Well howdy to everyone. Im new around these parts but not to reefkeeping. Some call it a hobby but its definitely an obsession. Ive been reefing almost non stop for the last 10 years and have been able to try alot of different builds and reefkeeping methods. I really enjoy the keeping smaller tanks because of the ability to get so close and intimate. Some of the most fun for me is the designing and aquscaping phase. In any case I decided to do one last build but my goal is to keep it running for as long as possible.
While deciding on a tank I wanted try a build ive always thought was cool but never got a chance to try. A drop off was something ive always been interested in particularly because I love aquascaping and thought it would be interesting to aquascape a tank with those features.Ive also never had a peninsula tank so this seemed like the way to go.
The decision to be made was whether to go with IM abyss series or Artfully Acrylic Reefcrest series. This was made easier when I realized Artfully Acrylic had a 35 gallon model and the IM dropoff has bowing issues. I am extremely happy I went with them. They truly take care of their customers and make TOP NOTCH aquariums.I had an awesome experience...First where they allowed me to use a promo that had already expired a few days prior. But more importantly I had a deadline I wanted to meet and these guys expedited my order to meet that deadline as their build time is normally 6 weeks. The tank arrived on time but was damaged by the knuckleheads over at Fedex. These guys didn't wait the weeks or months it would take to file a claim but sent me another tank a week later. I have nothing but good things to say about them and the pictures speak for themselves. They build each aquarium by hand,use high quality materials and pay close attention to detail and most importantly know how to treat their customers. Needless to say they've gained a lifelong customer.
I'm still stockpiling everything im going to need for this build and its taking longer than I hoped. I originally was going to go with the Radion XR15w Gen4 but I changed my mind with the stocking. Since the focus will be SPS my decision is to go with T5/LED Hybrid. Ive had the most success keeping sps with this comobo. For live rock im going with Real reef rock..Ive actually been able to hand pick the pieces from my LFS.Im also going to use live water from my buddys 7 year old reef. (plenty of mature bacterial colonies)
Some pics
While deciding on a tank I wanted try a build ive always thought was cool but never got a chance to try. A drop off was something ive always been interested in particularly because I love aquascaping and thought it would be interesting to aquascape a tank with those features.Ive also never had a peninsula tank so this seemed like the way to go.
The decision to be made was whether to go with IM abyss series or Artfully Acrylic Reefcrest series. This was made easier when I realized Artfully Acrylic had a 35 gallon model and the IM dropoff has bowing issues. I am extremely happy I went with them. They truly take care of their customers and make TOP NOTCH aquariums.I had an awesome experience...First where they allowed me to use a promo that had already expired a few days prior. But more importantly I had a deadline I wanted to meet and these guys expedited my order to meet that deadline as their build time is normally 6 weeks. The tank arrived on time but was damaged by the knuckleheads over at Fedex. These guys didn't wait the weeks or months it would take to file a claim but sent me another tank a week later. I have nothing but good things to say about them and the pictures speak for themselves. They build each aquarium by hand,use high quality materials and pay close attention to detail and most importantly know how to treat their customers. Needless to say they've gained a lifelong customer.
I'm still stockpiling everything im going to need for this build and its taking longer than I hoped. I originally was going to go with the Radion XR15w Gen4 but I changed my mind with the stocking. Since the focus will be SPS my decision is to go with T5/LED Hybrid. Ive had the most success keeping sps with this comobo. For live rock im going with Real reef rock..Ive actually been able to hand pick the pieces from my LFS.Im also going to use live water from my buddys 7 year old reef. (plenty of mature bacterial colonies)
Some pics
my only concern is flow with an sps tank...youre definitely going to need more turbulent flow on the drop off area.
