Hello All...
My name is Carmine. I'm new here.
I've been playing with this stuff on and off for over 25 years. My last tank was about 5 years ago though. I had a bad crash on the wrong day and ended up taking it all down. I think they call it rage quitting. hehe
But I have been thinking a lot about it lately and I know a lot of my past failures were my own fault...so there's that.
There were lots of areas that needed improvement and I know that by just doing it all right from scratch with all good equipment, I won't have the problems I've had in the past.
So today, I bought one of these tanks from Advanced Acrylics and most of the equipment I will be using along with it.
It's 36"x24"x12"h. Like 45 gallons I guess which is nice and manageable.
I love the rimless open top design and the fact the overflow doesn't take up any tank real estate.. It makes it so easy to deal with and it's so clean. It's 3/4" acrylic so I know there will never be any turrible episodes. Yeah, I'm aware I may be hit in the head with the occasional jumper. I can live with that. It happens regardless... Anyway, it's got 2 half inch returns and a 1 inch drain. I'm putting some ductors on the return outputs to increase the flow a bit.
I don't know anything about Advanced Acrylics, I've been out of the game for 5 years and I don't know anything in general about what's going on in the hobby. But when I saw this tank I knew it was the one, so I am just trusting and hoping I am happy with it. We'll see what happens. I think it's going to be awesome.
Anyway, I also bought the following stuff today...
Lighting is two Kessel A360x Tuna Blues with the solid brackets, extensions (so I can go as high or low as I want) and the controller.
Remember, this is going to be about 11 inches of real water depth so this is a pretty good amount of light to start with and can be increased in potency with different lenses. Lots of room to play here. These cover 24x24 each, so 2 of them on this tank ought to be pretty good. If the tank was deeper I would have gone with the a500, but I think that light would be too much of a bomber for this. We'll see. I love them because they are small and minimalistic and they are the closest thing to a legit point light source that I've seen...similar
to metal halide.
Sump is a Reef Octopus Octo Reef 36A Sump. It's got a 6 gallon top-off compartment (one of my previous screwups I am not revisiting) so I can just add RO to the reservoir with ATO and let it eat. This is a pretty decent sized sump that is well thought out and I love the way they look too. I ain't playing around this time man...
Skimmer is a Reef Octopus Elite 150 Internal. Yeah, it's a bit big but I like to feed often and again and the tank will end up heavily stocked...everyone says they won't, but they do and I'm tellin ya, it will end up stocked. lol But again, I'm not playing around this time.
Return Pump is a Reef Octopus Varios 4. I think this will do nicely and it's cool that I can turn it up or down as needed. Notice all this stuff is controller compatible...mmmm....yep! This is just for the return so it's probably overkill, but that's cool. Overkill is fine. I bought a check valve to stop the tank from siphoning back through the returns when the pump is paused.
All of the plumbing is red and gray PVC, so it will look cool. I purchased all the proper unions so everything will come apart/ go back together easily for maintenance.
I also bought a brand new 4 stage 75gpd RO which should be more than adequate for this system. It was the right thing to do.
I plan to Keep SPS, Clams, some LPS and zooanthids. I'll have a few fish in there too. Not sure what. But this kind of tank is a great way to create little territories for everyone with lots of hiding spaces. I will definitely have a pair of clowns too.
I am still debating what I am going to do for a controller or what my means of calcium/alk management will be. It's not a huge tank really so I could probably dose 2 part. I am unsure if a kalk reactor or calcium reactor would be practical or smart. But I'm open if anyone has a take on that. I have an older reef keeper that I can use to control stuff, but not sure if there's anything newer and better. Probably. I want to get the tank up and running, get it cycled and then one by one I will get everything dialed in and ultimately automated.
*OH!!! I don't yet have a stand. I really don't want to have all this new stuff and then hack together a 2x4 stand. But I want something that's quality. Anyone know where I could get one for the above measurements? If you had the cash burning a hole what would you do? What's cool out there for a tank like this? I like something modern.*
What kind of water flow/wave maker getup will successfully attach through 3/4" acrylic? I know this will be an issue as time goes on. It always is. I dont want to do closed loops.
I will keep updating as things come in and go together...
Feel free to critique and/or share ideas.
I'm pretty excited to be back in the game.
