My tank thread

I must have the dumbest luck in the hobby. I started w/ a 55gal tank and had to move from Portland to Salem Or. For those of you not close to hear that's almost 50 miles. I decided not to move all that water and ended up down sizing to a 20 long. This was right after I had finished my sump and gotten it plumbed in by the way. I wont bore you w/ pics of the 55gal, it was my first tank and not the prettiest. I will show you a pic of the 20 though, which I ended up liking more because it looked more full and like a reef tank.



Way over crowded in the end, but hey the plan was to get a bigger tank after I mover any way, and my landlord said the floors are concrete underneath. He followed that sentance w/ have any size tank you want, so I might stay here forever.
Well about three weeks ago I finally got the 40B I've been planing since I moved, and I was smart enough not to sell off the equipment I would need to upgrade. I don't have the stand and hood pics from that part of the build, because a friend from a local forum was nice enough to build it for me (you know girl and all no need for power tools, till I entered this past time), but here is the finished product.


I did add the LED night lights my self, and will add 1 more too the back of the tank, after my children are done sucking up my cash for x-mass.


I decided to transfer everything that night after lights out.
Here are pic from the next morning



Due to a finger injury, where I ended up dislocating my pinky in 2 spots the sump and the rest of the plumbing was put off another week. Tomorrow I finish it all up though and will post the rest of the build after.

Looking Good Kimberlee

That does look good. We have the same skimmer lol. I modded mine too. But its on about 240 gallons Lmao.

Tank looks great! I love the stand and canopy!! Very nice

Nice set up!

Nice!! Keep the pics coming

Getting the plumbing done wasn't so bad. The rest the house left me alone or even helped. Getting the plumbing hooked up to the sump and tank was a nightmare. Funny how family doesn't bug you when your doing something easy, but as soon as you start to to mess w/ water and electricity they all need something and it's life or death. Not that what you doing couldn't be if done wrong, and something leaks when your helping them. I did however manage to get it all done last night, and than was up real late watching to make sure nothing did leak. It was my first time doing this, so I had a little anxiety, but now I'm just proud. It was successful. No leaks and everything is running smooth.

So lets start w/ the pics
I started by connecting 3/4" hose w/ clamps too my 1056 Eco plus return pump, and then to a PVC ball valve.


Than to the return, to the tank to get this.

Than I injured my hand, and broke my overflow box so I had to wait a week to do the rest.

But,..... I than Use 1" hose to do the same for the overflow box to the sump. I ended up w/ this.

Nice simple set up I think. No 90 degree angels or bends and no bubbles. Anyway here's the sump.

And the modded sea clone skimmer

So the whole tank set up is easy and I like easy. I'm using my aqua lifter to give the fuge flow, but I think I'd like a little more than that. It lifts the water from the overflow box and drops it in the fuge. I'll some more pics after I turn the light on.

lol - I'm always worried about floods - did you do your power failure test yet?? How's your siphon breaking???

Lots of extra room in the sump for water if the power fail. Yes I did the power failure test twice. This set up turned out to be quieter and run smoother than the last set up, which was on my 55 and all pvc piping. There were bends and turns every where. No matter what I did I couldn't get rid of all the bubbles. W/ this set up I just had to turn the valves a little and no bubble. By the way fellow geeks black hose is so much better than pvc piping.

Cool, glad everything is working nice now.

Since the sand settled and everything has cleared I was able to get some better shots of my tank. Thought I'd share.

Beautiful!! Excellent photos ^_^ Thanks for sharing

So I was going through my threads on another forum and came across this.
Thought I'd share

From day 1 to now, now the clowns!!!!

awesome Kimberlee!
and your journey is so similar to many of ours too - - it's sad that we had to learn the hard way though isn't it?! .....it's a shame that we can't all trust the staff at our lfs - especially as newbies to this hobby!.......we ended up having to completely tear down our 180g because of bad decisions made based on advice from our lfs

it's great to have sources like reef clubs and forums to help steer you on the right path!

Tank looms great now!!, especially with real coral

I always prefer plumbing in flexible hose too. Rigid pipe has so many drawbacks in a place that requires lots of turns in a tight space. Plus, hose is much easier to modify/replace/repair.

Thx, guys. I like that thread I did, because it dose show the progression of my tank. I'm thinking of updating it, but I'll do that here if I do.

we totally need updates - then we can track, your progression!

Originally Posted by estanoche

we totally need updates - then we can track, your progression!

I will start today. I like doing it, I get to act like I'm a writer and post pic. Fun

From day 1 to now, now the clowns!!

Due too a move I had to down size tanks , so I traded my 2 bulb light fixture for a four bulb 1 and moved into a 20 long.

I have got to add that a 20 long w/ a skimmer rated for a 100gal tank is as easy as eating cake.So easy in fact I stopped testing, over fed, and stuffed my tank full of any coral I could get my hands on.
So I moved the 55 into the 20, and than moved the 20 from Portland to Salem a week later.

I hate to say it, but w/ the skimmer I had on the 20 there isn't a lot to tell the 3 months I had it set up. So I'll show some pics of what I added during that time.









After dinner the 40B build

how long have you had the clammie??