(Note that if the images ever break, I will do my best to keep an updated version at http://www.rikko.org/showthread.php?t=6 - my site is, however, pretty much undeveloped so don't expect anything else of use there)
The project commences!
My 65 reef is currently set up on a little hobby stand with 2 other aquariums and a terrarium. While it was certainly compact, it was also frustrating. Nothing looked nice all squished together, and I realized that an aquarium needs to be at stomach height. When you need a stepladder to service it and the access holes are undersize, it makes maintenance something you put off forever.
The squished part was the first item. I have a second room with my computer and chinchillas which has been getting some love. First step was to consolidate the rodents - they've gone from one 60"x30"x30" and one 48"x48"x80" cage to a duplex that only measures 48"x24"x70". It's still a bloody big thing, but it consumes a much smaller footprint in the room. And that means more room for other crap! To that end, I decided to transplant my reef into this room.
...and if you're gonna move it, why not make it bigger? I decided that since I have extra space in this room, I would just go and upgrade the tank. Initially I had planned to use the 77 gallon I have in storage, but ended up looking at a 120 gallon. It's only 4 feet long (same length as a 77), but affords me the depth that I love in a tank.
I've decided on an All-Glass 120 gallon Megaflow aquarium. 4 feet is my practical limit, and 120 is the biggest I can go without getting a custom tank. I've opted for Megaflow because a standard 120 has a tempered bottom and I want an internal overflow. Due to the rodents, I can't drill out the back and do a Calfo-style overflow because the stand needs to be flush with the wall. That, and for the extra 60 bucks or whatever it really isn't worth my time to drill 4 holes in 10mm glass and then build overflow boxes and standpipes.
So thus came the planning phase. I knew exactly what I didn't like with my current setup and that was at the forefront of my planning.
My current setup featured:
1) T5 lamps mounted in an array above the water. I used SLS parabolic reflectors, unprotected from the water. This is a really stupid idea - don't do it. The argument for is that light isn't absorbed by the glass/plastic shield so you have more light going into the tank. The insanely overwhelming con is that you get salt spray and buildup all over the bulbs and reflectors which is nigh impossible to clean off regularly. That and the bulb clips rust!
2) Self-built wooden canopy. Gak. Inside was plywood but I just sprayed it with some "chrome" (that means grey, don't be fooled) Krylon paint and then a coat of lacquer to seal it. In the year it's been running the paint is flaking and chipping off like crazy.
3) Borneman flush device. Now I'm pretty proud of the surge I implemented, but it's noisy and creates too much salt spray. I know Anthony Calfo (whose opinion I respect above any other aquarist) swears up and down that wave timers are stupid, but nonetheless I'm going that route this time around.
4) 2 powerheads to recirculate water, plus an additional powerhead pumping water up into the surge reservoir.
5) Surge/sump/fuge upstairs that houses an absolutely astounding variety of life. All I did was toss in some crushed coral (for pod growth) and some live rock chips and didn't look in for six months. The results are staggering: sponges, bristleworms, pods of every size, large feather dusters, algaes that came and went, baby periwinkle snails... The list goes on.
The new tank needed the best of both worlds, and this is what I came up with:
THE STAND
1) Accessibility!
My #1 concern. To that end, I have 2 access points. The front consists of 2 swinging, full-size cabinet doors. One side is also removable, but this is mainly to install the sump.
2) Maintenance-friendly!
A close second. There are a couple of things that need to happen here. One, I need to be able to clean the tank easily - and that means the right height. A 120 gallon AGA is about 2 feet tall. My armpit, when I am barefoot, is roughly 54" off the floor. Thus the stand is exactly 30" tall. I insist on being able to clean the tank without needing a ladder to fall off or keep moving around.
