My First 37 gal Reef Build

Z

Zpak

New member
Painted the tank black and drilled the holes for the bulk heads

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Bulk heads installed

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Top view of overflow box and loc-line installed

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Front view

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Will be working on plumbing later this week.

Question: is a check-valve necessary or will leaving enough room in the sump for the excess water be sufficient?
 
Is that an acrylic tank or glass? Nice work.

-Nevermind, upon closer inspection I see the tempered sticker. Did this come pre drilled?
 
Wondering if you guys can help me out with this. Is a check-valve necessary or will leaving enough room in the sump for the excess water be sufficient?
 
IMO - I would do both because the holes in the return that break the siphon can get clogged and then you get a lot more water than expected and the check valve should stop this. Routine cleaning with a toothpick can keep the hole clean. If the check valve fails then you have room for back flow. The hole I referred to should be in the return. If there is not one then get your drill out and make one. Do not drill it to high or you will be spraying water everywhere.


Zpak said:
Wondering if you guys can help me out with this. Is a check-valve necessary or will leaving enough room in the sump for the excess water be sufficient?
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Thanks everyone! Now some bad news. I was moving the tank this weekend and I ended up cracking one of the sides of glass. I have a plane of glass from a scrap tank that is exactly the same size. Do you guys think it would be better to replace the cracked plane of glass or try and source a new tank on craigslist?
 
Sorry to hear that Zpak. You can always try to repair it and see how it holds water before deciding if a new tank is necessary.
 
After a month of being frustrated about the tank I finally decided to repair my tank.

The first picture is the crack I got from moving the tank.

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This is a picture of the panel removed.

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I had to remove the back panel as well because it was chipped.

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I replaced both panels and currently water testing in the garage. Will update with progress.
 
Finally got the tank up and running. Finished the rock work and filled it up with RO/DI water and currently mixing the salt. The water is murky because I just put the salt in. What do you guys think about the aquascape?

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Aquascapes are all personal preference. Some suggestions though: Your rocks look very close to the glass, make sure you can clean the glass with whatever tool you plan on using (take into consideration corals being on the rocks too). Pillar formations (like the rock on the right side) can look great, but also cause a lot of shade. If you want more space to grow corals a more gradual slope is better. It might look neat to turn the pillar on its side and connect it with the island on the left towards the back and then make a small cove coming towards the front of the tank. That would leave a nice patch of sand on the right side and by curving the rock work forward create more depth to the tank. Like I said above though, it comes down to what you like. Have fun.
 
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