Boudster's 4'X6'X18" Dream Peninsula

[boudster]

Hello everyone,

I've decided to move from RC to R2R as I've been hearing a lot of good things about this site. I'm currently in the middle of building the tank of my dreams, and I thought I'd share my journey.

The custom tank, after 9 long weeks, was actually completed last week, but both the tank and stand were build completely wrong, so I'm currently waiting (impatiently) for a rebuild with a different vendor (going with AGE this time around)......so in the mean time, let me catch you up on what I'm building

This is a dream build for me after 18 years in the hobby, and I've pretty much designed everything from the ground up. Unfortunately, I'm not very handy when it comes to anything DIY, so I leave that to the experts

I'll post the specs below....and then a bunch of pics in a separate post.

The tank:
The dimension of the tank are 48" on the front and back, 72" on the sides, and 18" tall. It's Peninsula style, rimless and will have Starphire on all 3 viewable panels. It is being drilled for a 20" Synergy Reef ghost-style overflow, with an additional 2 holes drilled for returns.

The stand:
Steel frame using 2" metal tubing. powder coated black. 6 removable door panels flush with the tank and stand, attached magnetically .I'm thinking of going bold and doing them in orange, but I haven't decided yet.

The sump:
48"X24"X18" custom designed by me and built by a local reefer here in the DFW area. 5 separate chambers. Input chamber, 29G frag chamber, skimmer/reactor chamber, refugium chamber, return chamber).

Circulation: 2X Gyre 150s. I plan on mounting these vertically on each side of the back wall of the tank. Other circulation provided by my return pump....an OCTO VarioS 4.

Lighting: 6x Kessil A360we. I'll have these mounted in a floating canopy probably 12-18" above the tank. I'll play around with it once I have the tank full of rocks and water, and also determine whether I need any T5 supplements if there is too much shimmer/shadow.

Filtration: 3x 4" filter socks, IceCap K2-200 skimmer, ~250lbs live rock consisting actual live rock, "real reef" rock and "life rock".

That's probably enough of an intro for now.....I will post pics/sketches soon.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Welcome to R2R! this sounds like an epic build. looking forward to seeing more

 

[boudster]

Welcome to R2R! this sounds like an epic build. looking forward to seeing more

Thanks! Looking forward to being part of this community!

 

[RyanCSGO]

Thanks! Looking forward to being part of this community!

It's a great place to be. Tons of friendly and knowledgeable people.

 

[fragit]

Welcome! I just purchased a tank from AGE also. It is supposed to ship out today!!! Mine is also a peninsula style reef, much smaller than yours 120gal. I was thinking about going with Kessils for my lighting also, however after months of planning and research I've decided to go with Orphek. I will be following your build for sure! Congrats, and again welcome to R2R!

 

[boudster]

The tank design has remained constant, but the stand has evolved. This is my initial design:


The tank will go in my office, which is right off the entryway to our home:




The tank will be a bit closer to the back wall than this drawing indicates. Just need enough room for maintenance


And after several iterations, here's what I've landed on for the stand

 

[boudster]

Welcome! I just purchased a tank from AGE also. It is supposed to ship out today!!! Mine is also a peninsula style reef, much smaller than yours 120gal. I was thinking about going with Kessils for my lighting also, however after months of planning and research I've decided to go with Orphek. I will be following your build for sure! Congrats, and again welcome to R2R!

Awesome... Will look forward to seeing your tank in action. I bought my Kessils yard and got a great deal, so I figure if I don't end up liking them I can sell them at the same price and try something else. A never-ending journey!

 

[RyanCSGO]

I'm using a kessil as well. absolutely love the light. just purchased a couple sps frags yesterday, so this will be my deciding factor I feel.

 

[boudster]

I'm using a kessil as well. absolutely love the light. just purchased a couple sps frags yesterday, so this will be my deciding factor I feel.

I put my Kessils in my current 110G tank to test them out and I saw great improved in all my corals, even my SPS, so I'm hopeful

 

[boudster]

Now a little bit about my custom sump....

I wanted something that had not only separate areas for a skimmer and refugium, but also a big space to grow frags. I don't really like to put frags in my display until they've at least grown large enough to hide the plug, but I want them growing in my main system. Initially I thought I'd do something DIY using 2 55g aquariums and came up with this design (i'll have a ton of space in the stand)


I soon came to the conclusion that since I'm terrible at building stuff, I'd be better off spending the money and having it done right, so a redesigned it to be built as a single acrylic sump






I found a local reefer who works with acrylic, and voila, 2 weeks later





It was really cool seeing my design come to life! If only the initial tank build would have gone that well... But I have faith that now that I've switched to AGE for the tank build, they'll get it right.

