Luckedout Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Started aquascaping. What do you think so far? The far left is going to have minimal scaping. I may have a small rock island, I'm not sure yet. I am also not 100% happy with the position of this scape. I may move it to the left side. I do like how it covers some of my equipment on the right. Thoughts? Opinions? Updated FTS: 11/29/12 IMAG0278 by Luckedout26, on Flickr IMAG0280 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Bad shot from the left end. IMAG0279 by Luckedout26, on Flickr ************************* I have been a long-time lurker, with a few posts here and there, but I have finally decided to post my most recent build. I have been in the hobby for 4 years now and I started out with a 90g tank. Then I moved to Seattle and the tank came down. I went small after that and had a JBJ 28 gallon for a while, but decided I really didn't like the way it looks. It's a good system, but I wanted something more aesthetically pleasing. I have had a 12x24 that I have used as a temporary holding tank for a while and I have wanted to turn it into a show tank, so I finally pulled the trigger and here we go! Equipment: - Rimless 12x24x12 rimless tank - Ecotech MP10 - Reefkeeper Lite - Lights: Aquatic Life T5 4 lamp fixture. - Skimmer: Aquamaxx HOB-1 Blue box - Two little fishies reactor (1 with biopellets, 2nd with carbon) I just finished drilling the tank. I have missed having a sump and I am looking forward to hiding all my equipment! I will have 2 standard 10 gallons in the stand. This will increase my water volume by about 12-14 gallons and allow me to keep my display clean. One will be used for a refugium and the other will be a simple sump for the skimmer, return pump, heaters, probes, etc. The focus of this tank will be simplicity. I do not want a cluttered look to the tank. I decided to sell all my existing corals and fish to start fresh. I am not looking to keep expensive, rare corals, but will focus on a wide variety of color, shape and placement. I am a big fan of zoas and lps but I will have a few select sps. I want to keep a clean sandbed without a lot of clutter from corals, rock or frags. I also want to keep a few smaller fish; gobies, blennies, cardinalfish most likely. I want to try to keep some fish that I have never tried before, so while that may be more costly I think it will make for a great tank. And since it's a nano, my fish stock will be low anyhow. I am taking a lot of inspiration from Mystogan's tank that he posted in the gallery. http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/showphoto...mp;ppuser=75768 I believe it is similar in size and when I saw his tank, it was like he designed what I have been imagining for a while now. I am also taking a lot of inspiration from Rehype's beautiful tank (which, sadly, is no more), Awpong, Mastermind9, medred and marc3lo19. I'll be posting a few photos of my build progress so far in just a bit once they are uploaded. Thanks for checking out my thread! Link to comment
JR! Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 so excited to see where this goes. good just with the build Link to comment
ItsBwalt Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Following!! Excited to see pics. Sounds like a good start Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 Here's some quick and dirty pictures of the tank to get started. Sorry for the quality. I'll step it up as we move forward. The tank is ready for plumbing, however; I need to work on modifying the stand first. IMAG0262 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Drilled and ready for plumbing. IMAG0263 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Here's the stand. It's a cabinet I purchased from Ikea. It's taller than normal, because I have kids who like to feed or try to play with the fish. It will also make it easier for me to see the tank. I don't like bending to look at tanks. IMAG0264 by Luckedout26, on Flickr I had some hesitations purchasing this stand, but I looked at weight-bearing loads it can handle and this should be ok. I am in the process of reinforcing the shelves and I am trying to figure out the best way to anchor it to my wall since the tank and a lot of weight will be higher up. If I can figure that out, then this will start moving along quickly as plumbing is ready to go. Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 so excited to see where this goes. good just with the build Thanks! I am too. I usually am too anxious to just get a tank going, but I have been taking my time with this one. Following!! Excited to see pics. Sounds like a good start Thanks! Some quick and dirty pictures are up. I'll be posting more as things start moving along. Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 26, 2012 Author Share Posted November 26, 2012 I made a little progress. First, I reinforced the shelves using some shelving angles. Here they are going on. IMAG0267 by Luckedout26, on Flickr One other thing I worried about was moisture building up and getting into the particle board, so I sealed the holes with silicone. I also added insulating styrofoam around the sides. This will keep salt creep and splashes off the the cupboard as well as insulate my living room from equipment noise. IMAG0265 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Tank is plumbed. I keep it simple to avoid any leaks or points of failure. IMAG0269 by Luckedout26, on Flickr IMAG0271 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Lastly I was worried about having the stand be so top heavy with the tank higher up than normal, so I bought some heavy duty anchors which I bolted onto the stand and will screw into the walls. This should keep it secure when I'm playing with the tank and if my kids bump the stand. IMAG0272 by Luckedout26, on Flickr Next up is aquasacaping! We'll see how it goes. Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 New aquascape in original post. Opinions? Next I have some adjustments to do on my stand. My skimmer is much taller than I thought, but I should be able to get this thing wet pretty soon! Link to comment
Luckedout Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 Previous tank pics. This was a JBJ 28g. I took it down last spring and the corals I have mostly sold off to start new with this tank. IMAG0091 by Luckedout26, on Flickr IMAG0092 by Luckedout26, on Flickr I wasn't planning on doing much SPS in this new tank, but I did see an ORA pink stylo that I was drooling over. So I may end up with lots of pretty sticks again. Link to comment
Luckedout Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 It's wet! Water has been added and the tank is starting the cycle. I still have a little more work to do. I want to clean up the styrofoam quite a bit so the look isn't so narly. The light needs to be hung. I just set it over the tank for a quick video. My wife wants to put a fabric or pattern over the windows of the stand to hide the equipment. She's thinking something yellow, but I'm not sure I like that. Not that I will get much say in the end. Anyways, a video is better than pictures and easier to upload! I do have some pictures from the DSLR that I need to grab so the video will have to do. Link to comment
nano_reefer10 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I really like that rock structure! are you leaving the aquascape open like that or adding another pillar? Link to comment
Luckedout Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 I really like that rock structure! are you leaving the aquascape open like that or adding another pillar? Thanks! The plan is to leave it open right now. At some point as I start buying corals I will probably do a small island on the left with some zoas, acans or something like that. It won't be much higher than the sand level. Link to comment
pschom Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Following. I like the ideas for insulation. That doesn't limit space in the stand? Also, from the pic the stand looks like it has 2 areas. Is that right? What are the plans for the sump or whatever? Sorry if I missed that. Can't wait to see it stocked and what you do with the scape. Very similar to the Deep Blue shallow. BTW the red macro in your JBJ looks like a BTA in that spot. Nice. Link to comment
Luckedout Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 The insulation does cut out an inch of space. I'm liking it right now, a lot of salt creep that I can clean up really easy and it's not getting into the wood of the stand. The stand does have 2 spots. I have 2, 10 gallon tanks, the top one is a refugium and the bottom one is a sump. It also helped increase my water volume by about 14 gallons, which has been nice. Link to comment
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