My Shallow Dream Build 60" × 30" × 17"

[JoshH]

And so it begins! (This will be a slow and steady build) After moving into our first home a month ago and selling our cargo trailer I have been given the green light to order my dream tank and get rolling on putting together a system that I will be happy with for many years to come.

The house we purchased has a living room, family room and a teeny tiny dining 'nook' off the living room. I'm currently in the midst of redoing the family room into the new dining room and the nook will become my tank area (Pictured Below)
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The tank itself will be built by Miracles Aquariums, a 60" × 24" × 16.5" peninsula style with external overflow plumbed to the basement fish room below (Yes I got lucky enough there is a room in the basement just to the right of where the tank will be that has no purpose, so the fiancé suggested it become a fish room, gotta love her).

Right now my two clowns are hanging out in a Nuvo 10 after the move as I didn't want to set up the RSM C130 once I found out I could get the new tank. Hopefully they can hold out a few more months without going insane.

Equipment list for now consists of...

Tank: Miracles Custom Peninsula
Stand: DIY dual layer Plywood
Sump: Custom Lifereef for now, upgrading down the road
Lighting: 48" Aquatic Life T5 fixture with Kessil A160s
Skimmer: Lifereef SVS2-24
Heaters: Dual Neotherms (unknown size as of now)
Controller: GHL Profilux 4 Ultimate Set with touch pad.
Return: Undecided, leaning towards Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0

Just wanted to get the thread started now and I'll be adding pictures and info as I go along

And a really horrible screen drawing of the eventual position of the tank

 

[James M]

I like your drawings... Your plans sound exciting and I will be following the build .

 

[Harrison Gordon]

This looks like it will be very cool!
Hope it all works well.....
And what's wrong with Lifereef sump?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sounds like a plan! You need to draw a little fish in your faux tank!

 

[JoshH]

I like your drawings... Your plans sound exciting and I will be following the build .

Thanks! It's going to be a slow one but I'm really excited for it, glad to have you tagging along

This looks like it will be very cool!
Hope it all works well.....
And what's wrong with Lifereef sump?

I'm hoping so too, time will tell how things go. I have had a lot of time to figure things out so not much I'm undecided on now which makes things a little easier.

And there's Absolutely nothing wrong with the lifereef sump aside from its only 17.5" × 17.5" and I have a whole fish room for a much much larger one.

Sounds like a plan! You need to draw a little fish in your faux tank!

Lol! I might add one in there eventually but for now I'll stick with it the way it is. There is one big decision I have yet to finalize and it will probably be once I receive my final quote from Miracles. I am torn between a rimless tank and a One Piece Euro braced tank. Something I've been debating for the past week now and I have to decide in the next few days

 

[NY_Caveman]

There is one big decision I have yet to finalize and it will probably be once I receive my final quote from Miracles. I am torn between a rimless tank and a One Piece Euro braced tank. Something I've been debating for the past week now and I have to decide in the next few days

I would be so paranoid with a 100 gallon tank I would probably go Euro braced. But do not go by my paranoia, LOL!

 

[JoshH]

I would be so paranoid with a 100 gallon tank I would probably go Euro braced. But do not go by my paranoia, LOL!

My thoughts are with it being rather shallow rimless shouldn't be a huge problem. But there are some real advantages to having it braced. I'm just not a fan of the pieced in Euro bracing, we will see what the numbers say, I had a Quote from concept and the seamless eurobrace almost doubled the cost of the tank.

 

[JoshH]

I would be so paranoid with a 100 gallon tank I would probably go Euro braced. But do not go by my paranoia, LOL!

I spoke with Derek this morning and ended up ordering a One Piece starfire Euro braced tank and it was still cheaper than the rimless, figure that one out! tank is slated for January delivery so these next couple months will be equipment wrangling

 

[JoshH]

And the actual drawing for the tank, can't wait till it's sitting in my living room!

 

[JoshH]

Well not much of an update but we have changed things up a smidge and added 6 inches in width which puts this build over the 120 Gallon mark. Was hoping the additional width would squeak me into white cheek tang territory but a fellow trusted reefer here advised me otherwise. I'll have to settle for a yellow or purple instead this extra width does really let me stretch out on the scaping though which is awesome!

