Yukonblizzard's Shark and Ray Reef Lagoon

[yukonblizzard]

Well, after 3 years of my 180 FOWLR, I wanted to do something bigger and better. I have always been interested in sharks and rays, plus my two Vlamingii tangs are pushing a foot and a half which caused me to to sart this tank.
This being my main inspiration:
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Money being an issue I did not want to spend 5 grand with an acrylic or glass tank. I searched through many threads here on Reefcentral and other sites on DIY plywood tanks, but I did not feel comfortable working with fiberglass.

After coming up empty handed, I began to believe I would never build the tank. But then I stumbled upon a free source for 1.5 inch acrylic sheets in 5 by 3 foot sections.

This sparked an idea to do a pond liner tank with the 5 by 3 foot viewing window. The problem was; How would I make it water tight? Well after coming up with many ideas I decided to make a gasket-like seal. I cut the acrylic in strips in 5 and 3 foot lengths about 4 inches wide, and glued and bolted the strips to the 5 by 3 foot window with the liner in between it creating a very good water tight seal.

The tank's dimensions are 10*4*2.5 feet which is roughly 600 gallons.

Putting the acrylic window in:

 

[yukonblizzard]

Filling the tank to get the liner to fit properly:

Front views:

Tile done:

The soon to be heart of the tank:

The shelf that the skimmer is on will be hiden as well as the shelf on the opposite side. I am going to put sliding mirror doors on them.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Flow in the tank will be provided by four 2800 gph Hydor Korlia pumps, Marine Depot had a sale so I ended up saving 80 bucks. The heaters are two 250 watt Titanium heaters.

I also bought a 50 gpd RO system from my LFS to keep up with the evaporation.

 

[dogstar74]

Very nice! I can't wait to see it up and running!

 

[sciencelover]

I will definitely be watching this build!

 

[sandalscout]

Very nice work, the tile work really makes it look good. Can't wait to see more.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Very nice! I can't wait to see it up and running!

Thanks! I cant wait till is done either!:bounce2:

I will definitely be watching this build!

Thank you Sciencelover!

Very nice work, the tile work really makes it look good. Can't wait to see more.

Thank you Sandalscout!

 

[yukonblizzard]

For lighting I will use my 4 foot 6 bulb T5 VHO fixture, but I dont think this will provide enough lighting. So I will supplement the lighting with 2 400w Metal Halide fixtures. I was thinking of using this http://cgi.ebay.com/400W-HPS-MH-Dig...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_2?hash=item41499da219 and replacing the included bulbs with the 14k reef lighting bulbs sold at the same store. Would I have to buy 2 of these or will the HPS ballast be able to power metal halides?

 

[justjosh]

This is such a cool build!! I immediately subscribed! Keep it up!
-Josh

 

[yukonblizzard]

This is such a cool build!! I immediately subscribed! Keep it up!
-Josh

Thank you for the kind words Josh!

 

[t4zalews]

This could seriously be one of the coolest tanks I have ever seen. This reminds me of the blue spot ray tank they have at Sheds Aquarium in Chicago. Great tank

You should grow some mangroves on the side with the rock wall...I think that would be pretty cool, and beneficial.

 

[yukonblizzard]

The stocklist of the tank will be geared around sharks and rays, so this limits the choice of fish. No anglefish:sad2:, pufferfish, nor triggerfish. So the fish will be mostly tangs.

What fish I am thinking of:
-My 2 Vlamingii Tang Naso Vlamingii
-My 3 Purple Tang Zebrasoma Xanthurum
-3 Powder Blue Tang Acanthurus Leucosternun
-5 Yellow Tang Zebrasoma Flaviscens
-1 Clown Tang Acanthurs Lineatus
-1 Unicorn Tang Naso Unicornis
-10 Lyretail Anthias Pseudanthias squamipinnis

Sharks/Rays
-2 Bullseye Stingrays Urobatis concentricus
-2 Altantic Stingrays Dasyatis Sayi
-2 Mexican Horn Sharks Heterodontus mexicanus

As far as corals go, I will be sticking with leathers, zoas, mushrooms, and xenia.

Any thoughts on this stock list?

 

[yukonblizzard]

This could seriously be one of the coolest tanks I have ever seen. This reminds me of the blue spot ray tank they have at Sheds Aquarium in Chicago. Great tank

You should grow some mangroves on the side with the rock wall...I think that would be pretty cool, and beneficial.

WOW, thank you very much!

Actually I have a whole bunch of mangroves in my 180 that are about 2 feet tall, that I was planning on transfering to this tank. Do you think that the roots of the Mangroves could puncture the liner? I was thinking of doing something similar to a bonsai tree to prevent these problems. Any thought?

 

[Michael_84]

With mangroves you will need to build a couple "Pots" with plenty of sand pump the tank water into them because any space for a root to start in it will spread and invade....Damage is possible

If I get the new house I am looking at This will serve as inspiration for the fish room....I never thought of using a pond liner....Will the salt break it down? Or will "Cleaning" crew be able to puncture it?

 

[yukonblizzard]

With mangroves you will need to build a couple "Pots" with plenty of sand pump the tank water into them because any space for a root to start in it will spread and invade....Damage is possible

So I would have to keep the pots out of the water?

If I get the new house I am looking at This will serve as inspiration for the fish room....I never thought of using a pond liner....Will the salt break it down? Or will "Cleaning" crew be able to puncture it?

Thank you, the pond liner is very thick, 40mil, a cleaning crew would have a very difficult time puncturing it. The salt wont break down the rubber.

 

[easydoesit]

Very nice and very, very cool! I can't wait to see it with some livestock. I have the same RO unit and like it so far.

 

[lordofthereef]

Great tank. As has been said this is public aquarium quality. Looking forward for more pics.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Very nice and very, very cool! I can't wait to see it with some livestock. I have the same RO unit and like it so far.

Thank you Easydoesit, how do you like your RO unit? I haven't hooked mine up yet.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Great tank. As has been said this is public aquarium quality. Looking forward for more pics.

Thank you LordoftheReef! I will have some updates tomorrow, finishing up the refugium and sump.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Finishing the refugium...

Dimensions: 30"*17"*12"

I plan to cultivate macro-algae to feed to the tangs which serves as a filter and a source of food. I was thinking of caulerpa and ulva sea lettuce, with some 50w flourescent bulbs.

I had so much 1.5" acrylic left over I decided to build the refugium with it, it probably weighs over 100 pounds! A bit of an over-kill, but hey it was free.:lol2: