30G Acrylic Softie Build w/closed loop

[bdeppen]

Updated FTS 1-25-20

This tank and stand came free with a used 120 I purchased a few years back. It sat in storage for a few years until I decided I needed a tank in my office. I was inspired to build a low maintenance soft coral tank. I buffed as many of the scratches out of the acrylic as I could, put in all new bulk heads, drilled the overflow for a bean animal drain and ran all new plumbing. I also painted the stand white from the standard pet store black color you see often.


The goal of this project is to create a peaceful and enjoyable tank with clean lines and as little maintenance as possible. All flow from the tank is from the closed loop and return pump.

Tank is acrylic and measures 36x16x15
20G long sump
Bean animal drain
Classic Apex Lite
Radion XR30 G3 Pro
Vectra M1 running closed loop
Ehiem Jager heaters
Eheim return pump (old pump I had laying around)
Reef Octopus NW-150 skimmer (way overkill but I had this laying around as well)
Tunze Osmolator
Currently running a filter sock as well, but it’s main purpose to to keep the drain as quite as possible.
I am also considering removing the skimmer and running a fuge only for nutrient export. The skimmer is just too loud as this tank is dead silent when it’s off.

Please feel free to share comments and ideas as you follow along with my journey.

Livestock pics to come...

 

[bdeppen]

Fish:
DaVinci clown and black ice clown

Coral:
Green capnella
Purple Gorgonian
Tracy Morgan Gorgonian
Green polyp toadstool
Jack-o-lantern
Plenty of zoas

*Frag swap next weekend so hopefully I can grab a few more branching softies there.

Thanks to local reefers and Pablo over at Marine Farmers for livestock so far.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Thanks for sharing, beautiful

 

[bdeppen]

Just swapped the lock line nozzles from the return pump and closed loop. Drastically increased water movement. Maybe too much as I turned the Vectra down to the second dot in Lagoon mode and still getting chaotic flow throughout the tank.

 

[InvaderJim]

Great looking tank. That's going to look awesome once stuff starts growing in.

 

[bdeppen]

Updated FTS showing a few new coral additions along with a full frag rack. Got lucky at a recent Frag swap and had one vendor with a good variety of softies. Devils hand, sinularia, Kenya tree, toadstool and pipe organ were a few of the standard softies but I also scored a nice red goni as well. I know it’s not a softie, but it just looked too good to pass up. Perfect timing to find the anemone on the other side of the tank and finally coming out of hiding

 

[bdeppen]

The view when waking into the office. Got me thinking I need to consider the side view more heavily when placing new coral

 

[bdeppen]

There is a reason a photo of the sump wasn’t included in the original thread, it looks sad in comparison to the rest of the build. Simple 20G long with a filter sock just hanging on. An old oversized skimmer that doesn’t run (it overflows ever since I treated the tank with Chemiclean) a big (for this tank) reactor running carbon, 2 heaters an a hand me down eheim return pump. Also don’t mind the cord mess

 

[Salt & Peper]

Beautiful tank!!!

 

[bdeppen]

Love an evening side shot!

 

[bdeppen]

Still trying to figure out how I want all the corals placed.

 

[bdeppen]

Updates: currently battling gelidium. Just picked up 3 turbos to see if I can handle it the easy way, if not looks like ill need to remove the rock and burn it off.

Also picked up a cabinet to hide my ATO bucket, electronics and other various items. I'll show an interior pic after I get it cleaned up.

Enjoy!