Vlad's Shroom Room

[Reefer1978]

After moving to a new house, and taking my Reefer 425 XL with me (would never move a large tank again, not only do I not have a good spot for it, but I lost my entire SPS collection in the move) I decided to downsize for a little while until we can remodel the house a bit and I can fit a larger tank that I always wanted, so I can house the more collectable fish I'd like to keep. So this gives birth to the shroom room. I have 2 passions in the hobby, fish and mushrooms. I got into mushrooms way before they blew up over the last few years, and have quiet a collection that deserves a dedicated tank (OGs & OG Morphs, Ragnarocks, Plutoniums, Frankesteins, Magic Carpets, Circus, JB & Eclectus, Lucky Charms, ReefKoi, Hells Inferno, Picasso, and the list goes on...). So welcome to Vlad's Shroom Room.

This build is a work in progress, I am looking for suggestions on how it can be made better. This is also my smallest SW tank. I had smaller freshwater tanks, but all my reefs were 75g and up, with 4-foot minimum footprint.

Current setup:
Tank: Waterbox all-in-one cube, 50g I believe, 24x24x20.
Return Pump: Sicce 1.5. This may need to be upgraded, looking for recommendations. I had great luck with Jebao over the years so may go that way.
Light: Radion XR15 Pro Gen 4
ATO: Tunze + Storage container in the stand, direct-plumbed into RODI. This still needs to be proven out, not even sure if I can fit the storage container into the stand.
Heater: BRS titanium with controller

Potential equipment add-ons:
Skimmer: Tunze nano skimmers - do I need a skimmer???
Algae Scrubber: custom designed and 3D printed Algae Scrubber
What else? I am sure I am forgetting something!!!

 

[Reefer1978]

8/18/20 UPDATE: First inhabitants should be arriving today. Tank has been cycling for over a month with clean ammonia (how I usually cycle my tanks) and no light. I am slowly adding light power to the tank to start growing some algae, and a few snails will be the first residents. Not to worry, they won't starve. I will be adding some other micro-scopics to the mix. @revhtree tagging you as I promised you this thread what feels like months ago now.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Tagging along to see what this grows into, sounds awesome. The Jebao dcp 10000 has been a good return pump for me on a 90g. Side note; have you seen the movie Life with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy? Vlads shroom room reminds me of Rays boom boom room ;Hilarious
@LRT this is sounds like something you might like

 

[Reefer1978]

Tagging along to see what this grows into, sounds awesome. The Jebao dcp 10000 has been a good return pump for me on a 90g. Side note; have you seen the movie Life with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy? Vlads shroom room reminds me of Rays boom boom room ;Hilarious
@LRT this is sounds like something you might like

I am using Jebao on all of my other systems also, running for 3 years and barely even cleaning the pumps. Can't complain what so ever!! Thanks for the follow, great things to come hopefully!!

 

[LRT]

This is going to be crazy

 

[Reefer1978]

This is going to be crazy

I certainly hope so. I wanted to go a little higher with the rock work, but cutting it blind didn't accomplish what I wanted. Will have to figure out how to jimmy-rig some more pukani in there.

 

[Reefer1978]

They are here...

 

[LRT]

After moving to a new house, and taking my Reefer 425 XL with me (would never move a large tank again, not only do I not have a good spot for it, but I lost my entire SPS collection in the move) I decided to downsize for a little while until we can remodel the house a bit and I can fit a larger tank that I always wanted, so I can house the more collectable fish I'd like to keep. So this gives birth to the shroom room. I have 2 passions in the hobby, fish and mushrooms. I got into mushrooms way before they blew up over the last few years, and have quiet a collection that deserves a dedicated tank (OGs & OG Morphs, Ragnarocks, Plutoniums, Frankesteins, Magic Carpets, Circus, JB & Eclectus, Lucky Charms, ReefKoi, Hells Inferno, Picasso, and the list goes on...). So welcome to Vlad's Shroom Room.

This build is a work in progress, I am looking for suggestions on how it can be made better. This is also my smallest SW tank. I had smaller freshwater tanks, but all my reefs were 75g and up, with 4-foot minimum footprint.

Current setup:
Tank: Waterbox all-in-one cube, 50g I believe, 24x24x20.
Return Pump: Sicce 1.5. This may need to be upgraded, looking for recommendations. I had great luck with Jebao over the years so may go that way.
Light: Radion XR15 Pro Gen 4
ATO: Tunze + Storage container in the stand, direct-plumbed into RODI. This still needs to be proven out, not even sure if I can fit the storage container into the stand.
Heater: BRS titanium with controller

Potential equipment add-ons:
Skimmer: Tunze nano skimmers - do I need a skimmer???
Algae Scrubber: custom designed and 3D printed Algae Scrubber
What else? I am sure I am forgetting something!!!

Ok man have proper time to respond here and already need updates lol.
Did you have to send to collection to yourself because of the move?
How long has tank been set up and are they going directly in tank to acclimate?
I'd say yes on skimmer only because it sounds like your going to cram them in and looking at alot of live stock.
I have a bubble magus 5. Rated for 160 gallons until I overloaded my livestock and had to add an eshopps to other res recently.
For you a bubbly magus 5 would probably work fine. But I'd suggest going to the 7. Highly reccomend these skimmers. Alot less bulky and sleek and get the job done and probably best for your limited space you will have in cabinet.
Definitely go with good return pump that you can set and monitor on an app.

