Hello all,
This project is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have always been interested in the methodology and hardware used to re-create a living reef ecosystem almost anywhere in the world; the thought alone is truly mind-boggling!
I wanted to show the average person the stages of filtration in the reef aquarium, in an effective and highly aesthetic way. For some reason, I have always been curious about different types of reffugia, and what people put in them. I would always look at tank-setup pics through google and see the beautiful mangrove trees rising out of some live rock- neatly tucked away in the under-cabinets of reefers everywhere. Why not show people the awesome things going on in these remote dungeon tanks? So I decided to build this.
I had a lot of spare time to map this project out, a piece at a time. I was a pro-hockey player, and was recovering from back-surgery (I pity anyone with cyatic-pain). The first thing I did was purchase the 40g breeder so I had something to measure off of. Then I used quarter-inch pink foam (available @HD), and made a scale model of the glass pieces that I needed cut. I now work in the stained glass business with my Father, so getting custom cut quarter-inch tempered-glass pieces was oddly easy to do. The cut glass was about $400.00 and the tank itself was about $75.00. And don't forget 5 tubes of aqu.-safe silicon, $40.00.
The main, "reef" area on the right, has a cave that extends behind the skimmer room ("5" x 5"") and a 1" cut out to act as an overflow. The second chamber is a 5x5" snaking tunnel filled to the brim with live rock rubble, snails, and hermits. The water goes down and up twice, before it is dumped into the third chamber, or, "The Green Room" as it has been aptly named. This chamber is topped up with chaeto-morpha and on the interior corners I have some submerged LED's. I used the same clear pvc that I used for the return plumbing, and inserted a 10 light LED fixture (10K), which illuminates the chaeto 24/7. The water is then dumps into the fourth-chamber in the front. Here, I inserted a 6" DSB with some live rock to break up the current, and some mangroves to camouflage the mechanical room, and lower the nitrates a little bit; not to mention that I love the way they look! The fifth, and final chamber is full of mechanical and synthetic-chemical filters. The protein skimmer, which requires no explanation. And, my phos-ban reactor to trap phosphates. This is also the area where I would run carbon if necessary, and also is home to my ATO sensor. After passing through all of the filtration stations, the water travels all the way to the bottom-back-left corner of the tank where it is heated/chilled and redistributed to the tank (via. clear pvc piping).
The lights are 2 250wMH's (13K), 2 64w PC's (actinic) and 10 moonlight LED's.
I hope you enjoy looking as much I have had building!
Sincerely,
Arthur J. Femenella Jr.
All done with custom cut tempered glass!
This project is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have always been interested in the methodology and hardware used to re-create a living reef ecosystem almost anywhere in the world; the thought alone is truly mind-boggling!
I wanted to show the average person the stages of filtration in the reef aquarium, in an effective and highly aesthetic way. For some reason, I have always been curious about different types of reffugia, and what people put in them. I would always look at tank-setup pics through google and see the beautiful mangrove trees rising out of some live rock- neatly tucked away in the under-cabinets of reefers everywhere. Why not show people the awesome things going on in these remote dungeon tanks? So I decided to build this.
I had a lot of spare time to map this project out, a piece at a time. I was a pro-hockey player, and was recovering from back-surgery (I pity anyone with cyatic-pain). The first thing I did was purchase the 40g breeder so I had something to measure off of. Then I used quarter-inch pink foam (available @HD), and made a scale model of the glass pieces that I needed cut. I now work in the stained glass business with my Father, so getting custom cut quarter-inch tempered-glass pieces was oddly easy to do. The cut glass was about $400.00 and the tank itself was about $75.00. And don't forget 5 tubes of aqu.-safe silicon, $40.00.
The main, "reef" area on the right, has a cave that extends behind the skimmer room ("5" x 5"") and a 1" cut out to act as an overflow. The second chamber is a 5x5" snaking tunnel filled to the brim with live rock rubble, snails, and hermits. The water goes down and up twice, before it is dumped into the third chamber, or, "The Green Room" as it has been aptly named. This chamber is topped up with chaeto-morpha and on the interior corners I have some submerged LED's. I used the same clear pvc that I used for the return plumbing, and inserted a 10 light LED fixture (10K), which illuminates the chaeto 24/7. The water is then dumps into the fourth-chamber in the front. Here, I inserted a 6" DSB with some live rock to break up the current, and some mangroves to camouflage the mechanical room, and lower the nitrates a little bit; not to mention that I love the way they look! The fifth, and final chamber is full of mechanical and synthetic-chemical filters. The protein skimmer, which requires no explanation. And, my phos-ban reactor to trap phosphates. This is also the area where I would run carbon if necessary, and also is home to my ATO sensor. After passing through all of the filtration stations, the water travels all the way to the bottom-back-left corner of the tank where it is heated/chilled and redistributed to the tank (via. clear pvc piping).
The lights are 2 250wMH's (13K), 2 64w PC's (actinic) and 10 moonlight LED's.
I hope you enjoy looking as much I have had building!
Sincerely,
Arthur J. Femenella Jr.
All done with custom cut tempered glass!
Last edited:
itS nice...