 

[Kayden Hutchings]

Well not much of an update but we have changed things up a smidge and added 6 inches in width which puts this build over the 110 Gallon mark. Was hoping the additional width would squeak me into white cheek tang territory but a fellow trusted reefer here advised me otherwise. I'll have to settle for a yellow or purple instead this extra width does really let me stretch out on the scaping which is awesome!

If your feeling really crazy add a black tank or a gem. That will get people talking. But on a serious note you need to get this build going! Us shallow reef lovers need some encouragement! Btw what lights are you going to be going with. 16 inches deep gives you alot more options than the standard 2 ft deep

 

[mch1984]

Looking forward to watching this one.

 

[JoshH]

If your feeling really crazy add a black tank or a gem. That will get people talking. But on a serious note you need to get this build going! Us shallow reef lovers need some encouragement! Btw what lights are you going to be going with. 16 inches deep gives you alot more options than the standard 2 ft deep

Lol I'm sure my other half would kill me if I did that it's a long wait getting a custom tank built unfortunately, tanks not going to be here till the end of January now with my changes lol

TBH I can't see why shallow tanks aren't much more popular with them being so much easier to maintain. As for lighting, for now I'm sticking with an aquatic life 48" T5 Hybrid with Kessil A160s or 360s depending on a little more research. This might change down the road so we shall see

 

[Kayden Hutchings]

Lol I'm sure my other half would kill me if I did that it's a long wait getting a custom tank built unfortunately, tanks not going to be here till the end of January now with my changes lol

TBH I can't see why shallow tanks aren't much more popular with them being so much easier to maintain. As for lighting, for now I'm sticking with an aquatic life 48" T5 Hybrid with Kessil A160s or 360s depending on a little more research. This might change down the road so we shall see

AHHH! January is in two months! I took apart and rebuilt my 10 gallon in An hour! Yeah shallows need more love, Easier to light, Easier to maintain, More swimming room for fish, And you can have Mangroves! if i had my mind set on kessils i would wait until the new ones came out tbh.

 

[JoshH]

AHHH! January is in two months! I took apart and rebuilt my 10 gallon in An hour! Yeah shallows need more love, Easier to light, Easier to maintain, More swimming room for fish, And you can have Mangroves! if i had my mind set on kessils i would wait until the new ones came out tbh.

There really are a lot of plus' to the shallow reef, I'm pretty flexible with the lighting still, was eyeing up a couple Orpheks as well. And I know, it's two months! It's killing me!

 

[najer]

Following, gotta love shallow!

 

[JoshH]

Following, gotta love shallow!

Welcome aboard! I'll be pacing myself on this one for sure, I have a pretty neat scape planned out in my mind so hopefully I can pull it off!

 

[Fin]

Sweet! I just stumbled on to this this evening. Like the dimensions. Almost wish I would have gone with a shallower tank, but when I ordered mine, there wasn't much buzz that I noticed about them. Definitely too late now for me. Looking forward to following along.

 

[leahfiish]

Following, also a shallow-tank-owner!

 

[JoshH]

Sweet! I just stumbled on to this this evening. Like the dimensions. Almost wish I would have gone with a shallower tank, but when I ordered mine, there wasn't much buzz that I noticed about them. Definitely too late now for me. Looking forward to following along.

Never too late if you have the $$$$$$ LOL! the change to the width actually cost me $600 but I think in the long run I will be much happier. I actually never thought I would like a shallow tank when I first started but with my first tank I ended up HATING doing anything with the tank that involved putting my hands in it. Due to a move my fish are currently in a Nuvo 10 which I'm sure they dislike but I've loved it. Doing anything with the tank is SO much easier when it's shallower. And as mentioned above I can get away with more affordable lighting, more aquaspace room. Really there are a lot of benefits to the shallower build. Up grading the size actually puts me close to 120 from the 92 Gallons of the original build which helps with stocking options as well.

Following, also a shallow-tank-owner!

Love to have a fellow shallow reef owner tagging along

Just checked the structure under where the tank will be and am fairly confident I'll be okay with leaving it the way it is. I might double up one of the Joists but should be good otherwise!

With black Friday coming up I'm hoping to pick up a few more goodies. Grabbing the closed loop pump and maybe a few other things.