State of the Art Rimless Reef for Under $3000

S

Sweetlou

New member
I just wanted to announce that I am going to try and build a large State of the Art - Rimless SPS tank all on a budget of under $3,000.

Im not 100% sure that it can be done. I will try to use Brand New Equipment with maybe a few exceptions.

The tank will be Starphire, and will be either a Miracles Aquarium 36x36x24 $1728 Delivered or GlassCages 36x36x24 $950 (Waiting on hearing shipping costs). Im waiting on my estimate from Coast2Coast and from a Lee Mar dealer in California. Ive heard bad things about GCs CS and they still have yet to return my phonecall so we will see. I havent heard any real bad things about their tanks within the last 2 years. So for the price i dont think I can go wrong there but we will see... Input Appreciated.

I currently have an Elos 120xl that is 48" long. I was inspired by Crazy4acros Bonsai tank so I went with his dimensions.

Lighting - I will use LED's So far ive been looking at the Maxspect, and Orphek lighting fixtures. Ive glanced at the ecoxotics.. Im debating between the 2 as I believe that if I go with the Maxspect I would need to buy 2 vs 1 of the 24inch Orpheks but not 100% sure yet.

Skimmer - SWC Skimmer Xtreme 160- Its been reviewed on r@@@builders and seems very solid at a reasonable price of just $275.

Sump - Will most likely be homemade - I have experience with them. So I will budget about $200 for the Sump

Stand - Not sure what i want to do as far as tank stand - May build myself Ive budgeted 300.

LR, Sand etc.- To be determined.

Vortech MP40s - May purchase used or new depending on budget. (To be determined.)

I would appreciate anyones help in choosing between equipment, lighting etc.

Thanks for all the help. Cheers.
 
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I would go with a tank from Lee Mar as they are top notch!

Sounds like a sweet build.
Any pics of your elos tank?
 
Unfortunately CJ - My little one who likes pressing buttons turned the temp way down on my chiller a few weeks ago and I woke up to find my tank Ice cold - I lost almost all of my SPS and almost all of my fish, only my clowns, some LPS, Shrimp, Clam, Blennie and Blue Hippo made it. Thats why I decided to start over Fresh..
 
Are you dead set on LEDs? I was trying to budget them into my build, and when I decided against then I had a ton of extra $ for other equipment. Also have you thought about maybe a DIY LED fixture? They are considerably less expensive than a factory made fixture IME, which is only a lot of Internet research and pricing. The only reasons I wanted LEDs where because my controller can dim them, and the life of them.
IMO and others on here, LEDs and MH both have their perks, I just chose the MH route and I'm going to wait until LEDs don't cost an arm & leg.


Also, are you going with wood or metal for a stand ?
 
I thought that LEDs would be the best way to go due to the evolving technology and prob in 2-5 years Halides will be a thing of the past. LEDs are coming down in price but still more than a halide fixture... As I said before I had the AquaIllumination First Gens and ended up not really liking them, but since then I feel that the Tech has come a long ways... One other thing is that Going with LEDS cuts out the Cost of a Chiller, plus the cost of Bulbs and lower power consumption of the lights AND chiller- I figured LED would be the way to go.. I dont think that I have the Electrical skills to build my own and have them look the way that I want.

Thanks for the Input
 
Not sure yet on the Stand, I thought before I delve into that I would finalize selection and Tank Price and go from there
 
I just did that some what similar, not sure about state of the art.. I went used on the big things, but here is my break down.

