# New build



## Levi

Ok those who know me know I am new to the hobby. In 3 months I have gone from a 10 gallon nano to a 30 gallon cube. Well I'm pathetic LOL and have purchased a new acrylic 55 gallon tank. I'm a sucker for a good deal, don't beat me up! I had 4 small fish in the 30 gallon and I guess some consider that overstocked. Now I will have more breathing room. I will eventually transfer my 30 gallon to the 55 gallon as it cycles.

You think my LED light will be enough for it? This question is mainly for Phys lol

The tank is a rimless acrylic with curved corners. It's 4 feet wide and pristine. It's not reef ready but I will be drilling 2 holes and adding bulkheads and gluing an overflow over one hole, the other will be a return. I am also painting my stand black. I guess this will be my build thread and will post pictures as I update. For now this is the start product. Wish me luck!


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## GetITCdot

lookin good


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## Kaiden32

Can't wait to see this take off Levi. Your previous 2 tanks have been pretty cool too, so I'm excited to see what you do with this one.


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## Levi

Thanks guys! So far I painted the stand black and added some nickle finish handles. I've drilled 2 holes on the back for my 2 returns and have cut up some acrylic for the overflow box that I am mounting on the back. I am going to cut slits in the back of the tank for surface skimming/overflow right in the top middle. Water will pour through to the back box then drain into the sump from there. Basically like my HOB on my current 30 gallon but with out anything inside the tank. Hopefully it comes out the way I see it in my head lol. I will post pics tonight or tomorrow when I am done.

I did take some time and got some new corals lol. I got a rainbow acan, a duncan, some bambams, a blue hornet, some big piece of some sort of tort, eagle eye zoas, rose nebulas, area 51 chalice, psammacora and orange digi.


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## Rob72

new tank looks great i love acrylic now that i have one, so much lighter and more clearer to see everthing inside, good luck with the new setup looking forward to seeing the process
Rob


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## Kaiden32

How about some pics of the new corals?


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## Levi

ugh so don't laugh at the slits I made... I tried a router, then a dremil both made chips. Then I ended up using a drill and a hack saw. I'm bummed lol...

Anyway here's a couple of pics of the tank with the overflow and box in place as well as the two returns with bulkheads.



















I will do coral pics when everything is in the new tank. My 30 gallon looks cluttered.


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## Levi

Guess it's evil of me to make you wait a week or two to see my new frags lol. Here's a couple of pics.

Area 51









Duncan









Bam Bam in the middle and the Psammacora at the top left









The unknown tort (from reefkoi)









Rainbow Acan









Bambam (I love it)









Eagle Eye Zoa









ORA Red Planet









The blue hornet was closed but will post when it wakes lol


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## Levi

blue hornet is shy i guess


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## Levi

Oh yeah here's a couple of pics of the stand painted with added handles. These pics have ghosts in them too lol if you believe in that. They're "orbs"


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## Kaiden32

Sweet.


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## Rob72

looks great 
Rob


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## Levi

thanks


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## wimpyreef

tank looks OFF the HIZZY! stands not too shabby either..goes with the black background of the tank (i guess thats what u were going for?)

like the eagle eye


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## Levi

thanks


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## Levi

Well it's finally set up. I don't think the LEDs I have will be enough for the whole tank <sigh> but for now it still looks sweet. Me and my fish are happy with the results.


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## wimpyreef

like the way you setup your rocks. what is the egg crate for? and what is that under the power head? looks like a giant snail WO


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## Levi

wimpyreef said:


> like the way you setup your rocks. what is the egg crate for? and what is that under the power head? looks like a giant snail WO


I am using the eggcrate as my ghetto frag rack lol. I initially made it to stack rocks on and will likely do the same. I will be adding more rock this weekend. I think that's the frogspawn lol. Just waking up, or if you mean the conch that's just a shell myclowns like to hang out around


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## Kaiden32

Ghetto frag rack? I think egg crate is what most use for frag racks.


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## Levi

yeah just saying ghetto since its not store bought and rough around the edges lol


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## Kaiden32

I see. It looks fine to me though, so I wouldn't worry about it.


