Spencer's 25g Tide Pool Tank *Experimental*

[Spencer7]

Background: I'm currently in college and have a super low-maintenance mixed reef set up at home (link), which I've gotten a bit bored with. I decided to set up the empty tank in my room and found the tide pool theme inspiring, challenging and creatively-stimulating. Still low-maintenance given I'm only home once every ~3 weekends during the semester. 

 

Status: Live rock is chilling with some water movement and heater. Will be getting more rock and adjusting the aquascape. Substrate ordered. Need to set up lights, timers, and possible tide cycle. 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Tank: 24x18x12" (Starphire glass) by Miracles

Stand: 25 IM Fusion Lagoon high gloss black stand w/leveling mat 

Lights: 2x LEDTriC Par38's   (9am-6pm), RKL controller   

Filtration: HoB Aqua Clear filter, 5g tide cycle (6hrs per period)

Heater: 200w Jager

Substrate: 10lbs Florida Crushed Coral (Caribsea)

Livestock (early thoughts): 

Ultra Rock Flower Anemones, urchin, starfish, crabs, snails, mangrove pods, feather dusters, macroalgae

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

                                                                                         Day One (12.21.17)

[TatorTaco]

Pictures or it ain't happening.  :-)

 

Just to make sure I understand - this tank is going to college with you?  I mean, it's not at your home which you only visit a few times a semester.  Right?

[Sharbuckle]

Cool dimensions. I’m doing a shallow build right now as well. Let’s see some pics! 

[Spencer7]

20 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

Pictures or it ain't happening.  :-)

 

Just to make sure I understand - this tank is going to college with you?  I mean, it's not at your home which you only visit a few times a semester.  Right?

Nah. Phrased it poorly. Tank is in my room at home a couple feet away from my 60-P. Added a pic of the live rock bin above 

20 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Cool dimensions. I’m doing a shallow build right now as well. Let’s see some pics! 

Thanks. So originally (i.e. summer of 2016) I started thinking about this tank with a custom AIO build in mind. Kind of like a IM Lagoon 25 with my own filter section/gear. Things went south when they only had 1/2" glass , which I begrudgingly agreed to. Tank sat in my room for six months+ because of school, lost interest due to tank weight/glass thickness, and because I still had the 60-P to look at. Point being, I'm not necessarily in love with the tank and it wasn't custom made for this theme (probably would go to ~9") but I have the equipment to set something up and mine as well use the tank/stand I paid for. 

[Thunder Goose]

How are you setting up a tide cycle? 

 

This looks like a cool idea for a tank. Following.

[Spencer7]

10 hours ago, Thunder Goose said:

How are you setting up a tide cycle? 

 

This looks like a cool idea for a tank. Following.

Thanks man, I'm sure I'll have a good time with it.

 

The simple rig I envisioned was two aqualifter pumps with my RKL and a 5g bucket. The pumps are cheap, reliable and have a moderate flow rate. If the pump going into the bucket were to fail, I can have the inflow line positioned ~5g deep in the tank (nothing is draining completely). Conversely, the reservoir line would go to the bottom of a 5g bucket (no chance to overflow tank in case of failure).

 

At a flow rate of ~3.5 gal/hr, a day might be...

12am: Pump A turns on

90 mins of receding tide 

4.5 hours of slack low tide

6:00am:  Pump B turns on

90 mins of incoming tide

4.5 hours of slack high tide

12:00pm: Pump A turns on

90 mins of receding tide

4.5 hours of slack low tide

6:00pm:  Pump B turns on

90 mins of incoming tide

4.5 hours of slack high tide

12am: Pump A turns on

 

The biggest pain will probably be the controller/timers honestly. I can't recall if my RKL will be able to do this, it's possible it only has one programmable ON/OFF schedule per day per outlet. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't work out (not super practical in this manner) but this little" gimmick" would be pretty cool. Time lapse of it working would be fun. Taking out 50% of volume vs. 25% would be more dramatic/realistic but I'm not sure I can be f-cked to have a 10g reservoir. Maybe if 5g works great. 

 

Don't see a flow-surge device above the tank as being practical for this setup given it's in my carpeted bedroom. 

[Spencer7]

Pic update ;P aquascaped and added crushed coral today.

 

 

[Spencer7]

Tank is cycled, algae came and went. 

 

The five mangroves (with leaves) that I got have not worked out despite misting everyday. Don't know if it was shipment trauma or what. Two were miracle mud in tide tank, one outside mud, and two more in mature 60-P reef. I might take the largest and least dead pod out of the tank all together and replant it in mud and a little water outside the tank. I'm in college but I'll be home for spring break in a week. 

 

Starfish and three RFAs are doing well (normal+saturated pics)...

[Spencer7]

[vlangel]

Hey, happy 1 year anniversary!  Tank is looking great.

[Spencer7]

5 hours ago, vlangel said:

Hey, happy 1 year anniversary!  Tank is looking great.

Wow, that's true (and also totally unintentional lmao).

 

Tank has done well, especially considering I've been away from it ~90% of the year (college/internship). Maintenance for mom = little flake and little top off here and there. 

 

1-Year Review

- Added heater for the winter (keep the tank at 76)

- Added a spare Tunze for flow, waited on this b/c I just find it so big and ugly, corals appreciate it though

- Scape has gone to a more standard two-arm setup with some swim-throughs

- Running my old FW canister filter

- Leathers have loved the lack of attention so there are five of those medium size pieces from splitting, clownfish hosts the far right

- Acan is encrusted in/on the rock, war coral and purple leptastrea happy

- Added a digi recently for the #### of it, we'll see what happens (I don't dose or test)

 

Main change is that I abandoned the tide pool scheme after my mangroves died. They had light and miracle mud but maybe the mud was too dense or too cold or the mangroves were a "bad batch". Around two months in, I tossed them out and started adding coral/changing the tank to what you see now. Only tide pool thing about it is the rock coming out of the water with two rock anemones right below lol. 

 

I'll be done with school in May and moving out, so this tank has 4-5 months to look awesome before takedown. 

[Spencer7]

Thoughts on removing the dark green cyano that's matting my substrate and rock? For whatever reason, this tank just likes to chill with it.

 

Light schedule is reasonable, not getting direct sunlight and tank is low nutrient.

 

I'm sure some more flow would help a little bit but I don't want to add another power bank (and it wouldn't get rid of everything).

 

[Spencer7]

The tank is retired! I graduated from college and got a job 1,000 miles away! 

 

Was always a dream to take care of. Such little maintenance. Everything was very happy.

 

At my new apartment I'll be setting up a small FW tank and an indoor garden--might be some time before I can have another reef tank but who knows!