Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread

jadette

jadette

Member
Figured it's about time I posted a build thread. Didn't start one with my 75g and kinda regret it.

Anywho...

I've always wanted a tank full of anthias... So a bigger tank is a must. I would love to go larger than 140g, but I'm not a buff woman and the less heavy things I need to deal with the better.

After scratching my head for a few months and a couple of hours, I decided on a 60"x30"x20" rimless tank. No eurobracing. I repeat. NO EUROBRACING. Easy enough. Searched around and it looked like a few people had that working for them. Placed an order with Charlie and the Fish Tank Factory. No problems. Or so I thought. Apparently, Leemar won't go 60"x30"x20" with 1/2" glass without bracing anymore. :(
Yes, I can go with thicker glass, but once again... Me no buff woman.

So 60"x30"x18" it is. At least now I can say I have a 140g instead of 150ish. May I never have to google "Leemar Rimless Tank" ever again.

This is what I spec'd for:

TANK
60x30x20 (LxWxH) Leemar Rimless/Braceless Glass Aquarium
Built 1/2" all around (with black silicone)
Diamond Edge High Polish All around
One overflow on the LEFT SIDE (facing the tank front) with 2 holes (for 1.5" for drain, 1" for return).
Starphire Front and Both Sides
Add Black Back

Most likely will use the return as an emergency drain and put my return exterior to the overflow but I'll deal with those details later.

And.. What about the stand you may ask?

STAND
I'm getting it custom built by the RC cabinet master bobafet1 !!!! You can check out his cabinet builds here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1852925

Gonna go with a white Euro-Style stand. If you think I'm going for that Elos look, you are correct. Not only am I not buff, I am not very original either.

So what's a build thread without pics? At this stage, I guess I can scan receipts but what's the fun in that.

So here's my FTS shot of my current 75 gallon:
tank_mar2011.jpg


Oh... I also have a small 7g ADA tank that I keep NPS corals in. Here's a shot of some inhabitants:
chili.jpg

Chili corals are so cute and fuzzy. Makes me want to nibble on the polyps. Ok. Not really.
Would love to take a FTS shot of it, but if you've ever attempted to take pics of an non-photosynthetic tank being lit by all of 3 watts of LEDs, you would know that a pretty FTS would not be an easy task.

Enough rambling for a first post!
 
DAMM my old mystery wrasse is big!! Do you still have the clam ? quick question about the pluming are you thinking to do the herbie method ?
 
I'm going to refer to everyone here by their handles instead of real names - though I have them all committed to memory - I'm just going to be cool like that. I mean, "Hey there KewlManReefers4U" just rolls from the tongue so much smoother than "Hi John".

That said...

bullitr - How are my clowns doing? Just kidding. I'm sure you found them a nice home in fish heaven. :P I saw you eye-ing that WM AS300 on the "other" forum. I wanted to grab it for this build too, but I didn't want to build my sump around fitting that monster. I will be picking up a WM AS200 this weekend from another reefer. Currently using the AS150 on my 75g and I love it.

MedRed - I love those cardinals. Unfortunately, one went hardwood floor surfing when my alpha female anthias decided to change sex on me and started chasing all the other female anthias in the tank. I lost 2 females and that 1 cardinal to jumping before dominance was fully established and my tank calmed down. There's now only two anthias. :( Sad, b/c I had a school of anthias living in my tank happily for about a yr before the sex change and aggression. So instead of doing the right thing and get a screen for the tank, I did the reefer thing and tried to buy more cardinals. Unfortunately, they sellout so fast at LiveAquaria, I would have more success trying to acquire Blizzcon tix. :(

Higgy2010 - Thanks for the compliment and all the added pressure of meeting your high expectations. Now I'm destined to fail! :P

The REeFFers - That mystery wrasse is such a bruiser! He's huge!!!! His mouth is scary big. He's eaten all my cleaner and peppermint shrimp. But I love him anyway b/c he's a softy at heart. Leaves my beloved sunburst anthias alone and is my Kole Tang's best friend. You should see them hang out some times. If I didn't know any better, I would say there's something going on btwn the two of them.

