[Gieke]

First of all Hello everyone, Im new here and its great to find this incredible resource of information from other hobbyists.

Ok, heres the project.

I decided that my little 29 gal tank is just not enough so I have been debating ro a couple months on what i should go with, I decided on a 55gal mini reef.
Today I purchased the tank and will be building a custom cabinet over the weekend, The cabinet will be "built in" to an existing wall, or atleast appear to be, I am a drywall hanger by trade so I will be enclosing the cabinet with sheetrock to make the tank appear to be in the wall.

With that said, As I start on building my cabinet Please let me know what you think the best filtration system is for a small reef.

I have a Filstar xp3, never been used, I was thinking o using that and a protein skimmer.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

G.

[e_baer]

well, I am not a big fan of canister filters. I would go with natural filtration such as a refugium. then get an AWSOME skimmer. I also have a 55g and had a canister filter, and it just wasnt that great. So i decided to build myself a sump/fuge. It makes everyhting so much easier.

[Gieke]

Thank you,

I was leaning twords a sump but the LFS talked me out of it when i was in the store, Think I will trade in the xp and buy the sump and skimmer tomorrow.

Got the stand all built, getting the drywall for the stand tomorrow as well.
I will post pictures as soon as I can, hopefully I will get a few of the stand raw.

I would also appreciate opinions on liverock, I am leaning twords fiji but i think I want something a little more rare.

[Cela Vie]

I agree with the sump and skimmer suggestions by ebaer (get a sump and an AWESOME skimmer). BTW, you can use the canister filter for maintenance (i.e., water polishing, vacuuming the sump, etc.) so if you have one from before, keep it for that use.

With respect to live rock, I went with a combination of fiji and tonga branch. The tonga is not as effective for fltration so I only have 25% or so of that type of rock, but it is very cool and great for aquascaping.

[gimmito]

Gieke, I have a 55 gal and I started out with a canister also. I agree with the others, use the canister for polishing the water,running carbon, etc. Get a 20 gal long tank and 4 pieces of glass (cut to size and polished edges at your local glass co.) for baffles. You'll need some aquarium silicone (let it cure for 24 hours). Checkout marc's hidden treasures for more info. I have a deltec mce 600 skimmer if you're interested. Also, go for diversity with the live rock... a mix of tonga, fiji, marshall, kaelani,etc.

[e_baer]

If you would like rock that is great for natural filtration, look in the carribean live rock. It is much less dense than the other rocks available, and has tons of biodiversity on it. I have 80lbs of it in my 55, and 30lbs of it in my 30.

[Gieke]

Ok, This project was put on hold right as the tank was finishing its cycle, Thank god no livestock had been purchased once the cycle had been complete. I had a falling out with my roomate. My tank has been in storage for a few months while I look for a new apartment that will let me have a 55 gallon tank and luckily a builder I do alot of work for had just the thing and an ocean view to boot! I actually considered going bigger but since I am on the second floor I figured 55 was large enough, I can always get another 55 for my office. Ok so once again the tank is set back up and has been cycling for just over two weeks. I currently have an old xp3 canister filter (only live rock inside) hooked up for flow and water polishing that will go away once my sump/fuge is complete. I ordered the same overflow e_bayer has and will be converting my 10 gallon tank into my sump/fuge ( I know thats small but it will have to work for now). I also have a maxijet 1200 and a maxijet 900 in the tank, the 900 is powering the skimmer, a wan brothers HOB skimmer that is actually impressive for the money however I will be upgrading when the sump project is complete.

The stand is cinder blocks, I will be glueing drywall to the cinderblock and taping and texturing it and also painting it to match the walls in my apartment (wich I completely remodeled) Thats what I do, over 20 years in drywall. So I will have a nice stand that matches my walls for about $15 cant beat that.

All of the old liverock I had was given to a friend when I had to put my tank in storage so I had to start over. I have been hand selecting nice pieces from the LFS and currently have two pieces in the tank weighing 30 lbs and about 10 pounds in the xp3. I will be adding about 50 more pounds but Im picky so it could be a long process finding the right pieces. Nothing under 10 lbs. I stop in every day after work looking for new prize pieces.

There is over 60 lbs of live sand (crushed coral) for the substrate, and I added a handfull from the LFS to help cycling.

Thats it for now, Here is a pic just to give you an idea.
I will post more when I start working on the drywall. (this week) I might even post some of my apartment, it was a nightmare when I first started working on it.

[lowincwrx]

WOW a "built in" at an apartment. can't wait to see pics

if you can put pics while doing the sheet rock work. i'm sure a lot of people would be interested in doing that rather than putting a hole in the wall.

[Gieke]

the drywall will actually be glued to the cinder blocks so it will be extremely easy to take apartment when I move (if i ever do)

I now have everything that I need to complete my setup either on its way or already here. Unfortunatly because I have decided to take on a roomate I will be moving my tank, Actually its proly a good thing it will let me do my plumbing with an empty insted of full tank, but im going to have to go get a bunch of buckets!

The tank has been setup for 3 weeks now and everything looks great, nitrate, nitrite at zero, ph at 8.2 everything is looking good but I am not planning on any livestock for atleast another 4 weeks, I want to make sure everything is perfect plus the liverock I ordered yesterday is going to need some time to fully cure.

So as soon as the new carpet comes (next wednesday) I will be moving the tank, doing my plumbing, setting up the Fuge doing my rock work and then once again starring at an empty tank for 4 more weeks. This time I will be taking pictures every step of the way.

Hey, have a great weekend everyone!