Tank, Stand, Skimmer, Sump used - 550 (36x24x18 Starphire rimless steal stand) (used)
AB Halide/t5 Combo - 200$ (used RC forum)
New bulbs - 100$ (new)
Ehiem Return pump - 125$ (new)
Heaters - 30$ (new)
Tunzee nano 6025s (modded) - 100$ (new)
ATO JBJ (Already had from old system)
AcJr - w/dc8 and probes 175 used from RC forum. (used)
2xDrews Dosing Pumps (Free from a friend)
1xBRS 15 ml dosing pump (for ato) 80$ (new)
Rock BRS Dry - 125$ (new)
Sand 3 Bags - 90$ (new)
RO/DI (Airwaterice) - 150 (new)
Fans 30 (new)
Magfloat 15 (new)
and BRS 2 Part 60$ (new)
Kalk (had left over from old system)
and proboly another 100-200in test kits, hanna checker, refractometer, rowa, carbon, ect..
EcoBak Pelllets 50$ (new)
BRS Dual Reactor 60$ (new)


Think that's about it. If you ad livestock though I'm waaay over the 3k mark. Damn aussie corals ;)

and I'm thinking of getting a newer skimmer although I'm very impressed with my older ocoto that came with the tank at this time.
 
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if you are on a budget i would not go Starphire. i have seen two tanks side by side one Starphire and one normal glass in my opinion not too much difference and Starphire weighs more than normal glass
 
bobbyboussy said:
if you are on a budget i would not go Starphire. i have seen two tanks side by side one Starphire and one normal glass in my opinion not too much difference and Starphire weighs more than normal glass
Click to expand...

The difference in weight is because Starphire is non-leaded and therefor must be thicker for the same size tank. Technically it weighs less... As far as the viewing goes regular (leaded) glass is gonna have a green tint easily noticed by a side view of that panel and WILL cause some change in the color that you see. Is it worth the money though? I dont think so but its all personal preference.
 
Good luck. I have a custom tank and did a lot of legwork with vendors. I heard really good things about Miracles and Lee Mar. But miracles was too expensive and I couldn't order directly from Lee Mar .

I have seen some glass cages tanks and personally would not want them. Their "polished" edge does not looks nice, important for me on a rimless. I also found coast to coast to be pricey too.

I would recommend you get a quote from Reef Savvy. Their tanks are really nice. I bought mine from there and couldn't be happier. Shipping will be expensive as they are in Miami but that cost can't be much different from Miracles.

Ohh, I also like my starphire. Some people can't see a difference but when i'm not lazy and clean it inside and out it looks like the water is going to spill out onto my floor.

Hope you can deciper my ramblings.

-Pete
 
I have the ecoxotics over my 65, my acros do great if they are kept around the top of my rock work, they brown out any further down. I don't know how far the other LEDs are as far as reaching the bottom, but mine are ok for lps or softies. If it was a shallow tank I'm sure it would be fine. Here's a pic



IMG_0008.jpg
 
I would disagree, trying to save a few bucks on the tank is a bad idea long-term. If you think the tank is expensive.....wait until all the other expenses start adding up!

bobbyboussy said:
if you are on a budget i would not go Starphire. i have seen two tanks side by side one Starphire and one normal glass in my opinion not too much difference and Starphire weighs more than normal glass
Click to expand...
 
i think you can get your tank done on your budget, but your gonna have the ditch those leds and go halide. just the fixtures for that size tank is gonna run you well over 1500$, even diy wont be cheap.
 
250G said:
I would disagree, trying to save a few bucks on the tank is a bad idea long-term. If you think the tank is expensive.....wait until all the other expenses start adding up!
Click to expand...
hahaha !%@#$ starphire weighs more than clear ?

:celeb1:
 
As far as lighting goes I tend to think that LED might not be there yet. Coralvue has an awesome new light coming out in January that if I was building one that size I would go with. It seems to be using a full size lumenbright reflector as well as LED and T5.

http://coralvue.com/lumen-brightt5led-fixture/

Also you may want to get a quote from Marineland. Alot of people don't know it, but they will build custom tanks to almost any size. You have to order it through your LFS but they seem to build quality tanks.

I do feel with quality lighting, the tank and two vortechs your probably gonna blow by 3000 dollars but my advice would be build it right and enjoy it for many many years.

Say 1300 for the tank, 800 for the vortechs, atleast 300 for a skimmer, and atleast 500 for lighting your gonna not have much left for rock, and odds and ends.
 
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