Chrishet's Custom 22G Rimless Reef

[chrishet]

Hi Folks, it's time for another build thread with Pics! Thanks for all the great feedback and suggestions over the years from this forum. Hopefully this project will be as successful as my others have been.

As stated in my 22 Gal Cadlights Nano Reef Project thread, I have decided to rebuild my office tank with a new custom 22 gallon Starfire tank from Glasscages.com. While the Cad is a wonderful tank the curved front glass makes taking pictures a challenge, plus this new tank will give me a little more space. I need to keep the tank dimensions pretty close to the same as the Cad. This will be a mix reef with SPS dominating, a few high-end Zoos and a few LPS. I am keeping with an All In One design but after a year and a half working in this space I have some changes to the design that I feel will make the system work even better!

Here are my design goals for the project:
• Maximize surface water agitation each individual chamber
• Removable walls for maintenance
• Removable media trays
• Refugium
• Bubble-trap on exit
• Temp/pH Probe holder
• ATO/Dosing Pumps return hose holder
• Water level sensors – both over and under for automation/alarms
• Solid overflow - no teeth - to maximize surface skimming action

Here is a drawing of my design. I am new to acrylics so I am going to take my time and learn as I go. I ordered the sheets from Tap Plastics. The back wall will be 1/4 inch black and the chamber walls will be 3/16th inch black. The entire back of tank will be painted black except for a small area to support a magnetic LED fuge light.

Here is my equipment list so far:

• Glasscages.com 22 Gallon 24x15x14tall Tank - Starfire Glass on 3 sides
• Cadlights 96Watt 24 inch T5HO Fixture w/moonlight LED's
• Tunze Silence 1073.020 634gph return pump
• Echotech Marine MP20 Propeller Pump
• Neptune Systems Apex Controller
• Deltec MCE300 HOB Skimmer
• BRS Auto Top Off Dosing Pump - 50ml per minute
• Drews Dosing Pumps (2) 1.6ml per minute
• Autotopoff.com ATO Sensors
• JBJ Nano-Glo LED Refugium Light
• Azoo Cooling Fan
• Visi-therm Stealth 150W Heater
• The Filter Guys Ocean Reef 75gpd RO/DI

Additives:
• BRS ROX Carbon
• BRS HC GFO
• BRS 2 Part Solution - Alk / Ca / Mag

Here is a shot of the new tank...SOLID!
More to come......

 

[vegita51]

wow this is going to be insane! Can't wait!!

 

[Reeferon]

Omg!!!!

 

[CausticGuy]

Looks Great! Tagging along.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

That's solid looking tank! Looking forward to your build.

 

[geaux xman]

tank looks nice!

the bottom of the tank isnt one single sheet of glass?

how much was shipping if you dont mind and did they ship to your door?

 

[chrishet]

Thx all...I'm looking forward to the change.

As you can see from the pic above the tanks bottom is reinforced, one peice of class but several strips along the bottom used to support the bottom and walls.

Glasscages has a delivery truck and, for here in Atlanta anyway, you pick up your tank at a central location...I think they would ship to your door as well but for my small tank it wasn't a big deal to meet the truck.

 

[chrishet]

....shipping was $36.00

I need to investigate transferring my stock to this new tank...any thoughts out there on doing this? Slow is good. I'm thinking about new crushed coral and seeding this new substrate with a handful or two of sand from my existing tank. I do have a few pieces of rock that are fully encrusted and seeded that I can move immediately. I'm also thinking about doing small water transfers back and forth to equalize the water params between the two...I certainly don't need a big cycle here to kill off my corals!

 

[JLopez]

just use rock, water, and some of your old sand and you'll be fine.

 

[chrishet]

That's solid looking tank! Looking forward to your build.

Thx SM...sure miss my 30gal cube...I hope yours is doing well.

The tank is 1/2 inch glass...IMHO it is overkill for a 22 gal tank but I didn't request a specific thickness wall so I will have to deal with it...live and learn..

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

My cube is still going. I tend to neglect it from time to time, so it's surprising that it's still around.

I'd skip the crushed coral and go with all sand. Save yourself a few $$$ and just buy dry aragnoite and seed that with the sand from your tank.

 

[CausticGuy]

Updates?

 

[chrishet]

Got most of my parts in yesterday...except the Tunze pump which shipped Wed. I will hopefully start the sump build on Sunday. One additional thought...I have a Sapphire nano media reactor that I would like to integrate into chamber 1. I was thinking about dumping the stock reactor pump and running an additional line from my return pump through a control valve and into the reactor - maybe add a few for a true nano manifold! - cool!. The typical 1/2 in gate valves will be way too big...any suggested on a valve that I could use? Perhaps a JG valve...

 

[chrishet]

I started the build today.

Here are a few pics...

Glasscages.com Starfire tank - butt naked and heavy!

Removable baffle walls...still need to cut wall heights.

Here is a view from behind the wall...a few more cuts and holes, and a lot of cleanup work to do and then we will glue it up.

Cutting the grooves for the baffles.

 

[mnml]

Very nice, Chris. I'm looking forward to see this project come together.

 

[ddeneve]

1/2" glass, that is crazy. I wonder if that was done to increase the price.

 

[chrishet]

Thx Tran...another 2 weeks I should be ready for the transfer.

ddeneve, I tend to agree it is probably overkill. I sent an email to them regarding the thickness of the glass...their reply was they either do 3/8" or 1/2", but typically will do 1/2 unless the customer requests otherwise - I told them I probably would have done 3.8" had I known...not because of cost but for other reasons - for example I will need to mod my MCE300 to accommodate the thicker glass.

 

[ataylo13]

Tagging along. Everything is looking good.

 

[chrishet]

Getting ready for glue-up.....

 

[lusenut2]

This build is looking good.