Sandeep Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Latest FTS (October 12, 2014) ================================Original Post Below============================================ Very excited to document my newest tank, a 8g reef. I started off with this really nice looking bare bent glass aquarium. I love the rounded curved edges without any seams at the front that these tanks have. I added a silver stripe around the bottom edge of the tank. It gives the tank a nicer look and covers the unsightly silicon seam along the bottom edge. Who wants to see that when looking at your filled tank. I used some silver gaffer tape, but you could also use marine striping tape for boats. I wanted a nice contemporary design for this tank so in addition to the silver stripe on the tank itself, I built a nice looking cantilever stand for the tank. Used a piece of white replacement bookshelf from Home Depot that I cut and painted flat black with some Tremclad outdoor paint and I got the square base from the local Ikea’s ‘As Is’ section. I love how it turned out. Added enough CaribSea sand just to cover the bare bottom of the tank. I always avoid deeper sand bottoms in small reef tanks as they become a trap for waste matter. The biology of deep sand beds only work on large reef tanks. It took me a couple of months to find the right coral base rockwork for this tank which will be two islands. One is a really nice layered plate like piece with really nice curves and it has tons of shelves on it. This is going to be perfect for various acans that I have planned for this piece. The other piece which I call ‘mushroom island’, because it looks like a mushroom cloud from an atomic explosion I created by gluing two pieces of rock together. I wanted a narrow vertical base with a top that looked interesting and could support a variety of different corals on it. It’s got three nice sections on top including a large flat piece in the right, a walled middle section and a lower tiered shelf on the left. As it was just a bare tank, it did not have any top. I never run small tanks without a top because it really helps control salinity changes from evaporation. I got these really nice tank cover clips on ebay for $8 for the set and I got my local glass and mirror shop to cut me a top and they rounded the edges on their grinder for me as well. The design philosophy that I use with my reef tanks is the balance of positive space with negative space to make the tank look a lot bigger than it is and a sense of perspective. This also makes the tank more interesting to look at than the typical philosophy of a continuous rock wall with a tank jam packed with corals from end to end. Flow and filtration will be from a AC50 running foam and carbon. Just filled and ready to go. I used about 30% water from my 50g reef and I use Seachem Stability for my new tanks which helps minimize the cycle. Lighting for now is a old ecoxotic PAR38 12,000K LED bulb (3-6500K White 2-455nm Blue) that I had lying around in a $22 Staples desk lamp arm with the reflector removed. I love these Staples lamp arms for their versatility and I much prefer them over goosenecks as when I’m working on the tank, I can just swing the lamp out of the way without effecting its precise alignment. The bulb had narrow 40 degree optics so I had to remove the entire faceplate and optics and am running the bulb with exposed bare leds in order to get proper coverage over the tank. I’ll eventually get a full spectrum Par38 bulb with 90 degree or 120 degree optics. Excited to see where this tank goes over time as it follows in the footstep of my current 5.5g Reef Islands. Now I have both tanks at each corner of my desk to enjoy when I’m working on my laptop. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Noice! [pushes buttons] Those are awesome rocks! With two tanks at my desk I'd be there a whole lot more but little extra and probably less work would actually get accomplished. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Follwing along on this one If its going to be anything like the 5 gallon,its going to be on point !!!!! Scape looks awesome,spectrum looks awesome as well. What're the plans for this one ? Link to comment
cthumphr Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Looking forward to seeing this unfold - I've always enjoyed your work. Link to comment
Sandeep Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Picked up this beautiful dendros for the new tank. Being a non-photosynthetic coral it does not need any light and in the wild is found in caves, including walls and ceilings. I'm going to simulate that kind of placement by gluing it vertically to the mushroom cloud islands vertical base. For now its chilling and getting fat being spot fed twice a week in my 5.5g Reef Islands tank while this tank cycles. Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 This is so cool where did u get that tank though it's a nice size and its rimless which I really like, I kind of want to imitate this tank, with its own little mini stand idea Link to comment
Sandeep Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 The tank was old stock on clearance at my local LFS. Luckily for you micro reefs has similar bent glass rimless tanks in volumes up to 10g, see http://www.micro-reefs.com/aquariums.html This is so cool where did u get that tank though it's a nice size and its rimless which I really like, I kind of want to imitate this tank, with its own little mini stand idea Link to comment
hersheyb Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Nice tank, love the clean look! Link to comment
jdavis28 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Looks great dude. I am also starting now as we speak. Link to comment
Reef Fever Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 The tank was old stock on clearance at my local LFS. Luckily for you micro reefs has similar bent glass rimless tanks in volumes up to 10g, see http://www.micro-reefs.com/aquariums.html do you have any clue to who manufactured the tank? Link to comment
