215g Caribbean Inspired Reef

[euromomtx]

I am waiting on my new 215g tank to arrive.
It will have a 7"DSB to accommodate a group of yellowhead jawfish.
The look I am striving for is that of a Caribbean reef with tons of photosynthetic gorgonians, ricordea, etc.
I am not really calling it a biotope though because it will house some of my favorites from my old tank that are definitely not Caribbean such as my spawning pair of target mandarins, Bartlett's Anthias etc.
Overall it should be pretty peaceful -just a bunch of small fish, no tangs, etc.

I will be running 4 MP40w ES to create a wave motion which should look fantastic with the gorgos flowing back and forth!

Other hardware: ATI T5 fixture, Elos NS2000 skimmer, 56 gallon custom sump, Nextreef XL Pellet reactor with biopellets, Nextreef media reactor with GFO, Sicce Syncra 5.0 return pump

Sand will be Caribsea Super Reef and the rock is all dry pukani rock bolted together with acrylic thread rods.

(coffee cans simulate 7" sandbed)

I want a background on the tank but I am really torn between black and blue. I already bought self adhesive vinyl in black but am still considering blue

black would hide the overflow boxes and vortechs better, blue would look more like the actual diving pictures...
Any thoughts on that?

 

[SilverGTS]

IMO black seems to make the colors in the tank pop more and with blue its blends in if you have a lot of blue in your lighting. Since its a reef tank no matter what color you go with it'll prolly get blocked out my coraline algae eventually. Hope that helps a little

-Chris

 

[euromomtx]

I've not been able to really get excited about the blue OR black background so I decided to make a shadowbox background instead.
I just read that painted on backgrounds absorb tons of light anyway so a backlid backrgound should be pretty good

 

[euromomtx]

couple of sneak peeks:

left side is untouched acrylic; right side is treated with super fine steel wool for that hazy/in the distance look which of course also hides the detail on my crummy spray painted rocks better...
Sweet-talked the nice people at the acrylic shop into giving me a little piece to play with even though I already picked out the color and ordered it.

figuring out the details on the box/frame. I need at least 3" on the inside for the 80w T5 fixture. Also want to be able to mount this on the wall and still be able to slide top board off for bulb changes, etc.

I love the blue acrylic. It will be fun to see what it looks like with different bulbs. I am imagining blue bulb for a deepsea look, white for reef crest and maybe a 6700 yellowish midday bulb to turn the upper region into more of a turquoise shade like you see in the Caribbean diving pictures. Maybe I am just dreaming now though. lol

So far I like it pretty well. I think the only thing able to screw this up if the background and that's easily changed if it doesn't turn out right.

 

[euromomtx]

Got the shadowbox almost finished!

DSA tank is taking longer than expected though and won't be here until the end of July

 

[euromomtx]

My tank just got delivered last weekend.
I LOVE it. I think Deep Sea Aquatics is offering a really great value with their Ocean View line.
The stand is awesome too. Love that the sides open completely and the doors in front are so big. It will be easy to mess with the sump and reactors, etc.

I am finally finished adding my rock structures, rock overflow covers and massive amounts of sand!

It's 440 pounds of Caribsea Super Reef to create 6-7" of depth for the jawfishes.
They better like it and live a long and happy live in there.
I am happy with how the mortared rock overflow covers turned out and the nylon rod-ed main structure. Everything is super stable so nothing will collapse when the jawfish group moves in and starts digging.

I know the amount of sand seems overwhelming but I really wanted to dedicate this tank to make a great jawfish habit. So what better place to consult than Reefkeeping.com.
They stated 6" as the minimum.
On the plus side if I use a stool I can reach the bottom again now.
Am also super happy with the shadowbox background. Glad I did that rather than just paint the back.

It's actually not as bright as you see it in the picture.

Should have it filled with water and running by this weekend!

 

[outy]

the shadow turned out nice.

I went with about 400lbs of sand in my 215 but a fine and medium and coarse mix so ive got about 2" less then you.

 

[The Punisher]

Looks good, and gosh, that's a TON of sand.

 

[elijaher]

Wow that is a lot of sand.

 

[euromomtx]

the shadow turned out nice.

I went with about 400lbs of sand in my 215 but a fine and medium and coarse mix so ive got about 2" less then you.

I only have 1" on the glass, then the rock structures sit on that so a lot of rock is actually under the sand. My sand mix is similar to yours in that is's fine, medium and then shell pieces.
Here's the description for the Super Reef:
http://caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html

 

[builderguy]

the shadowbox is pretty cool

 

[rolodex1]

THAT'S A DEEP SAND BED!!! Hahahahahahahaha

 

[euromomtx]

I know. Now I wish I had gone with the 31" tall (240g) tank instead of the 29" 215g.
Oh well.
I am basing my planning on this article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/hcs3/index.php

Assuming we are planning ahead, the ideal sandbed for a jawfish will be at least 10 - 12" deep. Emphasis on "ideal." Sometimes "ideal" is not always realistic. In such cases when 12" of sandbed is not realistic, I would consider 6" as being the absolute minimum. This is a personal observation only. Others have recommended a 3" sandbed as a minimum (Fenner, Wet Web Media). When you take into consideration that the minimum depth for a jawfish's den in the wild is 4", a 3" sandbed seems extremely inadequate.

I am still getting used to it myself. It's pretty overwhelming. Hopefully it will make the jawfish happy.

 

[Jetski]

Love your shadowbox background. More info please!

 

[euromomtx]

Thanks. I really like it too.
I was going to paint the back or use adhesive vinyl but then I read that that reduces available light a lot so I was looking for other options.
I wrote a whole bunch of stuff on the shadowbox thing here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1868825&highlight=shadowbox

 

[euromomtx]

Another small project finished:
clear mesh lid to keep my jawfish buddies safe

 

[builderguy]

What material is that clear mesh and where did you get it. I've heard of people using bird netting, but that seems too large and I didn't want jumping fish to get caught in it.

Looks like it's in a screen frame...is that right?

 

[euromomtx]

Yes, it's a screen frame from Lowes. Comes in alu, brown, white, etc.
Easy to cut to size with a skill saw.
The mesh is clear mesh, very light friendly and perfect size for my little fish. I think it's used for insulating and usually comes in 100' rolls but there is a guy named David that sells it cut to size for your tank.
Here's the instructions on how this is done: LINK

 

[prop-frags]

I like the creativity! The shadowbox is a great touch...did you say it will be back-lit?

 

[euromomtx]

Mike,
Thanks. Yes the shadowbox is in fact the only thing that's lit right now. It looks much brighter in the picture because it was the only light source in the room.
It's taking me a while to make all that saltwater so the lights for the main tank aren't on yet.
But the shadowbox does have it's own T5 bulb in it. It's what creates the effect of it being brighter (closer to the sun) on top and darker towards the bottom.
I initially painted the background as a gradient and then found I didn't need to because the lighting will naturally produce the gradient effect on the background color.