Tuni's 80g Rimless Tank Thread

[tunicata]

Hey Folks,
This weekend I put my 120g set up for sale and installed my newest set up: 80g rimless.

Specs as of 1/21/14:

Equipment
80g Rimless Deep Blue Aquatics Tank- 48x24x16
1 Apex Jr. w/ EB4, Temp
Controls: Heater, Lights, Return Pump, Fuge Lights
ATI 48" 54wx6 Non Dimmable Fixture hung from metal conduit pipe
62 g Custom Acrylic Sump
Custom stand
ASM G4 Return Pump
Manifold plumbing system w/ 3 reactor/auxillary ports, 1 WC port

Chemical Based
Prodibio Reef
2xTLF Reactors- GFO (BRS), Carbon (Seachem Matrix)
ESV Salt
RODI H2O

Environment
Bare bottom
Minimal aquascape in DT, extra rock in Sump
Future frags in Sump (there is a built in frag rack tray)
Future fuge in sump next to frags and/or install a HOB fuge I have


Future target:
Minimal fish stock
Target corals: True mixed reef w/ 33%soft, 33%lps, 33%sps
Clam



Pictures forthcoming. Consider this a tease.

 

[jarrett shark]

we need pics!!! J/k
sounds like a great build
why did you downsize?
cant wait to see it

Hey Folks,
This weekend I put my 120g set up for sale and installed my newest set up: 80g rimless.

Specs as of 1/21/14:

Equipment
80g Rimless Deep Blue Aquatics Tank- 48x24x16
1 Apex Jr. w/ EB4, Temp
Controls: Heater, Lights, Return Pump, Fuge Lights
ATI 48" 54wx6 Non Dimmable Fixture hung from metal conduit pipe
62 g Custom Acrylic Sump
Custom stand
ASM G4 Return Pump
Manifold plumbing system w/ 3 reactor/auxillary ports, 1 WC port

Chemical Based
Prodibio Reef
2xTLF Reactors- GFO (BRS), Carbon (Seachem Matrix)
ESV Salt
RODI H2O

Environment
Bare bottom
Minimal aquascape in DT, extra rock in Sump
Future frags in Sump (there is a built in frag rack tray)
Future fuge in sump next to frags and/or install a HOB fuge I have


Future target:
Minimal fish stock
Target corals: True mixed reef w/ 33%soft, 33%lps, 33%sps
Clam



Pictures forthcoming. Consider this a tease.

 

[cullyisgully]

yes pics

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[tunicata]

 

[cullyisgully]

nice looking set up are you going to put SPS in it ????

 

[tunicata]

Yup!!!!
It's about 8" shorter than my old tank. I'm considering keeping it bare bottom to help me keep up with in tank detritus.

Right now I have some cukes in there, and will transfer them to my mangrove tank in a few weeks. I'll start vacuuming the DT at that point.

I'm doing 10g WC every week and dosing prodibio every 2 w/ phosban changes every 3 weeks. Hopefully that keeps my nitrates and phos. low.

For calcium, I got like 2 years worth of 3 part. I also have a kalk reactor to get online.

Oh, I just remembered that now we have the same size tanks!

 

[DrHarryLopez]

Amazing!

 

[tunicata]

Thanks!!!

I'm trading some equipment for SPS so I can build the SPS part of my tank.

I got a Red Dragon Frag for $10 last weekend and it's doing great.
Also got a blue tenius for free with it (tiny piece) but it's still pretty!

Had a stylo that came free with a fish I got and that's doing very well too (had it for a month or more now)

I'm super pumped.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Dangnabit.. I've been to damn busy with work and life, looks great Tunicata!

 

[BrklynArch]

tanks looking good dude
hows the copperband doing dont see him in the pics?

 

[tunicata]

Thanks!
Yeah...the copper band died after a week or so. He had some fluffy white thing on his tail in the beginning (that same night) but I saw him picking at rocks so hoped he would make it. Some time later he looked horrible, then I put him in a quarantine and he just didn't make it.

He did remove/scare away a lot of aipstasia in the meantime.

Now they are back.

 

[Ortho Bill]

Wow, this looks really great. I'm thinking of setting up a similar tank in my office. I was wondering about how your sump is set up. What's the purpose of splitting your drain line into two socks? Another question I had was your return is feeding two other smaller lines - what are they?
Do you have any suggestions now that you're up and running. Is bare bottom the way to go?
Thanks Bill

 

[rkaragozler]

Tuni, that looks amazing, keep up the good work

 

[tunicata]

Thanks Bill and Richie!!!

It definitely means a lot to get those comments.
My wife can attest to the amount of energy I put into this thing!

Bill:
I have since actually added in sand.
Not because I really wanted to but because
1) my wife said she would like it better if it looked like a 'normal' tank
2) 1x per week, I also have to scrape the bottom glass in addition to the side panels. This is just more work and causes me to need to put my hands in for an extended period and move around the rocks to clean more effectively.
3) Because the light from the DT filters through the tank into the sump, my sump was getting light 24/7, leading to algae growth on the sump (not just more light for chaeto). This causes more cleaning too!!!
4) My friends kept pestering me

I mainly didn't want sand because of the increase in potential detritus and if a coral falls and no one sees it...it eventually dies or is burnt from the sand.

Also, I didn't actually make the choice to have the returns split. I bought it that way. I've always had dual returns and so I liked it. The only benefit (with the regular way to do dual overflow) I can see is that if one tube gets clogged then the other tube should be able to handle the flow.

If I could change my sump it would be to add some kind of settling tank or section. Right now the skimmer/overflow area serves as that. However, when I clean out that section (if my sock didn't catch it or if I ran it sockless for a while), that sends my skimmer nuts because of the water level change!