Aquarium Setup &#8211; Start to finish

7Jul/074

Aquarium Setup – Start to finish

This is probably going to be my longest and most photo-intensive post ever. I'm gong to chronicle my aquarium setup from start to finish.

Let's dive into it.

Here's my sump. It's a 10 gallon Top Fin brand (PetSmart's in-house brand). I've got an ASM Mini G in-sump skimmer and a 500gph return pump.

Some of the wiring I put in.

I actually wired this myself. The switch turns on and off the top outlet only. The bottom always has power.

As you can see, the inside of my stand is very spacious.

Here's the stand and empty aquarium the day we got it.

Here's a reference shot as to the height of the aquarium. My wife is 5'2" and no, she wasn't mad about the stand, she just didn't want her photo taken that night.

After adding the live rock and sand, the protein skimmer started chugging away. It's a great skimmer!

Yuck. Closeup of the skimmer.

The entire sump in action.

The water was pretty cloudy after we added the sand.

Another shot of the cloudy water.

...and another.

The cloudiness cleared up the next morning.

Well... that's it for setup, so here's a few pics of the FINISHED tank... well, as finished as a tank ever is. We still need a bunch more fish.
Right now we only have 4 of them: Pacific Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma veliferum), 2 Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion percula), and a Lawnmower Blenny (Salarias fasciatus).

Now my house looks like a space ship landed in the entryway. Here's the view from the street at night!

I hope you like my new tank. Feel free to comment or ask questions about the setup process, fish, or anything else!

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Tagged as: Aquariums, Fun Stuff, Home, Life, Photography Leave a comment

Comments (4) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Randy (the puddlekeeper)
July 9th, 2007 - 13:43

WOW! Nice tank set up! That is a 10 gallon sump tank?

How big is the aquarium above it?

I am going to be setting up a 56 highboy
(made by Marineland)
I was hoping to use the 2 Magnum 350 canister filters that have been attached to it as a FW set up (one with a pleated filter and the other with carbon filtration).

At least for the time being …

However; I do have a 10 gallon I can move the FW feeder breeders out of in the near future.

Is this set up you are using?

ODYSSEA PS160 Protein Skimmer w/Free 500GPH pump …

Found this one above for about $80.00 includes shipping …

Thanks again for all the information ….

Randy – the PuddleKeeper
Mark
July 9th, 2007 - 13:48

Randy, thanks for the comment.

I’m running the 10 gallon sump because my 20L tank that i made into a refugium wouldn’t fit under my stand.

The aquarium is a 65 AGA with rear-left overflow and an AGA overflow kit.

I have a 45gal upstairs that I’m using as a quarantine tank which will hopefully be moving out the door and into someone else’s house (as soon as I can get my 30 gallon freshwater setup at work all taken down and transfer my quarantine tank to it.)

The protein skimmer is an ASM Mini G, got it for $109 shipped. It’s a good little bugger.
morteza
December 10th, 2009 - 23:03

i enjoyed saw your fish tank.that’s looks great really.the aquarium tank,the wood tank stand and hood and most important your design of live rocks corals and atc.. and I’ll wish you and your wife keep it better than this in further
morteza
December 10th, 2009 - 23:10

watch this.do you know that? http://www.fishtankwarehouse.com/fishtankstand.html