As far as the maxima clam goes... Here it was about 6 months ago:
warcoral.jpg


It had a thing for my war coral. Would always cuddle up to it no matter where I placed it. Then, on an impulse buy, I picked up a small electric blue maxima clam from a LFS. Didn't bother to QT it. I mean, QT-ing clams? It's not like Pyramidellid snails exist or anything. I don't believe in them. I still don't believe in them after all the clams in my tank started melting away. Saw a bunch of triangular white thingees all over the mantles of the clams. Not Pyramidellid snails. No sirreee...

Sigh.
 
Oh yeah! Forgot to also mention that yes indeed I plan on trying out the Herbie Method with my overflow.

Tank will be in the family room. Right next the TV. Would love to keep it as quiet as possible.
 
the clown is doing well on youtube.LOL
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Lawrence - At least I know that the clowns were living in a gorgeous rainbow anemone in their final hours. :)

Mike - I wish I got your tanks dims! Hopefully, I won't be too distracted by the loss of 2 inches. I wasn't really going for the shallow tank look, but we'll see how that goes.

For skimming, I picked up Warner Marine AS200. I really like that line of skimmers.

For flow, I'll be using MP40s. I already have 2 MP40 and 1 MP20 in my 75g. I'll be upgrading the MP20 to a MP40. Not sure if I'll need more flow. If so, I have an extra MP10 and MP20 laying around I can add. I see you're using 2 MP40s. Do you find that enough flow for your tank?

For lighting, I'm undecided. I preordered AI Sol Blues from Aquacave, but there's still another one to two weeks before they'll have them in stock. I have the option to cancel the order at this point, so I've been having second thoughts. Was thinking of an ATI PM 8x54W, or even going all 60" long with the 10x80W version. How do you like your lights?

Chad - My current 75g is being lit by a MH+T5+LED combo fixture from IceCap. I started a thread on the fixture here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1739134

The thing is a piece of crap. Obviously going to replace it with my new build. Still undecided if I should go with LEDs or T5s.
 
Well "jadette"

Id say go with the PM I love mine! I dont think you will need the 10 bulb. Im running a 8 bulb on my 36x30x20 tank and its amazing! Im sad to see my PM go but im moving and I dont want my new roommates to hate me when we get the first power bill.

qzhcfq.jpg
 
jadette said:
Mike - I wish I got your tanks dims! Hopefully, I won't be too distracted by the loss of 2 inches. I wasn't really going for the shallow tank look, but we'll see how that goes.

For skimming, I picked up Warner Marine AS200. I really like that line of skimmers.

For flow, I'll be using MP40s. I already have 2 MP40 and 1 MP20 in my 75g. I'll be upgrading the MP20 to a MP40. Not sure if I'll need more flow. If so, I have an extra MP10 and MP20 laying around I can add. I see you're using 2 MP40s. Do you find that enough flow for your tank?

For lighting, I'm undecided. I preordered AI Sol Blues from Aquacave, but there's still another one to two weeks before they'll have them in stock. I have the option to cancel the order at this point, so I've been having second thoughts. Was thinking of an ATI PM 8x54W, or even going all 60" long with the 10x80W version. How do you like your lights?
Click to expand...

I think I'm good with flow for now. I did add an Tunze 6045 to get some flow down the back side of my rock work. As far as lighting goes, I'm super happy with my PM. A very very small part of me wishes I got the 10 bulb, but as of now, I get good PAR values and with a 10 bulb, I'd have to raise it up higher(I'm already at 8") and if I went with the 80w version, I'd get A LOT of light spillage and could probably grow corals on my couch since it's right next to it. :)
I think your lighting (either 8 or 10 bulb, if you go with a PM) depends on your aquascaping. I have all my rock about 3" - 4" off the glass all the way around
 
Your 75 is gorgeous!! I'll be following along to see how you top that aquascaping. Good luck with the build.

