130 gallon Rimless Acro Garden

[Lee Van Reef]

I haven’t made a tank build thread in years, so this is going to be fun!
I recently moved to a new place and I am taking the opportunity to consolidate my two current systems into a larger tank. All my setups in the past have been a hodgepodge of whatever equipment I can scrounge, but I wanted this one to be more buttoned up and thought through.

So here’s a picture of what I’m working with:

Equipment list:

Tank: 130 gallon (60”x24”x21”) Crystaline from Planet Aquariums
Sump: Trigger Systems Sapphire 39
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 200 int
Return Pump: Reef Octopus Varios 6
Flow: 2x Vortech MP40
Lighting: 2x Neptune Sky
Rock & Sand: 80lbs of south seas base rock, ~20lb of liferock shapes and ~100lb of Fiji Pink sand
Dosing: Reef Octopus CR140 Calcium reactor
Control: Neptune Apex

The plan:
Currently my 90g sps tank and biocube softy tank are running and have some of the items I will be using in this setup. The lights, powerheads and live rock are all currently in use and will be moved over during the transfer. I lost a quite few acros when I moved those systems to the new house, so my plan is to frag the remaining pieces off the rocks so I have some freedom in scraping rather than just recreating what I’ve already done. The goal is to have everything moved over within the next couple weeks!

The setup:

I received the tank last week and got to work laying everything out. My first challenge is the floor under the tank. Despite being a concrete slab with vinyl wood floors, it’s really out of whack. The tank leaned backwards about 1/4” and to the side about 1/8th. I got to shimming and this is where I ended up:

I’m going to be filling in the spots between the shims with even more shims just for peace of mind, but this should be sufficient.

Next was the plumbing. I decided to hard plumb everything. Originally I had planned to go with the color plumbing, but after pricing it out I decided to just go with the basic white pvc lol.
The tank is drilled for two 1” drains and two .75” returns, so I set it up as a herbie and ran the return up as 1.25” pvc and then reduced down at the bulkhead.

That’s currently all I have setup so far, I’m out of town this weekend for a wedding so I won’t be doing anything else until I get back, but the next step is run all the cables for the apex and power bricks and then start preparing for the transfer!

That’s it for now, I’ll be updating with more info soon!

 

[Seancj]

Great start! Nice job with the plumbing, very clean.

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Hi #MODS, I seem to have posted in the wrong section, is there anyway to move the thread to member tanks?

 

[jp_75]

Nice job so far!

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Great start! Nice job with the plumbing, very clean.

Thank you, plumbing always stresses me out but I’m decently happy with how this came out!

Nice job so far!

Thanks!!

 

[jp_75]

You had to go through your lfs to buy it right?
Wish i could avoid it.

 

[Lee Van Reef]

You had to go through your lfs to buy it right?
Wish i could avoid it.

Yes, I work at a LFS that works with DFW aquarium and they are the distributor for planet tanks.
When ordering a bigger tank I’d personally rather have the lfs handle receiving and final delivery; they can catch any issues and will have an easier time communicating with the distributor/tank maker.
Planet makes a solid tank/stand, the prices are good and the support I’ve gotten from our rep is top notch. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone considering one of the other big rimless tank makers.

 

[lubeck]

Looks like a fun a build Following along. Can we see your two other tanks?

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Looks like a fun a build Following along. Can we see your two other tanks?

Sure! Here’s a picture of the 90 gallon before I moved:

This system first saw water may 2022, first fish in July and first acros around December.
I like to joke that it’s my old school setup, it’s running an old current USA 250w metal halide fixture with Phoenix 14k and blue+. The fish are:
Tomini Tang, powder blue tang, foxface, copperband, a group of Lyretail anthias, clown pair, firefish, and my watchman goby pistol shrimp pair. These will all be going into the new tank; the powder blue is still small but will appreciate the extra space.
I don’t have any pictures of the biocube, it honestly just holds the softies that don’t seem to like my lower nutrient sps tank.
Unfortunately I did lose quite a few frags during the move to the new place, but I’m trying to take in stride and just make this new tank even better!

 

[lubeck]

Looking good looks like all the sticks are encrusted Do you plan on adding everything all at once when the tank is done cycling?

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Looking good looks like all the sticks are encrusted Do you plan on adding everything all at once when the tank is done cycling?

Thanks! I plan on fragging everything this week and then all the live rock, coral and fish are going into the new tank once it’s all wired up. I’m not doing a cycle in the new tank, just going to treat it as a transfer. I might take some of my bigger, more valuable pieces to my job to hold until things settle a little bit, but I don’t know if that would be any better than just keeping them in the same water/rock/light/etc.

 

[Seancj]

Agreed. Moving them directly to the new tank is likely far less stressful than taking them to your tank at work

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Agreed. Moving them directly to the new tank is likely far less stressful than taking them to your tank at work

Yea that’s what I’m thinking too. Not to mention some like my fruity pebbles or bill Murray would probably grow in bath water if given the chance so I think it will work out all right lol

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Alright big update, transfer is complete.

First a couple of pictures of inside the stand:

So I still have some tidying up to do with the wiring and reactor/ATO, but everything is in place now and the system has been up and running since Sunday!

Here is a current full tank shot:

I ended up getting rid of some frags and maricultures, and kept a couple of my favorites. Most of the remains pieces are pretty ticked off, but the worst ones had been looking that way from the initial tank move to the new place and are holding strong since Sunday; only time will tell.

As for the fish, everyone made the move and settled in really quickly so I’m pretty pleased with that.

