Foothill Corals 185

[Foothill Corals]

Hello, welcome to my new tank build.

I have been in this hobby for a few years now (should know way more than I do) I’ve have had number of tanks over the years but this is the first time I ever bothered to document one from the start. Here are a few pics of my last tank, it is pretty much a frag tank these days. I have broken down the large colonies and installed an egg crate rack.

 

[lolgranny]

That red dragon colony is insane! Bravo! Looks awesome

 

[BestMomEver]

Very pretty!

 

[Foothill Corals]

New Tank

This tank is not an exotic high dollar build. The focus is going to be the corals. I just tried to get a tank with the largest footprint that I could. The goal is to avoid the issues that I have had in past tanks so I want to keep every thing simple, low maintenance, ergonomic and reliable as possible. Most importantly all done in a way that keeps my wife happy (no rimless tank).


Equipment:
Tank: 60x34x21 tall w/ext. OF built by Envision Acrylics
Stand: Home made 2x4 frame skinned in Oak 40" tall
Sump: Synergy 34" (just big enough)
Skimmer: AquaMaxx ConeS-2 (love these, consistent and non fussy skimmers)
Return: Eheim 1262 (Silent w/silicone hose and mat, Reliable- been running my 1260 for 17 years now)
Circulation: 4x 6095 (2 on Seasweeps) + 2x mp40s
Lighting: 8x54w SunPower with 2x Reefbrites (No chasing settings, simple, just works)

 

[Foothill Corals]

That red dragon colony is insane! Bravo! Looks awesome

Very pretty!

Thank you

Hopefully I won't run out of room as fast this time

 

[Foothill Corals]

Built the stand per Rocket Engineers plans on RC

 

[Foothill Corals]

The stand is HEAVY.

Just winged it on the canopy design, it actually turned out super light.

 

[Foothill Corals]

This is my first real wood project. The stand is not perfect but it turned out better that I had hopped. Time for a little stain, man... this thing sure looks different from different angles and lighting.

 

[User1]

Looks great. I've doubt you picked anything up locally recently judging by your colony in the photos above but do you purchase anything around town? If so, where. I've heard there is a relative new store in Roseville but haven't checked it out.

For first time wood work you did great. Again, looks good.

 

[Foothill Corals]

Looks great. I've doubt you picked anything up locally recently judging by your colony in the photos above but do you purchase anything around town? If so, where. I've heard there is a relative new store in Roseville but haven't checked it out.

For first time wood work you did great. Again, looks good.

Thank you

I have not purchased any livestock in quite a while, I do trade with local reefers though. I haven't heard of any new stores in the area, I need to look into that. I heard of one in the Reading area that is supposed to be good.

 

[Foothill Corals]

At first, two years ago when I started accumulating thing for this build I was planning to have an aquascape with two islands. Well that has become pretty trendy now and I just couldn't manage to make it look good with a bare bottom tank... so I decided to go with a 'scape that emphasizes the tanks depth front to back. The idea is to have lots of real estate for corals, keep it free flowing under the reef and also minimize the shading issues I have had in past reefs. It is made up of aprox. 100 lbs of dry Fiji rock.

 

[User1]

Looks nice. That is similar to what I did although my tank is 30" tall so I layered it starting in back to the top of the tank and worked the outer sides lower and lower.

 

[Foothill Corals]

Transferring rock to DT.

 

[Foothill Corals]

I added 2 part epoxy "feet" to the rocks that were flat on the bottom to maintain flow and also to base rocks that were unstable, then cemented every thing together with emarco 400.

 

[Foothill Corals]

It is difficult to get a pic of the scape, you can not see all the coves, caves and tunnels from any one perspective. The tank is view-able from three sides. I like how this aquascape gives the tank a lot of dimension while walking around it.

 

[trido]

Looking good! Nice job on the stand and canopy, and your last tank was quite amazing. Its hard to get a red planet that big without some die off in the middle. :)

 

[Foothill Corals]

Looking good! Nice job on the stand and canopy, and your last tank was quite amazing. Its hard to get a red planet that big without some die off in the middle. :)

Thanks, that thing was approx 20" across in a 30x30x24 cube.

 

[Foothill Corals]

8/1/18 Filled the tank with water. I added DR Tim's Ammonia and Bio-Spira covered the tank and left dark for 10 days.
8/15 I added cycled Siporax media from my other tank
9/1 Added Pods and a Florescent green toadstool that I got free with the pods.
9/2 Mounted lights. So now it's officially a reef not just a weekend project.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Wow!! Awesome!! Following!

 

[Zuma]

Nice tank build! Have you transferred and coral to the DT yet?