My New 100 Gallon Shallow Rimless SPS Build

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15377231#post15377231 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eaglesrx
love the idea of using the low watt MH and T5's. Best of both worlds. any humidity issues in the room with the rimless tank?

Do you have any PAR measurements for this tank? good idea of going 150W MH and T5's on a 20" high tank.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! No problems whatsoever with humidity and fl is a humid place. The Ac removes all humidity and it measures 50% in the room that the tank is in. I do not have a PAR meter so i'm sorry about that, but i can honestly say using 2x150watt MH is much more that using 2xt5's and on my last tank i had more than enough power to keep sps on a 24" deep tank. It took awhile for the corals to adapt to lower lighting on the last tank but when it did they were extreemely colorful.

The best part about going this shallow is the fact that i don't even run a chiller on the tank. My room is 79 degrees in the day and 78 at night (wife hates cold) and my tank runs 78 degrees pretty much all day long just because of a fan over the sump. The tank is whisper quiet. I hear just trickling in the overflow pipe at night when everything in the house is off and that's it otherwise i'd hear nothing in the day.

Stay tuned! i'm stopping in california to pick up some corals before heading home from vacation.

 

[reefsahoy]

customdusty,
be careful of the height of the water level in the tank. The overflow is designed to run 1/2" above the bottom of the fish guard and the teeth is 1" high. What this means is 3/4" from the top + 1/2" for the overflow guard, so my water level is 1 1/4 from the top of the rim of the aquarium. For me that's ideal because when using a magnet, the water doesn't spill out of the tank and it looks good at that height. Also athe returns are at a good distance from the sides because the magnet can get inbetween the side, top and the holes. I then adjust the return pipes to the top to break siphon when i lose power. It works great!

BTW, if you order this overflow put in the comments that you want them to build a cover for the top of the overflow so light doesn't hit inside the box. This will make keeping corraline ot ouf the overflow box and keep the tank looking clean if you like the back glass to have no coralline.

 

[dobly_1999]

Wowww Reefsahoy,
I can't wait until you return from vacation. I haven't commented much, but the tank looks very nice. I will see you the first week in August.

Did you complete the sump design?

 

[eaglesrx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15377292#post15377292 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefsahoy
customdusty,
be careful of the height of the water level in the tank. The overflow is designed to run 1/2" above the bottom of the fish guard and the teeth is 1" high. What this means is 3/4" from the top + 1/2" for the overflow guard, so my water level is 1 1/4 from the top of the rim of the aquarium. For me that's ideal because when using a magnet, the water doesn't spill out of the tank and it looks good at that height. Also athe returns are at a good distance from the sides because the magnet can get inbetween the side, top and the holes. I then adjust the return pipes to the top to break siphon when i lose power. It works great!

BTW, if you order this overflow put in the comments that you want them to build a cover for the top of the overflow so light doesn't hit inside the box. This will make keeping corraline ot ouf the overflow box and keep the tank looking clean if you like the back glass to have no coralline.

hey, thanks for the quick response! Good info. This is what I've been hearing about the rimless, too. which t5 bulbs are you running? sorry if you mentioned this earlier!

thanks!

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15377614#post15377614 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eaglesrx
hey, thanks for the quick response! Good info. This is what I've been hearing about the rimless, too. which t5 bulbs are you running? sorry if you mentioned this earlier!

thanks!

The rimless is awesome! would never go back to anything else! The important thing is to make sure you design the tank so you have at least 1" water below the rim. I have 1 1/4" and think that's fine visually. when i wipe my glass with the magnet i 'm careful and no water spills out. You also need to wipe the glass all the way to the top so overtime the water doesn't stain the glass above the water line. As far as t5's i'm using 4x giesseman atinic+ and 2x150watt 12.5k HQI's. When i need to switch out i will go ATI blue+ and probably some bluer HQI like 20K or so. Bulbs are new so i've got time for research!

 

[customdusty]

Thanks a lot of the info and advice... I've got several places quoting the tank for me right now, very similar to yours - 48x24x22 rimless 110 gallon starphire. I just owe them the final details of hole locations.

I'll be going with a slightly lower water line so I have room to move some waves

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15377970#post15377970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by customdusty
Thanks a lot of the info and advice... I've got several places quoting the tank for me right now, very similar to yours - 48x24x22 rimless 110 gallon starphire. I just owe them the final details of hole locations.

I'll be going with a slightly lower water line so I have room to move some waves

I,m not too sure I,d do a wave box on a rimless. When I was having mine built, the builder said that overtime the sress of the waves hitting the walls might weaken the joints because there is no rim to help absorb the shock. He said time wil only tell because rimless is quite new craze and we'll see in a few years if tank owners who have wave boxes start to report any failures.

 

[customdusty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15386473#post15386473 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefsahoy
I,m not too sure I,d do a wave box on a rimless. When I was having mine built, the builder said that overtime the sress of the waves hitting the walls might weaken the joints because there is no rim to help absorb the shock. He said time wil only tell because rimless is quite new craze and we'll see in a few years if tank owners who have wave boxes start to report any failures.

