WD's 150g SPS Peninsula

[WDKegge]

Cool and interesting. Just curious if you have some sense of load this structure is going to place on the silicone and/or back glass. I have seen something like this before and it was gorgeous.

Intuitively, the load from the structure is "inward" while the load from the water is pressing outward so maybe they cancel. IDK. Also, if the joint holds while empty, it will certainly hold when water is in there. Is the cleat made of glass? I guess I've read enough about that bond strength (glass/silicone/glass versus glass/silicone/acrylic) to wonder aloud.

Sorry so many questions, but assuming you pull this off I may want to copycat you in some form.

The structure itself only weighs around 21lbs, and should be quite a bit more buoyant in water with how light this rock is.

The rock itself is designed to put stress on knuckles and triangles leading back to the acrylic plate it is mounted on.

The plate that the structure mounts to that is siliconed in place is made out of thick acrylic and is quite large, roughly 12x20 plate, as far as the bond between them I have no doubt it's more than strong enough to hold the plate to the glass without any issue, if it's good enough to hold my tank together the amount I used should never be an issue.

 

[ScottB]

The structure itself only weighs around 21lbs, and should be quite a bit more buoyant in water with how light this rock is.

The rock itself is designed to put stress on knuckles and triangles leading back to the acrylic plate it is mounted on.

The plate that the structure mounts to that is siliconed in place is made out of thick acrylic and is quite large, roughly 12x20 plate, as far as the bond between them I have no doubt it's more than strong enough to hold the plate to the glass without any issue, if it's good enough to hold my tank together the amount I used should never be an issue.

Awesome. Keep the pics coming!

 

[WDKegge]

Few test pics, the cleat design worked fantastic, the whole scape hooked on in about 1 second, unfortunately I seem to have miscalculated the height of the plate and the scape is a good 3-4 inches higher than I want it to be.

Fortunately this will be an easy fix and will not require any major work, will put a 3rd section of acrylic between the base and the rock plate to lower it to the desired height and will only take a few seconds to install.

I am beyond thrilled with how it came out, pretty much exactly what I had envisioned.

 

[Janci]

Looks great.

 

[WDKegge]

Some pics with the water cleared up.

 

[ScottB]

Some pics with the water cleared up.

Super sleek. Endless possibilities.

 

[WDKegge]

Thought I'd pop in and let everyone know what's going on. Long story short, the floating aquascape did not work out in the end. One collapse that was repaired, but in the reboot some of the most aggressive aptasia I've ever seen was living in the plumbing somewhere and I had a full on outbreak again several months in.

As for the scape, while it looked artistic it just wasn't for me, it was cool in theory, but in the end I could tell I wasn't going to be happy with it.

I broke the tank down, put my fish in my office frag tank and dismantled the entire tank, every inch was cleaned, every piece of plumbing was hit with citric acid, and then everything sat dry for 2 months while I figured out what to do.

In the end I decided to go back to what I enjoyed the most, a natural looking reef with lots of caves and holes for all manner of reef creature, I'll save you the hassle of looking at a cycling tank and just post where I'm at now. Tank fully cycled, several test corals in and doing great and eager to begin stocking again.

 

[ScottB]

Welcome back to the forum and thanks for sharing. Guess I will resist the urge to a suspended ledge like that for a while.

I replaced my frag tank(s) last week with this one and it seems to be going okay so far. I did carry over 120lbs of old rock to the new sump.

 

[WDKegge]

Bumping an old thread, tank has basically just sat empty other than fish, feel like I'm losing interest more and more with it lately. Bad luck, less time and the cost of coral have driven me away from wanting to invest more time in the system. I have debated shutting it down several times or potentially moving it over to a freshwater planted system.

I can get ahold of Colorado sunburst nems fairly easily where I live and was debating just doing a full nem only system.

 

[Fish_wiz2]

I hope you stay with it WDKegge! Your thread has been an inspiration to my build I have been slowly working on, very similar tank dimensions and peninsula. I do agree it is expensive to start up a tank in our current conditions.

 

[Janci]

Thought I'd pop in and let everyone know what's going on. Long story short, the floating aquascape did not work out in the end. One collapse that was repaired, but in the reboot some of the most aggressive aptasia I've ever seen was living in the plumbing somewhere and I had a full on outbreak again several months in.

As for the scape, while it looked artistic it just wasn't for me, it was cool in theory, but in the end I could tell I wasn't going to be happy with it.

I broke the tank down, put my fish in my office frag tank and dismantled the entire tank, every inch was cleaned, every piece of plumbing was hit with citric acid, and then everything sat dry for 2 months while I figured out what to do.

In the end I decided to go back to what I enjoyed the most, a natural looking reef with lots of caves and holes for all manner of reef creature, I'll save you the hassle of looking at a cycling tank and just post where I'm at now. Tank fully cycled, several test corals in and doing great and eager to begin stocking again.

I am glad you are still around. Doing new things is in our nature, but they do not always turn out to be the best or most joyful.
I shut down my tank before due to moving and am reluctant to start again. I love coming back to the forum and see other tanks being set up, with all strugles and glory, failure and success that comes with it. It has been 4 years now.
One day I will again have a reef at home. All has been decided and selected (size, equipment, location, method,...) but it will only be when I (and the family am 100% ready for it.
The tatnk will be an easy one. Easy corals, easy fish. No expensive stuff that will break the bank when I forget to do some maintenance because live is in the way.

Your new rock layout looks great. There are inexpensive SPS, gorgeous softies that would make a tank look stunning.
Just do what you feel is beautiful to you.
You will see that you will find joy in it again.

