Trix25's 33 gal tank journal

[trix25]

I posted this at another local forum but thought i'll post it here as well since this forum has been a huge source of motivation for my tank. thanks guys/gals

p.s. this tank has been in the works since beginning of last month...maybe even longer actually .i had to take some time off after a couple of months of studying for my designation.

So a little about me. Started off with freshwater back about 10yrs ago, then was introduced to the world of discus. Bred discus for a while and quickly got bored and tired of doing water changes on 8 different tanks. Pretty much left my 33gal running without much care the last couple of years. Then all of a sudden the urge to get back into aquarium hits me. Wanted to do reef tank for a long time, but i couldn't justify spending all that $ to start one up. I didn't know where my career was gonna take me so that last thing i wanted to do was spend thousands of dollars to quickly sell everything off.

So my setup:
-33 Gal Hagen tank with my 16 gal DIY acrylic custom sump
-Protein Skimmer bought used
-3 x Water pumps
-More than 50lbs of sugar sand free from canreef
-Ebo Jager heater – reused from before
-250w Metal Halide ballast and light
-CPR C50 External overflow
-53 lbs of Live Rocks
-Salt Mix
-Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Filter
-Hydrometer
-API Saltwater Master/Reef test kits
-Misc plumbing lots of them
-JBJ ATO

as of today i think i should have all the equipment and livestocks that i need for my tank to start the cycle. infact i have saltwater in the main tank with live rocks cycling for the last week and a half.

i still have to hook up my tank to the sump, I ran into some problems with my plumbing but now is all test fitted and i just have to hard plumb everything. I also can't wait to do some aquascaping. saw some really nice aquascaping here and on nano-reef.com that have given me some inspiration. hopefully i can aquascape something i like with the rocks i have.

anyways here are some photos from the start of the build till the what i have today.

enjoy

pAt

Before:


After black back:


my stand after some mods to fit the sump


the DIY for my acrylic sump
my pieces


the tools


the sump


the test fit for my baffles.


my JBJ ATO


MY finished DIY sump
from left to right = return/refugium/intake


my live rocks with shrooms can anyone ID this mushroom, it came with my live rocks


my live rock with my feather duster


more to come...when i have time