Breaking all The Rules Self Biult 70g Tank Thread

Guy(ReefSmart)

Guy(ReefSmart)

New member
Several people have told me I need to have a tank thread for this tank here on RC. The actual build thread is over on Central Valley Reefers if anyone wants to check it out.

Well to start I built the tank and stand myself to suit what I wanted in a reef tank the Dims are 48x24x14 It is a shallow minimulist tank Mostly stocked with Clams and SPS. I paid a lot of attention under the hood to keep things nice and clean. Here's a video from today and a few pics from under the hood. I will dig up some pics from the tank build and post them at a later date.
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<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yfojC_u7ji4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Looks as complicated but cleaner than my 40. Very nice, more pics. I am liking that sticker by the ReefKeeper too. Where did you get it?
 
WOW!! I almost didn't click the video link, your tank is truly stunning! One of the most impressive tanks I have seen on here.

I highly recommend that everyone checks out the video.
 
dvanacker said:
Nice tank....

what rules are you breaking though?
Click to expand...
First off I got a lot of grief from members of my local club about building my own tank. It will leak its to dangerous bla bla it cost $121 in glass compared to leemar's $960 quote looks just as good and been running 6 months without any problems.
Also when I posted I was going to run 1600 gallons an hour through the sump with 2 high head external pumps people had a field day telling me my skimmer would not skim efficiently I would not be able to keep my sand down bla bla. The reason I did it this way was so I did not have to have ugly circulation pumps in the tank I wanted a clean look. I get by with one MP10 and have no problems algae is non existent in this tank I've cleaned the class a whole 3 times in 6 months and that was for coralline.
Then I was told how much overkill 8 t5's where going to be on a 14" tank and I'd burn all my Corals. Yes my PAR is high 400+ on the sandbed in some spots but then again all my corals are healthy happy and growing faster than I've ever seen in any of my other tanks plus I have SPS on the sandbed and thats what I wanted.
Also I like to keep my temp around 83-82 for some reason some people have a problem with this even though its totally acceptable.

Everyone who gave me all this grief in the beginning of this tank have since changed there tunes and give me a lot of props now.
 
There are so many microcosms in the ocean that you can't set hard and fast rules for tank parameters. The staple parameters that so many people adhere to as dogma serve mostly to increase general survivability and growth. If it works for you, do it!

My thoughts on your higher temperatures are that it will mostly serve to increase the metabolism of your livestock and maybe affect some chemical reactions with low percentages...so what if you have to feed more? You have the filtration to support it!

My only hard and fast rule is if it ain't broke why fix it!
 
Here's a few pics from the build process. I built my own stand also.
 

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Guy(ReefSmart) said:
First off I got a lot of grief from members of my local club about building my own tank. It will leak its to dangerous bla bla it cost $121 in glass compared to leemar's $960 quote looks just as good and been running 6 months without any problems.
Also when I posted I was going to run 1600 gallons an hour through the sump with 2 high head external pumps people had a field day telling me my skimmer would not skim efficiently I would not be able to keep my sand down bla bla. The reason I did it this way was so I did not have to have ugly circulation pumps in the tank I wanted a clean look. I get by with one MP10 and have no problems algae is non existent in this tank I've cleaned the class a whole 3 times in 6 months and that was for coralline.
Then I was told how much overkill 8 t5's where going to be on a 14" tank and I'd burn all my Corals. Yes my PAR is high 400+ on the sandbed in some spots but then again all my corals are healthy happy and growing faster than I've ever seen in any of my other tanks plus I have SPS on the sandbed and thats what I wanted.
Also I like to keep my temp around 83-82 for some reason some people have a problem with this even though its totally acceptable.

Everyone who gave me all this grief in the beginning of this tank have since changed there tunes and give me a lot of props now.
Click to expand...

Dude ...your just talking to the wrong people...you need to hang out here in the SPS forum more often. Most of us realize that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
 
Cool! Nice display. What's going on with your overflow/returns? Do you have 2 drain lines in the overflow due to GPH? How do you feel noise compared to smaller GPH thru the sump? Also curious about a back siphon when returns are turned off (if your returns are the 2 hard placed Y's 4 inches from top)...They look like a closed loop down there. :spin2:
 
2 drain hoses and 2 return lines with 2 separate pumps no closed loop.The overflow is very quiet
Lost power a few nights ago water fills to the very top of the sump but does not overflow. On a side not I also have to air pumps connected to my return pumps that inject air 4 times a day for 1 minute. here's a vid of my air injection from back when the tank was a newborn.


<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y_YxyibL8EI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
The air injection seems to pick up and carry away any detritus in the tank its amazing how much cleaner my tank became after starting this. Also it causes the SPS to slime and give a skimmer affect the corals seem to love it. Here's a short video taken about a minute after th air injection shut off you can still see waste product being expelled through the overflow imagine how much is being expelled during the injection.
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Usig3ntUHEs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
One could interpret the slimming as a sign of 'stress' or 'defense action' as opposed to corals 'loving it'. Maybe once in a while might seem to be a benefit, but several times a day?

Can you take a few pics of select corals now and again say in a month or so and compare with a pic post (growth, color, PE, stress, ect)??

I'm interested in this as when I do my bi-weekly WC's, I let the sump run dry with the return running while syphoning DT water into a brute can and I turn off the return once I see bubbles get blown into the tank. If I let the bubbles continue to run I see a similar 'slimming' effect like your video. It seemed like a stress / defense action to me....so I turn off pump once I first see bubbles in DT.


I wonder if there are any others that do this and can chime in?



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