JaysLittleOcean Piece of the Reef.

Hey everyone, I'm getting into the hobby after lurking around the forums for a bit and viewing all the amazing aquariums that other hobbyist have. We just getting settled in our new home so I thought I finally have a space to setup a my reef. I purchased a 150 gallon cube aquarium from another member on the forum and I'm finally getting to work on it. So feel free to tag along as I am sure I will have tons of questions to ask along the way.

 

So this is setup is probably going to take some time to get off the ground because I want to make sure that I am doing things right. So I decided to go get some 1 Inch Schedule 40 PVC Pipe and begin to dry fit the drains within the overflow. This aquarium came with 2 pre drilled holes and the Dorso Piping. But after doing some reading I have decided to use both holes for the Herbie Method drains. The aquarium is located in the family room right next to the television and I want to ensure that it is as quiet as I can make it. Also I want to ensure that their are no floods. So I figured this would be the best method to go with. 1 standpipe is being used for the primary drain and 1 standpipe with be used for the emergency drain. As for the return piping, I will get to that after I finish with the drain piping and decide on which return pump I am going to use. What does everyone think so far?

 

Apparently moving into a new home comes with many new places to put things. But my wife would kill me if I left a multi-stage RO/DI water filtration unit within plain sight. So I need to install the RO/DI filtration unit underneath the sink inside the bathroom. The only problem is I don't know exactly what to ask for at Home Depot other then saying I want to run a refrigerator water line from this to the RO/DI unit. If anyone can let me know what parts I need to specifically ask for that would be helpful.

 

So call it a personal dislike but I can't stand to see an aquarium without a decent sand bed for your critters to burrow into. So I have added approximately 300 lbs. of aragonite sand to the aquarium to give a nice deep sand bed.

 

So I figured while I'm on vacation I should take some time to actually setting up my aquarium. So here is a shot of the todays delivery of goodies!

 

So here is a photograph of the sand bed once I flattened everything out a bit. See I said it wasn't so bad.

 

So when purchasing the aquarium from the other person they also have this protein skimmer for sale. I'm a bit skeptical on the performance but I figured why not. I can always purchase another protein skimmer down the line. So when I purchased it the original owner was starting to get a cleaning done. So when I got home I thought I would finish the process.

















So I took a Sterilite 66 QT container and used it to run the protein skimmer for a few days in a water and vinegar bath.












I then took apart the entire protein skimmer. Cleaned each part off thoroughly and put humpty dumpty back together again.

 

After a few days of deciding whether to go with Sicce or Eheim for my return pump I finally settled on the Eheim after reading a few reviews of someone people having their in operation for ridiculous lengths of time. So I ordered an Eheim 3400 Universal pump that will be used for the primary return pump. I went with 5/8 Inch tubing for the return line instead of plumbing is with PVC primarily for aesthetics. Since I'm using both drilled holes for the herbie drain setup I didn't want to see PVC piping coming up the side of the aquarium. With the tubing I was able to move run the tub right up the back pane spacing with no issues. I have a Two Little Fishies Ball Valve running inline for flow control and it all ends with an Eshopps Return Jet assembly, all held in place using Two Little Fishies hose clamps.

 

Got home today to another wonderful delivery of goodies from the fairy god fishy.

 

I decided to go with some good ol fashion German engineering when choosing my powerheads. So I ordered two Tunze Nanostream 6095 Stream Pumps. You might be asking me why I ordered a pump with the word Nano in its title. My aquarium is a perfect cube measuring 3 feet on each side. I need a pump that could not only move water but also provide wide flow. This pump has an observed flow reach of 3 feet long by 2 feet wide with a controllable flow rate of 528-2510 GPH. I would say more than enough for this particular aquarium. Who knows I might even add two more for an insane amount of controllable flow. There was some assembly required to put the holder together but that took no more than a few minutes.