MMAX

After talking again with the guys from Skippy's (Beautiful Ponds & Gardens), I ended up ordering just the bacteria and enzymes. They told me to try and save some shipping costs by buying the media locally. It's just polyester floor scrubbing pads. Found a place in Red Deer that sells janitorial supplies and they stock 3M 5/CS blue pads. Going to pick some up next week along with some PVC fittings from Emco and get the filter running ASAP.

This tank's been in the works for about a year. Started off with a 20gal reef 2 years ago that's still running. Right now I have 7 trochus and 3 Mexican turbos and last week added my first fish, a lawnmower blenny.

Started up Feb 7/10, 48" X 22" X 22" 100 gallon reef set up.

Any news?

CO-OP Agro Center in Innisfail had a 70gal tank in stock.

Thought I had enough PVC fittings left after plumbing my saltwater tank but I didn't. Got the egg crate cut for the inside.

Talked to the guys from Skippy's in Michigan today. I wanted to order 3 bags of media, bacteria and enzymes. They told me the shipping alone to Canada would cost me $70 since they only use U.S. Mail. They're supposed to call me back tomorrow to give me an exact quote so I'll see if I can get it out of them exactly what they use for the media, person to person.

Had my first major incident of the season last night. Left my waterfall running as I have several times before (just have a 1/2" hose from my pump into the waterfall held in place with a rock) and went to bed. Woke up to an empty pond and my pump running...dry. Threw the pump into the bottom sump which still had water and it worked thankfully. Maybe it was a good thing because last fall I had a bunch of leaves fall into the pond. Drained the rest of the water out and cleaned the whole pond. Filled up and found out it holds a little less than I thought. +/- 1500 gallons which means I only need the 70 gallon Skippy filter. I'm going to go order a Rubbermaid stock tank tomorrow.

So after a long winter it's time to open this thread again. The ice came off my pond today and started running my pump and small waterfall . Sad to report that me 5 goldfish didn't make it in the Rubbermaid in my garage. Good thing they were only feeders. More updates to follow as I continue with my build.

Skippy's bio filter. Just Google it and you'll find their page. Detailed info on building one although if your pond is 200-300gal you might be able to downsize into a smaller tub (their smallest filter is 75gal). I'll be building a 100gal version for my pond in the very near future.

Rubbermaid makes stock tanks (for watering farm animals) in 75, 100, 150 and I believe 200 gallons. Heavy duty material that will not bend or deform. Check UFA or a CO-OP Agro centre. I know the 100 gallon is about $160.

That's what they look like. Commercial floor scrubber pads.

Now where can you get them???

I have been thinking about doing a 20 gallon SW for a while now...and this is what i've come up with.

Any filter will work, but take out the carbon and just leave the sponge part.

A power head will help keep things moving, which is good.

If you end up doing hard corals, you need like 2-4 wpg, but if just zoas then 1-2 wpg is fine.

The protein skimmer is a must if you don't want to be doing water changes every day or two, otherwise the ammonia build up is too much and kills everything.

For water changes, I read that 20-25% is sufficient every week or two, depending on what you've got in the tank. Same principle as FW.

I've come to the conclusion that it's going to be wayyyyy cheaper for me to just buy a set up off of a dis-enchanted member or person off kijiji, 'cause some of this stuff is getting to be very expensive. :boxed:

Exact opposite. Leave the carbon in and take ALL the foam out. Foam = nitrates. I gutted my Fluval except for carbon in the bottom tray and filled it with live rock. You won't need a skimmer on a 20gal, mine's run trouble free without one for 2 years.

That's what they look like. Commercial floor scrubber pads.

Has anyone built one of these filters? After reading about them, I'm going to start building a 100gal model for my pond. Just a question on the media. They say they use commercial floor scrubber pads. I e-mailed them to ask exactly what kind they used but they wouldn't tell me. If I ordered from them it would cost me over $100. I know they're not scotch brite, does anyone know what they are?

I'd say a 20gal is a perfect starter. A few books I've read say that it's no point building something smaller than a 40 due to water quality but if you're on top of your water changes you'll be ok. I've had a 20gal reef running for almost 2 years with almost no problems whatsoever. I found out about Canreef after I set up so I was into my system with new parts for a little over $500. Since then I turfed my skimmer (Coralife), run no sump and filter my systen through a Fluval cannister filled with live rock. But yes be warned...it is highly addictive. I have a 100gal in the works.

It also depends on how deep your tank is. With your 18" deep tank you can get away with T5s even for clams and SPS. If you get a 4 or 6 bank T5 hood and don't plan on upgrading to a deeper tank down the road you'd be fine.

The plan before I began was to put trout in. Here's a short video shot this afternoon. Worked the last 2 days on the stream, probably not many more until the snow flies. Still lots of liner on the pond and the stream to be covered up.

I asked a very respected SW shop owner if MHs were really needed (my set-up is a 100gal and 22" deep) or if I could get away with T5s. His reply was that he always gets questions from people asking what they can grow with lower output lighting. He went on to say that if you get MHs right away there would be nothing that you can't grow. In my own opinion, for all types of coral, yes it is worth it.

I recently discovered a monster in my sandbed, at least 3 to 4" long. He's a bit camera shy though.

A few more pics...

Where my 5 goldies will spen the next 7 months--hopefully

My neighbor had a 3 tiered plastic waterfall that he was going to throw away. Had my pump running it, I may try to find a way to incorporate it into my set-up.

Bog filled with a peat moss and black dirt and a bit of sand. Planted 6 wild cattails and a bunch of tiger lilies that the neighbor didn't want.

Lower section of stream under construction. Picked up a plastic garbage container each of Montana rainbow and Athabasca river rock from Burnco along with field stone taken from a co-worker's rock pile on his farm.

Can someone shed some light on this stuff? I was reading another forum on this topic and an experienced builder (10+ years experience) said he never uses it because it doesn't seal anything. I just bought 2 cans ($40), have one course of stone laid down on my lower falls and 1 can is empty already. Do I really need it and if I do how should I use it properly?

Shut my 50gal header pool down for the year today, all 5 of the fish will spend the winter in a Rubbermaid tub in my garage.

After a couple of problems which have since been fixed, I tried laying down my 2 piece stream liner. Problems once again, couldn't make them overlap over one of my falls so...

Out to my supplier and picked up a 10 X 30 one piece which is probably the best way to go anyway. They'll take my two 10 X 15's in a straight across trade.

What size tub are you going to use? Are you going to dig it into the ground or leave above?

There's going to be lots of potted plants in the pond. I'm not going to put gravel in the pond, too hard to clean. I'm going to re-do the rock work that I started. Fold the liner over so I don't have to cut any more than I need to and stack my rocks on top of it. Plant a few plants that will grow over the rocks and hang into the water and wood chip over top of them. I realize I need more rocks. I know a couple of farmers with piles of field stone that they don't mind parting with.

Picked up my pump today, hopefully it's big enough. Little Giant 4280gph, the biggest Bearberry stocks. If it isn't big enough they said return it and they'll find me another one. Started my rockwork yesterday and filling my bog. Snaked a soaker hose around the bottom of the bog so all I have to do is turn on the tap to water it.