Fritz's split-level cave tank build

[Flanders]

Happy Good Friday, everyone! One of the few days when your employer renting space in the Catholic Charities building is an advantage.

Snapped a few terrible shots before I take it down to paint the stand today. It's an old Oceanic 60 gallon with a 20-inch long shelf siliconed halfway up. A removable foam rock wall is the underneath portion. The ugly siliconed side of the shelf will be hidden by a stand feature that extends over it, but the part underneath will still be viewable.

Other side showing the way the sump will be set up. I will be building a bar around this tank to hide the sideways sump, which is a 55-gallon.

Bottom will be bare with a closed-loop blasting down and the shelf portion will have a sandbed.

1500 gph gl@$$h0le$ overflow and CL. Going for massive flow in this tank.

More to come! Thanks for looking.

Fritz

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

YES. The build thread I've been waiting for! The rock work looks awesome.

 

[Jacwil]

"LIKE LIKE LIKE!!!!!!!"

This is gonna be an awesome build!

 

[rick12]

i'm following along! i like it.
how will the stand hide the silicone from the shelf?

 

[Flanders]

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm planning on strips of trim wood that somewhat match the existing rim on the tank, covering up the bottom tank rim and also covering the shelf—picture a strip of wood where the silicone is and you get the idea. I may also cover up a few inches of the area around where the closed loop is.

 

[low riderr]

cool cant wait to see it in full swing

 

[Capt_Cully]

I dig it! Once the bar is constructed, I will need to see this in person. Love the non traditional DT!

 

[Flanders]

Thanks. Consider this your standing invitation!

 

[JBrown]

Frtiz it looks great this is going to be one great tank

 

[Flanders]

Josh! Holy crap! How are you?

 

[Gravesj1s]

Nice teaser fritz, cool to see a different approach.
Any spoilers on inhabitants? Plans of a turf scrubber by chance?

-Steve

 

[Capt_Cully]

I don't have much left laying around but you never know. If you need anything just ask.

 

[Flanders]

I'm still undecided on filtration. I would like to try a turf scrubber but I'm not sure about the design that most people use and I hate the idea of using those CFL lights and I start thinking maybe I'll just get a skimmer...

I know I want gorgonians and plating montis going sideways off the dropoff and nonphotosynthetics and filter feeders underneath after the tank has matured. I am completely undecided about the top. I am open to any ideas.

Fish I am really going to need help with.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

There are some people getting good results with LED scrubbers. At some point I'll probably go in that direction. But it kinda means you need to "mature" the design a bit, since the typical "slotted pipe hanging in midair with a vertical screen" is way too messy from a salt spray perspective to put LEDs near it.

Fish - that will be tough. Will need to be as unique as the whole setup is. Would be cool to go monospecific - have a group of chalk bass, or even just blue chromis.

 

[Flanders]

I haven't completely kept up with the ATS threads but it seems like using LEDs would simplify things because the inefficiency of CFLs caused that ridiculous "the light must be two inches from the screen" guideline.

With the intensity of LEDs and optics it seems like you could just put the whole device in an empty aquarium and the LEDs outside. Right?

Hijacking my own thread.

 

[Gravesj1s]

I had mentioned it to Nate already in that I have the book dynamic aquaria and both you guys are welcome to borrow it anytime.

-Steve

 

[solRNY]

very interesting... definitely out of the box aquascaping :thumbsup:

 

[tmz]

The shelf for sand is really interesting. Non photsyntetics like dendro nepthia(carnations) for underneath it may be difficult as you know, but having a large accessible cave may help a lot. Should be easy to get flow in there to bring them food.Will you hang any upside down? I've had good luck with denrophyllia and red ball sponge. Tube anemones might work too. Tubastrea ,perhaps. Stylaster lasted over a year in a cave in my tank but that was it. I had hopes for a lace coral(distichopora ) but it faded after abut 8 months.

Have fun.

 

[Flanders]

I don't have much left laying around but you never know. If you need anything just ask.

Thank you!

 

[Flanders]

The shelf for sand is really interesting. Non photsyntetics like dendro nepthia(carnations) for underneath it may be difficult as you know, but having a large accessible cave may help a lot. Should be easy to get flow in there to bring them food.Will you hang any upside down? I've had good luck with denrophyllia and red ball sponge. Tube anemones might work too. Tubastrea ,perhaps. Stylaster lasted over a year in a cave in my tank but that was it. I had hopes for a lace coral(distichopora ) but it faded after abut 8 months.

Have fun.

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words and you sharing your experience.

I am most definitely excited to hang some corals upside down and about having that cave area and being able to concentrate foods there. I have been reading a lot about NPS and hope to take a very measured approach. I have only seen one or two people have what I consider success with dendronepthyas and it seems to take a lot of effort. I don't think I'll try them.

For under the cave I'd like to try tubastrea, dendrophyllia, and the larger polyped gorgs like diogorgia and swiftia. I had definitely considered tube anemones for the upper sand part, and would like to try a chili coral on the ledge. I had some success with a porites worm rock awhile back (I eventually killed it) but I think I could have a better shot this tank. And I have always wanted to try coco worms and blue sponge.