Also I recently changed my whole system up. Had my RODI direct plumbed to res on float until it bit me. Not sure what happened but I did get creep and salt swing.
Now I have my RODI running to ATO with T for bleed off.
And my ATO direct plumbed to float in sump on gravity feed and seems to be working well.
Would probably do you real good since your not going to be gravity feeding to hard and your ATO isn't going to be too big.

So let's see the shroom pron man

 

[Reefer1978]

Ok man have proper time to respond here and already need updates lol.
Did you have to send to collection to yourself because of the move?
How long has tank been set up and are they going directly in tank to acclimate?
I'd say yes on skimmer only because it sounds like your going to cram them in and looking at alot of live stock.
I have a bubble magus 5. Rated for 160 gallons until I overloaded my livestock and had to add an eshopps to other res recently.
For you a bubbly magus 5 would probably work fine. But I'd suggest going to the 7. Highly reccomend these skimmers. Alot less bulky and sleek and get the job done and probably best for your limited space you will have in cabinet.
Definitely go with good return pump that you can set and monitor on an app.

Also I recently changed my whole system up. Had my RODI direct plumbed to res on float until it bit me. Not sure what happened but I did get creep and salt swing.
Now I have my RODI running to ATO with T for bleed off.
And my ATO direct plumbed to float in sump on gravity feed and seems to be working well.
Would probably do you real good since your not going to be gravity feeding to hard and your ATO isn't going to be too big.

So let's see the shroom pron man

Move wasn't that far away, we did it in about 4 hours. But it was enough to cause the stress, and was already cold outside. I didn't have another cycled tank, so we had to break everything down, load in the cars, drive to new house, unload, setup, etc. It sucked!!! Never moving with tanks again.

New tank has been cycling for about a month. Snails went right in today. Coral will start the move once I get nutrients to the level I want. Since this is an all-in-one, I don't have a sump. Skimmer has to fit in the back compartment of the tank. I may regret going all-in-one eventually, but so much less drama with no sump.

I don't do all the smart return pumps, I honestly don't see the point. I have other monitors, and for the money, I can buy 3 jebaos. Let 2 sit there as backups, if they die, just swap them out. Ohh and it makes cleaning so much easier...

All my tanks right now are running without skimmers. So just a thought there. not sure if I should break the cycle and get one.

 

[LRT]

Ok Yeah I ran an old school JBJ 24 back in the day. Whole different ball game.
Ill be watching what you do for sure.

 

[Reefer1978]

8/19/20 UPDATE: Snails are in and... they are being snails. What was I thinking with Turbos again... STOP FLIPPING OVER. Only other update for today is some media went into the filter cartridge. I am giving Sera Siporax Professional a go in this tank.

 

[Reefer1978]

8/20/20 UPDATE: A brand new @Bulk Reef Supply Heat Controller decided to wake the whole house at 5 am today with high-temp alarm, and when I re-set it temp was 77.9, heat it set at 78. Someone's getting a "I didn't have enough sleep today" phone call from me today!!!

 

[Reefer1978]

8/22/20 UPDATE: A few quick updates for the day:

• First, I started breaking down my reefer 425 XL. Loved that tank, but the house is not for it unfortunately.
• Second update I ordered a lexan sheet for the top. Lots of folks won't agree with this, but I cover my tanks with solid lids to slow down evaporation.
• First softies went into the tank, un-named shroomie and a Magic Carpet. How do you test your tank is ready? With Magic Carpets of course.
• And last update for the day, ran into my first issue. Apparently the filter socks are 3.25"!?!?!? and @Waterbox Aquariums no longer make them. Time to design a custom filter cup, 3D print it out of ABS and load it up with filter floss.

 

[Reefer1978]

8/24/20 UPDATE: Today's project is called -- filter cups. So Waterbox no longer makes socks in the size needed for this tank, which is a very odd size of 3.1". But no fear, 3D printer to the rescue. 18-hour print here I come.

 

[FangsAndGames]

8/24/20 UPDATE: Today's project is called -- filter cups. So Waterbox no longer makes socks in the size needed for this tank, which is a very odd size of 3.1". But no fear, 3D printer to the rescue. 18-hour print here I come.

cool that you have that

 

[FangsAndGames]

Skimmer may not be necessary. Depends on how much you feed and waste produced. Shrooms can handle poor conditions. I'm watching this thread because this seems super cool. Also you may not even have to water change if you can get chemistry correct and corals established.

 

[Reefer1978]

Skimmer may not be necessary. Depends on how much you feed and waste produced. Shrooms can handle poor conditions. I'm watching this thread because this seems super cool. Also you may not even have to water change if you can get chemistry correct and corals established.

That's the plan Thanks for following I will keep posting with details.

 

[FangsAndGames]

Bounce shrooms do like a little bit better quality to keep their bubbles however

 

[Reefer1978]

Bounce shrooms do like a little bit better quality to keep their bubbles however

I keep mine at about 20 ppm N and 0.08 P.

 

[Reefer1978]

8/26/20 UPDATE: No real updates for the day as the tank is just maturing. Pumped up light power a bit to grow some food for the snails. Test-transferring some shrooms to identify the best method of transfer without bristle warms. I am trying both Bayer and Peroxide, watching which has lighter impact on the health of the shroom itself. Nothing to report yet. And for some eye-candy, here's one of my gems that will take up permanent residence in this tank.