Chizer & Bunoi 67 gallon

Chizer and Bunoi are my 8 year clownfish. They are a mated pair. Chizer is the female and Bunoi is the male. They are also the names of my two yorkies but that's another story.



Some of you might have seen their last home? They quickly ran out of room and got evicted. They are now moving into the pent house.


Initially I was planning to put this build in my basement but with all the dust down there, I thought it would be nice to downsize from my current 90 gallon tank and go with a nice setup in my living room. Life is also very busy right now so I decided to sell off all of my fish tanks and keep only the reef.

The plan is to go full zeovit on this setup as 90 percent of my corals are SPS. I also plan to use local Calgary tap water. I have been reefing for over 2 years and never had any issue using tap water, so lets see what happens. I have yet to have any weird parameter issues due to TDS or nitrates/phosphates. How long before I get desperate and cave on an RO setup.

Also, I will not add any other fish to this tank. Just the two brats and that's all.

Equipment

• Tank: 67 gallon tank (48" x 18" x 18") with external overflow (4 x 1" holes) and one piece acrylic on back side
• Plumbing: Herbie setup with the two returns, will incorporate ball valves, gate valve, check valve, unions and maybe filter sock
• Light: TEK 6 bulb T5HO
• Return Pump: Eheim 1262
• Protein Skimmer: Bubble Magus NAC5E HOB (what I have) rated for 80G - 120G, plans to upgrade in the future
• Zeovit reactor: to be purchased
• Heater: Eheim Jager 300W
• ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3155
• Controller: Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Lite
• Wave Movement: 4 x VorTech MP10 (still to purchase one)
• Sump: 20 gallon tank with no baffles
• Dosing: DIY 2 part
• Salt: IO Reef Crystals

Stand
This is a bathroom vanity purchased from Lowes that I modified to suite my needs.

Tank

This tank was built by Concept Aquatics.









Sump

LOL - In all it's glory. It's the only tank that fits in the stand.



I installed a piece of plywood on the top and reinforced the stand with lots of 2x4's.



I then painted it with an outdoor semi-gloss paint. I wish I could stain it but I don't have a garage and its way too cold outside (for the varnish to cure).



The tank will have a layer of Oolite sand. Knowing how much water flow I intend to have, I decided to paint the bottom glass with a sand color acrylic paint. That way, it won't look so bad.





I am just waiting for the paint to cure, then I'll start the mockup plumbing.

[wmcinnes]

The tank will have a layer of Oolite sand. Knowing how much water flow I intend to have, I decided to paint the bottom glass with a sand color acrylic paint. That way, it won't look so bad.

Thats a great idea!

[Mike-fish]

not a bad idea why not just go with a deeper sand bed.

Originally Posted by wmcinnes

Thats a great idea!

Thanks Wayne.

Originally Posted by Mike-fish

not a bad idea why not just go with a deeper sand bed.

Hey Mike, I wish I could. Zeovit recommends a 2" - 3" sand bed so I can't go any deeper than that. As you might be aware, with lots of water flow, the sand will kick up in certain areas regardless to expose the glass. Plus my clownfish love having a bare bottom spot to pick up their eggs when spawning.

My current 90 gallon is barebottom without the paint. Trust me, it's hideous. That's why many people use starboard instead.

[lastlight]

The starboard is inside the tank whereas your paint is outside. I am not positive but I think with the light refraction you won't see your paint unless viewing from above.

Build is looking great btw! Your nano looks bright what's it lit with?

Thanks for the comment Brett.

That old nano cube was lit with a phoenix 14K bulb. You don't remember looking at it last year? You probably saw it before all those SPS came through.

The paint is viewable from all angles. It's actually a lot nicer than the starboard. Here is a shot of my discus tank with the same sand color.

[lastlight]

I'm working on no sleep here show what I know! Yeah that is a very nice look i'm going to do the same thing if I ever build another tank <- insanely unlikely right? Maybe it doesn't work if the colour (paint of whatever) isn't directly onto the glass. Or maybe I should get some sleep =)

Originally Posted by lastlight

if I ever build another tank <- insanely unlikely right?

I think it's a competition between you and FishyFishy. You guys should start the tanked show here in Calgary.

Update

Paint is now done. What do you all think?





Now Chizer, pose for the picture.



Oh no, I think Bunoi is going to spend her days underneath the tank stand.



I also picked up a 9 outlet powerbar. This plus the RK PC4 and I'm all set.



It's 36" long and fits on the top back wall (inside the stand) nicely.



And then I finished the plumbing. I installed true union ball valves for each bulkhead. I wanted to make it modular in case something happened in the future. I also did a bulkhead leak test and it's all good. Who would have thought it would take so long to glue stupid pipes together. It took twice as long because I was so anal about making sure that the glue was clean and tidy.



And it's all held together with tie straps.



Tomorrow I have to go pick up some more plumbing parts. I'll post inside pics then and then it's time for the water test and then swap.

Update

I somewhat finished the plumbing. I need to make some more adjustments.

Returns - everything has been glued together, but the down pipe connected to the 45 is not.



See the herbie drain? That's only 1.5" difference between the primary and emergency. There is a problem with that which I'll get to.



The main siphon has a union then a gate valve.



Here you can see the emergency drain. I also have my tube holder for the dosing pump and ATO.



And then the return pump. It goes from the return pump using flex tubing into the inside of the barb (it does not leak as it runs inside quite a bit and there is no way to pull that tube out now. Then it goes to a barb fitting, flap style check valve to a union.



And the finally the sump. Only enough room for my protein skimmer and a zeo reactor.