First SW tank 29 gallon Diary

[zerorossi]

After having some friends get me into keeping FW fish about a year ago, I decided to jump into the SW game.
I spent some time researching different designs and setups and decided that a 29 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump would be a good start.
I already had a few of the necessary supplies, so I went and bought all of the additional things that I was going to need. I used a length of PVC cut in half and painted blue for my dual overflow setup. Bought some diamond holesaws, and got busy.

Next, I had my local hardware store cut me some glass and I siliconed my sump together.

step 2...... drilling....

 

[zerorossi]

Early into drilling I learned that you cannot use a lot of speed and pressure when dilling glass, so all of this pictures are of the new tank that I bought after I shattered the back of the first one.
So I made a water dam, and drilled two holes.

I then siliconed in the two overflows...

then it was outside to paint the background

 

[zerorossi]

next, I plumbed it together, added 75lbs of cured live rock, 50 lbs of live sand.

 

[zerorossi]

some shots

 

[reefjr12]

how much did the whole saws run you?
looks good so far.
-Kevin

 

[zerorossi]

$18 shipped for the set of three.
My guess is that you would only be able to get a handful of cuts out of each of them, but they are great for DIY tank drilling.
look on the e-bay

 

[reefjr12]

I was going to check Home Depot and Lowes next weekend.
-Kevin

 

[zerorossi]

My local home Depot doesn't carry them, not sure about lowes.
The ones that I got came from Hong Kong (cheapest) Domestic companies charge between $40 and $60 for a single bit.

 

[peef]

Man I just made a sump almost identical to yours. The first time I did it I only siliconed the amount that I would to seal a normal line. Woof, was that a failure. The refugeium chamber collapsed in under the pressure. I just re-did the whole thing and used ALOT more silicone but its taking forever to dry. What did you do to keep yours steady?

 

[zerorossi]

I cut a bunch of sections of PVC as spacers, then I set it under the ceiling fan to dry. (I thnk that the ceiling fan was the key to this)

 

[nygel]

nice scooter, it on frozen or living off pods atm?

 

[zerorossi]

there are plenty of pods in the LR for him, he seems pretty happy!

 

[m0nk]

Looks good. Hope your scooter does ok. Are you growing your own pods?

 

[zerorossi]

Originally Posted by m0nk
Looks good. Hope your scooter does ok. Are you growing your own pods?
No I am not, he is living off of the critters in the rock.

 

[zerorossi]

a buddy of mine gave me his conch that ate two of his clownfish, I threw him in my sump with some rubble and chaeto.