vegasgundog Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 GAH!!!! Makes me itch to build another nano myself. Ill blame you when my wife comes after me. Trying to say no to more water....... Guess nano reefs are like tats...... Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 This tank looks great - I'm excited to see it progress. Is this the lamp you've been using? http://www.staples.com/StaplesProductDisplay?catalogIdentifier=2&langId=-1&productId=12749&storeId=10001 I can't seem to find the one like yours. I wanted one to remove the shade, etc. but I could only ever find the one I linked, and was concerned that I might not be able to remove the shade/hideous round switch-thing. Edit: Or is it this one (just not nickel) http://www.staples.com/StaplesProductDisplay?catalogIdentifier=2&langId=-1&productId=463163&storeId=10001 ? Link to comment
Sandeep Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 I think my tank was made by Bayu out of China, I think that they have gone belly up. Bet you micro reefs is also bringing them in from China. It takes pretty complex machinery to create a bent glass aquarium and most of the small shops creating aquariums don't have it. For example micro reefs only has equipment to creating acrylic tanks in house. There are also a couple on ebay including this Penn Plax 10g http://www.ebay.com/itm/Penn-Plax-Radius-10-Gallon-Bent-Glass-Frameless-Aquarium-Kit-/301063628660?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4618ca6774 The desk lamp that I am using is pretty similar to the Tensor and V-Light lamps on the Staples USA site (in Canada it seems to be a different supplier). As long as you can remove the reflector you are good to go. Incidentaly IKEA also has a couple of nice desk as well as floor lamps that you can remove the head on. Such as this floor one which is only $20 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70226005/ Link to comment
Nocturnal Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I think my tank was made by Bayu out of China, I think that they have gone belly up. Bet you micro reefs is also bringing them in from China. It takes pretty complex machinery to create a bent glass aquarium and most of the small shops creating aquariums don't have it. For example micro reefs only has equipment to creating acrylic tanks in house. There are also a couple on ebay including this Penn Plax 10g http://www.ebay.com/itm/Penn-Plax-Radius-10-Gallon-Bent-Glass-Frameless-Aquarium-Kit-/301063628660?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4618ca6774 The desk lamp that I am using is pretty similar to the Tensor and V-Light lamps on the Staples USA site (in Canada it seems to be a different supplier). As long as you can remove the reflector you are good to go. Incidentaly IKEA also has a couple of nice desk as well as floor lamps that you can remove the head on. Such as this floor one which is only $20 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70226005/ Nice tank. +1 on Ikea, tons of cool/cheap lighting fixtures. I need to find a nice looking floor lamp to house my DIY led. Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Its gonna be one heck of a tank i love the stand you built for it Link to comment
Nanofreak79 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 This tank looks great - I'm excited to see it progress. Is this the lamp you've been using? http://www.staples.com/StaplesProductDisplay?catalogIdentifier=2&langId=-1&productId=12749&storeId=10001 I can't seem to find the one like yours. I wanted one to remove the shade, etc. but I could only ever find the one I linked, and was concerned that I might not be able to remove the shade/hideous round switch-thing. Edit: Or is it this one (just not nickel) http://www.staples.com/StaplesProductDisplay?catalogIdentifier=2&langId=-1&productId=463163&storeId=10001 ? I have this one and the shade just twists off.http://www.officemax.com/office-furniture/lighting/desk-and-floor-lamps/product-prod3300061?R=22362033&ssp=true&fromUrl=TnRwYz0xJkQ9RGVzaytsYW1wJk50cHI9MSZOdHk9MSZOdHg9bW9kZSUyYm1hdGNoYWxscGFydGlhbCZOdGs9RGVmYXVsdCZOPTAmTm89MCZEeD1tb2RlJTJibWF0Y2hhbGxwYXJ0aWFsJk50dD1EZXNrK2xhbXA Link to comment
Sandeep Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Time for my first tank update! Now that the cycle is well done, tank is doing well, here is a FTS Moved my dendros to its new home on Mushroom Island. I was originally going to glue him to the vertical base of the island about half way up, but my daughter likes this placement in a crevice on top better. Have some worthy acan candidates for Acan Island. I removed them from the frag disks and they are just chilling in the tank getting used to the water chemistry and lighting for awhile before placement on Acan Island which is behind them. Moved a couple of my micro-elegance into the tank as well. Their long tentacle extensions, mean that they are very happy. Notice the smaller one, it is really tiny, less than 10mm across and not even a mouth or full disk has developed yet. Current inhabitants include a Banded Trochus snail, two Nassarius Snails (the larger Tonga variety) and two tiny blue-legged hermits (the only crabs I trust). The Banded Trochus is the ideal reef algea snail as they are able to upright themselves, do not die in the warm temperature of reef tanks unlike most of the cold water snails being unethically sold in the hobby and they love to graze on algea. The nassarius snails handle waste matter and leftover food particles. The blue-legged hermits are the only crabs that I have found which will not steal food from your corals or munch on them. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Really cool little reef, loving it so far. Link to comment
dafil Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 beautiful! is the big island stable?? Link to comment
anizato Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 dude! I love the island! any updates? how are your corals coming along? Link to comment
Sandeep Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Things are coming along nicely with the tank and the two reef islands as you can see. Link to comment
D Z Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Looking great! This is a very inspiring aquarium. I love your Dendros and your Acan Island. What kind of zoas are those in the last pic? Link to comment
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