Last year on October 20th, I bought a used 50g and sump. I had no clue about plumbing, sumps and stuff (oh my!), as my previous tanks were smaller AIOs. I knew I was in for a learning experience and a lot of work, but I wasn't in a rush.
I decided to have someone build me a custom stand and 1 month later I barely squeezed it into my wife's crossover suv and headed home. There is a local guy in Spring who does great work. Andrew's Workshop, check him out on Facebook. Got the tank on the stand and in it's spot. Now the research comes.... What do I do next???
Next I painted the inside of the stand, I used Redgard Waterproofing on the bottom and 2" up the sides, then I applied some white Rustoleum Marine Topside paint on the insides. Probably overkill, but I already had the stuff so why not. Now to work on the plumbing. My SCA tank came with a 1/2" hole and a 1" hole. I wanted a herbie style drain, so I drilled out the 1/2" hole to a 1". Now I have a 1" drain and a 1" emergency drain. I also ran a 1" exterior return line over the top. Almost 7 months later from bringing the tank home, I finally added some water. I used a combination of CaribSea Life Rock and Real Reef Rock that I got from Galactic Coral. It was used rock and outside, so I cleaned it, bleached it and then seeded it for a couple of months in a tub.
Equipment list -
SCA 50g Cube
Precision Marine R24 Refugium Sump
SCA 301 Skimmer
Tunze Ato & 5g Reservoir
Current USA eFlux DC Return Pump (1900 gph)
Jebao CP-25 crossflow & Jebao SW-4 wavemaker
Cobalt Neo-Therm 200w Heater w/ Inkbird Controller
I decided to have someone build me a custom stand and 1 month later I barely squeezed it into my wife's crossover suv and headed home. There is a local guy in Spring who does great work. Andrew's Workshop, check him out on Facebook. Got the tank on the stand and in it's spot. Now the research comes.... What do I do next???
Next I painted the inside of the stand, I used Redgard Waterproofing on the bottom and 2" up the sides, then I applied some white Rustoleum Marine Topside paint on the insides. Probably overkill, but I already had the stuff so why not. Now to work on the plumbing. My SCA tank came with a 1/2" hole and a 1" hole. I wanted a herbie style drain, so I drilled out the 1/2" hole to a 1". Now I have a 1" drain and a 1" emergency drain. I also ran a 1" exterior return line over the top. Almost 7 months later from bringing the tank home, I finally added some water. I used a combination of CaribSea Life Rock and Real Reef Rock that I got from Galactic Coral. It was used rock and outside, so I cleaned it, bleached it and then seeded it for a couple of months in a tub.
Equipment list -
SCA 50g Cube
Precision Marine R24 Refugium Sump
SCA 301 Skimmer
Tunze Ato & 5g Reservoir
Current USA eFlux DC Return Pump (1900 gph)
Jebao CP-25 crossflow & Jebao SW-4 wavemaker
Cobalt Neo-Therm 200w Heater w/ Inkbird Controller
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