[B][I]Desert Reef: A Rimless Starphire Design[/I][/B]

[coralreefdoc]

Vision

To create an asthetically pleasing, natural mixed reef environment in my living room, by utilizing years of aquired knowledge, dreams, and visions, in order to successfully establish a thriving reef ecosystem within the confines of a glass aquarium

System Specifications


Aquarium

60 Gallon Rimless Starphire Glass 48L x 18W x 16H


Stand

Aquatic Fundamentals Model# 16751


Lighting

Aquactinics Constellation T5 Fixture w/ Apex Lunar Simulator Moonlights


Protein Skimmer

Reef Octopus XP1000SSS w/ Bubble Blaster HY1000 Pump


Overflow System

CPR Aquatics CS102 w/ Tom AW-20 Aqualifter Pump


Sump

20 Gallon Long Aqueon Glass Aquarium w/ Customized Glass Baffles

First Section: 9L x 12Wx 10H Skimmer Section
Second Section: 10L x 12W x 10H Refugium Section
Third Section: 6L x 12W x 8H Return Section


Refugium

5 Gallons w/ Mixture of CaribSea Live Caribbean Reef Sand and Walt Smith Fiji Mud


Refugium Lighting

Ecoxotic PAR 38 12k LED Spotlight and/or JBJ Macro-Glo 25W 6400K CF


Waterflow

Sicce Syncra Silent 4.0 Return Pump w/ Dual 3/4" U-Tube Return Nozzles

EcoTech Marine Vortech MP40wES Powerhead


Controller

Neptune Apex AquaController w/ Temperature, PH, and ORP Probes
WXM Vortech Compatible Wireless Module
Lunar Simulator 3 Module
Energy Bar 8 x2


Dosing Equipment

Bubble Magus T01 Dosing Pump w/ Acrylic Bracket
Bubble Magus 2.5L Balling Container x3


Live Rock

53lbs Real Reef Aquacultured Live Rock


Substrate

40lbs CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand
40lbs CaribSea SeaFlor Special Grade Reef Sand
40lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Reef Sand


My ultimate goal for this system is to have the honor of Reef Tank of the Month. Any and all comments, suggestions, or constructive criticisms are welcomed and encouraged ![/I]

 

[MrKite24]

Looks like it will be a nice setup! The only thing I would recommend is to drill the tank for an overflow. Although the CPR overflows are nice, they aren't as reliable as a drilled tank and require much more maintenance. The last thing you want is a flood in your living room!

Have you started setting up this tank yet? Do you have any pictures?

 

[somethingphishy]

just be sure to run an aqualifter pump with the cpr....no worries of flooding then

 

[reefjunkie42]

unless the POS qualifier fails.... drill and have piece of mind.

 

[Enjoy]

Can't wait to see it

 

[coralreefdoc]

Looks like it will be a nice setup! The only thing I would recommend is to drill the tank for an overflow. Although the CPR overflows are nice, they aren't as reliable as a drilled tank and require much more maintenance. The last thing you want is a flood in your living room!

Have you started setting up this tank yet? Do you have any pictures?

Thanks for the nice setup comment, MrKite. While it took longer to put all the components together, I tried not to cut any corners as we all know in this hobby you end up upgrading shortly after anyways. With that being said the one weakness in the system is the HOB overflow. However, the system is a peninsula design with the short side coming off the wall and i didn't want to make the commitment of drilling the shortside of the tank, yet. Internal corner overflow is out of the question, takes up too much tank space. Thanks for the recommendation and for following along.

just be sure to run an aqualifter pump with the cpr....no worries of flooding then

Agreed. Even have a backup ready for immediate changing if necessary. Thanks for the suggestion !

unless the POS qualifier fails.... drill and have piece of mind.

Qualifier ? As mentioned above I wasnt ready to commit to drilling the short side of the tank, however, an external Coast to Coast overflow system could be in the works in the future, we'll see how it goes.

Can't wait to see it

Im looking forward to watching it come together also, hopefully it will mature into a great system and live up to my expectations. A sneak peek is in order in the next couple hours, just for you buddy ! Been following along on your systems thread as well, great to have you here. Speaking of which, thanks for the info on incorporating the PAR 38 LED Spot into the top of the stand, be sure to take credit for that one when the update for it comes out in the future :thumbsup:

 

[coralreefdoc]

Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek

This system has been up and running, albeit primitively, for the past 6 weeks (03/05/2011) in order to get a jump start on cycling and establishing a healthy, thriving pod and micro fauna population, one of the early keys to a successful, diverse reef system, IMO. The cycle was insignificant and only lasted about a week.

On 03/26/2011, 21 days after initial setup, I seeded the reef with two different sources (Reef Nutrition and Southwest Reefs) of live Tigriopus Californicus copepods.

Not much in this hobby is instant gratification, however, in the spirit of getting everyone excited and involved in this process I want to leak a few pics of the aquascaping and overall look of the reef for everyones viewing enjoyment. I will go into detail on the aquascaping process/philosophy, etc. in a future post.

As of a few days ago, before most of the high end equipment arrived, here is what the system/reef looks like:

Mind the iPhone4 picture quality ...


Left Side

Right Side

Continued ...

 

[coralreefdoc]

Center

Overview

Feedback appreciated !

