tpallas
New member
Introduction
Some of you may know me from my other thread on this forum, my 11.4 gallon Mr. Aqua SPS tank. I've been keeping fish since I was 6, and saltwater fish since I was 12. My first job was at my LFS, Marine Care Specialists. Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since.
First and foremost, I am 100% keeping the 11.4 gallon tank, and am very excited to see it grow out into a full-blown SPS nano forest. Since I am moving into a 1 bedroom apartment, however, I now have the opportunity to consider one more tank - a nano, at that. Although I love the challenge and look of SPS, I also love the vibrant colors and ease of soft corals and polyps. The types of tanks that have large, waving neon Neptheas, kaleidoscope clove polyps, a matt of green star polyps, and all sorts of other cool, but easy, corals. Therefore, I resolved to set up a second tank to house these corals.
But instead of the normal rectangular tank, I am jumping on the dropoff bandwagon. There are some great dropoff tanks here starting on RC, so I thought I'd throw in my hat as well. So hopefully my build will be interesting and entertaining, and give me the results I'm looking for.
Design Concept
Here's a Sketchup of my concept:
The idea is to have the tank and stand match my 11.4 gallon tank as a piece of furniture in my living room, and a semi-room divider. This sketchup is very preliminary; I intend to lay out the exact setup in detail before I make my first purchase.
Equipment List
Lighting: AquaIlluminations Sol Super Blue. At some point, I intend to replace the Sol on my 11.4g with a Radion unit. When that occurs, I will be ready to move the Sol to this tank.
Skimmer: Probably, the Tunze 9002 Nano. I've been using the SWC-120 on my 11.4g, which is a fantastic skimmer even on such a small tank, but unnecessary on a soft tank (and my wallet).
Sump: I plan on building a glass, or potentially acrylic, sump, which will be approximately 6-8 gallons in total capacity.
ATO: Tunze Osmolator.
Controller: The hope is that I will use an extension box for the Profilux 3 and run a control cable to my tank from the 11.4g stand. This way, I will be able to control both tanks through one controller.
Return Pump: Eheim 1250.
Plumbing: Very similar to my 11.4g - a Glass Holes Super Nano con Dientes with black tube or PVC plumbing.
Flow: Maybe, when time permits, an MP10. In the meantime I may settle on some Tunze nanos.
Way Ahead
There's a lot to figure out here as this isn't a readily available setup. First, I don't know if a single piece of glass can be cut in that L-shaped pattern, or cheaply at that. If not, I may be looking at a 2-piece side. One option for the tank is to have it built, a second is to have the pieces cut and do the silicone job myself.
The stand will obviously have to be built as well, and I intend on using the furniture builder who built the stand for my 11.4g. Same mahogany stain with a white painted interior, with matching furniture.
Finally, I'll need to lay out the sump. Since I have far less equipment here than in my 11.4g, the design will be much simpler. The only complicator is that the drain from the overflow and the return will be right next to each other, on the back side of the tank.
That sums up my current challenge set in getting the basics of this tank together. I'm not even moving until mid-March, so I'll be in the planning phase until then at a minimum. After the basic layout is together, I'll need to look at the specifics of the controller and rockwork, which will be less filling than it is in my 11.4g.
Q&A
Q: This post format looks a lot like Tron's, did you steal his idea?
A: Yes, yes I did.
Q: That's an amazing Sketchup of the tank, are you the guy that invented Sketchup?
A: No. In fact, I downloaded Sketchup this afternoon, watched one instructional video, and made that drawing. Believe me, if I can do it, ANYONE can.
Alright - so that's it for now.
Cheers!
).You could do some real cool rockwork in that tank if it works out (maybe a fake foam wall for the dropoff). Something like this. I know you said softies only because you are going for the beauty and the ease of taking care of them, but id add some monti caps, sponges, gorgonians, and colt leathers to the drop off in the pic I posted I think it would look sweet. Just throwing that out there, Im sure whatever you do it will look great! Looking forward to updates!