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## wimpyreef

keep it coming with the updates/pics on new the tank Levi


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## Levi

well I kept my corals out of water for about 3 minutes while moving to the new tank. now my rainbow acan and duncan are doing sucky... that acan was expensive too I'm annoyed! Getting some more corals tomorrow. i will update with pics


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## Levi

Well I suppose it's time for an update. The new tank has only been up a little over 2 weeks, hmm maybe 3 weeks now lol here are some pics of some corals and a fts. I am placing an order in 2 days for some more LEDs. Just waiting on a couple of people to come up with some cash for a group buy.

Aussi War Favia









Candy Apple Pinks









Unknown Acan









King Midas









Unknown but pretty









Left Green Psamacora Middle Left Rose Nebulas Middle right Orange Explosions Right top - No idea I think Goblin Fire lol









New gifted fish - Scopas Tang









My Cardinal - Calamity









FTS1









FTS2 - Used a different white balance


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## Rob72

Levi, tank looks great wonderful job on everthing
Rob


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## Levi

Thanks Rob  Not bad for only a couple of weeks in. Got a Reef Octopus skimmer going and some carbon for phosphates. Thinking of a phosphate reactor. I will be dosing a kaulkwasser drip system in about a week when my order gets here. Things will explode lol


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## Kaiden32

try phosGuard by Seachem for your Phosphates. Are you using tap water or something? Because if you are using RO or RODI water then it is either your salt mix or something else you are adding to the tank. I actually am having the same problem in my tank. I think it is from my salt mix so I switched. What kind of salt do you use?


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## Rob72

Levi, you did all that in a couple of weeks, you go man, great job keep up the good work


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## Levi

Nope no tap water I use the machine at the grocery store though. It says RO on it but I am beginning to suspect otherwise. Someone is selling an RO unit for cheap here in the local forum. I may just do that. The salt I use is Aquavitro Salinity. It's expensive stuff I hope it's not that lol

And where is Phys this whole time?? Don't like me anymore? o.o


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## Levi

just realized there is a build section... can a moderator move this thread there?


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## Levi

well added some rock and more corals lol so here is a FTS


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## trouble93

Hey Levi tank looks good. Are you planing on adding more light? or just leaving the sides shaded?


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## Levi

well actually. My second set of lights came in today lol. China is very slow but they came through!


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## trouble93

I have to be honest here I didn't read the whole post, so you more then likely answered this question. What are the lights and what did they set you back. Wattage, controllable, colors and so on. Thanks


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## Levi

they're 2 sets of 120 watt LEDs. 119 1 watt bulbs 2:1 blue/white ratio. 200 each


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## trouble93

Levi said:


> they're 2 sets of 120 watt LEDs. 119 1 watt bulbs 2:1 blue/white ratio. 200 each


Are they controllable?


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## Levi

nope that's why they were so cheap lol. The blue and white lights have seperate power cords so that you can add timers but that's about it


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## Rob72

Levi, the tank looks wonderful man i love it, you wanna trade lol


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## trouble93

Levi said:


> nope that's why they were so cheap lol. The blue and white lights have seperate power cords so that you can add timers but that's about it


OK this is why I asked, I have two friends that used one of those 1 watt panel units. One has removed them the other is in the process of doing the same. The reason, they both had good growth because they backed them up with 67k grow bulbs but the color in the corals started off good but started to go down hill from there. 6 month down the line tanks looked blah. I just wanted to give you a heads up if you start seeing things go south.


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## Levi

cool thanks. I will keep an eye on it but so far going on 2 months and still lookin good lol


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## Levi

Rob72 said:


> Levi, the tank looks wonderful man i love it, you wanna trade lol


no thanks I'm loving mine


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## trouble93

Levi said:


> cool thanks. I will keep an eye on it but so far going on 2 months and still lookin good lol


 Keep the updates coming.


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## Levi

night of the living thread! Hello all, it's been a while. My local club has been keeping me busy but I wanted to give everyone an update here. I ended up getting rid of this tank and going to a 75 lol. Here is a pic of the tank before taking it down. i added lots of coral and a rainbow BTA since I last posted. Kept it all nice then decided I wanted a glass tank. The chinese LED's were wonderful the whole time. Here's a final pic. I will post pics of the new tank in a new thread. This pic is about 9 months after the last one. I'm sure you notice the chinese LED's did well. Now color fade as mentioned before


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