 

[Chyendra]

Your aquascape looks very natural, I think you're off to a great start.

Stocking ideas?

 

[Pallobi]

grat job, i love it

 

[urbaneks]

CRD,
Great start to the aquarium, looks like you spent some money on the controller. What does the WXM unit do for you, what's the cost and have you found it worth the purchase?

How do you like the Real Reef Rock? I like the idea of a man made rock but keep going away from the idea due to the color of it. Seems more pink than true coralline algae.

Are you happy with the glass cages tank? Now that my tank is here and the issues with Cad are behind me, I love the work they did.

Again, great setup. Keep the updates coming.

 

[29reef]

I think you could get away with about 1/2 as much rock as you have now. It looks great but given 18 months of stony coral growth the tank will be bursting and you'll be trimming corals on a monthy basis just to keep them from taking over each other.

Looks like your off to a good start.

 

[coralreefdoc]

Your aquascape looks very natural, I think you're off to a great start.

Stocking ideas?

Thanks Chyendra, that was one of my main objectives with the aquascaping. There have been some setbacks with this reef so far but I feel my patience will noticably pay off tenfold in the next year plus of this reefs life.

Cant give away too much information on that topic this early in the thread, however, it will be a mixed reef with some choice LPS on the bottom-middle and SPS mid-top. Stay tuned !

grat job, i love it

Pallobi. Thanks for the kind words. So do I !

CRD,
Great start to the aquarium, looks like you spent some money on the controller. What does the WXM unit do for you, what's the cost and have you found it worth the purchase?

How do you like the Real Reef Rock? I like the idea of a man made rock but keep going away from the idea due to the color of it. Seems more pink than true coralline algae.

Are you happy with the glass cages tank? Now that my tank is here and the issues with Cad are behind me, I love the work they did.

Again, great setup. Keep the updates coming.

Urbaneks,

Great to hear from you and have you involved with this thread ! I did invest a few pennies into the Apex system and some of its upgraded components. Being that I went with the Constellation fixture, I needed to incorporate LED moonlights so the Lunar Simulator module was a welcomed upgrade. The WXM module allows me to control the 2 Vortech MP10wES wirelessly through the APEX/Reef Notes iPhone application. Many people are drawn to the versatility of the iPhone application, in order to control different aspects/parameters of their system from anywhere in the world, but they seldom consider one of the most important variables to have full, functional control over ... Flow. The WXM allows the user to fully integrate the Vortechs with the Apex, making it possible to change the speed, settings, etc. of the Vortechs multiple times daily based on moon/feeding cycles, other components turning on or off, etc. Well worth the extra expense !

I love the Real Reef rock, for multiple reasons. First and foremost, it helps alleviate collecting pressures from the "Real Reefs". However, one of the main things that attracted me to the rock itself was the interesting/unique pieces. If you notice in the above pics it probably appears that I did some major sculpting to create some of the formations. There are only two locations where I used epoxy, the rest of the aquascaping is freehand ! While I did take alot of time selecting the individual pieces for the look I was going for, the uniqueness of the Real Reef rock allowed me the creativity in the aquascaping other rocks couldnt emulate. Another reason, funny enough since it is a negative for you, was the coloration of the rock. To me it looks like realistic, coralline encrusted, live rock in most places. I do see where you are coming from regarding the pink hues though. Some pieces are undoubtedly more realistic looking than others. I was lucky enough to have early pickings from a choice shipment a couple months ago. I also like how the rock instantly makes the reef look mature and somewhat retards nuisance algae growth. Once the rock starts to get further encrusted with coralline it, IMO, looks extremely realistic due to the multiple hues of coloration. Coralline naturally has a myriad of color forms. Not to mention the rock is virtually pest free. The only pest I have encountered thus far is a rogue bristleworm I wasnt able to catch in time. No worries, he'll make himself known once i add a Tridacna, at which point he will be banished to the refugium !

I think you could get away with about 1/2 as much rock as you have now. It looks great but given 18 months of stony coral growth the tank will be bursting and you'll be trimming corals on a monthy basis just to keep them from taking over each other.

Looks like your off to a good start.

Thank you. I agree, somewhat ... It truly depends on the specific system though. What exactly do you mean by 1/2 as much rock ... Vertically, proximity to the glass, proximity to each other ? I easily couldve excluded alot of the rock, however, the reef wouldve looked bare for those 18 months of growth you mentioned. There is only 53 pounds total, less than 1lb per gallon. While I wish I had some extra width to work with, more in the range of 24-30 inches versus 18, I think with proper placement of species it will suffice. Very interested to hear your thoughts further.

 

[launchnukes]

looking good. love the rockwork

 

[urbaneks]

CRD - Thanks for the details on WXM. I have on on order and look forward to its arrival. I'm hopeful that it integrates with the Feed Mode so that when I chose a feed timer, it dials the vortechs down to where I want them.

 

[coralreefdoc]

No problem, Urbaneks. Great to hear about your WXM order, let me know what you think of it and if your satisfied with the feed mode functions. Look forward to collaborating with you in the near future on the equipment panel, if it turns out anything close to what yours is it should look great.

 

[urbaneks]

CRD - I hope all is well with your tank. Have not heard from you in some time.

 

[ReefKeeper64]

updated pics please!