SSW's 20 Gallon Long Rimless SPS Reef

[Sswsanjay]

Welcome to the build for my new 20 Gallon Long SPS Reef tank build.

 

Plan: So what I'm trying to do is have an SPS dominated reef tank that is minimalistic in look. I'm going to try to make it as clean and simplistic visually, while having it extremely tech heavy. I want to be able to control/watch the tank from my phone. I'm a full time student and work at least 30 hours a week so I'm short when it comes to time, so automation is also a key factor that I want to incorporate into the tank.

 

Tank: The tank is a standard 20 Long, 30" long 12.5" wide and 12.5" deep. I took the top black brace off to make it rimless. Going to drill it and get a custom overflow box to hide things.

 

Front:

 

Back:

 

You can see that the plan right now is to have 3 holes drilled, drains are 1" and return is 3/4". One drain will be full siphoned and the other will collect the remaining needed to keep silent.

 

Stand: I'm getting my LFS to build me a custom stand, so far I have a Google SketchUp 3D model of what it should look like on the inside, and I handed the stand builder the design and colors I'm looking for on the outside.

 

Here is a quick look of the inside of what i want the stand to be like.

 

 

The stand will have a few goodies (i.e. what those shelves are for) which I will explain later.

 

Sump: The sump will also be built by my LFS and is customized to my design.

 

Here is the 3D model of what the sump will be.

 

 

The 4 chambers in the front are each 1 gallon and will be used as dosing chambers to hold calc, alk, mag, and an extra chamber for possibly strontium, potassium, or whatever others recommend for an SPS system.

 

 

Here you can see there will be two filter sock holders which will have easy access for quick maintenance.

 

 

Here you can see the baffles system, on the right is where the drains will go down, pass over the filter socks, through bubble trap, to the central chamber where a protein skimmer will go, then through more bubble traps to the return pump zone.

 

Lighting: For lighting I'm going with the EcoTech Radion G3 Pro XR30. I already have the light so i'll be transferring it from the 10 gallon reef i have it one to this system. I was also thinking about retrofitting 2 or 4 T5 bulbs but for the time being I'm going to stick with the Radion only.

 

Return Pump: Going to use the new Reef Octopus RO-DC-5500.

It is a 1585GPH pump which is more than overkill for this small of a system, but I think i'll be able to use most of its power, and if its to much i can just dim it down.

Here is the link if you want to read more about it.

www.coralvue.com/rodc-5500-controllable-water-pump

 

Controller: I picked up an APEX Gold the other day to put onto this tank, so this should be fun learning all about it. Luckily I'm pretty good with programming so it shouldn't be to challenging. But I plan to use the APEX to track and automate the tank. I will add dosing pumps (hopefully the new APEX DOS because they look bad ass aside from the price).

 

Refugium: So here is where one of those shelves in the stand comes into play.

 

 

 

As you can see here above the sump is another tank, its going to be a custom 10 gallon refugium which hopefully will be large enough to actually keep phosphates and nitrates to a minimum.

 

Mini Fridge: So next to the refugium in the picture above is a mini fridge that can hold 6 cans, instead i will be putting a food mix and other refrigerated liquids which will be auto dosed to the tank. This way i can feed the tank remotely and be able to do everything the tank needs without me actually being there.

 

ATO: The container below the refugium and to the right of the sump is a 5 gallon custom auto top off container which is self explanatory, nothing to fancy about that.

 

In-Tank Water Flow: Going to probably use two MP10s as in tank circulation. But i already have an MP40 laying around so I might just have all three on the tank, MP10s on the left and right and MP40 on the back. What does everyone else think? Obviously i know its overkill, but this tank is pretty much supposed to be overkill.

 

Reactors: Also will be adding 2 Next Reef MR1 Reactors, one for ROWA Phos, and one for carbon. I might have to go with the Shorty reactors that they sell for space savings, but hopefully I can fit the larger ones.

