MEW - Rimless Drop-off 10G

[gabe3eb]

Mew, you totally hit a homerun in the concept department here. This is going to be really exciting to watch develop. This definitely has a strong chance of being my favorite contest tank.

[Phixion]

Oh I get it!! I was like what are you hiding?? lol! That's gonna be a sweet scape, D!

[pismo_reefer]

totally rad idear derr!

 

 

another awesome mewtank...

[mew]

looks like its gonna turn out nice!! very cool idea

Pisces just lost a vote for the aquascape... O_O

Mew, you totally hit a homerun in the concept department here. This is going to be really exciting to watch develop. This definitely has a strong chance of being my favorite contest tank.

Oh I get it!! I was like what are you hiding?? lol! That's gonna be a sweet scape, D!

totally rad idear derr!

 

 

another awesome mewtank...

 

thanks ilu guys seriously.

 

So I got my acrylic board! Just have to cut and glue, with the help of Maeda. I'll be doing that as soon as I'm done with finals this week.

 

Yep, it's going to hold my heater, powerheads, some floss and carbon when I'm all done with it.

[asting]

Very nice.

To take it further, what if you had built a custom L shaped tank? You lose tank volume when you just box it off, but it could be larger if you designed it with this in mind originally.

[mew]

Very nice.

To take it further, what if you had built a custom L shaped tank? You lose tank volume when you just box it off, but it could be larger if you designed it with this in mind originally.

Oh, I had thought about that.

But a custom L shaped tank requires (1) an acrylic tank (2) custom stand to support it (3) a lot of money and time waiting for tank and stand to be built.

I hate acrylic tanks (scratches too easily), a custom stand would have cost me a lot more money and time that I don't have, and our local acrylic guy would have taken like 3-6 months to build me a tank like that. Not going to name names but he's much talked about. I'm also sure a custom L tank alone would've taken me out of the contest due to budgeting! I prefer keeping DIY to stuff that wouldn't potentially drop 10G of water, rocks and livestock on my carpet if it fails.

 

I really don't mind the boxing off. I think of it as equivalent to an overflow box or a false wall.

[asting]

DIY! doesn't have to be fancy. With that little amount of weight, a 2x12 cut to size in a U shape would suffice. you could even make it a storage area.

Oh the horrible dirty ideas you're giving me...

[mew]

I prefer keeping DIY to stuff that wouldn't potentially drop 10G of water, rocks and livestock on my carpet if it fails.

 

Tanks, I really would rather leave to professionals so that I have someone else to blame if it fails. And failing tanks are really not fun. I don't know if you're read this thread here: http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=322764

[asting]

I went ahead and read it. On the small scale it's not nearly as difficult though. No judgement from me though, I know i don't have the time or money to devote to doing something like this now.

[Damsels R Cool]

for the aquascape shots if you did'nt like the one you had PM me a new one

[flying_dutchman]

Another drop off:

[abominalsnowman]

Amazing...

[Boomboy]

ive thought of doing this plenty of times, the only problem is with a smaller tank is hard you need the longness of it in order to get that proper look. and if i ever did it, it would be a 3 sided tank.

[mew]

yep, this is one of those tanks that does work much better in a larger size. and yes, if i were to redo this idea in a larger tank, i would definitely go for a longer tank as well.

 

Philippe Grosjean's tank was what got me thinking about this idea in the first place.

 

Because of the smaller size, I decided to focus on a smaller portion of the drop-off. This scribble was the starting point idea back a few months ago after seeing Grosjean's tank:

Also like this:

 

Of course, mine will inevitably look different, since it is a nano tank. I am kind of hoping to be able to look at my tank from any side, hence the cube shape, but we'll see how this goes.

[Uhuru]

 

I like.... is that top aquarium the NPS tank at Aquarium of the Pacific in its early days?

[mew]

It is indeed an older picture of the Aquarium of the Pacific, I believe taken by Nick_Kun from San Diego (have to give credit where credit is due).

I should actually make it a point to visit this winter break, since I live so close to it!

 

So I have a dilemma right now.

 

With the limited contest budget, I only have enough budget to get a AquaticLife Internal Mini Protein Skimmer. I was thinking of daily water changes, which isn't a problem with my access to free Scripps NSW, but even so, the water pollution from feeding NPS corals concerns me. I'll probably be dosing vodka + Brightwell's MB7 as well, to help keep the nutrient levels decent, but I'm worried the AquaticLife won't be able to pull enough. Anyone have any suggestions? Anything, whether it be alternative skimmer suggestion or even budgeting help, would be appreciated.

[yardboy]

I'd suggest taking some rock and cutting it to make a flat side so you don't take up too much space on teh dropoff. You only have so much room there anyway. MAybe liek this

 

Someone with more talent than me for fitting the rock together could forego fillin, but I made an aragocrete mix and infilled. I just kinda don't like plastic foam walls plus it's nasty to work with. Good luck! Great idea for a tank. The reef tank at the Georiga Aquarium in Atlanta has a two level arrangement like that also, and their overflow is in the shallow end!

[Uhuru]

Daily water changes > skimmer. Free NSW for say 25% daily water changes is ideal IMO.

 

But, it's possible you will still get bacterial blooms due to all the feeding. A skimmer will help with oxygen and removing some of the bacteria. If you can fit a euro reef nano in your budget, that's what I would go with. Be very conservative on the vodka dosing. I don't dose any vodka at all anymore, just MB7. I do plenty of carbon dosing just from the foods.

[AdriftQuasar]

I love seeing awesome tank concepts. Though they always make me feel as if my tank is a failure.

[mew]

yardboy:

sweet! yea i was thinking i should cut down my rocks more, and flattening them out on one side sounds like a great plan. Definitely gonna have to play with that over my winter break.

 

Uhuru:

Wow, I checked out that Euro-Reef nano skimmer and it looks like an awesome skimmer. I want to replace the 9002 in my main tank with it now. Unfortunately, as far as this NPS tank goes, the Euro-Reef nano skimmer is way out of my budget. Any skimmer I use would have to be sub-$100. The syringe pump took a good bit out of my budget, as did my custom tank.

 

AdriftQuasar:

Hey! Thanks, but no way! Your tank is pretty awesome too!

[nemmy]

I love seeing awesome tank concepts. Though they always make me feel as if my tank is a failure.

 

+1 to that...

[octoman]

I like the 2nd scape the best. can't wait to see the tank up and running

[justin81]

cool idea. i'll be following

[mew]

Here's an update on the tank!

 

 

Removable cover (to house maxijet, heater, carbon, floss and galore):

 

And a last picture of my attempt to fill it up, before I ran out of water!

 

Huge huge huge thanks to Maeda! He helped out with putting my tank together~ And to his gf for putting up with me 'til the late hours

There's a few things left to do. Still got to drill a few more holes in the acrylic (for the maxijet and wire cords), put on some window tint to cover up the chambers, and figure out my budgeting.

After I finish those and grab more water tomorrow, it's on like donkey kong! Time to power cycle this thing!

[SbCaes]

looks cool! (if you want more red let me know)