New 225 Setup with Aquascaping Focus

[andrewsk]

Hello all,

My name is Keith and I live in Calgary, Canada.

I am starting another "watch me build my tank" thread but I hope this one will be a bit different.

I am the current owner of a low to midrange 90 gallon tank with some assorted corals and fish. While I love my tank I always felt that it could be so much more. Then I came across this thread on RC and was truly inspired by the design of the tank and some of the comments in the thread.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=853513

My biggest "dislike" in reefkeeping is the look of a tank that that is simply filled with Live rock (one large hill in the middle) covered in coral with clams, frags etc all over the sand. I think it looks cluttered and very non reef like. I also think that coraline all over the back and sides of the tank takes away from the depth of the tank and should be eliminated. Last, I cannot stand the look of powerheads, heaters or anythink man made in the tank. (I hope this does not offend anyone in any way, this is just my anal opinion anyway )

Here is a quote from "steveweast" in the above thread that says it better than I can:

Greg (Bonsainut) posted the best example of aquascaping perfection. It's the one I always come back to for inspiration....and why ? ....because I believe the answer to all your aquascaping questions are right there in that pic..... you just need to notice its philosophies...

1) have just as much postive space (rocks and corals) as negative space (open water and sand)

2) Don't worry about creating nooks/crannies/caves/etc....they just will be eventually covered by livestock. Instead focus on the general rock shape that has both low and high points...perhaps even breaking the surface. Focus on large details...not small crevises (especially if you have a large tank).

3) Maintain an algae free back (and sides if possible) to create an illusion of infinite depth....contrary to what we'd all like to believe, coralline does not create an attractive back drop...only a distracting one.

4) hide all the things of man.....overflows...pumps...pipes....etc.

5) don't clutter the sand bed with a bunch of livestock....a clam or two...maybe...but that's it. Cluttered sandbeds just make the overall display look too busy. You can improve the overall display tremendously by just removing all the frags, zoas, blastos, etc that so many people seem to keep on the sandbed these days......it just distracting.

With this in mind I am going to TRY to create a new tank that follows these principals.

The tank will be 225 gallons (72 long, 30 deep, and 24 high). The 30 deep instead of the standard 24 deep 30 high should allow a few more aquascaping possibilities.


As for the equipment, on my 90 I went low to mid range for most of the items and was often let down.



For the 225, I am going to try to get only the best equipment and do this right.

Here are my equipment plans (I will put rough equipment costs in here in case anyone is interested) Opinions are welcome!

Water movement.:
Tunze TS24 Turbelle Stream Pump Kit - 2 x 6100 Pump + 7095 Multi Controller and a Wave Box. The pumps will be hidden on the rockwork by 2 Tunze Turbelle Stream Deco-Rocks.
Total $2000 CAD

(I did seriously think about a closed loop system, but I want to do some serious wave simulation and I love the nightime, feeding, and total control that the tunze offers.)

Lighting:
72" PFO Professional Series Metal Halide
IceCap Metal Halide Ballast Add-On - 3x250W
3-250W 10000K XM Metal Halide BulbPFO Fixture IceCap Fan
Dual Fan
PFO LED Night Light Add-On
PFO Fixture 72" VHO Actinic Add-On (Dual) - 2x165W
Total $2000 CAD

Skimmer:
Euro-Reef RC500 External Protein Skimmer
Total $2000 CAD

Sump:
I am still not decided on the Sump. Currently my plans are to use my 90 for a sump/refugium combo but I do not think my skimmer will fit inside (I know it can go external but would prefer it internal) so I may have to order something custom.

Sand/Bottom:
I am going barebottom and have ordered my board from TheCuttingBoard Company. (2 - 1/2 inch thick 36" x 30" white boards.) $200

Live Rock:
I am going to go with a full Deep Water Tonga environment. I currently have 70 lbs in my 90 and have another 70 shipping out today. $500 per 70lbs

Filtration:
Other than the skimmer, I am going to have a ton of Cheato in the Sump, 2 Phosban Reactors running RowPhos and Carbon, and 3 custom plumbed pails (Like the Instant Ocean ones) that will be joined by PVC and bulkheads and fed from a pump through 2 unlit deep sand beds and 1 unlit miracle mud bed.

