RM's Coral Farm (update 1/11..changin' gears)

Ok... I went and put on the teflon tape and plumbers silicone grease, tightened it all down and took a couple more pics of the over flow.

attempting to show the fit to the glass.


showing position of the box inside the tank


Once I get the other box ordered I'll finish the plumbing down to the sump. The plan is to have the returns tee together and feed an ATS.

 

These look pretty good to me ReefMonkey

Steve

 

Cant wait to see!!

 

Well guess I'll update this thread.
I lost my job on 12/12/10 and no money means no advancement on any of my projects. Especially since the views on spending differ greatly between my wife and I and she now controls 100% of the purse string. I had to come up with a way to earn enough cash for small things like salt and di resin that doesn't involve going door to door with a snow shovel offering my services to the elderly. I dug around in the stack of boxes of my extra tank junk and my garage.
I was able to put together this little grow out system in hopes that I can sell enough frags and chaeto to keep some money in my pocket. Everything you see I had on hand. Every part except the grow out drain back to the sump through 1/2" bulk heads I had laying around.
The complete set up

Center: 38" Streilite under bed storage container. There's CaribSea reef sand on the bottom. The eggcrate sits on top of 5 X 1/2" pvc tubes to allow flow under the frags.

The over flow is made from a BRS mag chloride container. I cut it to the hieght, cut teeth to make the strainer. I drilled a 1" hole through the lid. This let the 1" PVC drain pipe pass but the 1" coupler covered the hole. This was sealed with 2 part epoxy putty, super glue and after that had cured, silicone. I roughed up the the tote surface with 80 grit sandpaper, then completely covered the bottom of the overflow with 1/2" of Dapp silicone before installing. I let it cure for 2 days before testing for leaks.
I have an Odyssea 36" 4 X 39 T5HO that I'll use. I had some brand new Corallife 10k's and actinics laying around. Perfect for what I'm doing. I'm not in a hurry to install it because the system is cycling now anyway. That goes for all of the lighting actually. But the plan is the frags will be covered by 4" of water and the light will be 4" above the surface.

Bottom center: 22 gallon storage tote.

This will be used as a sump and area to grow chaeto. The Return pump under the eggcrate box is a Rio 750 I had. It pumps up through a manifold. I was hoping to have more flow from it but it's not enough and I'll have to swap it out for the mag 12 I had for the original farm project. I just need to get an adapter first. There'll be a 20" T8 fixture with a philips alto III 6500k.

Bottom Right: 16 gallon tote. This is the mud filter. It has 20 lbs of clay litter with 2" of CaribSea reef sand on top and a cup of sand from my 46. I also made fish food last week and threw all of the clam, mussel and oyster shells in there. The basement is fairly stinky right now. Later I'll add a clip on light and a 6500k CFL-R over it and grow out mangroves.

Rear Left: Algae Turf Scrubber.

A simple set up with a spray bar. A piece of latch hook backing will hang from the spray bar and a clip on light with a 6500k CFL-R will light it.

Left: Berghia ranch.

This part is VERY "iffy" right now. I'll have to grow Aiptasia in there to keep the nudi's fed and breeding. I glued window screen over the bulk head in hopes to contain the nasty little guys. I tried a piece of media bag first but that inhibited flow to much through the tiny 1/2" bulkhead. I'm gonna try it but if I find one aip outside that tote I'll take that part off line.

That's all I have for now. I'm out of NO3 tests so I'm just gonna let it run empty for a few weeks and then try out a frag of xenia or something.

 

Wow... that looks awesome!
I hope you can see it growing stuff soon!!
Sorry about the job, bud. These are hard times for almost everyone. I hope it will get better for everyone as well.

- Mag.

 

Sorry to hear about the job. Way to stay in the game though. Some rubble and xenia and away you go. Amazing the request for xenia and rewarding to watch it grow as well.

 

Thanks both. The job loss wasn't due to anything but my own temper though. Not the economy or cut backs or anything like that. It was my primary habit feeding income and that's about it so no worries about home or feeding the family thankfully.

Starter corals sell best in my area and I don't think I'm to far out saying they are the bread and butter for any vendor. But around here I've seen xenia frags that I've traded for credit at the LFS sell out before I get out of the store.

 

That's awesome, you must part Cuban to build a rig like that from scraps!

p.s. Meaning the ingenuity of refugee boats we see from time to time here in the Keys.

 

LOL! It's all stuff that is collected over time. All the equipment is stuff that got stuck in a box or bucket when better stuff could be afforded for my DT. All the pvc valves, fittings and pipe were bought months ago and were meant for the bigger farm. The sand was used as a mold back when I tried my hand at concrete rocks and was stored in the tote that became the berghia ranch. The other totes all had clothes and holiday decorations in them. The only thing I actually had to buy was the 20 lb. bag of kitty litter. $2.97 +tax at WallyWorld. I'll have to get a heater. I don't think the 50 watter cranked up to 80 is going to last LOL.

 

Wow, that looks great!!! Very impressive that you built all that off the top of your head!

I agree, pulsing xenia is the way to go! Stuff grows like mad, is very popular and costs a pretty penny per frag.