There’s still a few things left on my todo list:

1. Setup ATO reservoir. I’m currently using a bucket, but I have a 10 gallon acrylic one arriving soon.
2. Add breakout box and reed switches to the doors to turn on the cabinet lights.
3. Setup DOS for trace element dosing. This might be in a couple months after I start filling it back in with new frags.
4. Get the trident going properly. I got a trident from someone saying it was “broken”, but after a tear down and cleaning of the lines it works fine. The results are not in line with my Hannah, but the reagent I was given is pretty old. I got a new set on order and will be messing around with that soon. As long as it shows changes accurately, I don’t mind the number itself being different from the Hannah.

Other plans include adding some more Zoas and LPS along the bottom while I wait to add in some new acros.

 

[jphilip813]

I haven’t made a tank build thread in years, so this is going to be fun!
I recently moved to a new place and I am taking the opportunity to consolidate my two current systems into a larger tank. All my setups in the past have been a hodgepodge of whatever equipment I can scrounge, but I wanted this one to be more buttoned up and thought through.

So here’s a picture of what I’m working with:

Equipment list:

Tank: 130 gallon (60”x24”x21”) Crystaline from Planet Aquariums
Sump: Trigger Systems Sapphire 39
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 200 int
Return Pump: Reef Octopus Varios 6
Flow: 2x Vortech MP40
Lighting: 2x Neptune Sky
Rock & Sand: 80lbs of south seas base rock, ~20lb of liferock shapes and ~100lb of Fiji Pink sand
Dosing: Reef Octopus CR140 Calcium reactor
Control: Neptune Apex

The plan:
Currently my 90g sps tank and biocube softy tank are running and have some of the items I will be using in this setup. The lights, powerheads and live rock are all currently in use and will be moved over during the transfer. I lost a quite few acros when I moved those systems to the new house, so my plan is to frag the remaining pieces off the rocks so I have some freedom in scraping rather than just recreating what I’ve already done. The goal is to have everything moved over within the next couple weeks!

The setup:

I received the tank last week and got to work laying everything out. My first challenge is the floor under the tank. Despite being a concrete slab with vinyl wood floors, it’s really out of whack. The tank leaned backwards about 1/4” and to the side about 1/8th. I got to shimming and this is where I ended up:

I’m going to be filling in the spots between the shims with even more shims just for peace of mind, but this should be sufficient.

Next was the plumbing. I decided to hard plumb everything. Originally I had planned to go with the color plumbing, but after pricing it out I decided to just go with the basic white pvc lol.
The tank is drilled for two 1” drains and two .75” returns, so I set it up as a herbie and ran the return up as 1.25” pvc and then reduced down at the bulkhead.

That’s currently all I have setup so far, I’m out of town this weekend for a wedding so I won’t be doing anything else until I get back, but the next step is run all the cables for the apex and power bricks and then start preparing for the transfer!

That’s it for now, I’ll be updating with more info soon!

Nice clean and simple....LOVE IT!!!!

 

[AioGuy]

I have just placed an order for the planet crystalline 60x24 to move just my sps into and couldn't find any info or hands on reviews anywhere but my lfs said I will be as happy with the quality as my waterbox and fiji cube tanks. How do you feel the quality is compared to and are the seams pretty clean?

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Nice clean and simple....LOVE IT!!!!

Thank you!

 

[Lee Van Reef]

I have just placed an order for the planet crystalline 60x24 to move just my sps into and couldn't find any info or hands on reviews anywhere but my lfs said I will be as happy with the quality as my waterbox and fiji cube tanks. How do you feel the quality is compared to and are the seams pretty clean?

I think you will be thrilled with your order!!
The LFS that I work at is the Waterbox authorized dealer for our area, so I’ve installed lots of them. I think the planet is comparable in quality and better in some regards; the new aluminum stands from Waterbox are OK, but they have no way of mounting equipment to the panels…they say a control box is coming but no word on when. Seams on mine are very clean, but they are thick given the 5/8 glass. I didn’t use their plumbing kit, I recommend just setting it up as a herbie because I don’t like their “Maggie mufflers”. I also didn’t use their sump, but I’ve seen it and it’s not bad at all. My only nitpick was the stand had a couple roughy bits on the inside floor, but nothing detrimental.
Overall I think the planet is priced right and just as good if not better than what I’ve seen from Waterbox.

 

[AioGuy]

I think you will be thrilled with your order!!
The LFS that I work at is the Waterbox authorized dealer for our area, so I’ve installed lots of them. I think the planet is comparable in quality and better in some regards; the new aluminum stands from Waterbox are OK, but they have no way of mounting equipment to the panels…they say a control box is coming but no word on when. Seams on mine are very clean, but they are thick given the 5/8 glass. I didn’t use their plumbing kit, I recommend just setting it up as a herbie because I don’t like their “Maggie mufflers”. I also didn’t use their sump, but I’ve seen it and it’s not bad at all. My only nitpick was the stand had a couple roughy bits on the inside floor, but nothing detrimental.
Overall I think the planet is priced right and just as good if not better than what I’ve seen from Waterbox.

Thank you so much for the insight. I'm going with trigger sapphire 39 or 44 for the sump with external overflow to run bean animal. Planet said its going to be like two to three weeks to ship to my lfs so now we wait! First sump as all I have ran in the past is aio systems from fijicube and waterbox so I may have to change my profile name!

 

[Lee Van Reef]

Thank you so much for the insight. I'm going with trigger sapphire 39 or 44 for the sump with external overflow to run bean animal. Planet said its going to be like two to three weeks to ship to my lfs so now we wait! First sump as all I have ran in the past is aio systems from fijicube and waterbox so I may have to change my profile name!

I went with the 39 as I needed to fit my calcium reactor, the 44 should fit in nicely if you don’t have a ton of equipment in there, but keep in mind that because the side panels are doors, they have hinges that extend about two inches into the useable stand space. You can see them in my pictures above.
You are going to love having the sump and all the room for activities!