My 50

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

About a year and a half ago I decided to build a new tank.
I wanted to go with starfire glass and rimless.
The tank dimensions I wanted were 30" long x 20" front to back x 20" tall. Roughly 50 gallons.
The glass by itself was absolutely beautifull. All the edges were beveled and polished.
I also wanted to go with a little different color with everything. I usually did my backgrounds and everything in blue. This time the background, overflow and even the adhesive ( Momentive RTV 103 ) I used was black.

Originally I planned on this being my upgraded zoanthid tank. But things change.
Now it is a branching LPS tank with encrusting type montiporas. I also have a few favias and a chalice or two.
I have 2 fish in it. A Yellow Multibanded Pipe Fish and a Matted Filefish.

So, here are the pieces.

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

During the adhesive cleanup I made a critical error ( almost fatal IMO).
I had some finger prints on the front pane, so I bought some scrub pads from Home Depot that I figured were just a cheap nylon.
However they weren't nylon. They were green, like the ones you use for cleaning dishes. I ended up putting some pretty deep scratches in the glass.
I didn't realize it at first. It wasn't until I hung a light over it, that I saw them.
Talk about being crushed. I just wanted to curl up in a corner.
So I let the tank sit about a month, before deciding to try some scratch removeal kits.
The one I bought and all the powders and buffing pads for drills.
I gave it 3-4 hours and gave up. I did make a few go away, and did remove some of the cloudy areas, but the deep scratches were still there.
So I walked away from the tank ( depression fueled) for a couple more months.
One day I decided to see what it looked like with water in it. See if the scratches looked as bad as it did empty.
One thing to mention, my wife looked at the tank and didn't see the scratches until I pointed them out.

So I set it up on the stand and added water.
Made my light hanger ( out of conduit ), added the skimmer, overflow box and some pumps.
Things suddenly looked a little different.

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

So I did the water test for about a week

Made a overflow cover.

Then drained it and brought it in my house.

The light hanger I made from conduit was fastened to the stand with conduit clamps, which allows the light to swing out of the way.

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

I went with a small amount of rock. Maybe 30-35 lbs.

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

I'm using a SWC Mini Hot skimmer, which is alright. Not great.
My lights are a ATI 6 x 24 watt T 5 fixture. Right now I'm using 5 blue plus and 1 aquablue special bulbs.

I have 2 Tunze 6055's with a Tunze 7095 controller.
An 25 gallon sump with about 1/2 of it a refugium with chaeto.

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

IMO this is the star of the tank.
my pipefish.

The picture was taken with actinic and a flash.

MarvinsReef · Nov 25, 2012

Very awesome Martin.

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mfinn · Nov 25, 2012

MarvinsReef said:
Very awesome Martin.

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Thank-you.
I really enjoy this little tank despite the bad beginnings.

Lilmatty5dimes · Nov 25, 2012

Your tank looks amazing. I hung my lights the same way but with some yo-yo hangers to move them up and down. Keep up the good work.

Shiftygirl · Nov 25, 2012

Nice size colonies. Its amazing how quickly "the downers" take over when we hit some upsets. Good to work through them though.

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SeahorseKeeper · Nov 25, 2012

Your tank is gorgeous and I love the pipefish!!! Thanks for sharing!

revsgirl · Nov 26, 2012

Beautiful reef! Thanks for sharing!! Love the fish, BTW!!

revhtree · Nov 26, 2012

Man so glad you didn't give up! I would have freaked like you did about those scratches. But man it looks great!

mfinn · Nov 26, 2012

revhtree said:
Man so glad you didn't give up! I would have freaked like you did about those scratches. But man it looks great!

Thanks.
When I saw the mess I made of the front pane, I just freaked.
I had planned it for several months.
Made a few dozen calls and emails looking for a doable deal for the starfire glass.
Finally a friend who works at a glass company local to me was able to get the ball rolling.
It was pretty pricey, but I was very happy with the glass when it came. All the edges were beveled and polished.
Heck the glass looked great just all by itself. lol

Well a few things have changed recently. I was getting ready to buy a Reef Breeders led fixture, when I won a Radion XR30w at a local reef store raffle.
I'm in the process of building a hanger for it.
Plus I decided that I needed to clean up the top and change out my hang-on skimmer for a in-sump skimmer.
Bought a SSA CS-7.
Had to do a little sump work to get it setup right.

mfinn · Dec 1, 2012

I finally got the sump modded to fit my new skimmer.
I'm pretty happy with the change. Don't know why I didn't do this in the first place.

Plus I have been working on a light hanger for a new Radion XR30w.
However I had to do it twice.
I used 2" x 3/8" aluminum flat bar. I bent it so it would attach to the back of the stand and 90 degree over the top like this

But after painting it, I decided that I didn't like it.

So I bought some new aluminum flat bar and bent it like this.
I'm not going to paint it.
I just used a 220 grit sand paper, removed all scratches from the bending process and manufactures markings.
It's a brushed aluminum look with a slight shine.
Gonna leave like this.

MarvinsReef · Dec 1, 2012

mfinn said:
So I bought some new aluminum flat bar and bent it like this.
I'm not going to paint it.
I just used a 220 grit sand paper, removed all scratches from the bending process and manufactures markings.
It's a brushed aluminum look with a slight shine.
Gonna leave like this.

That looks really sharp!

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Lilmatty5dimes · Dec 1, 2012

+1 marvins those look really good. its different than the tubes(what i did) that your seeing every where else. your sump looks sexy as hell. good job

mfinn · Dec 1, 2012

Lilmatty5dimes said:
+1 marvins those look really good. its different than the tubes(what i did) that your seeing every where else. your sump looks sexy as hell. good job

Thank-you.
I thought that with the new light ( Radion) I needed something a little more ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, less. A single support rather than the double which I needed for the weight of the T5 fixture.