 

Substrate: Many say to go with a bare bottom design for SPS tanks, but i really hate the way they look so I'm going to try something new. I plan on having a think layer of CaribSea Black Hawaiian Sand (20 lbs). I have never had a black sand bed in any of my past tanks but have always wanted too.

In the refugium I'm just going to use 20 lbs of Carib Sea Fiji Pink sand. Hopefully they won't evey mix.

 

Rock: I just want to have a really minimalist natural rock look. I'm probably going to just use fiji live rock, but I've been debating using Bulk Reef Supply's dry rock. Going to aquascape it so that it looks very aesthetically pleasing though.

 

Plumbing: The plumbing for this tank will look as clean and OCD approved as possible. I want people to be able to look at the plumbing and complement how nice it looks.

 

So far I have already purchased the following:

Tank

Apex Gold

Bulk Heads

Reef Octopus rodc-5500 Return Pump

EcoTech Radion Pro

MP40

Filter Socks

 

So I still have a long way to go, but hoping to have everything running by the end of the month/year. Hopefully having everything cycled by the end of January at the latest.

 

Let me know what everyone think! I'm really here to learn more and hopefully pass my knowledge to others, so if you have any recommendations please let me know!

 

Thanks for reading so far!

Keep Following!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[reefernanoman]

Pretty nice planning. I'll be following

[Sswsanjay]

Quick Update:

Making the stand 40 inches wide rather than 36. The extra space will allow for my ATO and Refugium to increase in size!

 

Plans are still in development, however hopefully going to be building the rock structure for the tank this coming week!

 

Stay tuned for how that turns out!

[Markburns43]

One hell of a setup. It will come together like a dream with all your planning.

[Sswsanjay]

Quick Christmas Update:

New things came in!

Got the mini fridge in today, got 4 T5 retrofit ballasts (decided to probably add some t5 lighting to the radions just to give the SPS some extra light)

And best part of all the Rocks came in! Mostly Fiji rock, time to build an awesome aquascape!

 

Will have a picture of the structure I built soon! So far it's looking really good!

[GtTap]

You know the saying on the forums no pictures it didnt happen. lmaoo.

[Sswsanjay]

You know the saying on the forums no pictures it didnt happen. lmaoo.

 

Haha just been busy with family time haven't been on the computer and don't know how to post from my iPhone to show the awesome picture of the rock!

[Sswsanjay]

And here is what you've all been waiting for!

 

 

Simple design, the hanging cliff will allow for good flow as well as awesome places to attach SPS!

Maybe a dendro colony and some other NPS corals under the cliff??

 

Let me know what you all think!

[Dramad1]

Sweet design, I have been putting together a Sim rock scape as well, your piece looks more natural than mine. Very nice though, following along here..

 

Welcome to the forum

[xmas_one]

Good stuff, can't wait for the updates!

[Halo_003]

This is killer. Very interested to see how it goes and how the 20 takes to bring rimless.

[Sswsanjay]

Got the T5 retrofits running.

Going to go for 4 bulbs.

 

Arrangement Idea:

(Front)

ATI Purple Plus

ATI Coral Plus

EcoTech Radion XR30 Gen3 Pro

ATI AquaBlue Special

ATI Blue Plus

(Back)

Any advice? Yes I know people are going to say it's over kill but the T5 retro was very cheap so I figured I'd try it out.

 

Here is a picture of one of the T5s running (Blue Plus)

Still need to buy reflectors, thinking Tek2 reflectors, any advice?

 

[Sswsanjay]

Well it's been about two weeks since my last update. Things are still on track to being done and ready by the beginning of February.

The rock for the tank is cycling in a storage tote container while everything else is getting ready.

 

 

And the stand should be done tomorrow! It's all built just needs staining!

 

 

 

Also got around to setting up my RO/DI Unit in the laundry room.

The unit is a 200 GPD AquaFX Barracuda with an Auto Shut Off unit on it.

 

 

And here is a quick picture of how the rock looks in the empty tank.

