Starting my first reef aquarium

[crazycolt42]

Hello everyone!

After having a 60x18x24 African cichlid tank for 4 years develop a catastrophic leak (still don't know what happened), having to clear out all my cichlids and send them to my local LFS, I have decided to dive into a reef aquarium. I must admit I was very frustrated with my epic fail and considered stopping the hobby all together, but my interest in reef aquariums has me back in it. So, I had built a custom oak stand and canopy for the old tank. Luckily, no water damage was sustained and I have decided to keep that stand and canopy (to save serious bucks on a stand). After a year of searching and shopping for another tank that would fit, I came across the "deal of the week" @ sc.aquariums this past November. A nice 60x24x24 was calling my name. I bit the bullet and got the tank for 777.00. I am getting ready to now modify the stand and canopy to fit this tank that is 6in deeper. I have purchased a varioS-6 for return and to feed GFO and carbon reactors, Trigger sapphire 34 sump, and a Tunze osmolator ATO. The tank has three drilled holes in the overflow for return and a Durso style overflow. I want to modify it and utilize the three bulkheads for a bean animal and run the return up the back of the aquarium. I have a 10g tank sitting around that I plan to use for my ATO reservoir. I live in Indianapolis with terrible city water, so I purchased a 6 stage RO/DI from BRS. My first stage is to modify the stand and then set up all the plumbing for the bean animal, return, and ATO. I have been doing a lot of reading here on RC, and what I am considering is to have a softie/LPS set-up utilizing the middle 4 feet of tank. I am thinking I want the 6in of "cushion" on each side for my power heads, plus I would then only have to invest in enough lighting for a 4ft rather than 5ft. This extra space would allow for more swimming room for the fishes. Does this sound OK, or should I not plan on setting up only the middle 4ft of this 5ft tank? I will use the example of the reef pictured in Kessils adds on the A360's. I like the openness of that tank they show. I do not like the look of a tank piled up with rock from on end to the other like a wall. Would it be a bad idea to use only two kessil A 360's vs. 3 or if I decide to go T5's, using 54W vs 80w? Also, what do you think about what I have purchased thus far for the set up? Thanks everyone!

 

[nursedude]

It sounds like you have made some good investments. That is a very nice tank, with great dimensions. I believe you could aquascape only the middle/center area of the reef and still look good: separate islands or a rubble zone with an island on one side, are two options off the top of my head.

I appreciate the desire to save money by trying to only light the center of the tank, but asteticly it may look unbalanced to have the middle illuminated while the ends are darker. The tank is essentially a picture with a frame, the entire picture needs to be lighted. This photo shows uneven lighting:

The Kessils can have a spotlight effect. I think you would have to use 4-5 of the 360s to create equal lighting, but boy they sure do shimmer. T-5s will give a more even spread, but lack shimmer. Some of the best lighting I have seen is Leds with T-5s. My dream tank is the tank you purchased, but honestly I couldn't afford the setup cost, maybe someday.

 

[Thornbreaker]

That's a great deal on a 5ft tank. I'm planning on getting one myself for an in-wall build later this summer. Looking forward to seeing how your tank turns out.

 

[crazycolt42]

