"The Cavernous Reef" - A 180G Build

[rickcasa]

Armed with a $5 blue CFL bulb I bought at HD, the lighting segment of this build starts. This alone brought THE VISION to life.

I mocked up a setup of a clip on fixture with the blue bulb aimed straight down the cavern ceiling and paired it with a simple fluorescent tube desk lamp aimed at front facade.

Here it is with the Razor turned down to 30% white, 40% blue. I'm very pleased!

Razor blue turned up to 70%

 

[rickcasa]

...and for comparison, just the room light and the Razor off.

 

[rickcasa]

But with the Razor turned off, the cavern really comes alive.

The blue CFL bulb proved effective in delivering the kind of blue 'the Deep blue ocean' look I'm after so I think I'll be going this route with the shadow box concept. Where the other techniques I've read here in RC, uses a background painted blue, I will project a blue light onto the back glass using maybe 3 or 4 of these bulbs. And if I can control a flicker effect to one or two of these bulbs and aim it through a slit cut out of an opaque material, I may be able to get that 'shaft of light'. Hope it works.

 

[rickcasa]

Great looking build! Very unique!

I wouldn't waste your time on purple up or any of the equivalents. I would just dose kalkwasser instead. My corraline loved it!

Awesome looking scape! I've been looking for ideas for my 210 and you've given me plenty! Well done. As for keeping coraline off your glass... good luck with that
For what its worth, I wouldn't dose anything for it, it'll come naturally.

nice, Im in north york. I dont participate in local forums neither lol

dont waste money on "Coraline growers" though. just seed it with a small piece of Live rock in sump, and keep ALK and CA++ stable and they will take over.[purple up is caco3 which wont dissolve in water]

under the overhangs, some gorgonians would look amazing.

Agreed then. I am happy with the texture of the entire aquascape, so really I don't need to hide anything on the surfaces....so thanks guys!

 

[rickcasa]

Great looking tank...
Digging the thin design of those leds. I didn't expect them to actually be that thin when I saw your sketchup renderings, but they look great.

Would you mind filling me in as I'm curious if you plan to light the cavern to grow coral or even just for aesthetics? (Good job having it removable for maintenance.)

And do you plan on lighting the room in any way? I think some sort of external lighting would help supplement the feel you are going for with the cavern.
(The idea of utilizing mirrors just popped into my head. I know you may use a shadowbox, but just throwing out some alternative ideas.)

Lastly, can you explain your sump design and why there is space below the skimmer zone?

Cheers:beer:

Edit:
I keep getting inspired by images of your tank
- Got me thinking of side lit, non photosynthetic corals, mirrors again, small coral to keep proportion of the cave looking large

That's a great point about the scale of the corals. Because I'm really more concerned about the aesthetics and achieving the highest level of realism, I'd be keeping smaller sized pieces...frags. Losing battle though when they grow out.

 

[dave.m]

small coral to keep proportion of the cave looking large

Don't tell him that! I want Ricky to set this all up and then realize for himself that to do this properly he'll need to redo it in a 600 gallon tank at least 30" tall.

Dave.M

 

[Aquatron]

Well he can live through those amoung us that have 30" high tanks,...... he has inspired. I know my aquascape will now end up different than before he shared his vision with us
Looking better each step!!!!

 

[240drift]

This tank was really well thought out and looksawesome, definitely giving me ideas.

 

[rickcasa]

Don't tell him that! I want Ricky to set this all up and then realize for himself that to do this properly he'll need to redo it in a 600 gallon tank at least 30" tall.

Dave.M

Haha.. this is plenty big enough for now. Baby steps, Dave. But to be honest, yes I am thinking big so let's just say this is a dress rehearsal to iron out all the kinks until that time comes.

 

[rickcasa]

Well he can live through those amoung us that have 30" high tanks,...... he has inspired. I know my aquascape will now end up different than before he shared his vision with us
Looking better each step!!!!

Hey Aquatron, I hope to see some of these techniques in your build. I'm sure you'll discover new some great ideas with 30" to work with. Thx buddy!

 

[rickcasa]

Great looking tank...
Digging the thin design of those leds. I didn't expect them to actually be that thin when I saw your sketchup renderings, but they look great.

Would you mind filling me in as I'm curious if you plan to light the cavern to grow coral or even just for aesthetics? (Good job having it removable for maintenance.)

And do you plan on lighting the room in any way? I think some sort of external lighting would help supplement the feel you are going for with the cavern.
(The idea of utilizing mirrors just popped into my head. I know you may use a shadowbox, but just throwing out some alternative ideas.)

Lastly, can you explain your sump design and why there is space below the skimmer zone?

Cheers:beer:

Edit:
I keep getting inspired by images of your tank
- Got me thinking of side lit, non photosynthetic corals, mirrors again, small coral to keep proportion of the cave looking large

I knew enough that corals require a good amount of light to thrive so I'd be lighting inside the cavern to add drama and on the outside I'll line it with sea fans, gorgs and sponges. I'm learning quite a bit now about other NPs so I'd like to try some chilis, carnations, dendros and sun corals. I'd also like to work in some gsp maybe on the cavern floor but I know they can tough to control.

Now about that sump..I acquired it from a shutdown. It's a trickle down which used bioballs. I have no clue why it's designed with a base like that but I'm racking my brain to try to implement it in clever way. For instance I thought to free up the top area from the typical manifold assembly and plumb that bottom cavity to move water around from the lower chamber. Or even more ambitious to use it as the heating chamber with hot water fed from the our home water boiler. Crazy huh? But I may have settled on taking advantage of the height of the bioball tower and use it to house an algae turf scrubber that is lit from below.
So stay tuned.

 

[rickcasa]

This tank was really well thought out and looksawesome, definitely giving me ideas.

Thanks and keep following.

 

[rickcasa]

Wow I really like the scape you have going on!!

I'll be working behind the tank now to add more credibility to the aquascape by attempting to make this tank look more than 2ft deep. Stay tuned Brittany.

 

[wah-zoh]

Great job! I really like the cave look.

 

[Tactics]

Wonderful! I'd love to put some Ventralis anthias in there.

 

[rickcasa]

Great job! I really like the cave look.

Wonderful! I'd love to put some Ventralis anthias in there.

Thank you both. And Tactics, I looked up the Ventralis and I'll sure to add this to my stock list. Very beautiful fish and I'll need cave dwellers.

The tank is going on its second rinse this time with salt. But don't be surprised if this water becomes the start of the cycle when I come back from vacation in a week. Or should I just swirl some fishfood in there now and get this cycle going??

So I'll be going on a Disney cruise in Florida with the family tomorrow and will have 3 days on dry land. Any interesting LFSs I should visit while in the Orlando to Port Canaveral route? I was hoping to visit World Wide Corals.

Also can't wait to go on scuba diving excursion on a Bahamas stop. Will try to take lots of photos.

 

[Tradewinds]

I seriously believe you have taken aquascapes to the next level. It will be very interesting to see how the tank progresses.

Lighting manufacturers should be thanking you for opening up a new venue of revenue. This could be the perfect blend for both MH and LED lighting fixtures.

Are you selling the stalactites yet?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah, you kind of put most every other aquascape project to shame with this. Seriously all sorts of awesome going on with that cave. Corals aside I hope you will have video with fish when you get this done, I'm curious how they'll interact with those caves, I've done caves in the past kind of "teepee" style with rocks leaning against the back overflow, but none of that is even the same ballpark as what you did here.

 

[cgonser]

This is such an awesome concept! Glad to see you thinking outside the box. I will be following along!

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Great idea!Cant wait to see more!