60gal rimless starphire and a return to the hobby

[TheChef]

Hi everyone, been a while

I dropped out of the hobby a few years back due to a massive crash that was caused by the '11 southwest blackout; my tank had battery backup because brownouts were fairly common during summers in los angeles, but this outage lasted a couple days and losing that tank was brutal. Ill get more into that in a bit

I recently moved to Miami to start up a grad program and found this:

someone was dropping out of the hobby and selling their 60gal starphire setup for $150, and I figured a good deal is a great way to get over the old tank. Ever since I was a kid I've wanted a minimalist tank: a cube aquarium with nothing but a big anemone and a pair of clowns... so thats the plan. Because I wont be spending all my money on coral and inverts, I can plan to invest most of it on the nem, and Im leaning towards a carpet (but also considering a ritteri)

The tank itself is plumbed already, but will need a bit of cleanup and all the necessary equipment. It doesnt have any leaks, but im like to re-silicone it just to make sure. I have an old Sander 350 protein skimmer somewhere and had great luck w/ the 120w LED modules that are so popular now, so the plan is to get one or two of those as the light source. Filtration (aside from the skimmer) will be pretty simple and all in the sump. Ill make sure to update/document as I clean and build. Now that Im a poor grad student the build will be gradual, and the waiting period for an anemone that I like will also take a while, but Ill do my best to update as I get new aspects put together. Ill also put up some pictures of my old setup below to help fill the time.

 

[TheChef]

back in '09/'10 I was the invert husbandry manager for a large wholesaler in the los angeles area. In addition to being an awesome job, it gave me access to some very very cool pieces of coral at prices that were actually reasonable (none of the ridiculous $250 a head nonsense).


the setup was:


Equipment:
40g BR, drilled drain to a 20g sump, return line to dual nozzels
~800 GPH flow rate
TMC clearstream UV 600 and canister filter (used for koi ponds, lol)
Koralia 2 powerheads
Hydor heater
Sander WT350 skimmer


Lighting:
120w LED fixture
78w Current Nova ex. with +blue and fiji purple bulbs


Fish Livestock:
Black perc pair
McCosker's Wrasse
3 Lori's anthias




in fall of 2011 there was a massive outtage that hit the southwest, and I was out of town; it was a reefer's worst nightmare. Due to the size of the outage and general incompetence on LADWP's part, it took them well over a day to restore power: long enough for backup batteries for my water heaters and filters to die. I subsequently lost everything in that tank and couldnt bring myself to start another


here are some pictures of the old tank. I have them spread out over who knows how many hosting sites, so ill upload more if I can find them.

 

[TheChef]

here are some more

I understand why everyone loves chalices, but they grow too slow for my taste

 

[Jimbo662]

Wow, that was an amazing tank...sorry to hear the bad news. Can't wait to see pics of the new one!

 

[TheChef]

Mini-update

had some extra time today so I cleaned up the tank and re-siliconed the seams. I also bought a 30gal rubbermaid tub to use as a sump and perforated container that Im going to fill up with a carbon and/or phosphate sponge or some media to act as an impromptu wet-dry. Im also hoping the attached lid will help to limit evap, if only by a little. First go around was kind of a hack job, so Ill likely just go buy a large piece of plexi and cut the appropriate holes a little more accurately


Dirty tank has some serious build up

clean glass and a pup who likes reflections

I use blue painters tape and some gloves to keep everything clean

again, serious hack-job, just a proof of concept for the time being

 

[TheChef]

mini update

found the LED fixture Ill be using, specs are:

36x 3w Cre LED

18 Blue (450, 470 range, 9 of each)
14 white (10k range)
2 UV (410-430 range)
2 wide-red (625-660 range)

although the conversion between different types of LEDs and setups is not perfectly conserved, the PAR spectrum map offered by the guys over at BMLcustom gives a pretty cool insight to how it breaks down

Im hoping to get to home depot this weekend to get a couple pieces of plexi to try and clean up the sump



in the meantime, heres some more stuff from old tanks, including a couple of 15gallon tanks I used to hold mantis shrimp

little green spearer mantis

Im still looking, but I think I have old videos of a flashing tilefish saved away somewhere


cheers!

 

[fishroomlady]

welcome back to the hobby and I'm sure that must have been really hard to lose everything in that awesome tank! may I ask what you are studying in grad school?

 

[TheChef]

genetic influence on autism spec. disorder

it still has wrinkles that need ironing, but the premise is exciting. Till then, I can spend my spare time with the design of this tank!

 

[TheChef]

bit of an update; havent progressed much, Ive been caught up in classes and being poor, but some plans have shifted a bit. Im likely going to do a DIY Lumia 5.2 LED +t5 hybrid; still working out the details but Im pretty set on going the DIY route. Ive also got a SunSun canister +UV and my main pump arriving tomorrow, so I should be able to hook up the plumbing by this weekend.

