My 94g shallow reef tank

the lars

the lars

New member
Hey everyone,

I´m Lars from Germany. It´s been a while since I had a larger reef tank but I finally finished my training to become a teacher and moved to a new home with my family. Now there is money and room for a new tank :).


  • Dimensions: 59x23.6x15.75 (150x60x40cm)

  • 10mm rimless

  • Sump: 23.6x19.7x17.7 (60x50x45cm), 3 chambers -> skimmer + pellet reactor, refugium and return chamber

  • Other equipment: Maxspect Gyre 150, Jebao DCT 6000 return pump, Coral Box DC 300/500 skimmer, TMC V2Bio React 500 Pellet Reactor and 6x54W T5 + 2x69W LED hybrid

First off the stand: made of nice aluminium and textured coated board



The tank finally arrived last week and already has it´s first inhabitant :lolspin:



Looks a little big for the tank - upgrade?



I´m going too use "Riffkeramik" made by Korallenwelt, which is a reef safe, highly customable ceramic and add only a few nice pieces of LR.
I already got some shot´s and I think it´s looking fantastic.






Hoping it will arrive tomorrow. The gyre will be place in the empty spot on the right side of the ceramic. I will not use sand, instead I will cement the bottom of the tank. The cement is also supplied by Korallenwelt. I will include a small area with a sand for a wrasse to sleep in.

The lighting is not finished yet, the LED part will arrive hopefully tomorrow too. I´m also still waiting for the return pump and the skimmer - would you go with the Coral Box DC300 or 500? I think the 300 should be enough.

More pictures coming soon...
 
Thanks guys!

The ceramic arrived 2 day´s ago and I decorated the tank yesterday. In the pictures it looks a lot more cramped than it really is.

Putting the backplates in place..



Lots of space for corals!



Rest of the decoration:



Starting to cement the bottom of the tank. The "bowl" will be filled with sand, so I can put in some wrasse like a Leopard wrasse.



So far so good...

 
Everything put in place and cemented in:











I´m really liking the result. Today I´m going to finish the lighting and the canopy. Maybe I will fill it up :).
It has to run a few days with normal water and silicate and phosphate absorbing resin. After that a few days with RO/DI water and absorbing resin. I hope to salt, a few small pieces of LR and some corals next Saturday.

Maybe I´ll post some more pics later today :bounce2:
 
awesome job, i've always wanted something like this....kinda looks like Andy's reef rank from Romania.....but in a smaller scale......really impressed with the clarity of that glass in some of those shots.
 
Looks really good I like the ceramics but not familiar with this can you give a little more information about how to order, cost and installation I referring to the wall in particular, will these be sealed in with silicone, etc. Subscribed,Robert.
 
Time to fill the tank up :) first round with normal water:



It will run with tap water for about 3 days. Then I´ll fill it with RO/DI water and run it another 3 days before adding salt.
I will then quickly add some corals, algae, a Tomini tang and start dosing Sangokai products (are they known in USA?).
And a picture of my LED/T5 hybrid, not completely finished yet.



It is 6x54W T5, 4 bulbs are dimmable and 2 are constant. The LED is also dimmable with 1 channel for blue and 1 channel for white. It consists of 2 modules with the following leds:
White channel:
10x Seoul Z5-M1 cold white
6x Cree XP-E2 neutral white
2x Osram Oslon SSL deep red 660 nm
4x Cree XP-E2 blue 465-485 nm

Blue channel:
6x Cree XP-E2 blue 465-485 nm
10x Cree XP-E2 royalblue 450-465 nm
4x Helio UV 405 nm


@Robert:

It´s called "Riffkeramik" in Germany and made by Korallenwelt. I´m afraid they are only shipping to Germany or Europe.

You can order manufactured backplates in different heights, which are glued directly to the glass.
Or you can order a custom backplate for your tank (which I did). After you glue the plates to the glass you can cement them together with "Keramikmörtel" and seal small holes so no fish can get stuck behind them. I also used the mortar for the bottom of the tank.

They also produce lots of stuff for the decoration of the middle part like pillars, small reefs, big reefs, branches etc. It´s very customizable and easy to work with.

Maybe write them an E-Mail? They also have an YouTube channel with lots of videos. They are in German but you can see a ton of stuff

@laredo
thanks - but I messed up the order of the tank a little bit. I wanted optiwhite glass but I ordered "normal" glass instead. But it does look very clear and because it´s only 25/64 thick I think I´m fine.
 
@danielmitchell
Thanks for the hint Daniel. I added a Jebao RW-8 to get some more flow :) it´s hidden pretty good.

Time for a small update - my return pump arrived:





It´s look pretty good and only a very small amount of noise. 24V with a nice controller.

Same for the skimmer:





It uses a Jebao DC 2000, which is also a 24V pump and is easy to adjust. Very nice product for a very nice price.

I´m starting to dose my Sangokai products today: sango nutri-amin basic, sango nutri-spur basic, sango nutri-element basic, kai geos, kai mineral and kinko carb. I´m going to add some livestock to the tank after 4 day´s of dosing - I´m gunning for next Wednesday.

The pellet reactor is doing a great job too.
 
And some shots of the tank :dance: I´m just running blue lights for the moment. It´s necessary for breaking in the reef ceramics.

FTS:



Right side:



You can see the cable of the Jebao near the return. I also added a piece of LR (lower middle left part of the picture).

Middle part:



Another nice piece of LR in the middle of the picture. It makes for a really nice cliff.

Left side:



With another piece of LR on the left side and some Caulerpa

Can´t wait to add some corals and fish.
 
Thank you guys :) Going too add some coral this evening. Tank is looking good so far. Going to update the thread soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Tank restart after 8 years 😳
Replies
13
Views
340
griss
griss
F
New Reef - Need recommendations
Replies
13
Views
375
Cdentata
C
Jyetman
All my corals and live rock now in my scrubber tank
Replies
2
Views
386
Jyetman
Jyetman
T
120 Gallon Mixed Reef Tank for Sale
Replies
6
Views
670
vanbro1
vanbro1
OG Reefs
My current build
7 8 9
Replies
178
Views
5K
JohnL
JohnL
Back
Top