New guy with first Reef Aquarium

Hello, been keeping African cichlids for many years and a friend convinced me to start up a reef tank so this is my first attempt. I've done a lot of research and started this build.


Made template in wood to drill holes for overflow.



Brand new 46 bowfront drilled.



Painted background onto glass.



Sump design finished. Not the most ideal setup but had to fit a lot into a small space.



Installed bulkheads and overflow box.



Drain plumbing complete.



Started to fill



Should have bought larger RO/DI but I think the 50gpd won't be bad once the tank is filled.

 

No fear in setting that running RO/DI unit and letting it run for long periods of time, probably some of which is unsupervised, on the nice expensive leather sofa! Now that's a sign of a true reefer!
Welcome! Looking good so far!

 

Lol, I put a towel under it

 

Looks like you have done your research, that's good because salt water is a whole different ball park than fresh water. Good luck with your setup.

 

WOW this is one of the cleanest setups ive seen in a long time, you must be very organized! GREAT looking tank build, can't wait to see this one progress. Sorry if i missed this but what do you plan for the lights?

 

Nice, job on a clean setup.

 

I thought the same of my 75gpd during intial setup. 50 will be plenty once you get going.

 

Thanks, the light I bought is a Current dual 96W Power compact fixture with LED moonlights. I kinda goofed on the lights if I had to go back I would have chosen T5 over the PCs.

 

yes T5's are much better in many different ways, pc's just have trouble penetrating water and in all honesty the reflectors are not up to PAR...lol literally. Anyway you could take em back or try and resell for a bit less? I would try that if you really want to, you really don't have too many limitations with T5's that's what I like best about them!