Been messing around w/ rockwork too; picked up some dry rubble rock and have been epoxying it together, and 40lbs of aragonite sand arrived last weekend. I picked up a big bag of portland cement as well, so im going to experiment a bit w/ creating a partial shelf for the back to put some more light-demanding stuff


used eggcrate to mock up how it will fit along the back, and weaved it together w/ zipties

kinda difficult to see in-tank due to the reflections and glare, but here's how the skeleton fits onto the back

once I weaved in some extra zipties I used the black expanding foam for ponds to create a mold that Ill later coat in cement. I used painters tape on the back and wrapped some old boxes in plastic and used them as a brace in an attempt to limit the amount of cutting/carving ill have to do

Ill cut away the excess eggcrate and do some (hopefully) minor carving tomorrow when it's dry... although in my experience w/ poison dart frog tanks, this stuff takes longer to dry than it says and is generally pretty gooey in the middle. When its all cleaned up the exterior will be coated in portland cement w/ some aragonite mixed in. Ill probably go pretty light on the aggregate and use the portland as more of a paint for the foam, seeing that it wont be load bearing. Once its all cured ill silicone the piece onto the back of the tank (assuming it doesnt look like garbage)

all in all, the most expensive part of this endeavor is the $15 spent on a can of expanding foam, so if it looks goofy its no big deal

 

[TheChef]

so the eggcrate and painters tape did a good job keeping everything clean; trimming was minimal.

still a lot of rockwork to do below, but I like the look of the shelf. Both the t5 and the LED will hang about a foot above the tank.

Next step will be to paint on some cement and let it cure for a while. I ditched my initial sump idea and will be going a simpler route w/ a canister filter and old tank or something as the sump. Ill post up some pics of that this weekend hopefully

 

[TheChef]

so innovative grow lights has a CRAZY deal on the kessil 350, going for $249, and let you tag it up w/ a coupon for an additional 10% off... so 224 shipped!

needless to say I went with the kessil and the DIY will have to wait for another day. We all know how this disease (hobby, whatever you call it) works, so maybe ill start another tank sometime and use a DIY kit there

some updates:

Kessil looks great, but t5 backup is a must if you dont like heavy shadows. I still have to figure out a hanger for the t5, but the back shelf will be where the SPS would go

still not 100% on the concrete shelf. I havent fixed it to the back so its at an angle and jutting out considerably more than it will if I use it...wont make my decision till I get some sand in there.

kessil array

new sump. Petco is having their $1/1gallon sale till the 11th of Oct, so I picked up a 20H and threw in a couple baffles and hooked in the sunsun canister (still have to trim the inline and outline)

 

[rboutin111]

Welcome back and sorry about your old tank. I have a 29 gallon cube. I used to have a single Kessil. The light looked great. I had the same issues with strong shadows. SPS simply wanted an option as 50% of it would be in shadow. I recently moved on to a Radion. Certainly not a sleek and lacks the shimmer, but the even growth has been remarkably. I'm looking forward to watching your build.

 

[TheChef]

update:

concrete back has cured and is now siliconed into place. Waiting on a shipment of carbon for the canister filter but with any luck Ill have it cycling by this weekend

brackets for the t5 and LED lights:

looks a little crooked but thats likely because my camera is garbage, everything was level. Still gotta find a way to clean up the wires:

will be nice to see this when it has some coraline and other things growing on it:

 

[akitareefer]

Just a nem and clowns.... let see how long that lasts Fantastic start! and cute dobie

 

[TheChef]

not long, I can pretty much guarantee it :tongue:

already considering turning the concrete shelf into a SPS garden and putting some non-photosynthetic stuff under it

 

[TheChef]

there's a LFS on the way to campus that sells ocean water, so Im grabbing 5-10 gallons a day (depending on how many times I head into class/lab)

this tank is an exercise in patience

I hate being patient

 

[TheChef]

sump up and running. Temp is holding at a steady 76-78 without a heater...will check in the morning, but with central air/climate control in the condo, im tempted to go without one...or maybe just go with a low wattage one

the kessil throws up an aggressive shimmer

considering building up some more LR along the underside of the concrete shelf, just to break up the shape and make it seem a little less artificial

now the long wait while it cycles/I save up some money :sad:

 

[TheChef]

24 live feed

jk, just a looping gif, but might as well be a live feed...empty tanks are so frustrating



new chunk of LR under the shelf helps break up the shape a bit

 

[TheChef]

updates! Cycle is done and now begins the slow slow process of stocking

picked up some new stuff from the guys over @Reef-Candy

RPE

Golden mauls (?)

actinic

deepwaters

Actinic

 

[TheChef]

picked up some new sticks from @Zenjimatsu

She's got an awesome setup and has some amazing corals, if you havent grabbed some of her stuff I suggest you do!

will get some more (non-garbage) non-cell phone pics, but list is: sunset monti (lower shelf), neon green birds nest and red/orange digi (left spire), and a ORA bird of paradise (upper shelf)