So I built my stand the other day

[ShrimpFan]

Hey folks,
I'm new here, still getting acquainted, and going to be building my first FOWLR tank here pretty soon (Christmas is when I'm going to be getting everything). It will eventually become a reef tank, but that's probably a few months down the road. I was given the tank, and wanted to see what I could do for a stand.

The faux divider (the black section between the two doors) was my wife's idea as I was struggling with exactly how I wanted to do it. The top has a 3/4" recess so that a 1/2" foam pad can sit beneath my tank for even distribution of force without showing the pad, and the opening has a dual 2x4 brace across the top for even support.

And yes, that's a 30 gallon fuge you see below a 60 gallon tank...:) Ever believe in overdoing something? I know I do. The fuge is actually rated for 125-225 gallon (which I hope to upgrade to down the road), and I got it for 100 bucks new, so figured I'd be fine overdoing it in this instance.

Anywho, I figured the DIY forums section was a good place to show this, as well as say hello in my first post here...:) I look forward to future conversations on this forum as it appears to be quite strong.

Thanks,
Aaron

4583
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[txav8r]

Welcome to MAAST! Looks like you are off to a great start!
Kudos for posting pictures in your first post! We love pictures!!!

[ShrimpFan]

Thanks. And I had seen several posts about how much y'all liked pics, so figured that would be enjoyed...:) I'll get more pics as I go through the project.

[Mr Cob]

Welcome Aaron! Bet you can't wait to get some water in there? What's your plans with the tank? Livestock?

[justahobby]

Looks great! Welcome to MAAST.

[allan]

Nice job dude.

[Europhyllia]

And yes, that's a 30 gallon fuge you see below a 60 gallon tank...:) Ever believe in overdoing something? I know I do. The fuge is actually rated for 125-225 gallon (which I hope to upgrade to down the road), and I got it for 100 bucks new, so figured I'd be fine overdoing it in this instance.


I think that sounds just right! :) Not like overdoing it at all. I have a 50g sump/fuge under a 125g tank. At first it seemed a little much but Ace said bigger is better so I went with it.
Going from my little 20 gallon sump to the twice as big one instantly cut my 24-hour pH swing down 0.2.
I don't think you'll regret getting a big sump :)

[ShrimpFan]

Welcome Aaron! Bet you can't wait to get some water in there? What's your plans with the tank? Livestock?

My plans currently are to setup a FOWLR with the eventual plans to do a full out reef with T5HO lighting. I wanted a tank with an in-tank overflow, but hey, free is free right?...:) So I'll be getting an HOB overflow probably.

I currently plan on getting a cleaner shrimp or two, a purple firefish, a lettuce sea slug, Live Rock with some nice purple Coraline algae, have several other fish I'm thinking of such as a neon goby, or a dragon goby, as well as a scarlet crab. Once I go reef, I definately want to get an anemone and clown, as well as some maxima clams. There are also some mushrooms that I was looking at, and a nice brain coral to boot.

I'm going to be using the under tank fuge with a clamp on 150 incandescent with a energy saver daylight bulb (thank you guys for the thread that lead me to that), and some calerpa from Aquarium designs. Gonna run a 200w heater to keep everything warm, with a koralia 4 powerhead and a rio 2100 feeding the return from the fuge.

Looked at the hiatt filtration method, and it's a bit pricier off the bat than I'm looking to go at this point with the need for dual red torpedo canisters (one for the carbon, one for the phRock), but I may eventually upgrade to that as I hear good things. My only complaint is that it would reduce the overall water capacity of my system increasing the overall impact any die off or other chemical change would have.

Going without a skimmer at this point to see if I actually need one. Some people online claim that with my size fuge and algae I shouldn't need one, but we'll see.

Been doing research and talking with guys at Aquarium Designs and Alamo Aquatic Pets for the last three months, and I'm itching to get the tank filled...:)

[corruption]

Why not drill and add your own instead of a hang-on-back overflow? Check out glass-holes.com -- they sell complete sets with overflows, bulkheads and hole saws... All you'll need is a drill, some water, and lots of patience! :D

I'd look into chaetomorpha in addition to/in replacement of the Caulerpa, its the de facto :) Also, the skimmer can be passed on immediately, but I'd recommend still adding one at some point -- it can be done without one, but it often makes things easier :)

-Corruption

[txav8r]

There are lost of people on here that give away Caulerpa and Chaeto macro algae. I'm one of them. Hit me up when yo are ready and I'd be glad to give you some.

[Europhyllia]

txav8r's comes with cool mini brittle stars! ;)

[ShrimpFan]

lol...I'll have to grab some of that from ya then. There's another type of macro algae that I'm having trouble thinking of right now. I thought it was dragon's breath, but I haven't been able to find anything by that name. From what I've been told though, it's a really good type to have, but it's pretty expensive, and as such is limited in places to get it from. Ah well. I'll check out the gl*******s place though. Thanks for the suggestion on that one.......


Edit:lmao...glass holes was censored...that's awesome.