Wider, Shallower, but not longer...

[petestewardson]

The beginning.

Just under 2 years ago now we started to extend our home. The builders moved in and started demolishing, building, bodging and fixing and what was supposed to be a 3-4 month project turned into more like 10 months. It’s been a year since the builders left us after completing the extention work to our home but it’s taken me all that time on and off to get the house decorated. Just over a month ago it was the turn of the living room to get the redecoration treatment. The last room to do YAY!

The main issue to this being my old tank was in the way, especially as the carpet needs replacing, the wallpaper on the chimney needed changing, and the walls painting. So I spent an entire day emptying and cleaning the tank, and with help from Ed @ Windsor I got the tank moved into our dining area and then everything put back in it. Other than a short phosphate spike so far nothing has been lost.

So the tank is now in the new spot at this point.

As is the norm with us all, after moving the tank I started to get the upgrade itch badly. Except I only have the space for a 4ft long tank as the wall I was originally planning to be removed during our building work didn’t end up being removed.

So I set about planning my ideal tank for the space I had, now this was tricky. I didn’t want a braceless tank especially but I liked both the EA and Red Sea tanks. Hate the red sea plumbing though after having the Reefer Nano. Plus I find water splashing over the top annoying. The EA stand is really tall, and as I spend most of my time looking at the tank from the sofa, I like the stand a little lower. Also and this is a big issue with these tanks, they make running triton a real pain because of the sump layouts.

I’m not that tall so the current 22” tank height is really better than much higher, but the 20” width of my current tank is a bit restrictive. I also wanted a stand I could level properly as my current one has never been 100% level. So a metal frame was important.

Other things about my tank I wanted to change.

* The acrylic clad weir I’m not a fan of now I’ve had the Red Sea Nano as glass is much nicer.

* I want to push a lot of flow through the sump and so a weir comb that will allow more water through would be good

* My current tank has a solid panel on the right restricting access to that bit of the cabinet. This was mainly there for the cabinet my cockatiel cage sat on next to the tank, but he now sits on the other side of the room.

 

[petestewardson]

The search for a tank.

Based on the criterion previously it left me with a couple of options, A4L which seem to be raved about at the minute, or putting things together myself. A4L would have been good, and they were great with all the details for a tank for me, got a quote etc. But the issue mainly was they will only do an acrylic weir. I wanted smoked glass as I find them much easier to keep clean.

So the next option was to build an extruded profile stand myself, clad it myself, and get a tank built by seashell. I went through about 50 designs, and got so many quotes from seashell I’m probably blacklisted now :lol: I also got plenty of help from KJN about my stand. I was all ready to go…

Then by chance I got talking to Vince @ Aquarium Connections about a new range of tanks he was looking to introduce. The idea being to offer a set of standard sizes, that will make it more affordable, but with the same quality and special features like mitred corners that we have all lusted over. We started talking through some ideas, I added a few of mine and a bit of feedback and then a plan was formed. Vince was keen to build a prototype to work out if the plan was viable from his perspective, and I wanted a new tank.

So here we are, the final prototype plan is drawn up and we are all systems go. This is the full drawn out plan for the system.

So the tank will be 1200mm x 700mm x 530mm and giving a system volume of around 480l

At 700mm wide + external weir it’s a bit wider than I was originally planning but great for scapeing. The tank is 530mm high so a little lower than my current tank, but I think having the wider tank as well will make this a much more exciting viewing experience.

The euro-bracing gives me the option to use like this, or add an open pelmet at a later date. I have a pelmet currently to cut down glare from the lighting, so one might find its way on here, but I’ll give the more sleek modern look a try first.

The sump has one of my own special features :) Rather than the normal Triton under baffle between the skimmer and return, this is now an under-over set of baffles. There are 3 functions for this. One it gives a solid height in the skimmer section. Two it means bubbles escaping from the skimmer are less likely to end up sucked up by the return. The last one is the gap between the baffles. By making this wider, 40mm in this case, it allows you space to put heaters. So all the water moving through the sump, has to have passed over the heaters making them much more efficient.

 

[petestewardson]

Equipment and contents

Equipment list so far for the tank is

Skimmer : Deltec SC1455

Return : Ecotech M1

Lighting : 5x Ecotech XR15 Pro

Flow : Ecotech MP40QD + Octo OP-2. Possibly add another MP40QD. I’m thinking of trying an MP40 on the back of the tank at either side, and the OP-2 on the right side to give lots of random flow, and to remove the need for a powerhead on the left side of the tank.

Dosing : GHL Doser 2.1

Control : GHL Profilux 4


For the scape I’ve been collecting Real Reef rock for a few months to come up with a new one. The plan is/was to use Real Reef and Microbe-Lift reef scape to create a new scape, along with a bit of dried rack I’ve bleached ready.

Thing is, I’ve been reading up and watching some youtube interviews with some highly respected reefers that suggest using dry and or manmade rock could be a large cause of issues when trying to keep SPS until the system matures properly over about 9-12 months. This doesn’t really work too well for me as I’ve got loads of SPS frags to put in the system from my current tank.

My current rock is covered in mushrooms which I really don’t want in the new tank which is why I was planning on starting with dry rock. I’m now wondering whether I can scrub the rock with a wire brush where the mushrooms are, then use a mini blow torch across the spot to try and kill the mushrooms before just using the rock I have. I might also ask if I can return the real reef and get some live rock instead to add more rock.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sounds like this is going to be great! I am a big proponent of live rock and using even a mix of rock would make your new tank SPS ready sooner.

Is the new tank going in the same spot? If not the other option might be to mature the new tank for a while until bringing the SPS over. Not sure how practical that is.

 

[petestewardson]

The new tank is going where the current one was so in theory I could run them both. Practically though I don't have the kit to run both together.

I'm very much planning on trying to remove the mushrooms by force and then just reuse what I have now with some extra live rock from my LFS.

 

[petestewardson]

As an update for this, I have a couple of large Aptaisia that the peppermint shrimps wont touch. So I've attacked them with AptaisiaX and the three I've treated have now gone. I thought I would try the same with a mushroom to see how effective it would be on those. Well a little confusingly is the way I would describe it. So the mushroom I use it on, has completely melted in the middle, the mouth has gone and the foot as well, and when I say completely gone I mean you can see the bare rock clearly under it. This has left just an outer ring of the mushroom, but this isn't dying! The colour has stayed the same and this little ring which isn't really attached to anything is still surviving.

So whilst it seems AptaisiaX doesn't really kill mushrooms, it might be a way to remove them by melting the foot.

 

[petestewardson]

Getting exciting now, got these pics sent through to me on boxing day :)

 

[petestewardson]

Just realised I've not been keeping this post up to date.

The tank is in, it's bloody stunning, but I haven't really got photos etc yet. But, one thing I did do is make a stupid part 1 vlog about delivery. Feel free to check it out if you feel like it. There's no tank in the vlog thoguh just to warn you.

 

[petestewardson]

OK Vlog#2 showing the tank rundown of setup and a view of the tank.

 

[petestewardson]

Bit of an update over 3 years on lol

So the tank was running fine but recently has suffered a few issues. The big one being the red mushrooms that have slowly taken over the tank. The second being the odd die off of all the cheato in the sump. I also want to shut down my Reefer Nano in my office and move the fish into this tank.

So I figured it was time to sort this out and decided this evening to make a start. First up a clear out of all the frags nobody has wanted and clear the huge Hysterix colony that looked pretty horrible as they usually do after a few years.

I've uploaded a quick video of the before and after of my evenings work.

Next step is to start breaking up the scape to remove every bit of rock with mushrooms on to swap it for clean rock.