Table of Contents (linked)

Planning Stages & Flip-Flopping Galore: Pg. 1-3
This section has most of the ideas that were floating around my brain before I finally settled on a 30br. I had some cool concepts for shallow 20g tanks, and diagrams to support them. Feel free to steal my ideas!

(The Build Begins: Pg. 3- )
- Solaris I4 repair/rebuild from 6' to 2'
- First Diagrams of the 30B Setup
- Stand Build Process: Part 1
- Love Shack Floorplan (How the tank fits into the room)
- Infamous MS Paint Diagram of Finished 30B
- Stand Build Process: Part 2
- Sump Design for Peninsula System
- Solaris Custom Hanging Kit Installed
- DIY LED Fuge Light
- Sump Completed & Plumbing Begins
- First Drop Of Water (Leak Test)
- Vortech MP10 Wave Video

(Livestock Begins: Pg. 13- )
- First Fish & New Corals
- First Night Shots
- Solaris Upgrade from I4 to I5

ORIGINAL FIRST POST STARTS BELOW

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After a long break from reefing (well, 8 months feels like forever to me) I have decided to begin designing and conceptualizing my newest reef aquarium. My goals are more or less the same as the ones I had for my 40br, with the exception that I want to be more "green" and use LED lighting. I am still a T5 lover, but I am hoping to DIY a good LED fixture to give me the same effects as my last T5 set up.

My aim is always to outdo my last reef aquariums - specifically my 20g and 40br (see below). Hopefully I manage to do that with this next build.

I will post my plans and diagrams as soon as I can mock some up, and I will probably edit this first post to include them, and to reformat it to the same style as my 40br thread's first post.

Until then, stay tuned!

20g:


40br:


TJ's New Reef:

Woooo TJ's back.

Post moar cool pants pics.

Liek dis.

Good luck man on your new build. I really loved your 40 breeder i willing be tagging along


Haha i just noticed you quoted me ...freaking awesome

Welcome back TJ... "gangsta style... LOVE IT!!!

This should be amazing to follow for sure!

Good to see you building again TJ.

WOO! Your 40 breeder was utterly fantastic and one of the nicest tanks I've ever seen. I can't wait to see what you're going to do next.

Good to see you back TJ. I followed your last thread and am looking forward to this one. Your 40 is what inspired me to start saving for one. I will have the tank on Friday and then we start drilling!

New thread logo
Now you know I'm serious!

Wow, it will be hard to top those two previous tanks!

Tuning in.

Tagging along and hopefully I will be helping out and learning from TJ Miyagi

Then I will be the next Karate Reef Kid

What size tank are you going to go with this time? Stick with the 40 breeder or move up to something bigger (75? *cough cough*).

Actually thinking of doing a custom acrylic tank that is 24"x18"x16" - similar to my 20g but 4 inches taller to allow room for stags and sps to grow tall and get some shape.

I will post some pics of what I am thinking about - plumbing and sump will probably be a slightly modded or direct knock-off of my 40g system with the exception of an external overflow box built onto the tank.

There are two reasons I want to use acrylic for this project:
-Stability and Strength of the aquarium
-Clarity

I was considering glass with 3 starfire panels for clarity, but with the external box and 7 wholes to be drilled I think acrylic is the best bet. I will just have to be very anal about how I place things in the aquarium,, and about how I clean the panels.

Good to see ya back Tj!! I'll definitely keep an eye on this one.

Kind of off topic, but do you have any info about your old 40g? I saw that the buyer posted a thread about it, but I don't think it was ever updated. I would love to see what it looks like today.

I have no idea what became of him - he is off the map. All I know is him and his girlfriend broke up; I found out from her and she says he disappeared?!

Wish I knew... I am going to have a hell of a time getting all my polyps and sps etc. back...

That does make it tough to get some things back doesn't it!!!

More like IMPOSSIBLE!

lol...

I will just have to get a US shipping address and buy nice frags off of NR members.

YAY TJ is back!!!!!!!

Now all I have to do is get as good as you so I can get TOTM too!

great tanks!

I'm glad you're back and building. Your tanks have always kicked ass and given people like me something to work towards. I imagine you already have a great concept in mind.

HURRY

i'll gladly donate a few frags if it's actually possible to get them to you.

that sucks that your old tank is MIA. i suppose it sucks that the buyer is too, but honestly, I'm more bummed about the tank, lol.

lol...

Yeah well to be honest I am more bummed about the tank too.

I really appreciate your offer; I might have to take you up on it once I have things going again. I have a friend across the border I can ship stuff too and then bring it back myself the same day.

TJ, I missed something. I thought you had sold the other tank? What happened?

sounds good. let me know whenever you're ready.

I did sell it. The guy who I sold it to told me to get in touch with him when I come back so I could get some frags off my corals from him. Unfortunately he has become impossible to reach.

I am starting a new tank and this is the thread for it!
It is going to be a crazy slow process since I am still paying off the debts from my trip out west.



Thanks a ton - Will do!

TJ,

Do you plan on having the same style overflow as the 40? I am about to drill the bottom of my 40 and was thinking of going with the Herbie method like you did. Any thoughts or suggestions? Things you would have done different?


