My New 30 Gallon Tank!

[johnsonlee42]

Hey guys,

So I have just set up a new 30 gallon tank and wanted to show it to all the peeps here! Thanks to everyone who gave me advice (I know I asked a LOT of questions) - it's my first reef tank with an overflow and a sump (I had an Eclipse System 12 before). First skimmer, first return pump, first shot at plumbing, everything! At the end of the day it turned out to be easier than I thought, though I was pretty nervous about the setup.

I transferred pretty much everything from my Eclipse, so all the animals got used to the new system pretty quickly. I got some extra live rock and slaved over aquascaping - while I have to say that I truly hate arranging rocks I was happy with the results. I also got some LEDs from someone who made it themselves on MH and they look awesome!!

Unfortunately I don't have the best camera, but I tried! :redface:

- Johnson

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Nice tank johnson I like the scaping the GSP look great too. Good luck with the new setup!!

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi Johnson, Nice setup, the tank looks great!!!

 

[johnsonlee42]

Thanks! Though the GSP is simple but I am personally a huge fan.

I am slowly going to take my time and make my way to SPS - never really had the right kind of lighting before but I want to see what I can support with these LEDs. A whole new world of corals await beyond softies and LPS??? haha

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I like GSP a lot too, am a big fan of them and frog spawns- and montis are my 3 favorites

 

[bruce922]

Beautiful tank, I really like the rockscape.

 

[kidninja]

awesome reef scape! be careful everything is sturdy lol

 

[Lenny718]

Very nice tank, Looks great!

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Looks like your off to a great start!

 

[aznt1217]

That tank looks great. Those are Jerl77's LEDs right?

 

[johnsonlee42]

Thanks for the kind words about my tank everyone. =)

In regard to the rockscape, it is actually pretty stable - it consists of either larger, heavier rocks or smaller rocks that have been stuck together with aquastik putty. Cheating I know, but hey, at least it looks good!

As for the LEDs, they are indeed Jeremy's lights - they are absolutely amazing! He did a really great job, and the setup looks intense when it's just the blue LEDs that are on. The lights in the pics above are at 50% strength (both the white and the blue LEDs).

 

[cali_reef]

In regard to the rockscape, it is actually pretty stable - it consists of either larger, heavier rocks or smaller rocks that have been stuck together with aquastik putty. Cheating I know, but hey, at least it looks good!

That's the right way to do it.. Looks pretty cool but having zoas on the same rock(or any rocks connected to) where you plan to grow SPS is not a good plan.

 

[nyfynest22]

Wow great work, excellent setup

 

[bbreef240]

nice job with the rocks.....thats how i stack them too...right to the top...looks good ....

 

[johnsonlee42]

That's the right way to do it.. Looks pretty cool but having zoas on the same rock(or any rocks connected to) where you plan to grow SPS is not a good plan.

Yeah I'm trying to figure that out myself - a lot of the rocks came from my old tank which have zoas on them. There is a large rock on the left that is pretty much bare and I'll probably start there, and see how much I really like SPS?? Haha

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

nice aquascape. open and does well with the height of the tank. well done.

have you decided on the skimmer etc?

 

[johnsonlee42]

nice aquascape. open and does well with the height of the tank. well done.

have you decided on the skimmer etc?

The sump is pretty compact due to the amount of space in the stand, so I opted for a smaller skimmer. I'm using a Tunze 9002, which is working pretty well as far as I can tell - it's easy to adjust and it's pretty quiet.

 

[jerl77]

wow tanks looks great the led look so much better on your tank good luck tank looks great

 

[E.intheC]

I really like that rockscape and the lighting. Great job!

 

[thesauce]

First tank? Wow! +1 for rockscaping...just awesome. A word of advice though, reinforce with zip-ties or something, sometimes that aquapuddy can give way.