My keepin' it cheap build

[acbaldwin]

Hi guys, back in the hobby after visiting Japan and seeing way too many saltwater tanks, got the itch going again. Instead of a massive 275 or 240, I decided to go with 'just enough' so I can avoid the $300/mo SDGE bills.
This'll be light fish - a couple Oscellaris clowns, a Fiji Blue Spot Puffer, and a few other small fish. Perhaps a very small Hippo tang for a while, although I know they're pretty sensitive when small.
Corals will be some softies and LPS... I have a thing for rics, Palys, and frogspawn, so hopefully lots of that. Luckily my tastes are cheap! I really liked that light pink RBTA that ReefLounge posted on their auctions, so maybe one of those too later on down the road.

Bought a 35g cube, unskinned stand, skimmer, and LED light from Larry (thanks!).
LED light controller didn't work, so I ordered two new controllers and in the meantime have rewired it so that it's pushbutton operation. Looks amazing... Friggin sweet - I got out of the hobby as LED lights started becoming available, and I'm pretty sure this thing would've run me $300+ back then.
Skimmer is a CPR Bak Pak with airstone mod. (Perhaps surprising... this is the first skimmer I've ever run!)
I also built a small cover for the output chamber of the Bak Pak to minimize evaporation and keep the siphon hose in place:



No sump.
I removed the innards from a Skilter 250 and have modified it to be a refugium. Waiting for the LED light to come in, then I'll pick up some dirty sand and Chaeto for it. It's fed by siphon from the output chamber on the Bak Pak.
200w heater is housed in the Bak Pak.
Flow is provided by the skimmer (some MaxiJet model?) and two Jebao WP-10 with a TC-4A wavemaker controller. For $115 these things work great! Currently have it alternating flow every minute.
I have 40 lbs. of Key Largo Rock from MarcoRock on the way, love that stuff, had ~250 pounds in my old 240 and it's the best!
Tomorrow I'm going to swing by Home Depot to get a bigger eye bolt to hang the lights and to pick up some maple to skin the stand. Thinking about a panel held on with magnets instead of a door on a hinge.
Here's the setup:


Currently on the way in:
Water Leak Detector
10 lbs. Live Sand
Battery Powered Backup Air Pump
Test Kit
MagFloat
SeaChem Paraguard
LED Fuge Light

Lights off:


Whites & Blues:


Blues:


Eventual Livestock???

• Pom Pom Crab
• Fiji Blue Spot Puffer ????
• Pistol & goby
• Make a live-plants order, include regular cerith snails.

[LotsaFishies]

Good to see you around again Andrew!

Nice build so far!

[acbaldwin]

Good to be back, and thanks! BTW, please throw me back on your mailing list. myusername at gmail.com.
Good luck with your site issue - we had a database at work get injected with some russian crap due to shoddy old software and it SUCKED! (In a related note, Polycom can suck it)

[acbaldwin]

Got the lights hung today. Just a simple $1 drywall anchor and coated wire w/crimps. Clean and easy!




The lighting controllers came in today - gonna wire in the blues on one and the whites on the other.
The fans on the fixture are pretty loud and honestly pushing way more air than necessary, so I'll be replacing those three 12v fans with these two 5v fans which are designed for A/V racks, quiet and cheap ($30). You can't even hear them when they're on.


I'm also going to clean and repaint the fixture - it's starting to rust in a couple of small areas and could use a little love. I'll do the fans, paint, and controller wiring maybe this weekend.

[bbandu]

Looking good, that LED fixture is going to be better then new when you are finished with it.

[acbaldwin]

Looking good, that LED fixture is going to be better then new when you are finished with it.

That's the plan! I'm seriously loving LEDs... back when I had my 240 they were just too damned expensive. Very happy to have these on the 35.

[acbaldwin]

40lbs of Marcorocks Key Largo arrived yesterday, each piece individually bubble wrapped, beautiful pieces.
I'm actually somewhat happy with the aquascape. Which is weird, I'm never happy with it the first time in a new tank.



