Flame's 28g Bowfront

[Flame_Angel]

Hey all, just laying the groundwork for my eventual project. Already picked up the aquarium, now it's a matter of buying things here and there, one at a time, until I've got everything I need.

The tank is an older Perfecto (Marineland) 28g bowfront. What sets this tank apart from a lot of the other bowfronts is how wide it is. Basically, they took a 20H and added a curved piece of front glass to it, like so:

I really like the deeper tank, compared to a lot of other bowfronts which are very thin. The only issue I have with it is the center brace; I know it's there basically to support the top, so I can either remove it (which won't look clean, no matter how carefully I do it) or I can leave it be and just work around it.

The plans so far are:

• SPS-only tank.
• Extremely low fish load, if any at all; not really sure what small fish I'd put in here. Ideally, I'd do 1-2. I'm open to suggestions.
• No sand bed; the size of the tank and the high flow I'm going to be shooting for just aren't going to be conducive to keeping the sand bed in place. Sandless will also facilitate easier siphoning out of any mulm that accumulates.
• LED-lit; considering piecing together a lighting system through RapidLED, got some good advice from one of their associates yesterday in regards to how many LEDs and how best to tackle the center brace.
• Drilled in the rear for a Glass-Holes overflow kit.
• Custom made stand, larger than the tank by at least a third to facilitate the use of a large sump and provide room for the reactors.
• Carbon/GFO reactors, if needed. I may hold off on them and see how well it goes.
• Auto topoff system for the sump.
• Dosing system for calc/alk/mag.
• High-flow environment using a Vortech MP10 pump.
• Marco Rock for the rockwork, at least to start.

As I garner more pieces to this kit, I'll make additions to this thread. As always, I'm open to suggestions on how best to tackle everything.

 

[lilpatty19]

Excited to see how it turns out..I have the same tank and it's still only 1 month out from the initial build so it will be cool to see what someone one else does with the same tank!! good luck!

 

[-RYknow]

Subscribed! :beer:

-RYknow

 

[Flame_Angel]

So the thought occurred to me: if I removed the center brace, it would open up a whole new set of options for me, chiefly it would allow me to use a single led unit over the tank, like a Radion or an AI Sol.

Would one Sol/Sol Nano be sufficient? I know AI recommends one unit per foot of tank, but being that this is only a 2 foot tank...

If I need two units, I might as well remove the brace and just do a Radion for roughly the same price.

Thoughts?

 

[myroom]

Not sure how safe it would be removing that center brace.

 

[Flame_Angel]

The brace is there to support a plastic/glass top; it serves little structurally in a tank this small.

 

[-RYknow]

I say cut the brace, clean it up as much as possible, and get yourself a radion! The Radion is one SWEEET light!

-RYknow

 

[Patricklong]

I have no reef experience, but I do have freshwater and other glass aquarium experience.

Cut that brace....literally does NOTHING for structure on the glass, unless you plan on bear hugging the top.

Excited about this thread.

 

[Lwhite]

*bump* Flame have you thought about your aquascape at all? I just downgraded from a 40 breeder into the same 28 bowfront and am now struggling to scape it in a way I like. I am very interested in this build and am definately subscribed

I wish I would have had the time to do mine the way I wanted instead of Oh smokes I cracked the 40, move stuff as fast as you can into the 28 haha

 

[Flame_Angel]

I haven't given the aquascape any thought, to be honest. I know I don't want to jam-pack the thing with rock though, and I'd like to set it up in such a way that it'll benefit the SPS. Once I get a little closer to putting everything together, I'll sit down and do some sketches of how I want to set it up.