I am also implementing an auto topoff. I can't hook up an RO unit (nor am I interested - I will use deionized water until my cartridge runs out, but then I'm back to tap water. Vancouver simply has too good tap water to justify the annoyance of resin purification. My tapwater TDS is 10ppm on average - some guys in the southern US are lucky to get that after their multi-stage RO completes. To topoff I am simply going to put a float valve in the sump and put a small freshwater reservoir within the stand. It only needs to hold a couple of gallons and I can check on it every few days and throw in a pitcher of topoff water.
3) Chew-proof!
Yeah, the rodents will be eating this stand like crazy. That means no wood - and that suits me fine. I've seen some beautiful stands online - stained oak, professional cabinetry, absolutely commendable craftsmanship... But to me, natural oak and tropical reefs don't go together at all. To that end, I am going to tile the exterior surface of the stand. This affords protection against annoying vermin, and also creates a fairly unique effect.
4)Electrically-sound
I'll say right now I'm the world's biggest GFCI fan. My GFCI has already saved me a house fire, lost equipment and animals, and probably my life. For $20 you'd be a fool not to include a GFCI in a saltwater setup. But an electrical cutoff isn't quite enough - the internals of the stand need an isolated electrical cabinet so that the outlets don't rust over time. I fully intend this stand to last me 40 years, and as such the equipment needs to be kept dry. The righthand side of the stand will be isolated with a solid wall and weatherstripping to keep it separate from the constantly-damp sump area. I will run cables through a hole in the bulkhead wall and to prevent too much damp air from going into the electrical area, I figure the simplest approach is to just stuff some dense foam in the hole.
Since I'll be using a wavemaker, I will need to plug all powerheads into it... Not an easy task when the tank is 4 feet long and 2 feet deep. A Maxi-jet cord is only 6 feet and the wavemaker simply wouldn't work. Thus, I will also have an outlet on the left side of the tank (accessible from outside) to plug this powerheads into. The outlet there will connect via plug to the wavemaker's timed outlets.
THE TANK
1) Sand
I was moderately happy with my deep sand bed (DSB), but I dislike it for the simple reason that you cannot move a DSB. The sand bed in my current reef is going to get nuked when I move, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Since I'm going to be moving again within a few years, it's not a good choice for me. However, I also have a pistol shrimp who needs his burrowing room, so I'm going to shoot for about 3" of substrate and hope that's enough for his burrowing habits without creating too many anaerobic zones in the tank.
2) Live rock
I have too much rock in the tank right now, but hopefully that will mean enough for the new tank. I would like a few big open areas (especially for my T. gigas clam that will be able to use the room), so this serves me well. Additionally, I am insistent that I leave at least 4" of space between the rockwork and all walls. This isn't for water movement (though it's important), but for being able to scrape the glass. That'll also give my Diadema urchin a little room to squeeze by. By the way, my rock is all Tonga rock and after having observed it for over a year I would never buy run-of-the-mill Fiji. If you're setting up a new tank and need to buy rock sight unseen, get Tonga.
THE CANOPY
That should read what canopy?. No canopy. Blech.
I will be using a Coralife Aqualight Pro with the suspension system, so the lights will hang off the ceiling. The only thing I plan to have on top of the tank is eggcrating to prevent any jumpers. Additionally, to prevent salt creep (especially down the back where I simply can't reach to wipe), I am going to cut strips of clear acrylic and glue them to the frame of the tank so the salt can't just accumulate down the back. I had great success with a similar sytem when I had my nano reef experiment.
Thus ends the preamble (did anybody really read it?!?!). Now on to the construction...
The first step was to create the top frame of the tank.
Construction is just 2x4s. I wasn't able to procure dry fir, so I ended up using "SPF" (for those who don't know the term, it's what our glorious Canadian lumber industry calls the mix of spruce, pine, and fir when they don't know what the hell it is). For extra support (this tank is heavy!), I doubled them up so they are essentially 4x4s.
The center legs were a bit of a problem - because there was nothing to hold them in place (I could perhaps have trusted in glue and dowels... but no), I opted for a peg-in-a-hole type of system. To cut a hole into the middle of the top frame, I built a jig out of plywood.
Then I used the router to create a clean hole on both sides.
