[georgiajams]

OK folks, you've seen some of the construction. But now, it's been up for... almost a month. The rock all came out of a pre-existing tank, so there was no cycle. Thus, I have a fairly bare but up-and-coming tank to share with y'all. The candy cane frag is from Joel. He also gave me some frogspawn and some zoos that you might be able to make out in the tank pics.

The Cinnamon Clownfish is the one I won at the Cap Bay meeting several months ago. Healthy and loving the new Bubble Tip from Marine Fish. He's so smart... even though he is tank raised, he knew exactly what to do with the BTA. The BTA is loving the AquaticCo lights... man, this is sounding like a ARC sponsor informercial. OK, while I'm at it... the MRC MR-1 is keeping the water sparkling for my old friends: the school of chromis, 6-line, Regal, and Yellow Tang.

I should have a web site soon dedicated to the tanks. I have some good 37g pics to. Until then....

Enjoy...

 

[georgiajams]

Another shot

 

[georgiajams]

The candy cane frag from Joel

 

[georgiajams]

And the BTA and Clown...

 

[ckreef]

Lookin good --- and there is nothing wrong w/ an ARC sponsor infomercial.

Looks like you used some kind of mesh to hold some of the LR up.

Am I correct ???
How did you do that ???
Are you going to put any sand along the bottom???

Charles

 

[Joel]

Chris its lookin good. Let me know how that frogspawn frag does. When I got yours I also got one for myself and one for Nate-G. We'll have to see how long it takes for them to get big. Rick O does that candy cane look familiar?

 

[georgiajams]

Looks like you used some kind of mesh to hold some of the LR up.

Am I correct ???
How did you do that ???
Are you going to put any sand along the bottom???

Why yes! Very perceptive you are.

That "mesh" is the infamous black eggcrate that CyberChef helped me round up back in February. Now doesn't that blend in a little better than white eggcrate? Keep in mind, none of that rock in there had any coralline algae at first, but it's coming. As the tank fills up with corals and coralline, you won't notice the eggcrate hardly at all except for the fact that the tank is somehow magically elevated off the bottom.

First, I cut 5 PVC sections and stuck them on the bottom of the tank with caulk. Then, I cut out some eggcrate to form the bottom and tied it to the PVC sections with zip ties. Then, I cut out two panels for the back. Each panel has big and irregular holes cut into them to form little caves that the fish like to swim in and out of.

The PVC pipe in the back runs down to a spraybar in the back, bottom of the tank. The spraybar has holes in all directions, but most of them point to the front of the tank. The Dolphin 2700 pumps the water to create a jet stream underneath the spraybar. This pushes the detritus to the front of the tank where I suck it out when I do a water change. Additionally, since the overflows are at the top of the tank, the circulation is quite good. All water flows from the bottom to the top. Additionally it kind of creates a circular motion that tends to not leave many dead spots.

Thus, the idea now is to not have a sand bed except for in the 15g or so refugium I have behind the tank (integrated into the 50 g sump). I may add some sand just for looks, but by no means would it be considered a DSB. Right now I like the "neatness" of the bare bottom.

I plan on outlining, with pics, my whole process of building this thing at some point. The tank is loosly based on the Simplified Reefkeeping method.

-Chris

 

[bamann345]

I like the eggcrate to help build up the live rock...I am most likely going to do that at my school tank to help keep the cost of live rock cost down! About how many pounds is in the tank?

The tank looks very nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

[AquaticCo]

Looks great Chris. Keep the pictures coming

Doug

 

[Nishant3789]

what about if corraline starts to grow ont he bottom? li love hte way its elevated btw

 

[georgiajams]

what about if corraline starts to grow ont he bottom?

That would be outstanding, imo. I don't think much of anything is going to grow under there since it is dark.

I worry a little about something getting under there that I can't get to, however the flow is pretty swift. I can use one of those magnet glass scraper type things if something fell under there that didn't get swept to the front by the flow.

 

[Billdemart]

That rock work is rockin dude.

Sorry just saw Finding Nemo...

But seriously that aquascaping looks great.

Bill

 

[Phantom Phish]

You might want to consider getting green star polyps to grow across the bottom. The folks at Marine Fish have a tank like that, with green star polyps almost covering the bottom. Looks really cool, like a field of grass.

 

[georgiajams]

green star polyps almost covering the bottom. Looks really cool, like a field of grass.

Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about. My leather coral frag in the 37g tank came from that exact tank at Marine Fish.

I actually already have green some star polyps that I got from CyberChef a couple meetings ago. Right now it's in the 37g, but I'll frag some into the big tank and see how they do. From what I hear, they can get outta control if you don't watch out.

 

[Phantom Phish]

Yeah, I've heard that controlling them can be difficult if they get on your liverock. But I've read that its easier to get them off glass/acrylic though. Seems like a good way of growing some frags for sale or trade. If i set up a smaller tank, I think I might try it.