The Ultimate Eight Foot Softie Reef

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13483240#post13483240 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InsaneClownFish
keegoaz - Tank will ship on October 20th. Anticipation! :)


justinpsmith - I'm loving your lagoon tank. I have the same concerns about pushing flow to the other side of the tank. I've talked with a fellow reefer who was telling me about reefers who created one large pile of rock in the center of a long tank and were able to have the flow "whip" around the island from one side.

This is similar to what I wanted to accomplish. I also have the advantage with a very shallow tank, so the flow will work somewhat differently and not be as dispersed. James himself suggested I try it out for awhile since my new focus would just be softies.

Truth be told I will probably add some flow in the first few months. I've looked into the new Koralia Magnum series 5, 6, 7, 8. They create massive amounts of flow for low wattage.
They're a bit pricey atm, so I'm waiting to see what my exact needs will be. I think if I added a 6 it might be enough to push across the tank.

Time will tell :)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Unfortunately I lost most of my lagoon tank in a move :(

I have rebuilt and if you don't mind I will post a picture here of my tank and show you how I have the flow set up.

I am currently looking at either vortech or a Koralia Magnum to try again with just powerheads on one side. I barely have any rock in my display. Only about 60 lbs. in a 130G tank :) Most of it is in my sump.

I agree with you that it can work. My first attempt was just bad because I used weaker powerheads.
 
AHHH the anticipation is killing me. I'm so jealous. my wife said i would have to wait till my midlife crisis before i get a biggert tank. lol and i'm only 24 :( hahaha

chris
 
Sorry for the late reply, but there really hasn't been much to report. I just got in the two 150w Jager heaters from Reefgeek. I had done a 50% water change on the bucket and added about a teaspoon of sugar to aid the cycle. Ammonia was high but Nitrite was off the chart, so the cycle is under way. Tonight I did another 50% water change and made note of the nice slime coat on the sides of the Brute container. A few days ago I noticed some signs of life trying to form on the dead rock- what appears to be a brown sponge and some fuzz- along with some possible black sponge and a couple of pink spots....maybe coralline? I started running a 65w day spectrum PC Flood lamp on the Brute for a few hours a day.


justinpsmith- Sorry to hear about your lagoon. Hopefully you bounce back soon. Pictures are always welcome here!

malnurs - Nice, my fiance got a kick outta that one :)

rick8335 magellan007 - Thx for taggin along!
 
Well it's been an interesting couple of weeks. I was initially a bit disheartened, because after having over 4 months to complete his task, my stand builder feel through.

I scrambled about to find another stand builder because the tank is pretty much complete and will ship next week. After spending some time in the room, pulling molding off the walls and taking measurements, I decided it was time for me to take the real plunge into DIY reefing and build the stand off of the wall.

I read alot of DIY schematics and added these to my limited musing about how I think it should be built. So I went out to Home Depot this morning and had all the lumber cut and bought all the materials. This should be cute :D

Even though things didn't work out with my stand, I'm excited to get my hands dirty and "try it myself."

As it is now I'll be building a frame out of 2x6s 9' 10" by 28" wide. I'm going to add molding to the bottom frame to match the room and use wanescott(sp) for the two outside panels. I plan on either hook hanging the panels or using a velcro system to easily remove them.
This should look more like a built in when I'm done, and the stand will "float" on top. The heft of the stand will be built into the 96x25 area the stand will sit.

More to come soon...stay tooned!
 
Can't wait to see it! I like the idea of making it part of the room. I bet this is cheaper than having your stand built too!
 
Sorry to hear it just fell apart abruptly like that, but I'm sure you'll do a good job. It already sounds pretty beefy. As you get going, be sure to post pictures of how you are arranging the boards, because one way is weak while another way is strong. Take into account that the stand needs to be built so you can't rack it side to side or front to back, and that it will have a solid sheet of plywood on top as well as 3/4" foam. It is easy to forget little things like that and suddenly everything has to be adjusted to make up for those surprises.
 
justinpsmith- WAY cheaper ;)

Marc, here's a quick sketchup of what I have in mind. Any critique would be helpful:
Stand1.jpg


The blue in the picture represents the wall. The 2x6 headers are cut to 118" and I have 14 17" 2x6 cuts to work with for an even 28", top to bottom, with the headers.

The cross beams are 25" 2x6s. I have 6 4x4 posts cut to 28" and in the picture where the far side of each post begins is where the each end of the tank starts.

