such as Softies, LPS, and zoas.
I have decided I am going to go with a 150w HQI metal halide. After research and price comparison, it would just cost too much to repair my IceCap 660 and buy all the proper reflectors and endcaps along with bulbs. I am going to go with an Aquatraders 150w Metal Halide Pendant. I know they haven't had too much of a good rep in the past but as of late it seems that they have improved their quality. At $99 for the unit, I can upgrade the bulb and still be at half the cost it would be for me to go down my initial plan of T5s.
For flow I have decided to go with a closed loop system so I can maximize the space inside my tank to house the corals. I have an extra Mag 3 pump laying around that all it needs is a new impeller. The closed loop system would consist of two outlets and 2 inlets, with the outlets being hid by a custom overflow box and the inlets using two penductors to increase flow. The two outlets and inlets leave me the option to either add a sump at a later time when I decide to house more demanding SPS corals or plumb a protein skimmer in.
So with that I will not be running a protein skimmer, I will just do about 5 gallon water changes every couple weeks or so, but I want to keep the nutrients in the tank on the higher side.
So here we go and hopefully I can make it all the way to the end on this one.
I have had some stuff laying around my house and I decided to take a shot at building some sort of frag tank, whether its just temporary to prove I can drill a tank or a permanent solution, I have no yet decided. I am trying to keep the budget as far down as possible. I am looking to house just lower demanding corals at first such as Softies, LPS, and zoas.
I have decided I am going to go with a 150w HQI metal halide. After research and price comparison, it would just cost too much to repair my IceCap 660 and buy all the proper reflectors and endcaps along with bulbs. I am going to go with an Aquatraders 150w Metal Halide Pendant. I know they haven't had too much of a good rep in the past but as of late it seems that they have improved their quality. At $99 for the unit, I can upgrade the bulb and still be at half the cost it would be for me to go down my initial plan of T5s.
For flow I have decided to go with a closed loop system so I can maximize the space inside my tank to house the corals. I have an extra Mag 3 pump laying around that all it needs is a new impeller. The closed loop system would consist of two outlets and 2 inlets, with the outlets being hid by a custom overflow box and the inlets using two penductors to increase flow. The two outlets and inlets leave me the option to either add a sump at a later time when I decide to house more demanding SPS corals or plumb a protein skimmer in.
So with that I will not be running a protein skimmer, I will just do about 5 gallon water changes every couple weeks or so, but I want to keep the nutrients in the tank on the higher side.
So here we go and hopefully I can make it all the way to the end on this one.