The project commences!
My 65 reef is currently set up on a little hobby stand with 2 other aquariums and a terrarium. While it was certainly compact, it was also frustrating. Nothing looked nice all squished together, and I realized that an aquarium needs to be at stomach height. When you need a stepladder to service it and the access holes are undersize, it makes maintenance something you put off forever.
The squished part was the first item. I have a second room with my computer and chinchillas which has been getting some love. First step was to consolidate the rodents - they've gone from one 60"x30"x30" and one 48"x48"x80" cage to a duplex that only measures 48"x24"x70". It's still a bloody big thing, but it consumes a much smaller footprint in the room. And that means more room for other crap! To that end, I decided to transplant my reef into this room.
...and if you're gonna move it, why not make it bigger? I decided that since I have extra space in this room, I would just go and upgrade the tank. Initially I had planned to use the 77 gallon I have in storage, but ended up looking at a 120 gallon. It's only 4 feet long (same length as a 77), but affords me the depth that I love in a tank.
I've decided on an All-Glass 120 gallon Megaflow aquarium. 4 feet is my practical limit, and 120 is the biggest I can go without getting a custom tank. I've opted for Megaflow because a standard 120 has a tempered bottom and I want an internal overflow. Due to the rodents, I can't drill out the back and do a Calfo-style overflow because the stand needs to be flush with the wall. That, and for the extra 60 bucks or whatever it really isn't worth my time to drill 4 holes in 10mm glass and then build overflow boxes and standpipes.
So thus came the planning phase. I knew exactly what I didn't like with my current setup and that was at the forefront of my planning.
My current setup featured:
1) T5 lamps mounted in an array above the water. I used SLS parabolic reflectors, unprotected from the water. This is a really stupid idea - don't do it. The argument for is that light isn't absorbed by the glass/plastic shield so you have more light going into the tank. The insanely overwhelming con is that you get salt spray and buildup all over the bulbs and reflectors which is nigh impossible to clean off regularly. That and the bulb clips rust!
2) Self-built wooden canopy. Gak. Inside was plywood but I just sprayed it with some "chrome" (that means grey, don't be fooled) Krylon paint and then a coat of lacquer to seal it. In the year it's been running the paint is flaking and chipping off like crazy.
3) Borneman flush device. Now I'm pretty proud of the surge I implemented, but it's noisy and creates too much salt spray. I know Anthony Calfo (whose opinion I respect above any other aquarist) swears up and down that wave timers are stupid, but nonetheless I'm going that route this time around.
4) 2 powerheads to recirculate water, plus an additional powerhead pumping water up into the surge reservoir.
5) Surge/sump/fuge upstairs that houses an absolutely astounding variety of life. All I did was toss in some crushed coral (for pod growth) and some live rock chips and didn't look in for six months. The results are staggering: sponges, bristleworms, pods of every size, large feather dusters, algaes that came and went, baby periwinkle snails... The list goes on.
The new tank needed the best of both worlds, and this is what I came up with:
THE STAND
1) Accessibility!
My #1 concern. To that end, I have 2 access points. The front consists of 2 swinging, full-size cabinet doors. One side is also removable, but this is mainly to install the sump.
2) Maintenance-friendly!
A close second. There are a couple of things that need to happen here. One, I need to be able to clean the tank easily - and that means the right height. A 120 gallon AGA is about 2 feet tall. My armpit, when I am barefoot, is roughly 54" off the floor. Thus the stand is exactly 30" tall. I insist on being able to clean the tank without needing a ladder to fall off or keep moving around.
I am also implementing an auto topoff. I can't hook up an RO unit (nor am I interested - I will use deionized water until my cartridge runs out, but then I'm back to tap water. Vancouver simply has too good tap water to justify the annoyance of resin purification. My tapwater TDS is 10ppm on average - some guys in the southern US are lucky to get that after their multi-stage RO completes. To topoff I am simply going to put a float valve in the sump and put a small freshwater reservoir within the stand. It only needs to hold a couple of gallons and I can check on it every few days and throw in a pitcher of topoff water.