 

[NeverlosT]

looks great! Are you concerned with how much flow will be passing through the fuge (if full tank return flow is going through there)? If so, one easy way to deal with it is by putting a large bulkhead on both sides (inflow/outflow), with a PVC pipe straight through it and a ball valve to control flow, that essentially acts as a refugium bypass. Then you can control how much water goes straight from your skimmer chamber to your return chamber, and how much flows through the fuge. Anyhow, the build looks sweet and I look forward to seeing more!

 

[boudster]

looks great! Are you concerned with how much flow will be passing through the fuge (if full tank return flow is going through there)? If so, one easy way to deal with it is by putting a large bulkhead on both sides (inflow/outflow), with a PVC pipe straight through it and a ball valve to control flow, that essentially acts as a refugium bypass. Then you can control how much water goes straight from your skimmer chamber to your return chamber, and how much flows through the fuge. Anyhow, the build looks sweet and I look forward to seeing more!

That's brilliant! Yes....i have been concerned that there could be too much flow since the fuge is so narrow, but I wanted the large frag area so I decided to just deal with it. If the flow turns out to be an issue, that sounds like a perfect solution. I really appreciate the the feedback...looks like I'm already seeing the benefits of joining r2r!

 

[dbl]

Following along on this piece of art!

 

[BoneXriffic]

Amazing start, im following along with the beauty

 

[Kav Lokuliyana]

This seems like an epic build!
How much faith do you have with the IceCap K-2 skimmers? Im upgrade to a 120g tank and considering the K2-16o, perhaps even the K2-200 as the skimmer for the tank!

Good luck!

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

Can't wait to see your dream tank come alive.

 

[boudster]

This seems like an epic build!
How much faith do you have with the IceCap K-2 skimmers? Im upgrade to a 120g tank and considering the K2-16o, perhaps even the K2-200 as the skimmer for the tank!

Good luck!

I have heard great things about the icecap K2 skimmers.. But time will tell. I have it breaking in right now in my sump, but there's only about 60 gallons of water with a very light bio-load in there right now. Still, it does seem to be finding junk to skim. I'll keep you posted

 

[boudster]

So I've mentioned a few times that I'm pretty bad at anything DIY, but I did build a floating canopy for my Kessils which turned out decent (and hopefully people will be focusing on the tank, not the canopy)


First, I created a rack using an old shelving unit I found in the garage. I zip tied 4 shelves together to make a 5'x3' rack.


I was going to just use that as-is, but it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing. I used metal rods mounted between the wood beams in my ceiling to create a way to slide the entire canopy away from the tank if I need to


Using PVC "wood"from Lowes, I built a "box" of sorts to enclose the frame




Then I painted it black (i may need to sand it down and repaint it as the paint job could be better)


Will likely keep the lights at least 12" above the tank. Dang, these are bright!


I decided to put a base on it and cut holes for the Kessils because with the base open they were blinding me


Anyway... At least I can say I built something myself, even though it will likely be the ugliest part of the setup [emoji23]

 

[-Logzor]

I think the canopy looks great, to soften the look you could replace the heavy chain with some thin steel cable, which for this application should be plenty strong. Think the wire shelving will hold up to saltwater exposure? Should be fine if you canopy is high up enough. Since you haven't setup the tank yet, consider adding a few T5 retrofits in the canopy, you'll be glad you did!

The gyres provide a lot of flow, but in my opinion they don't perform as well when mounted vertically compared to horizontally at the top of the water line. They run really well until you need to take them apart to clean them. Takes me about 30 minutes to put the things back together and working like I had it last. They're finicky and I've since taken mine out since it's way less hassle to run my Tunze and Votech pumps. Anyway, you may not want to rely on them entirely. Get some used Tunze 6105's and maybe one gyre.

 

[Kav Lokuliyana]

I have heard great things about the icecap K2 skimmers.. But time will tell. I have it breaking in right now in my sump, but there's only about 60 gallons of water with a very light bio-load in there right now. Still, it does seem to be finding junk to skim. I'll keep you posted

Yeah I just decided to go with the JNS Q2 skimmer- really liking it. Wasn't 100% sure with the Icecap K2 skimmers, as not many people have it. And I cant afford to buy a skimmer to experiment with - maybe for my next skimmer it'll be a K2