Jake's 50 gallon mixed reef

Sump project update:

I decided to go with a Life Reef HOB overflow. I've used this style of overflow in the past and it has been reliable. I considered the CPR C-siphon since it is so much more available, but there were not very many nice things to be said about it online.

My fail-safe in case the over flow fails will be simply to ensure the pump compartment of my sump does not have enough volume to over flow the tank. That eliminates the chances of the display tank overflowing, which is my biggest concern. It will not prevent the pump from running dry in the sump. I can't think of a solution for that yet.

This is my sump design:

I've ordered three pieces of 1/4" thick glass. All are 11 7/8" x 8.5". The sump is a standard 20 gal tall. I'll use a mag-drive 9.5 as recommended by the Life-Reef. That is more flow than I wanted, but it's necessary to keep the flow rate in the u-tube high enough.

The sump design leaves about 9.5 gallons of extra space for back siphoning during power outages. I'll also drill a siphon break into the return j-tube.

What do you guys think? This is my first DIY sump so any advice before I try to build this thing would be appreciated!

 

Decided to increase the height of the first baffle to 13" so I can raise my skimmer. I'm planning on selling my MC600 and buying a SWC Xtreme 160. That was almost a big oversight

 

Got the Life Reef overflow today in the mail! I'll finally be setting this up over the next day.

The Life Reef overflow looks fantastic. I was second guessing myself for a while spending $120 on an overflow when Eshopps makes a nice one for half the price, but the Life Reef overflow is made of much thicker acrylic and the inside box is much sturdier (the Eshopps inside box can shift easily if bumped).

 

After a busy couple of weeks I finally have all of the changes up and running. I've built the sump, added the LifeReef overflow, and replaced the Deltec MCE 600 with an SWC Xtreme cone 160.

Unfortunately as soon as I installed the overflow my corals lost a ton of color within just 1 day. I got some advice from 2in1, and ended up removed two bulbs from my six bulb fixture. I know only run two actinic+, 1 aquapink, and 1 aquablue+. Hopefully the corals regain some color!

Here are some growth pics of one of my SPS's... anyone know what species it is?

Added August 30th - really happy with how fast this coral is growing.


Sept 12


Sept 20


Oct 6


New Crocea clam - added early October. I plan on buying a few more clams over the next year, I love them!


I also added a solar wrasse and a potters angel about a week ago (prior to those fish only had a watchman goby). The potters took 5 days to start eating. Unfortunately both fish now have white spot, which really surprises me since the tank doesn't vary in temperature (it's always 81.7 F) and water parameters are fine. Hopefully they can fight it off I've waited so long to get some fish in the tank.

 

Nice looking tank. good job

 

Looking good!

 

Thanks!

 

I missed this thread somehow. Nice looking tank and beautiful corals. I almost went with a 50 breeder before I bought my 65 gallon, sometimes I wish I would've went with the shallower 50. Hope the fish do okay for ya.

 

can you show us a picture of your filtration? looks good from the front, very nice tank

 

Beautiful tank man!!