GJ's 50 Gallon Sumpless Reef

[GoatmealJones]

Not quite a build thread, but now that my reef is up and running, I wanted to share some pictures with all you!

Stats:
2 Kessill 160we TB
Reef Octopus Classic 90 HOB Skimmer
CPR Aquafuge 2 (small w Light and Nano Koralia pump inside)
TLF reactor running floss, carbon, and purigen (w minijet 404)
Vortech mp10 at 90%
Tunze Nanostream 6045 at 100%
2 x 100 w Aqueon Pro Heaters

FTS (36 x 15 wide x 21)

Assorted Frags Pics

Frogspawn Frag

ORA Melonberry Monti

Yuma Mushroom

War Coral Favites

Purple Australian Blasto

Green Scoly with Cyphestrea in the backround

Starfish and Blue Enchinta ORA Acro

Young Black Photon Clown

Favia Colony

Firefish and 3" Kole Tang

HOB Refugium

Side Profile Tank Shot

Excited to be back in the hobby after a long break . Hope you guys enjoy.

 

[glb]

Nice!

 

[GTPoker]

Is that refugium a sump as well? The tank looks great how long has it been up?

 

[GoatmealJones]

Is that refugium a sump as well? The tank looks great how long has it been up?

Thank you . The tank itself has been running for just about 3 weeks now. However I started about 2 months ago curing aquacultured live rock, so the "system" is a few months old. The refugium is the CPR HOB Refugium which can hold anything that fits. I have about 10 lb LR and chaeto stuffed in there as well as a powerhead. Theres a slot on the outlet where you could put a media bag as the water flows back into the tank by gravity. I could fit my heater in there easily too, but decided to place it in the display where it gets more flow.

 

[GTPoker]

Do you have a sump? Or is it just that? What kind of lights are you working with

 

[GoatmealJones]

No sump. Everything is HOB including the refugium, skimmer, and phosban reactor which i fill with carbon, purigen, and filter floss (mini hang on canister filter basically). 2 100 w heaters in tank.
mp10 and tunze nano 6045 both at full blast

Using 2 kessill 160 we tuna blues. Tank is 21 deep and I have a test acro on the sandbed to test whether or not the 160's are powerful enough to foster acro growth at 21 inches deep. I run them at near 100% intensity 10-11 hours a day and so far its looking like the SPS frags are responding well. I make sure to test CA/ALK/MAG every other day as a control to try to isolate the effects of just the lights above all else on growth.

 

[GoatmealJones]

The refugium is large, it holds almost 3 gallons of water so it can be used as a sump basically. I prioritzed filling it w LR (appx 10 lbs) because I like the main tank to have more of a minimalist approach with open spaces, such that I dont sacrifice total LR.

 

[GoatmealJones]

Newest Member

 

[GoatmealJones]

New corals from the Unique Coral sale last weekend

 

[KleineVampir]

What kind of HOB is that? Can't say I've seen anything like it before. (Not that I've seen that many hobs.)

 

[GoatmealJones]

Im running a CPR HOB Refugium the "side" of the tank, sort of as if it was a peninsula setup. Then I have a phosban reactor running carbon, purigen, phosban, and filter floss hanging on the "back", as well as a HOB skimmer on the same side.

 

[KleineVampir]

Im running a CPR HOB Refugium the "side" of the tank, sort of as if it was a peninsula setup. Then I have a phosban reactor running carbon, purigen, phosban, and filter floss hanging on the "back", as well as a HOB skimmer on the same side.

Cool. Man that is one seriously classy piece of equipment! High price tag too though. Even still, it's cool enough to buy it anyways. But that reactor....I have no idea what phosban is or why you'd do any of that. I guess I'll have to research all that at some point. Side thought, I wonder how many dang reactors you could have on one tank! I have heard of a few different kinds of them by now.

 

[GoatmealJones]

Thank you! Phosban is just a filter media that absorbs phosphates from the water. A reactor is basically just anything that can hold filter media and allow water to flow from input to output. You can have as many reactors neccesary. The phosban reactor is only $45 and can be used as a hob canister filter. You connect a pump thats inside your aquarium to the reactor (or "chamber"), which pushes water through the chamber. The filtered water then is pushed back into your aquarium as the water is displaced by the new water continuously entering the chamber from the connected water pump.

 

[KleineVampir]

How did you (and other people) make your rock look like it's all one piece? I can't help the feeling that when I do it, it'll just be a big ol' rock here and a big ol' rock there...lol.

 

[GoatmealJones]

I took a hammer and cracked a few pieces to act as support underneath and between unbroken rocks. It took a long time and many revisions. What I try to do is fit together pieces that are puzzle like matches to create continuity, then add some small rubble wherever I need to prop that structure or othewrwise change its position.

 

[KleineVampir]

I took a hammer and cracked a few pieces to act as support underneath and between unbroken rocks. It took a long time and many revisions. What I try to do is fit together pieces that are puzzle like matches to create continuity, then add some small rubble wherever I need to prop that structure or othewrwise change its position.

I'm afraid I may lack the creativity to make something like that. I think I'll limit the damage I can do by only using half the tank for rocks. Then the other half will just be frags.

 

[GoatmealJones]

Also make sure to use exopy and frag glue. That was key to helping me build my structure which would have otherwise given in to gravity. I would buy 2 full sticks of exopy and 1 frag glue and you'll be able to arrange the rocks in 3D configurations.

 

[KleineVampir]

Interesting. Should I make a rectangle with the same dimensions as my tank so I can put it all together out of the tank? I think I saw somebody do something like that once. I suppose I should give it a legitimate effort, I mean...lots of money riding on this tank looking good, so probably shouldn't ruin it with sloppy rock-scaping. That said it would be my first time trying to do that. Hm I guess I really do need to get that girl's number at the LFS! It probably won't be the relationship she's looking for but it would be nice to have a friend locally that knows about reefs like she does! xD

 

[GoatmealJones]

Some more pics

FTS

Left area

"Clownfish Ridge"

New scoly!

 

[GoatmealJones]

Interesting. Should I make a rectangle with the same dimensions as my tank so I can put it all together out of the tank? I think I saw somebody do something like that once. I suppose I should give it a legitimate effort, I mean...lots of money riding on this tank looking good, so probably shouldn't ruin it with sloppy rock-scaping. That said it would be my first time trying to do that. Hm I guess I really do need to get that girl's number at the LFS! It probably won't be the relationship she's looking for but it would be nice to have a friend locally that knows about reefs like she does! xD

I would watch some design/landscape architecture videos on youtube. They might be more specific on ways to arrange a 3D aquascape than I can give. I really just got lucky that my rocks fit together nicely, although it did take 2 full days almost lol