Well it's been a long 4 months since I started this project but its finally getting close. My RO/DI from Buckeye came in this week and Ace built my sump a couple weeks ago and I got my Eheim 1262 return pump.

First thing is first, its time to fill some trash cans and then drag them over to the tank to start filling it up.


While waiting for each trash can to fill, I have many other things to work on as you can see below. It was like Christmas morning. I finished my plumbing with the loc-line that I ordered, mounted my ballasts(which need to be re-wired), and turned on the new heaters.


Finally, about 26 hours later I have enough water(~100 gallons). You can see my sump that Ace made. It's dimensions are 30"(L) x 18"(W) x 15"(H) which equates to about 35 gallons. I made it larger than need on purpose so that I can re-use it if/when I upgrade to a larger display tank. The back left section is rock-rubble for drains, front left is skimmer section, middle is fuge, triple baffle, then return.





The Koralia 4's making some nice surface disruption.



Next up, go buy some salt & substrate. I'm leaning towards Reef Crystals but I heard something about mixing them....? I hear the Coralife is good too though. Might come down to who has them locally & what this whole "mixing" problem is with the Reef Crystals. Can anyone chime in on this?

I'm planning to do a thin layer of coarser substrate for the display tank like crushed coral and then a finer sand for the refugium. Hopefully the next update will be more exciting than a glass box full of water.