dannyd_
Active Member
I decided to go ahead and finally make an account to share what I have been working on. This tank is what I consider to be my "dream tank" because of the dimensions. I will be building the tank myself, 36 inches long by 15 inches deep by 10 inches tall. I liked the longer length and shorter depth because of the pictures I had seen of Mr Aqua 12 gallon long reef tanks. I liked the size, but I didn't want to have a sump below it. I am building this to go with me to college, so I wanted to be able to put it somewhere without having to worry about bottom space needed. However I didn't want to do an AIO insert because I didn't want it as a peninsula tank. So I decided if I really wanted to make this everything exactly how I wanted I would design it myself. With some designs I ended up with the tank you see in the pictures below. I realized that I could get away with in all in one that included every piece of equipment I will ever need (unless I add more in the future).
So to start out I will kind of explain the design. I will have a glass divider that gives me a 36 inch long, 10 inch deep, and 10 inch tall area for the display. Behind it, will be five inches deep, and ten inches tall of area that I can put all my equipment. It is divided into three areas: the left in the picture with the white box is the area for the auto top off container, the middle where the three dividers are is where the filtration will be, and far right is for the doser and two 1500 ml dosing containers.
Here you can see more clearly. Beginning with the left, the two glass containers are the dosing containers. I haven't figured out what doser I will use, however there is room in above the containers to mount it. The middle area will have the standard AIO insert feel, with the overflow going into a media box that I will make with three levels. (first is filter floss, second is carbon, and third is going to be chaeto). The black box that you see in the middle of the three stages is the protein skimmer. The final is where the return pump will be, which is what the red box is. The plumbing I have isn't completely accurate, I had it to see how much space it would take up. Then finally the area on the right is where the ATO and ATO container will be.
I have picked out all the products that I want to use, as I modeled each of the rectangles around the shapes of what I'll be using.
The red box represents the Hydor Universal Centrifugal Pump L20.
The black skimmer box is the Tunze 9001 compact skimmer.
The glass dosing containers are the standard size containers found on amazon.
The white box is a container that I'll be drilling to fit the ATO ()
The ATO I'll be using is the JBJ Nano ATO
I don't have it in the model there, but I will be using the Finnex Titanium heater (100 watt) in the same chamber as the return pump.
I have been wanting to share this not only to show my progress, but also for the barriers I'm facing. I'm wanting to have everything planned out before I start assembling the tank, and what I can't figure out is what lights to use. I want to have largely soft corals, with maybe a few types of sps. I have been researching lights for the longest time, and I can't seem to make sense of the vast areas of feedback. It is also difficult because of the shape of my tank. Another thing that I wanted to figure our is what type of doser I should be using.
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. I would like to get this design right the first time, so please point out any flaws, issues with equipment, suggestions, changes I should make, literally anything. I am excited to see what people think.
Rest of the pictures of the design:
So to start out I will kind of explain the design. I will have a glass divider that gives me a 36 inch long, 10 inch deep, and 10 inch tall area for the display. Behind it, will be five inches deep, and ten inches tall of area that I can put all my equipment. It is divided into three areas: the left in the picture with the white box is the area for the auto top off container, the middle where the three dividers are is where the filtration will be, and far right is for the doser and two 1500 ml dosing containers.
Here you can see more clearly. Beginning with the left, the two glass containers are the dosing containers. I haven't figured out what doser I will use, however there is room in above the containers to mount it. The middle area will have the standard AIO insert feel, with the overflow going into a media box that I will make with three levels. (first is filter floss, second is carbon, and third is going to be chaeto). The black box that you see in the middle of the three stages is the protein skimmer. The final is where the return pump will be, which is what the red box is. The plumbing I have isn't completely accurate, I had it to see how much space it would take up. Then finally the area on the right is where the ATO and ATO container will be.
I have picked out all the products that I want to use, as I modeled each of the rectangles around the shapes of what I'll be using.
The red box represents the Hydor Universal Centrifugal Pump L20.
The black skimmer box is the Tunze 9001 compact skimmer.
The glass dosing containers are the standard size containers found on amazon.
The white box is a container that I'll be drilling to fit the ATO ()
The ATO I'll be using is the JBJ Nano ATO
I don't have it in the model there, but I will be using the Finnex Titanium heater (100 watt) in the same chamber as the return pump.
I have been wanting to share this not only to show my progress, but also for the barriers I'm facing. I'm wanting to have everything planned out before I start assembling the tank, and what I can't figure out is what lights to use. I want to have largely soft corals, with maybe a few types of sps. I have been researching lights for the longest time, and I can't seem to make sense of the vast areas of feedback. It is also difficult because of the shape of my tank. Another thing that I wanted to figure our is what type of doser I should be using.
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. I would like to get this design right the first time, so please point out any flaws, issues with equipment, suggestions, changes I should make, literally anything. I am excited to see what people think.
Rest of the pictures of the design:
