75g 60x24x12 Shallow Reef/Lagoon

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

I didn't post anything for my Reefer 250 build, but I'm letting it go and starting a new custom shallow reef/lagoon and wanted to post my progress and get advice on how to do things better and correctly. I might not always follow advice, even when it's solid, so don't get mad when I do things my way... just smile inside and know I'll learn the hard way

The new aquarium is a custom frag tank I drove 5 hours to get and paid $700 for, but it's nice and going to work perfect for what I wanted... well close to perfect, I looked into having one custom built that was 14" but couldn't justify the cost... The seller told me that this was a custom built frag tank by Planet Aquariums.

Picture from ad

Once home I painted inside the stand

Inside the doors

Water test

I plan on doing mangroves in the display with pukani rock... lots of LPS and Softies... let me know what ideas or thoughts you might have, I'll keep you all posted as I continue this build.

Mebeknob · Aug 18, 2016

So are the raised panel doors mounted on backwards to look like flat panel doors?

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

Mebeknob said:
So are the raised panel doors mounted on backwards to look like flat panel doors?

Yeah, gives it a little more modern look I think.

Griff · Aug 18, 2016

Pics didn't work for me

elElequis · Aug 18, 2016

Sweet looking tank!

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

Griff said:
Pics didn't work for me

I'm going to change the way I added them... I tried Imgsafe and it doesn't seem to work all that great... give me a few.

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

Alright, I didn't follow instructions, here are the pictures...

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

I bought Pukani rock for it, and did an acid wash... overnight in bleach and then 20 mins in muriatic acid. I used a chisel to make trees and I'm mounting them to tile so that they'll stand up. I drilled a hole through one of the pieces as well.

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

Here it is in the house, I am moving almost everything from my Reefer 250 over to this... I have two Kessil a160we on the old tank and I bought one more... so three total on goosenecks with the extension piece for a much cleaner look. I think I'm going to shoot for about 14 inches over the water, I may have to move them down a little... Any thoughts on how the red mangrove trees will handle that? I've got 12 mangroves I plan on adding... I'm also going to use Carib Sea Aragonite Aragamax Oolite Reef sand... size 0.1mm - 1mm... I've caught a pretty good amount of grief about the sand size, but it is such a good look... I've got a Gyre XF130 and the return for flow, I think with the Gyre being at the top of the tank, and the tank being 5' long I may be alright as long as I don't run it in reverse... though it is really shallow.

Mebeknob · Aug 18, 2016

Did you not like the reefer 250?

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

Mebeknob said:
Did you not like the reefer 250?

I liked the Reefer 250, I just didn't really care for how deep it was... plus I scratched the glass and can't stand having to see it everyday

I also want a tang and I couldn't, or wouldn't, do it with the Reefer 250... Another big thing was space in the sump, none at all with the 250... everything was just too crowded... but, it is a very beautiful and well built tank.

roberttumais · Aug 18, 2016

roberttumais said:
I liked the Reefer 250, I just didn't really care for how deep it was... plus I scratched the glass and can't stand having to see it everyday I also want a tang and I couldn't, or wouldn't, do it with the Reefer 250... Another big thing was space in the sump, none at all with the 250... everything was just too crowded... but, it is a very beautiful and well built tank.

I also saw a video of the Volcano Reef Tank on youtube and I have wanted to do something similar every since...

roberttumais · Aug 22, 2016

Alright, I've got it up and with water in it... I placed all of my original rock in the sump hoping not to cycle... no spikes yet, but I'm sure I'll see something... My fish are all in the QT tank, but I don't have any place to put the coral so it's in for the ride.