Ldogg's 35G Reef Crest drop off

Ldogg · Feb 23, 2017

So I am getting ready to get back into the hobby and start a 35 gallon Drop off tank from Artfully Acrylic. I picked up 40 pounds of CaribSea Life rock and so far I am pretty impressed. This stuff is dry base rock that's been painted and then seeded with dormant bacteria that will wake up once it's been added to the water. I got 9 pieces in the box in total. Overall it looks like I will have several shelf areas and overhangs which should fit what I am looking for. Picked up a few other bits as well including a new Apex, Kessil A160we, controller, a tunze 9004 and a heater. The tank will be custom made in 3/4" red acrylic and look like the one included here, just larger dimensions. This one shown in red is 9gallons while the white one is the 35g. I am planning on ordering the tank in April and then picking up and RODI, some brutes, a tunze ATO, the apex DOS and a few other bits before setting it up. The stand is going to be a 40 breeder stand from petco and I plan on skinning with with 1/4" plywood painted, and then attached with magnets. This will let me run a break out board under the tank for the apex energy bar, the ATO and the DOS. I am also toying with building my own Chaeto reactor but we will see. Stocking I am looking at some ORA frostbite clowns, and a unicorn tang.. haha just kidding! I haven't gotten past the clowns yet. Corals will be LPS, high end Zoas and maybe a few Monti's. can't wait to get started!

Preme · Feb 23, 2017

Very cool

Ldogg · Feb 25, 2017

Thanks. I can't wait to order the tank and get going! Searching for a vendor who sells ORA Frostbite clowns now so I know who to go to when I am ready.

Ridem32 · Feb 25, 2017

There is a guy on eBay that sells those clowns as pairs WYSIWYG they look very nice at a good price

Ridem32 · Feb 25, 2017

https://www.ebay.com/itm/162391415965

Ridem32 · Feb 25, 2017

Check out all of his pairs

Ldogg · Feb 26, 2017

I had seen those on eBay but was looking for the ORA ones. Mainly because theirs seem to have a blue hue to them. I am not sure if the Sustainable Aquatics ones do or not but I will have to look and see. The wysiwyg ones on eBay look pretty nice.

Ldogg · Mar 11, 2017

Couple small updates. It looks like Artfully Acrylic will do one of these in a reef ready sump version so I am going to go that route. The plan now is to get the drilled version, and then a Synergy Reef CL22 sump in radioactive red and black. This will let me add their ATO container, and then run all the equipment under the stand plus the Neptune Systems DOS and a Cheato reactor that I plan on building. Looks like Sustainable Aquatics sells the Frostbite clowns that I want too.

HolisticBear · Mar 11, 2017

Following and looking forward to updates

Ldogg · Mar 28, 2017

I got lucky last week and ran across someone selling some realreef rock shelf rock. I was able to snag 10 pounds of it and he picked some really nice pieces. Just messing around with it earlier but I can't wait to order the tank and dry fit the rock work.

Rehype · Mar 28, 2017

Looks awesome so far man.....cant wait to see it in the tank.

Ldogg · Mar 28, 2017

Thanks! I am not sure of the top section still but I figure I want to use that other shelf piece up there. I plan on ordering in April and then a Synergy Reef sump and ATO. I may try to pick up that petco 40 breeder stand and the sides just to see what they look like. I thought about buying 80/20 aluminum and building my own, which I may still do, it's just crazy expensive in black. Cool part would be I can make my own doors though. Kinda like what this guy did so I may go that route.

Ldogg · Apr 8, 2017

quick update..... I was going to order the 35g tank in a few weeks before their sale ended, however i didn't pay attention to what the shipping was going to cost for this tank, and the sump i was looking at. At the end of the day I decided to look at a different tank given the cost of both items and shipping. Right now I am looking at a Red Sea Reefer 425XL and selling the Kessil in favor of a pair of Radion XR30w Gen4 Pros or a Kessil AP700. I am going to see if I can close this thread, and I plan on starting a new one shortly once i get some additional equipment in and buy the tank. I really like that 35g Drop off, but I can't justify almost a grand for just the tank at that size. if i was closer to their shop i could pick it up, but they are in Virginia, and I am in Colorado so not much i can do there.