Thanks for the feedback! I am happy with the deal I got on the tank. I am a little nervous that I am going too large for my first saltwater tank, but I could not justify getting rid of this Oak stand I spent so much time on. Getting this tank for under 800.00 and already having a stand for it (with some mods and reinforcement needed) helped my budget out. I am planning to document this entire build on RC under a different thread. Step by step. Should be fun! An in wall 5ft tank would be absolutely awesome Thornbreaker! That should be really cool to see. After reading your reply Nursedude (are you an RN? I'm a PT) I agree with you on all accounts. 4-5 kessils would be awesome, but absolutely way over budget. I haven't been able to see a T5/LED combo in person, but have seen the BRS 160 and the science behind using both makes sense. Since I have a canopy, something similar(but much more budget friendly) to what they did might be the way to go. One concern I have, is the canopy top where lights will mount will be about 16 in. from the top of the aquarium. Hoping this is not too close to the surface. To avoid dark areas, I can go with two retrofit dual T5HO 80w's with three ATI blue+ and one purple+. This will provide the full spread across the entire 5ft. Then I can either go all T5's and add one more dual 80w or, I could try to budget two kessil a360w's for added PAR in the middle 3-4 ft and get some shimmer and controllability. I would just need to consider placement of softies and LPS that need more light than others. Make sure they are under the kessils. Low light LPS and softies could be out towards the sides more where mostly the T5's reach. Most of what I have read though says the kessils are placed about 22in above the surface. I would be closer than that, and they would be sandwiched b/t two dual T5 80w's. That might not be good? The back of my canopy is completely open, so that helps, but I would have all these lights pretty close together. All T5's might be the safest bet? Thanks again for all your feedback!

 

[Thornbreaker]

Oh I wonder the same thing. But I figure the minute I get a 40 gallon, I'd just want something larger anyway.

My wife and I are building a house this year and latest plans have a nice closet in the bonus room that would make for a great place to hide all the equipment, have a saltwater mixing station, and then put a 5' tank in the wall. So I didn't want too small, but nothing too big that I can't handle the maintenance. The 150 gallons plus a sump around 30ish should keep me in the sweet spot once things are stable and running smooth. I'm going to start FOWLR to keep it simple and then add a few easy corals down the road. Here's hoping I find that same deal you got come summer

For lighting you could supplement with the inexpensive Mars Aqua or Galaxyhydro LEDs if they'll fit in your canopy. Could always upgrade or minimize Kessils that way.

 

[WatDatThing]

Hi crazycolt. I too converting from cichlid to first SW tank. Best of luck.

 

[crazycolt42]

Sounds like a good plan Thornbreaker. I would love to be able to have dedicated fish room or closet for everything. That was part of my thinking as well. I knew that even if I sold my stand and canopy for extra cash, I would probably end up with a 4ft tank anyways, so why not just go with the 5 foot tank. Lighting, filtration, and powerheads all go up significantly in cost the longer the tank, but as with freshwater, I don't think keeping parameters stable is harder. Probably easier, especially if I do not stock to the hilt with SPS and fish. My thinking was to aquascape and stock it as if it were a 4ft 120g. That should make it easier to keep PH, SG, ALK, Ca, Mg, and temp stable. Good luck on finding a deal on one. Take a look on sca's sight. You never know. I think the deal on my tank does go to Jan 1st. I have been back and forth about doing a FOWLR vs. reef. Read a post on here recently about how fish can actually be more challenging than corals. Especially tangs. It made sense. Corals don't produce waste and do not get ich. They can get parasites, but dipping them really helps and if you carefully check for eggs as well, you likely to not have many problems other than light acclimation. In that regard, it sounds like very few corals are lost to lighting being too low. Too much light and bleaching seems to be the biggest mistake made from what I have read. So, I am starting to think maybe I start with easy corals, and gradually add fish. Probably start out with some of the beneficial fish. Starry blenny for algae and a six line for those pesky critters that will bother the corals. Just so much to consider, but plenty of time to think about it while I save up the $$.

Hey WatDatThing! Thanks man. Hope you are having luck too. Not to go off topic here on RC, but did you have African's? I had a 4 species mbuna tank. Demasoni, yellow tail acei, yellow labs, and pearl white zebras. I was selling dems to my LFS. They reproduced like crazy! Killed me to loose that tank to a bad leak. Had to give the LFS all my mbuna. Had no where to put all 30+ fish! Oh well, I was starting to gain interest in saltwater anyways!

 

[WatDatThing]

I had a Malawi tank for 4 years. I lost interest because they don't have much personality compare to my discus tank and flowerhorn. On to SW