James' 44 gallon first Salt Water tank

[sewerman45]

I am new to salt water and to this forum. I've heard you are a great group though and I thought I'd start a journal here.

After tearing down my larger planted tank when I moved I have had a hard time deciding what to do next. I had planned on setting it up as a high tech planted tank again but I have a smaller one at my office now and wanted a new challenge.

My goal is to set up a salt water tank that is somewhat in the ADA style of being very minimalistic and clean looking. I want there to be very little visible and make it as neat as possible. I have a 44 gallon starphire tank that I am going to use for this as I wanted it to be shallower than the 57 gallon tank I was using before.

Here is what it looks like right now.



Cat for scale:



I am not sure how I am going to set it up underneath as the stand has a 2x3 that runs down the middle. I will need to either take it out and shore up the stand or build a platform? Take a look and let me know if you have any ideas.




I am going to start with drilling the tank and doing most of the plumbing. I could have gotten all the parts separately but I figured for my first time I'd try to keep it simple. I ordered an overflow and return kit from glass-holes.com and am so far very happy with it. I think I have pretty much everything I need. I plan on plumbing the overflow on the right side as opposed to the middle to try to give it a cleaner look. I had originally planned on putting it in the middle and painting the back black but I think I like the look of a clear tank better.



So far what I have is:
Tank - 44 gallon starphire
Stand - black ADA style
Controller - Neptune Systems Aqua Controller Jr
Plumbing - Glass-holes.com kit
Light Stand - DIY conduit

What I need to get:
Light - LED preferably but open minded
Sump - I don't know a lot here... but it needs to fit in the stand and I don't know if I have the space to make one from scratch
Skimmer - something good
Powerhead - I want minimalism so either a MP10 and and a bigger sump pump or an MP40 and a smaller sump pump
Pump - depends on powerhead.

I want to try to put this all together slowly over the summer. If anyone has any advice or a line on some equipment I should pick up, I'd greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, feel free to follow along and chime in at will. Thanks for looking!

[FishingGoalie]

Looks like a good build. I personally would build the stand up on the bottom so the sump sits over top. but then you may have to worry about getting things to fit in place. As for power heads i think i would do 2 MP10s instead of a MP40 they are much quieter and won't look so big in the tank. I would also take a look at the Jebao Pumps as they are the new big thing. They don't have that very clean look that you are looking for though. For lights i would go around to all the stores and see what you like best. This is what i did. I liked the controllability of the LEDs and the look of the T5s so i went with the ATI Hybrid. I love the light and how it looks. Hybrid lights are the new big thing now so i would definitlly consider those.

Do us proud.
Welcome to Canreef

[oilerfan780]

Nice cat fish.

[asylumdown]

welcome to Canreef! Your tank is at the most exciting phase, infinite possibilities!

I'd second the 2 MP10's over an MP40. They put out a bunch more water than you think, and an MP40 might be overkill. With two MP10s you can offset them from each other and have tons of flow options when they're synced together.

[The Guy]

Welcome to Canreef, lots of good advice here. Great looking tank for a first SW setup.

[sewerman45]

Originally Posted by FishinGoalie

Looks like a good build. I personally would build the stand up on the bottom so the sump sits over top. but then you may have to worry about getting things to fit in place. As for power heads i think i would do 2 MP10s instead of a MP40 they are much quieter and won't look so big in the tank. I would also take a look at the Jebao Pumps as they are the new big thing. They don't have that very clean look that you are looking for though. For lights i would go around to all the stores and see what you like best. This is what i did. I liked the controllability of the LEDs and the look of the T5s so i went with the ATI Hybrid. I love the light and how it looks. Hybrid lights are the new big thing now so i would definitlly consider those.

Do us proud.
Welcome to Canreef

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. That's a really nice looking light you have over you tank... and an amazing tank! I have been looking at it for awhile. Yeah I think 2 mp10s seems like the way to go. I am going to look at the stand when I drill the tank and decide if I should build it up or take the 2x3 out and shore it up.

Originally Posted by oilerfan780

Nice cat fish.

Haha thanks! She get's into everything I do.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

welcome to Canreef! Your tank is at the most exciting phase, infinite possibilities!

I'd second the 2 MP10's over an MP40. They put out a bunch more water than you think, and an MP40 might be overkill. With two MP10s you can offset them from each other and have tons of flow options when they're synced together.

Yeah I am going to start looking for some MP10's that I can buy off someone. I may just start with 1 though and add another after I see what kind of flow I get with that and the return pump. I'm really excited to be in this stage of the project.

Originally Posted by The Guy

Welcome to Canreef, lots of good advice here. Great looking tank for a first SW setup.

Thanks Laurie! I think that you can probably take the blame for me getting the salt water bug. You sold me a biocube on bcaquaria a while back. Though I didn't end of using it for salt water.. I think the idea was firmly planted then. I am Jimbo over on bcaquaria.

Originally Posted by duncangweller

I like the design of the stand. I've thought about doing an ADA style for a while.

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Yeah I am really happy with the stand. I really want to try to combine my love of the high tech ADA tanks and something new. So we'll see how it goes.

[sewerman45]

So I finally got to drilling the tank. It took longer than I though it would but worked out well. I drilled the overflow and the return on the same end. I am just now finishing up the plumbing then I need to get a sump. I forgot to take any pictures while I was drilling the 2 big holes but you can see from the little hole how it went.








I did the renos to the stand so that a sump will fit in the now. Does anyone have a decent sump that would work? I was looking at those fancy aqueon sumps but I have two hoses from the overflow and those only have one inflow. The dimensions of the inside of the stand is 13 1/2" x 34". I ideally want a stand that is really close to that width but not that long so I have a bit of room in the stand.

It looks like the tank is actually 47 gallons. I can't edit the original post though by the looks of it.
Thanks for looking.

[duncangweller]

I like the design of the stand. I've thought about doing an ADA style for a while.

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