 

[WDKegge]

I hope you stay with it WDKegge! Your thread has been an inspiration to my build I have been slowly working on, very similar tank dimensions and peninsula. I do agree it is expensive to start up a tank in our current conditions.

That means a lot! Thank you so much, good luck with your build!

 

[WDKegge]

I am glad you are still around. Doing new things is in our nature, but they do not always turn out to be the best or most joyful.
I shut down my tank before due to moving and am reluctant to start again. I love coming back to the forum and see other tanks being set up, with all strugles and glory, failure and success that comes with it. It has been 4 years now.
One day I will again have a reef at home. All has been decided and selected (size, equipment, location, method,...) but it will only be when I (and the family am 100% ready for it.
The tatnk will be an easy one. Easy corals, easy fish. No expensive stuff that will break the bank when I forget to do some maintenance because live is in the way.

Your new rock layout looks great. There are inexpensive SPS, gorgeous softies that would make a tank look stunning.
Just do what you feel is beautiful to you.
You will see that you will find joy in it again.

Glad to see you're around as well! I have no doubt that the tank will always be up at this point. The tank is too much a part of my living space and it means a great deal to my family. I just had my 2nd daughter (born on Halloween!) and I would hate to not have a reef tank be part of her up bringing. it was always something my oldest was greatly interested in growing up, and I want to make sure my youngest has that opportunity to learn about and care for something so special that not many people get to see.

I talked to my friend yesterday and he is cutting me a nice Colorado Sunburst nem for me. I've had many tanks at this point but have yet to have one focused on anemones.

 

[1ocean]

looking good

 

[Janci]

Glad to see you're around as well! I have no doubt that the tank will always be up at this point. The tank is too much a part of my living space and it means a great deal to my family. I just had my 2nd daughter (born on Halloween!) and I would hate to not have a reef tank be part of her up bringing. it was always something my oldest was greatly interested in growing up, and I want to make sure my youngest has that opportunity to learn about and care for something so special that not many people get to see.

I talked to my friend yesterday and he is cutting me a nice Colorado Sunburst nem for me. I've had many tanks at this point but have yet to have one focused on anemones.

I like the nem tank idea.
And congratulations with the daughter!

 

[WDKegge]

Slowly bringing things back around. Started a series of large water changes, siphoned out the majority of hair algae and gave the sand a good siphon and turnover as well.

Got the uv reactor back on the tank and added several utilitarian fish and inverts.

Display got a purple and a red urchin, a scopas tang, a starry blenny and a one spot fox face. In just a week they've made massive headway on algae in the display and I expect it to be fully clear by the end of the month.

The sump got two fighting conch, a large brittle starfish and a algae blenny. While gross, I feel the sump is doing it's job quite well, lots and lots of micro fauna, hair algae and fan calerupa are starting to take hold.

I'm also going to give tropic marine all for reef a shot on this tank. I don't plan on having nearly the demand I did before and hoping to put off setting up my Calc reactor for the time beeing.

Trying to get things at least back on track before spring rolls around, I have several large yard projects coming up (to include a large pond in the back yard) that will be taking up a fair bit of time, so it would be really nice if the tank is in a good spot sooner than later! Cheers everyone!

 

[Ef4life]

thats a nice looking tang. And slowly bringing things around is the way, nothing good happens fast. Just keep at it. Pond build pics would be welcome too

 

[ScottB]

A One Spot Foxface can do wonders IME. The can cohabitate just fine so I keep 2. They can solve anything but bryopsis.

 

[bakbay]

Slowly bringing things back around. Started a series of large water changes, siphoned out the majority of hair algae and gave the sand a good siphon and turnover as well.

Got the uv reactor back on the tank and added several utilitarian fish and inverts.

Display got a purple and a red urchin, a scopas tang, a starry blenny and a one spot fox face. In just a week they've made massive headway on algae in the display and I expect it to be fully clear by the end of the month.

The sump got two fighting conch, a large brittle starfish and a algae blenny. While gross, I feel the sump is doing it's job quite well, lots and lots of micro fauna, hair algae and fan calerupa are starting to take hold.

I'm also going to give tropic marine all for reef a shot on this tank. I don't plan on having nearly the demand I did before and hoping to put off setting up my Calc reactor for the time beeing.

Trying to get things at least back on track before spring rolls around, I have several large yard projects coming up (to include a large pond in the back yard) that will be taking up a fair bit of time, so it would be really nice if the tank is in a good spot sooner than later! Cheers everyone!

Spent an hour+ reading through your build thread - amazing scape, setup, lighting, DIY skills, and more! Sorry to hear about the SPS crash and glad you’re rebooting. My SPS tank is a little over 3yrs and I’m always concerned about waking up in the morning with white skeletons. Looks like you are surrounded by great reefer friends!

Following along — if you’re bored like me, nem & LPS tanks are cool too! Good luck

 

[WDKegge]

A One Spot Foxface can do wonders IME. The can cohabitate just fine so I keep 2. They can solve anything but bryopsis.

Funny you bring that up, it's been awhile since I had a one spot fox, I enjoyed the one I had previously and really glad I decided to give this guy a chance. I had some fan caulerpa that had somehow made it up to the display and had been pretty well taking over a rock to the point that one of my reefer friends that stopped by took one look at it and said "Just reboot the tank, not worth trying to get that out"

Well sure enough that fox face was slurping the caulerpa off the rocks like it was spaghetti within an hour of tank introduction. He's now turned his attention to the hair algae. What a rockstar of a fish.