New tank

Well it is early for an anemone, a torch would look nice instead.
Maybe in a year.
I broke down and put my cheap, counter current skimmer in the tank.
Not enough room for one in the sump, only 17 inches of clearance. Looking at a Reef Octopus 90 HOB.
If I have an external skimmer I can't have more than about a gallon of water drain back into the sump on power failure as that is about all the room I have.
I will have to build a custom sump, everything I see is too tall for the space.
A 10 gallon aquarium doesn't give you any room at all, and there is not much room to work over the top of it. A real pain.
 
Doesn't take quite a year, but yes will take some time. Nothing wrong with your set up, looks great. When people ask me I always tell them the most important thing in my personal opinion is that you stay consistent with what you have. It doesn't matter if you test water with a salifert kit or a cheap kit (just an example), whats important is that you test consistently with what you have. No worries. My first aquarium 8 years ago was a biocube 29, and wow did I make some mistakes. I've been very fortunate to be able to talk to folks that have pointed me in good direction. I learn something new everyday on this hobby, kinda wish there was a career in it lol.
 
I'll have to go online my self for orders. The LFS here wants 100 dollars for a powder blue tang. I'm sorry but I can't entertain that. I'd rather try online. It upsets me because I would like to support a lfs, but his prices are just to high for me.
 
Well gave up on getting a One Spot Fox Face, nobody has them still.
Got a Yellow Tang instead. Really wanted one of them but the 65 gallon tank is marginal for one.
Got it last week, it is doing great looks really happy and healthy. Munching most of the algae on the rock.
I can see it pick at the Dragon's Breath but can't tell if it is really getting any.
How is it going with Y'all?
 
Well, 2 months and I am still very pleased with the Crossflow Wave Maker. It tore my red macro algae off of it's rock. I the algae in a 10 gallon tank that I used as a lifeboat after my 37's seam popped and I was waiting to get a new tank. (It's too bad I don't have room for the 125 gallon Oceanic I have outside.) I put the used water from water changes in with the macro and it is doing great.
The Yellow Tang is fat and growing and running all over the tank. It took care of what little nuisance algae there was, cleaned the rock better than the snails.

Completely forgot to mention in April I got a Marsaqua 165w LED light. Not programmable but works great. Much more intense than the T-5's I had.
 
Just a quick question. I noticed on your photos you had the lock like return pointed way down. Did you do a power failure test to see the the siphon did not over fill your sump? If it didn't then it's all cool. I just thought I bring it up just incase cause I noticed your return line sits almost to the middle of your tank. That is a lot of water to be siphoned back into your sump. I like your build and your progress. I'm keen on the idea of doing a split V for your return. Not much but would cut down on the head pressure you have to calculate in with your return pump.
 
Well I don't have a lock line on any of the return outputs. I am considering redoing the manifold and reducing the number of outputs from 6 to 2.
I had to put a check valve in the return line (I know check valves are a possible source of trouble) due to the fact that the suggested diameter of the return line by the pump manufacturer was 1 1/2 inches. The size of the sump that I could get in the factory stand currently will not hold the volume of water in the pipe along with the water from the drains. So I used a check valve.
And yes I did do a total power off test. The highest return in 3/4 of an inch below the surface and would act as a siphon break. Of course that 3/4 inch volume in the tank with the line is too much for my current sump until I get a custom one made.
 
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