I was not planning on running waves full time, more as something to do differently once in a while or to try and impress people with

You are definately right though, this has been a genuine concern of mine and something I've been strongly debating - but I would NOT be wavemaking on a daily basis - I just don't think it is proven as safe nor do I think it creates enough flow to keep junk suspended for my skimmer.

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15386818#post15386818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by customdusty
I was not planning on running waves full time, more as something to do differently once in a while or to try and impress people with

You are definately right though, this has been a genuine concern of mine and something I've been strongly debating - but I would NOT be wavemaking on a daily basis - I just don't think it is proven as safe nor do I think it creates enough flow to keep junk suspended for my skimmer.

I wanted to also have the option of running waveboxes but was more concerned about spillage. I'm glad that i decided not to and designed the water level to 1 1/4 inch from the rim because the appearance is so nice at that level. i don't think i'd like it as much if the level was lower even if i had the wavebox.

 

[customdusty]

What glass thickness is your tank?

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15389346#post15389346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by customdusty
What glass thickness is your tank?

1/2"

 

[reefsahoy]

well i went to a few aquariums from san fran all the way to Santa Monica Ca. I eventually ended up at vivid aquariums in Canoga Park and unloaded. I got 8 pieces of corals to be shipped to my home to meet me after my vacation. I must say vivid had a nice selection and their set up is impressive. Now i'm looking forward to going home from my vacation.!

 

[dobly_1999]

I knew you would purchase once you got to the west coast. When I was there last Fall, I was impressed with the selection.

Keep a list of the places. I hope to got out west this Fall.

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15401393#post15401393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dobly_1999
I knew you would purchase once you got to the west coast. When I was there last Fall, I was impressed with the selection.

Keep a list of the places. I hope to got out west this Fall.

Well i finally got to a computer so i can type alittle better. i went to la and bought some frags. i got a vilida, purple digi, ORA Red Planet, tricolor prostrata, blue tort, and 3 others i can't remember. I will be leaving Hawaii back to LA in a few days and continue shopping for frags!

BTW i took the wife and 2 daughters to Maui, Hawaii and dived the Molokini Reef. here's an excerpt of the area "Molokini is a partially sunken volcanic crater just 2.5 miles off the coast of Maui, Hawaii. Located between the islands of Maui and Kahoolawe, Molokini is now a beautiful underwater sanctuary for marine life. Molokini is truly one of Maui's most breathtaking snorkel and dive locations. Part of Maui County, Molokini is a popular destination for scuba diving and snorkeling with many tourist boats coming each day from the south coast of Maui" and now a few pic's. they are not my pic's but it will give you an idea of what it's like.

The snorkeling trip was awesome because the depth is from 0 feet to 30 feet!

The island we are headed to!



a overhead view!

 

[jbarton422]

If you don't mind me asking, who was the builder and/or the lfs you got your tank from?

 

[Ty1e]

looks good, i like the shallow look.

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15449761#post15449761 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ty1e
looks good, i like the shallow look.

Thanks, I love the shallow tanks too! I'm on my way back from my long vacation and on my way home. I just called the Vivid aquariums in LA and told them to have my corals meet me at home ! I went to at least 15 LFS from San Fran to LA and vivid has got to be my favorite. for all you guys who love sps, let me tell you vividaquariums.com has a real nice setup! I got all my corals from them. I'm really not into lps and softies but they are pretty good there too.

I can't wait to see my tank after 2 long weeks of traveling. I hope alls well there! My family member who is taking care of my tank said everything looks great. Well i still have my fingers crossed.

My wife says our next stop may be Austraila, figi or somewhere in the S. Pacific possibly next year. We'll see

 

[customdusty]

I left my tank for 3 weeks this summer while I went to Europe and had my friend take care of it. He emptied the skimmer cup once a week and sparingly fed the fish daily. I'll tell you that when I came back - the tank never looked better.

Probably because nobody had their hands in it moving stuff around and changing things. I think I am definately a little to fussy about my tank and the hands off time seemed to do it good.

Hopefully you will find the same thing.

 

[stlrams88]

Tank looks great, I am a big fan of the rimless look.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15455530#post15455530 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by customdusty
I left my tank for 3 weeks this summer while I went to Europe and had my friend take care of it. He emptied the skimmer cup once a week and sparingly fed the fish daily. I'll tell you that when I came back - the tank never looked better.

Probably because nobody had their hands in it moving stuff around and changing things. I think I am definately a little to fussy about my tank and the hands off time seemed to do it good.

Hopefully you will find the same thing.

Thats funny, when I got back from Germany recently my tank looked amazing and i just had someone feed while I was gone. I was thinking the same thing about hands in the tank.

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15455530#post15455530 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by customdusty
I left my tank for 3 weeks this summer while I went to Europe and had my friend take care of it. He emptied the skimmer cup once a week and sparingly fed the fish daily. I'll tell you that when I came back - the tank never looked better.

Probably because nobody had their hands in it moving stuff around and changing things. I think I am definately a little to fussy about my tank and the hands off time seemed to do it good.

Hopefully you will find the same thing.

well all looks well except alittle dirty glass pane but overall health is great. A big sigh of relief! Now just waiting for the frags to show up tuesday.