Thanks!

I actually will be using the exact same method I did with my 40g. My 40g was dead silent, it worked out much better then I expected and I wouldn't change a thing.

Only suggestion I have is to make sure you get a good quality gate valve.


- OK HERE IS THE FIRST PIC OF THE THREAD! -

This is more or less how I want the tank done. I don't have dimensions for the box yet but it will have to be big enough for all the main drain, aux drain, and closed loop input.

Sweet, looks good TJ. I have some frags for you too if you can figure out how to get them.

Thanks!

and that would be awesome, you have some great looking corals.

Nice dimensions. I'll call playboy.

Yeah - I figured the extra two inches in height compared to my last 20g would give it a little more of an open feel to the tank, as well as more potential room for sps to grow. I remember small colonies of sps that were added to my 20g had almost zero room (maybe a half inch) of headroom to grow.

Glad to see you fired back up again. Any ideas yet as to how you are going to set up the LEDs? Feel free to hit me up if you have questions on that.

You might want to increase it to 16" height. I'm playing around with the two finnex 30s that I'm in charge of at the University, and with that kind of depth you get a bit more layout options with a bit more height. Plus a little bit more water volume never hurt anyone. Just my two cents. Anyways, I'll be watching this because your 40 was just plain gorgeous.

I'm even impressed by the design.

Thanks in advance - I am sure I will have a question or two for you when the time comes.



I was actually considering that before, but I don't want it to look like a cubt tank, or be as tall as a 40g. I am going to have a lower lying reef like my 20g was, but I just need some extra height for growth.

It is certainly not out the window though, and I may in fact make it 16" tall. Good suggestion for sure.



Thanks lol.

I helped!

Sorry for the lack of updates

Work has been absolutely bonkers lately and I haven't had much time to myself...

I promise I will get back on track soon!!!

Cursed work! But something has to pay for the hobby, right?

So I am still low on funds... Which sucks... but it has given me more time to think about the setup and what I want to do with it.

You know what, I have done the SPS thing a few times, and the LPS thing, and I have done well - but one thing I have yet to do at all is a full soft coral reef aquarium.

These days I have noticed that there are a ton of hard coral tanks and not too many soft coral dedicated reefs (other then zoa and ric tanks). I want to see if I can do a soft coral aquarium that rivals SPS tanks in beauty.

I think I will be using an HOT5 setup with 4 bulbs with one daylight, one fiji purple, and two different actinics. That should give it more then enough PAR and a ton of fluorescence for those softies to glow under.

Hopefully I can get it started in the next couple months - till then I will be doing some research to see what softies I want to put in there!

I have a feeling it will be one of those tanks that I am going to have to trim quite often, and not worry so much on water changes - which doesn't bother me at all! lol...

I take it my cespit will be a centre piece?

Most likely! I'd be hard pressed to find a better looking softie!

I really like this idea.
I think that ppl tend to be too quick to dismiss Softies.
There are some really neat ones out there including some of the more uniquely colored mushrooms, as well as stuff like Cloves.

This is exciting

Glad to see you back in the game, TJ!

If your past tanks are any indication, this will be one to watch.

I have to agree. I know there have been more then a handful of soft corals I have come across and said "I must get some of that in my sps tank" one of those being the Giant Purple Cespit. I think it will be more challenging to find all cool pieces of soft coral I am after. I will not settle for anything but the best when it comes to this tank. I might get some common stuff like metallic GSP and pom pom xenia etc. but in the end it will all come together nicely. No brown or tan colts/leathers/anthellia.




Glad to see I have stirred up some excitement!

Sooooo, long story short - I purchased a motorcycle which set my tank plans back a bit. However, I have managed to find myself a very, very, very inexpensive 24" LED light fixture constructed of an old 6 foot Solaris. It still uses the controller, and is comprised of 2 of the origonal LED arrays. I will get a spare power supply with it, as well as a few extra LED banks in case some poop out.

Now here is the thing, I can't afford to have my acrylic masterpiece made, so I will most likely be using a 15 or 20 gallon aquarium (probably a 15g). I may be going super basic for filtration, maybe even just some water flow and not worry about the filter/skimmer at all - we will see.

I will take some pics of the frankenstein LED fixture once I get it (not sure what it looks like yet).
Hopefully it all works out well!

TJ

'bout time you updated. Shame on you leaving us waiting.

Good luck on the LED fixture. Could be awesome! So what's on your wish list?

Yeah - life has been a little crazy to say the least... lol lots of things going on keeping me away from the whole reefing thing. Alas I can not stay away any longer. I must start something up before I lose my mind completely.



I am basically hoping to get some really nice zoas, rics, bullseyes, nepthia, briarium, photosynthetic gorgs, xenias, anthelias, leathers, GIANT PURPLE CESPIT (that is a reminder for you phases!) lol

I may skip the leathers, run some chemi-pure and add a collection of montiporas since I am still in love with them. Also intend to have a couple/few nice maxima/croceas.

It will be a hella slow process though. I am basically relying on some of my good friends in the hobby to donate some frags

Fish wise I haven't given it the least amount of thought, but I am sure I will have some sort of pretty little fishy in there too.