Due to many spills and floods from the 90, we are redisigning my den and putting down tile and laminate where than will soon be going.



Current progress. The pipes just go to the 90 for now and will be removed once I have converted to the new tank.

My equipment and Tank will be arriving this week so please feel free to comment with any opinions or suggestions as I move forward.

[geckofrog]

Wow, looks like you got a lot of work "cut" out for you. Can't wait to see equipment pictures!

[andrewsk]

My tunze Equipment just arrived. Woo hoo!!!

[chrismunn]

cant wait to see where your going with this!

[Jeremy Blaze]

Looking good.

As for the open aquascaping, I agree, have a look at my new tank thread,

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=814800

[andrewsk]

Looks great. Ill have to follow your thread and compare notes. My tank arrives tomorrow!

I did a small mockup of what I want to do with the tank in Paint. Opinions are welcome.

My tank arrives tomorrow.

[subzero420]

Cool, love following tanks, why the open space between backround and glass?

[King-Kong]

- flow; so detritus wont settle as easily
- fish movement; more swimming room/area to get away from "display"
- coral growth; give the coral room to grow on all sides
- aesthetics; "open" aquascapes tend to be (in my eyes) some of the better looking ones.

... lots of reasons for more area around and inbetween rocks. I think most of the hobby should re-examine the "wall of rock" mantra/routine, and strive for unique/useful aquascapes.

I love it!

[andrewsk]

Originally posted by King-Kong
- flow; so detritus wont settle as easily
- fish movement; more swimming room/area to get away from "display"
- coral growth; give the coral room to grow on all sides
- aesthetics; "open" aquascapes tend to be (in my eyes) some of the better looking ones.

... lots of reasons for more area around and inbetween rocks. I think most of the hobby should re-examine the "wall of rock" mantra/routine, and strive for unique/useful aquascapes.

I love it!

Thanks Kong.

The back space is for exactly the reasons you stated above as well as allowing me to keep the back glass clear from Coraline etc.

I am going to TRY to create the illusion of depth and algea growth on the back will mess that up.

I could not agree more on the "Wall of Rock" mantra. In many ways it put me off the hobby thinking I needed to do it that way.

Perhaps this should be the Anti-Wall of Rock thread

Not that I am knocking what other people find appealing in any way. There are some amazing tanks that use this principal. It's just not for me.

[NCreefwannabe]

how do u plan to get the sloping effect? using pvc racks would be the easiest. that way fish could go around AND under rocks. You could also hide powerhead underneathe since its a BB tank to keep deitrus from setlling underneathe. Would also save a ton on rock lol.

[andrewsk]

My plan was to drill an few inches of pvc into each rock that is going to sit on the bottom (Except the very fron ones) allowing about an inch of free space across almost the whole tank.

Ill have to think about a rack. Great idea.

[andrewsk]

Ok, this drawing SUCKS but it's late.

What if I used shelves made from PVC and acrylic or something to raise each rock as high as I needed it.

That way for the rock sticking out of the water at the top, I could just measure it and build the proper sized shelf.

[NCreefwannabe]

yeah thats the basica shelving idea. saves money on rock. and allows your fish to get behind and under your structures. You can also hide stuff under it if needed.

[sr3w]

Keith, King Kong - If you start a "Anti Wall-of-Rock" club, I'll totally join. I love the ideas you're presenting here, Keith. I'm excited to see the final aquascaping results. If I can get my camera's batteries to hold a charge, I'll take some shots of my setup, which is also rather open. But the chances of that are poor. So in the meantime, just take this as some positive encouragement.

Scott

[andrewsk]

Well my tank arrived tonight and it is HUGE. It's one thing to measure and plan, but when the tank actually showed up I just could not believe how big it was.

Albert and the gang from Golds delivered it and did a great job. Man that thing weighed a TON.

There were a couple of things Albert metioned that I wanted to clear up and thought it would be good to have them in the forum.

Since the tank is frameless, we put it on some plywood and Albert suggested I get some foam to put under it. I got a 1/4 foam camping pad from Wal Mart since Home Depot only carries hard styrofoam it seems.

Does this look ok?



Albert also suggested that I cut out a portion of the center of the foam and leave it open. I am not sure why I need to do this. Would just leaving the whole sheet of foam under the tank cause problems?

Anyway, it's in a looks great. I have to wait a week for it to cure and then put fresh water in it for a week to leak test. That is ok as I have at least that much work to do with the Sump, rockwork tests and plumbing.

Here are the shots:






Look how tiny my little 90 looks now from the exact same distance of the shot!!!!



Here is the overflow. There is one on each side outside of the tank. I wanted as much room in the tank as possible and as little man made objects as possible.

[subzero420]

Thats massive, my god damn!!! Nice external overflow!

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by andrewsk

Look how tiny my little 90 looks now from the exact same distance of the shot!!!!

hey! I'll have you know that 90 looks QUITE LARGE TO ME!


(beautiful tank, and I am quite jealous of your external overflows.

[chrismunn]

it is a glass tank right? very nice looking!

[andrewsk]

Yes, it is glass. I like the frameless look. It does give it a slight acrylic look.

Thanks!

[chrismunn]

right, thats why i was asking. the frameless looks like acrylic, but by the pic you can tell its glass, very nice!
and why would you need to cut a hole in the foam pad exactly? i dont see any reason to?
by the way, what was the time frame you were looking at untill this thing has water in it?

[andrewsk]

Originally posted by chrismunn
right, thats why i was asking. the frameless looks like acrylic, but by the pic you can tell its glass, very nice!
and why would you need to cut a hole in the foam pad exactly? i dont see any reason to?
by the way, what was the time frame you were looking at untill this thing has water in it?

This is what I was told by Gold's. The store that built my tank.

Since this tank is frameless, you'll want the center of the tank to "float". The reason being that, under pressure, the glass will push down against the floor support, with the floor support exerting an equal amount of pressure back against the glass (physics, lol). If there's ANY kind of uneveness against the glass (eg. a knot area in the plywood), it's going to create different areas of pressure; foam will only provide a marginal buffer against this. Imagine pushing the end of a 2x4 against the center of the front panel, it'll just break. The same applies to your bottom panel, except tenfold since that's where all of the weight is concentrated.

For this reason, Oceanic will not warrantee cracked tanks that are not put on Oceanic stands. These stands support only the outside edges of the tank, thus, floating the center.

Edit: you're going to want to go back to Home Depot and pick up some of the 3/4" hard foam insulation sheets for this. Soft foam is just asking for it...

The tank has to sit for a week and then have water in it for a week to leak test.

[andrewsk]

Well, my live rock arrived today. I currently have about 70 lbs of Deep Water Tonga in my 90 gallon so I re-odered another 70 as I love the look of it over the standard Fiji. It is more expensive but well worth it. I also have another 50 of Fiji rock to go under the Tonga.

I took it out of the box and placed it in one of my barrels of salt water. It will stay in here until some of the pollution is gone from it. After a few hours in the bucket I am glad I did this because MAN DOES IT STINK! My wife is not pleased. Just look:



I will be changing the water daily until this clears up a bit.

I also found the strangest creature lurking near the surface of my smelly mess. Anyone recognize this?



I also replaced the foam to the thicker 3/4" pink styrofoam and cut it out as per Alberts help.



Now I just need to get someone to lift the tank for me! Any takers?

I also installed the bulkheads so that they can have a week to cure along with the tank.




The rest of the week will be plumbing the tank and refugium.

[thor32766]

great work keep it up!!!!

[King-Kong]

Cook that live rock.

[andrewsk]

Originally posted by King-Kong
Cook that live rock.

You don't think I should give it any light? The shades of Coraline are amazing and I would like to keep some of it.