I sprayed down the wood with a minmax sparfane urethane today. I'll be using 3 inch coated wood screws to secure the headers and uprights to the wall studs, and on a suggestion from a fellow reefer I'll be using Construction Adhesive for framing instead of the gorilla glue. I also have several reinforcing angles for the corners.

I might adhesive/screw the 4x4s to the frame rather than bolt them with harnesses as I had originally wanted just because I don't want to cut out all the drywall to properly lag the bolts. The middle upper supports I will probably support using deck brackets.
3/4" plywood and 3/4" foam.
 
That will be beyond strong, as long as you have some solid plywood on the top and ends. I don't think the 4x4 posts are necessary with all the 2x6 construciton. You could scab on 2x6 where the 4x4 are, just to lock it up a little tighter and not lose the space underneath.

You plan to have access doors on the front, correct? A sump goes underneath? If you plan to have one, I'd put cross braces on the bottom every 16" just so support it nicely on plywood.

How many gallons is this tank again? Seems like the stand is really overbuilt in this sketch.
 
The tank will be approximately 103-108 gallons. The weight shakes out to somewhere in the 800-1000lbs. range.

I like overbuilt :)

Well there will be solid plywood on the top, but there will be none on the sides. I'm not using doors. I plan to use molding along the bottom and cut wainscott to wrap around the facade in two removable sheets. It will look more like a built in if I do it right.

There will be a 40 Breeder sump underneath. The design is mostly mine with some input from some DIY projects floating around RC. This is what I originally thought about doing before I had commissioned someone locally. Someone suggested using 2x3s along the bottom to save space. I'll be using a 40 breeder sump, but at the moment I don't have plans for alot of equipment.
 
If you don't plan to put plywood on the outside ends and back, you'll need some lumber running at an angle to keep it from racking. The tank isn't huge, but the plywood strengthens the entire stand. Honestly, it's amazing. I realize you said glue, screws, and possibly bolts... so odds are it will be fine. Do you have earthquakes in your area?
 
None. :)

The back 2x6 will be screwed directly into the wall studs. I could use plywood, but this would push everything into the room further than I like. I didn't think it would be necessary because of the sheer number of 2x6s I was using.

Remember too that this sketch represents the almost 10ft span I'll be building, so the tank will sit exactly across that inside 8 ft. The outside sections from the 4x4s out will not really be weight bearing.

Would it help with the "racking" If I added a 2x6 to the outside of the 4x4 on each end with the but perpendicular to the outside header?

Thanks for the kind words, I put alot of thought into it.
 
I don't think you need any 4x4 posts at all. And bolting it to an existing wall sounds like the potential to rack the stand will be impossible.
 
I only had a couple hours tonight to start unloading materials, mark off wall studs, and start framing before I had to come back into work.

No glitches so far:
100_1568.jpg
 
Before you get any farther, you may want to replace that outlet with a GFCI. Or is one of them already wired that way, and the next one is on that same circuit?

I prefer the each outlet have a GFCI, so if it trips, all the other plugs are still live. That's a little more hassle to wire, but if I have a faulty piece of equipment, it won't shut down the entire reef.
 
Marc, I have a nice Stanley GFCI powerstrip that has worked flawlessly on my last two tanks. I was planning to use one for each outlet. I really like how heavy duty they are with a nice "breaker" that covers the unused outlet. It also has very secure outlets on the strip itself and rubber covers.
 
I also wanted to make a note that my 44 Brute is starting to look less like a trash can and more like a cylinder aquarium. Three days after adding most of the old live rock from my old system I tested and had nitrites around 1 and nitrates around 1. I did yet another 50% + water change.

Later I added a couple of True Percs. These guys are very cute and active. I've had the Percs for almost a week and they ate greedily tonight. I believe they might even be mis-bars which you don't see very often in Percs. Their mid bar is only on one side.
I also added one blue leg and one black foot tiger Trochus that survived the transfer from my old system. I see activity from feather dusters and starfish on the rocks.

I did notice significantly lower PH in the Brute than freshly mixed saltwater. The Brute seemed to be reading 7.8 PH, while the fresh saltwater was closer to 8.4 PH. I took the advice of a fellow reefer and added the second Koralia to the Brute pointed toward the surface to help the gas exchange. I think this is helping with the PH. It's also gotten rid of that annoying "slick" of dust and random bugs on top of the water.

I do have to say that Melev's Reefkeeper is the best reef related purchase I ever made. That's not a plug of any kind. The bottom line is I've already made in excess of 250gallons with it and it's almost paid for itself before any tank has seen the front door of my house. :thumbsup:

Here's a picture of the GFCI powerstrips I'll be using:
100_0717.jpg
 
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