My name is Carmine. I'm new here.
I've been playing with this stuff on and off for over 25 years. My last tank was about 5 years ago though. I had a bad crash on the wrong day and ended up taking it all down. I think they call it rage quitting. hehe
But I have been thinking a lot about it lately and I know a lot of my past failures were my own fault...so there's that.
There were lots of areas that needed improvement and I know that by just doing it all right from scratch with all good equipment, I won't have the problems I've had in the past.
So today, I bought one of these tanks from Advanced Acrylics and most of the equipment I will be using along with it.
It's 36"x24"x12"h. Like 45 gallons I guess which is nice and manageable.
I love the rimless open top design and the fact the overflow doesn't take up any tank real estate.. It makes it so easy to deal with and it's so clean. It's 3/4" acrylic so I know there will never be any turrible episodes. Yeah, I'm aware I may be hit in the head with the occasional jumper. I can live with that. It happens regardless... Anyway, it's got 2 half inch returns and a 1 inch drain. I'm putting some ductors on the return outputs to increase the flow a bit.
I don't know anything about Advanced Acrylics, I've been out of the game for 5 years and I don't know anything in general about what's going on in the hobby. But when I saw this tank I knew it was the one, so I am just trusting and hoping I am happy with it. We'll see what happens. I think it's going to be awesome.
Anyway, I also bought the following stuff today...
Lighting is two Kessel A360x Tuna Blues with the solid brackets, extensions (so I can go as high or low as I want) and the controller.
Remember, this is going to be about 11 inches of real water depth so this is a pretty good amount of light to start with and can be increased in potency with different lenses. Lots of room to play here. These cover 24x24 each, so 2 of them on this tank ought to be pretty good. If the tank was deeper I would have gone with the a500, but I think that light would be too much of a bomber for this. We'll see. I love them because they are small and minimalistic and they are the closest thing to a legit point light source that I've seen...similar
to metal halide.
Sump is a Reef Octopus Octo Reef 36A Sump. It's got a 6 gallon top-off compartment (one of my previous screwups I am not revisiting) so I can just add RO to the reservoir with ATO and let it eat. This is a pretty decent sized sump that is well thought out and I love the way they look too. I ain't playing around this time man...
Skimmer is a Reef Octopus Elite 150 Internal. Yeah, it's a bit big but I like to feed often and again and the tank will end up heavily stocked...everyone says they won't, but they do and I'm tellin ya, it will end up stocked. lol But again, I'm not playing around this time.
Return Pump is a Reef Octopus Varios 4. I think this will do nicely and it's cool that I can turn it up or down as needed. Notice all this stuff is controller compatible...mmmm....yep! This is just for the return so it's probably overkill, but that's cool. Overkill is fine. I bought a check valve to stop the tank from siphoning back through the returns when the pump is paused.
All of the plumbing is red and gray PVC, so it will look cool. I purchased all the proper unions so everything will come apart/ go back together easily for maintenance.
I also bought a brand new 4 stage 75gpd RO which should be more than adequate for this system. It was the right thing to do.
I plan to Keep SPS, Clams, some LPS and zooanthids. I'll have a few fish in there too. Not sure what. But this kind of tank is a great way to create little territories for everyone with lots of hiding spaces. I will definitely have a pair of clowns too.
I am still debating what I am going to do for a controller or what my means of calcium/alk management will be. It's not a huge tank really so I could probably dose 2 part. I am unsure if a kalk reactor or calcium reactor would be practical or smart. But I'm open if anyone has a take on that. I have an older reef keeper that I can use to control stuff, but not sure if there's anything newer and better. Probably. I want to get the tank up and running, get it cycled and then one by one I will get everything dialed in and ultimately automated.
*OH!!! I don't yet have a stand. I really don't want to have all this new stuff and then hack together a 2x4 stand. But I want something that's quality. Anyone know where I could get one for the above measurements? If you had the cash burning a hole what would you do? What's cool out there for a tank like this? I like something modern.*
What kind of water flow/wave maker getup will successfully attach through 3/4" acrylic? I know this will be an issue as time goes on. It always is. I dont want to do closed loops.
I will keep updating as things come in and go together...
Feel free to critique and/or share ideas.
I'm pretty excited to be back in the game.