Shovelriders 45 Tall

shovelrider · Mar 11, 2013

I just wanted to share my tank and update as I go.
I have a 45g tall with a 10g sump to eventually be a reef once again. It was up for 4 years until I moved from FL to North AL last year and sold everything that was alive.
The tank has been running since 7/13/12.

I set the tank up in the living room.

My center brace broke last year so I decided to fix it while I had the chance. Holding strong 8 months now. (July 2012 - March 2013)

I am using 3 96 watt CFL's. 1 - 420nm(purple) and 2 - 460nm/10000k(blue/white)

shovelrider · Mar 11, 2013

I decided to drill the tank for an internal overflow.

I mocked up the size and location.

I drilled the holes...

Put the box together...

Used silicon to hold it together.

Box completed!

shovelrider · Mar 11, 2013

I centered the box.

Checked it out from the bottom.

Ran a bead of silicone all around it to attach it to the tank.

Pic with bulkheads installed.

From the back.

shovelrider · Mar 11, 2013

Ran the drain lines.

Painted the back of the tank with acrylic paint.

Received Marcos Rocks shipment.

Laid them out to get a idea of what I had to work with.

Got them wet in the new salt mix(reef crystals).

shovelrider · Mar 11, 2013

Added a few established rocks.

Put some gutter guard in the drain pipes to stop snails and whatnot.

Re-scaped to hide temp. power head on right.

After some time, starting to get color on the rocks.

shovelrider · Jul 15, 2013

update...

Now getting ready to move contents over to the 75g tank.

revhtree · Jul 15, 2013

The rock really colored up nice!

WhoDey · Jul 15, 2013

Had a 40t before my current 57, very tough to aquascape but I loved the depth. Just a question, comes down to personal preference but have you ever though about doing the overflow out of black acrylic or putting a piece of black acrylic down in the front so you can't see the PVC? Otherwise looks great!