20l build (1 Viewer)

[picoreefer]

Im planning on doing a 20l reef tank build and I need some advice on my plan thus far. Let me start off by saying that I am a college student and money is a constraint as well as size of the tank thats why I chose to do a 20l. My plan is to make the most of the equipment I have at my disposal, I want to keep a mixed reef so here is my plan

Tank:
20l with 1inch bulkhead with a modified eshoops overflow box to cover

Skimmer:
saphire aquatics recirculating skimmer, I just replaced the pumps and added a needle wheel

Lighting:
Im planning on used the fishneedit 4x24w t5ho 30in

Sump:
10g with acrylic baffles with skimmer, fuge and quite one 1200 return

Stand:
DIY

I have the skimmer, eshopps overflow, and the 10g so im trying to incorporate those and still make a clean well performing system. I havent done a tank build on this scale so any input is appreciated.

Today i cut the back out of the overflow box so i can silicon it in to the back of the tank after i get it drilled tomorrow at city pets. i also scrubbed out my old 10g and my next task is trying to decide on the design of the acrylic. i know i want a section for the skimmer, fuge and return. Ive drawn out a bubble trap styled baffle between the skimmer and the fuge where i want to put rubble into, never tried this before so if anyone has done or seen this and can give me feedback it would be a huge help. i will try and post pictures of my work so far, i just took them with my phone as i was working so they aren't great

 

[soymilk]

Nice start.

A few questions about your sump. In guessing the far right is were the drain empties to, Middle section refugium, and far left is the return area with baffles to help with bubbles.

Or is the far right the fuge area? Middle the return?

 

[picoreefer]

The left is the drain/skimmer the center is the fuge and the right houses the return pump. I have seen them with the return in the center so you can have a lower flow rate past your fuge but I've got a quite one 1200 so I'm not to worried about to high of flow past the fuge

 

[soymilk]

You mean right is skimmer/drain and left is return right?

The height difference between the drain and fuge area is pretty large. You might have The water rushing down disrupting the sand in the fuge. I would also bring down the middle baffle on the bubble trap as well. That way bubbles will have to travel further down to reach the return. Hopefully losing velocity and rising back up. There's not much volume for the last return section. One of the problems with my current sump is the return area is pretty small, not much leeway for my ato. Before I got my ato, I had to manually refill daily

I ran an ehiem 1048 and later on a mag3 turned down to about 150-200gph.

 

[zeek]

Im sorry how big is your tank again? 20l? In the picture where your holding the filter in it looks huge to me and 20 liters is like 5 gal right? I'm lost hehe but trust me it doesn't take much 8O . I have a 29gal I'll be doing a sump in soon so thats why Im asking.

 

[picoreefer]

I see what your saying soymilk that's a much beter idea to have configured the way you described more evaporation room and a much smoother running sump, thank you for the input man.

It's a 20 gallon tank just the long version hence the l. They also make a 20 high so I was just clearing up the shape of the tank I didn mean liters my bad

 

[zeek]

I see what your saying soymilk that's a much beter idea to have configured the way you described more evaporation room and a much smoother running sump, thank you for the input man.

It's a 20 gallon tank just the long version hence the l. They also make a 20 high so I was just clearing up the shape of the tank I didn mean liters my bad

nah man dont sweat it im learning so I duno all the abreviations and such and everyone always says 29g 150g XXg lol so when I saw an L i thought of liters lmao... oops

 

[picoreefer]

Today I got the tank drilled for the rear overflow, I headed back to school for finals but I'm planning on buying the acrylic an installing the baffles and overflow box next Tuesday so I'll be sure to post some pictures

 

[soymilk]

Very nice. Looking forward to your build. Keep us posted.

What do you plan on stocking it with? Have you ordered the lights yet? I remember it took a while for mines to come since it shipped from china.

Sometimes youd find a decent deal around town. Consider a 24" t5ho as well. Since the 30" t5 actually uses the same bulbs. 24" 24w t5 bulbs.

I found a decent 24" t5ho local for $75.

 

[picoreefer]

As far as livestock goes I've got Kenya tree, candycanes and some zoas and shrooms that are gonna go in there. I really want to get a tang but can't really do that with a 20 long. I want to do a clownfish pair and maybe a 6 line or possible a goby.

The fishneedit company is located in Santa Monica California I'm sure the lights are Chinese made but I think they ship from California. I have yet to order them I think I'm gonna order them when I head home after finals

 

[soymilk]

My 150w mh fishneedit lamp shipped from china.

I dunno if they now ship from California.

 

[picoreefer]

Alright man thanks for the tip, I just saw the company was out of Santa Monica so I assumed they shipped from there I'll be sure an order the lights asap.

 

[picoreefer]

Busy busy day, I built the frame of the stand today and cut and installed the baffles as well as the overflow box, I will try to put some pictures up tomorrow. Also I ordered the lights yesterday, so far the build is going along smoothly, knock on wood