 

 

 

Will continue to update this post as time goes on. Just waiting on an acrylic company to finish my sump, refugium, ATO box, and overflow boxes. I was quoted three weeks time frame on the acrylic items and it's been almost two weeks. So let's hope it gets here next week!

 

Stay tuned for more!

[Halo_003]

That looks so sweet rimless. Quality work! Keep it coming, I'm extremely interested as I'm rebuilding and derimming a 20L after a leak.

[Sswsanjay]

That looks so sweet rimless. Quality work! Keep it coming, I'm extremely interested as I'm rebuilding and derimming a 20L after a leak.

Thanks! Good luck with rebuilding yours! It's a great tank!

 

 

Update:

The stand is official done! And i think it turned out great!

 

Here are the pictures:

 

 

Here is the entire stand from the front.

 

 

Here you can see the extra space on the top where the tank sits recessed into. This allowed for a larger sump area!

 

 

And here is the stand with all four doors open, you can see easy access from three sides!

[Odyssey350kc]

Stand looks awesome. Did you remove the bottom trim from the tank as well since it will be supported by the stand?

[Sswsanjay]

Stand looks awesome. Did you remove the bottom trim from the tank as well since it will be supported by the stand?

 

The bottom black rim is actually recessed into the stand so you can't see it!

[Veng]

GL! Can't wait to see this progresss!

[ifarmer]

cant wait to see the tank is loaded with the colorful sticks

[moores38]

FWIW I've got some BRS Fiji and realllyyyy liked it!

[Arce]

Loving that scape, great build, looking forward to seeing it running.

[Sswsanjay]

GL! Can't wait to see this progresss!

 

Thanks! It's becoming a fun build now that it's almost ready!

 

cant wait to see the tank is loaded with the colorful sticks

 

Hopefully soon I can start getting actual corals. Tired of staring at an empty tank. Just waiting on the acrylic work to be completed. Hopefully next week it comes in!

 

FWIW I've got some BRS Fiji and realllyyyy liked it!

 

My rock is actually from my local fish store, they don't get it from BRS but it's all probably from the same place in FIJI. The rock looks great!

 

Loving that scape, great build, looking forward to seeing it running.

 

Thanks for the support!

[Sswsanjay]

Update:

 

Calcium reactor came in yesterday, got it all built today. It came with blue ro/di tubing so instead I got some black tubing to make it match better with the reef octopus look. Trying to go for a red black and white theme for under the tank.

 

 

 

Puppy Sleeping in the background

 

And I moved the tank to its final spot (hopefully)!

 

 

 

The rock is finished cycling, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, after a water change on my rock bin the nitrates are also 0-5 ppm. So going to just let it continue to mature in the bin until I can get everything else completed with the tank. Hopefully I can just finish plumbing the system, add saltwater, the Rock and some fish in the same day.

[Sswsanjay]

Quick Update:

 

So in the past week I have added a few new goodies to the tank build.

 

Internal Flow:

I purchased a second Ecotech MP40, so now I will have one on each side.

Going to love syncing these up and having them make crazy waves in the 20 gallon.

 

Protein Skimmer:

Finally decided and ordered a protein skimmer, going with the new Reef Octopus Elite 150int.

This skimmer uses Reef Octopus' new DC Pumps, some people don't like the idea of DC pumps on a skimmer, but for me I really like the pumps because they are by far one of the quietest pumps I have ever used. I have the Reef Octopus DC5500 as my return pump running the water movement for my rock cycling process and the thing is silent. So I figured to keep sound levels down i'd try it out for the skimmer as well. The DC5500 will also be my main return pump once the tank is finished.

 

Now I really want to swap out the Aquatrance pump on my calcium reactor for a reef octopus DC pump instead, lets see if that will work! Going to contact Coral Vue to see if thats even possible.

 

Should get the sump, refugium, ATO and overflow boxes Tuesday, hopefully...

 

Now its just a waiting game sadly.

 

Let me know what you guys think about the new skimmer and internal water flow choices!!

 

 

[k4ndyk1ng]

im following along. this is going to look sweet