Also picked up some Chaeto, a few scarlet and blue hermits, margarita snails, and nassarius snails at AW. Chaeto's in the display while I wait for my fuge light to arrive. Hoping that will help seed the rock too.

Ordered some Nerites, Sargassum, Red Gracilaria, mangroves, empty hermit shells, and pods from Jon at Reef Cleaners. Not sure if the pods are worth bothering with in an unestablished tank, but if they survive it's $10 well spent. Hoping having so many macroalgaes in my tank will help a thriving pod population - I'd love to be able to keep a Spotted Mandarin, although I know that's a tall order in a new 35.

I did some reading yesterday and it seems that mangroves are actually pretty poor at nutrient export, but a few folks have reported major pod growth once the mangroves develop a root system. Hoping for the same!

[naso tang]

Cool, I've had good success with simple systems like this. I remember a long time ago, I had one of those skilter filters and it actually had a skimmer built into it. Was surprisingly effective for my 30 g tank at the time. Good luck with the cycle!

[acbaldwin]

Cool, I've had good success with simple systems like this. I remember a long time ago, I had one of those skilter filters and it actually had a skimmer built into it. Was surprisingly effective for my 30 g tank at the time. Good luck with the cycle!

Thanks! Trying to keep it simple, sumpless, etc.... as soon as I add a sump I know I'll start getting expensive!

[acbaldwin]

Got my fuge light today and modded it to fit the HOB a little sleeker.
I bought this light for $17... It's *okay*... just enough for chaeto in an HOB... I don't think it would cut it for a regular fuge.
Trouble is, the arm it's mounted on is cheesy and sticks up too much, and it's got four different modes (Blue/white/white+blue/off) determined by a capacitive touch switch. It doesn't turn back on in the mode you left it in, so time to mod!
First I took the whole thing apart:


DC socket to capacitive switch:


LED PCB. Positive comes in on red, blue and whites are activated via each black.


Testing which of the two black wires activates the blues, and which one activates the whites.



Now it's just a matter of cutting out the blues and having the whites bypass the switch so that they come on whenever the unit is plugged in. Before cutting wires, here's the DC socket wiring for reference later.


All done! I cut the arm off, drilled out the end of the light so the DC socket would fit, and buttoned it up.


For a stand, I built a little half-lid for my fuge out of acrylic. There are guides to keep the lid and light snug in place.


Installed!




I left the back of the fuge open for mangroves, which should arrive on Wednesday or Thursday.

[jessegarcia28]

Very nice DIY skills
If your ever down my area (so.bay ) Lmk
I'll hook you up with some dragons toungue macro
Grows like crazy in my sump




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk pro

[acbaldwin]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. That stuff looks nice!

Very nice DIY skills
If your ever down my area (so.bay ) Lmk
I'll hook you up with some dragons toungue macro
Grows like crazy in my sump




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk pro

[acbaldwin]

Just ordered a Tunze 3152 Osmolator... keepin' it cheap and doin' it right ain't meshing together very well...
Decided to go with evaporative cooling instead of a chiller, so an ATO will be necessary, especially since my wife and I are on a crazy vacation spree before we have kids! Next I gotta build an acrylic frame to hold a couple of fans on top of the tank. (Melev's Reef sells them for $25... can't be beat for the sheer cost of acrylic, weldon, and time alone!) ...but I'm stubborn and cheap, so gonna DIY.

[jasonp87]

Weldon 3 is $10 at ridout. You should be able to dig through the scrap bin for the small amount of acrylic you'll need. I was there last week and there was plenty to choose from.

[acbaldwin]

Weldon 3 is $10 at ridout. You should be able to dig through the scrap bin for the small amount of acrylic you'll need. I was there last week and there was plenty to choose from.

Oh, I've already got a biig bin of scrap and weldon 16 from my previous reefing days, just mentioning it for others. Thanks though!