3) Chew-proof!
Yeah, the rodents will be eating this stand like crazy. That means no wood - and that suits me fine. I've seen some beautiful stands online - stained oak, professional cabinetry, absolutely commendable craftsmanship... But to me, natural oak and tropical reefs don't go together at all. To that end, I am going to tile the exterior surface of the stand. This affords protection against annoying vermin, and also creates a fairly unique effect.
4)Electrically-sound
I'll say right now I'm the world's biggest GFCI fan. My GFCI has already saved me a house fire, lost equipment and animals, and probably my life. For $20 you'd be a fool not to include a GFCI in a saltwater setup. But an electrical cutoff isn't quite enough - the internals of the stand need an isolated electrical cabinet so that the outlets don't rust over time. I fully intend this stand to last me 40 years, and as such the equipment needs to be kept dry. The righthand side of the stand will be isolated with a solid wall and weatherstripping to keep it separate from the constantly-damp sump area. I will run cables through a hole in the bulkhead wall and to prevent too much damp air from going into the electrical area, I figure the simplest approach is to just stuff some dense foam in the hole.
Since I'll be using a wavemaker, I will need to plug all powerheads into it... Not an easy task when the tank is 4 feet long and 2 feet deep. A Maxi-jet cord is only 6 feet and the wavemaker simply wouldn't work. Thus, I will also have an outlet on the left side of the tank (accessible from outside) to plug this powerheads into. The outlet there will connect via plug to the wavemaker's timed outlets.
THE TANK
1) Sand
I was moderately happy with my deep sand bed (DSB), but I dislike it for the simple reason that you cannot move a DSB. The sand bed in my current reef is going to get nuked when I move, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Since I'm going to be moving again within a few years, it's not a good choice for me. However, I also have a pistol shrimp who needs his burrowing room, so I'm going to shoot for about 3" of substrate and hope that's enough for his burrowing habits without creating too many anaerobic zones in the tank.
2) Live rock
I have too much rock in the tank right now, but hopefully that will mean enough for the new tank. I would like a few big open areas (especially for my T. gigas clam that will be able to use the room), so this serves me well. Additionally, I am insistent that I leave at least 4" of space between the rockwork and all walls. This isn't for water movement (though it's important), but for being able to scrape the glass. That'll also give my Diadema urchin a little room to squeeze by. By the way, my rock is all Tonga rock and after having observed it for over a year I would never buy run-of-the-mill Fiji. If you're setting up a new tank and need to buy rock sight unseen, get Tonga.
THE CANOPY
That should read what canopy?. No canopy. Blech.
I will be using a Coralife Aqualight Pro with the suspension system, so the lights will hang off the ceiling. The only thing I plan to have on top of the tank is eggcrating to prevent any jumpers. Additionally, to prevent salt creep (especially down the back where I simply can't reach to wipe), I am going to cut strips of clear acrylic and glue them to the frame of the tank so the salt can't just accumulate down the back. I had great success with a similar sytem when I had my nano reef experiment.
Thus ends the preamble (did anybody really read it?!?!). Now on to the construction...
The first step was to create the top frame of the tank.
Construction is just 2x4s. I wasn't able to procure dry fir, so I ended up using "SPF" (for those who don't know the term, it's what our glorious Canadian lumber industry calls the mix of spruce, pine, and fir when they don't know what the hell it is). For extra support (this tank is heavy!), I doubled them up so they are essentially 4x4s.
The center legs were a bit of a problem - because there was nothing to hold them in place (I could perhaps have trusted in glue and dowels... but no), I opted for a peg-in-a-hole type of system. To cut a hole into the middle of the top frame, I built a jig out of plywood.
Then I used the router to create a clean hole on both sides.
The left door is perfect but the right door actually dipped down about 1/8" at the middle. It was pretty obvious and needed to be dealt with. But I'm not out of tricks just yet.