I also had a group of 5 cardinals and they slowly dwindled to two. (One wasted away and was eaten by a fungia, two went carpet surfing before I broke down and finally installed a cover) I want another group but can't seem to hit "buy" fast enough when DD has them.

I have an 8 bulb 48" PM over my 48x26x25 and it puts out more than enough par. The SPS are thriving and I have to hide most LPS under ledges to keep them from bleaching. That said, I am lusting over the Vertex Illuminex -- but that's the gadget whore in me.
 
Thanks for the inputs on lighting guys. I think I just might cancel my order AI Sol Blues and pick up a PM. In the meantime, I'm going to go in on the Rapid LED group buy and make my own ultimate LED fixture! Excited about it, but will not feel pressured to finish it anytime soon since I'll have the PM up in the meantime. The price of the two (PM + DIY fixture) would run me about the same as the AI set-up.

acesq- Thanks for the compliment. I think the aquascape will be easy to top with 30" depth to work with! My current tank is only 18" deep. Hard to do place anything in the tank without making it look 'cramped'.
I do want to continue with a large group of tiny schooling fish. Since the redspots are so hard to come by, I might go with a different type from the same family.

My Doser
Just wanted to share what dosing pump I just picked up on Ebay:
doser.jpg


It's a marine magic dosing pump shipped from Hong Kong that I got off of fleabay. Reviews can be found here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1938900

Silly thing with me and what I'm willing to spend money on this hobby and what I'm not. I have not gone cheap with circulation and would not bat an eyelash to throw down $800+ for a set of Vortechs. But the thought of spending $300 on a BM doser to do something I can do myself? (That being putting alk and ca+ in my tank). Sure.. Sure.. I've been actually horrendous at dosing my tank through the years and the growth of my corals really isn't something to write home about. But still. $300 so I don't have to feel bad about me being lazy was just something I just never got around pulling the trigger on.

In comes this cheap, yet reliable doser.

I've been using it for a week now. Working perfectly. In fact, it has a very good track record. More google searches shows that guys in Europe have been using this doser for years without problems.

So those of you guys out there that are selectively cheap like me, this doser is for you!

:)
 
Hey Shirley - nice setup - I am running a 10 bulb powermodule and can grow pretty much anything. You will not be disapointed. Running a doser is a must since it will become a pain to manually dose everyday. Can't wait to see your tank up and running.
 
I'll be following this one. Great tip on the doser. I'm about to start my own 100gl rimless build, upgrading from a 40gl. I'm going in on the LED group buy too and can't wait.
 
Hey Toan - I still need to see your tank with the lights on! :) Thanks for the pointer on the powermodule. I'm actively searching for a used 8-10 bulb 48" one now. Btw, the dendros I got from you are doing great. The larger heads are HUGE now, and the baby ones are about dime size now. They're always open and always hungry!

vsco - Good luck with your rimless build. We should swap ideas with the LEDs.

Here's my LED setup I'm planning:
LEDsetup-1.jpg


I'm going to pick up two of the RapidLED controllers, but after reading up on them, they're quite not what I want. It'll do for now, but I'm planning on a DIY controller in the future for more flexibility. First off, having a display to let me know what I last set it at would be nice (something lacking on the RapidLED controller). There's a pretty crazy DIY controller that someone on the planted tank forum designed that works with the Meanwell drivers. Would link that thread here, but I'm not sure if it's allowed.

Anyhow, the LED setup would consist of 105 3-Watt LEDs. Mostly Cool Whites, Royal Blue, and Blue with a handful of Warm Whites and Violets to cover the red spectrum. I heard red LEDs can be a little bit overwhelming so I'll leave those out for now. The best thing about working on your own fixture is the flexibility of swapping out LEDs on the fly. Gotta get my soldering skills up since 105 LEDs is a heckuva lotta soldering I'll have to do!
 
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