Getting started (again)...

[scottca]

A LFS I used to work at was having a sale this past weekend and I agreed to help out and put in a few hours bagging fish and selling setups. One of the guys who works there currently is taking down his 60 gallon and selling off a bunch of his stuff and I thought it was a great way to get back in the hobby. He agreed to sell me his substrate, refugium, lights, zoos, shrooms, shrimp, and cardinals for $150.

I am limited on space, but I have been wanting to get back into the hobby and set up a 20 tall "cliff style" tank for couple of years now (using egg crating and zip ties (?) to create a shear cliff).


I was telling some of the newer guys at the store about a tank I had seen on Reef Central (a long time ago) that was a 20 or 29 gallon tank. I think it was a "Tank of the Month" but I can't seem to find it in the archeives. The owner had used egg crating plastic to create a cliff wall on the back and the left side of the tank and it was stocked full of zoo's. It is one of the best looking tanks I have ever seen.

Does anyone have a cliff-style nano or something similar so I can draw some ideas on how to set up my 20 tall this Friday?

Does anyone have any pointers on setting up tank in this fashion or on setting up a new tank from pieces of an old one?

 

[drjuice28]

Shoot, I remember seeing that tank too, but don't recall where! Seems like you've got the right idea. It'd probably work to use marine epoxy or super glue gel to secure the pieces to the crating, and more importantly, the crating to the back wall of the tank. If you could insert a fixed partition ahead of time, you could ziptie the crating directly to it to guarantee a good fit and stability...

 

[Doglover_50]

it was here, and it was a 16 gallon bowfront.

 

[scottca]

That is a good idea, drjuice!

I think that I could take some short pieces of PVC pipe (1 inch long?), drill a couple holes in them for attaching the egg crate later, and then silicone them to the glas to act as spacers (I am hoping to keep most of the plumbing, heating and other unsightly equipment behind the rocks that will spaced out from the glass).

I don't really know what to do about the refugium since the 20 tank is going to be on a desk and there isn't really a way to mount the refugium above the level of the tank. I was going to throw spagetti algae in there and just use as a natural filter but now I am starting to wonder if I can do that. Any ideas?

I am going to be picking up the 20 tall tank, the PVC, zip ties, and the egg crate material tomorrow so it will be ready to go when I pick everything up on Friday.