Sandy Bottom tank

[mogurnda]

After a kalk disaster wiped out my seahorses, I decided I wanted to try something new. I have always loved diving over sandy bottoms, so I thought I'd try a patch reef/sandy bottom tank. Bright white bottom, daylight illumination, aqua background.

 

I would have loved to do this on a grander scale, but I had floor space for a 90 (36X24X24) or a 65 (36X18X24), and I didn't want the hassle of dealing with glasscages, so I have a 65.

 

The raw materials: 65 gallon and 40 breeder sump

 

 

Now all I have to do is:

*Drill tank for horizontal overflow

*Get glass cut and install overflow

*Paint back and one end of tank

*Build stand and canopy

*Put baffles in sump

*Repair ancient used Ca reactor I inherited from Michael

*Plumb everything

 

Once that's done, all I need to add is:

*Eheims for return pump and Ca reactor

*2X Tunze nano streams

*6" of fine white sand

*50-60 lbs TBS live rock

*CO2 setup for reactor

*ATO plumbing

*2X96W PC to supplement the 250W halide in the canopy

*lighting for the fuge (TBD)

*AC Jr

 

Once it's all in place, some time in 2010, I'll think about livestock. I know I want a pair/small group of jawfish, and I will transfer the gorgonians to the small islets. Will probably transfer the turtle grass, and add a few more.

Other things I'm thinking about:

*Scolymia

*Heliofungia

*Cerianthids

 

This thread will grow slowly as progress is made.

[Guest Undercoverdork]

just a heads up...you might want to order the nano streams now, ive been waiting on mine from marine depot since March 11th.

 

keep up posted with your progress, im interested to see what you tank turns out like.

 

sorry to hear about your seahorses.

[mogurnda]

just a heads up...you might want to order the nano streams now, ive been waiting on mine from marine depot since March 11th.

 

keep up posted with your progress, im interested to see what you tank turns out like.

 

sorry to hear about your seahorses.

Good idea. I guess there is a bright side to having a long wait before it has water in it.

[jason the filter freak]

Wow thats quite the list you have for the set up there, I bet it'll turn out great!

[mogurnda]

The setup continues, albeit slowly. Stand and copy are assembled and stained. Almost all of the components are in my possession, and wiring and plumbing are under way.

 

Front view. The poplar isn't too bad when stained.

 

Side view, showing wide open canopy to disperse heat.

 

Sump baffles and horizontal overflow are in place (not shown yet), and I am hoping to have time for a wet test this weekend.

[dbartco]

notice tank is drilled on end. multiple sided viewing? what's the deal?

[mogurnda]

notice tank is drilled on end. multiple sided viewing? what's the deal?

It's going into our office, and it will fit the space better if the overflow is at the end. If "multiple sided" means two, I guess it is

[jamal]

if you need any company while working give me a ring and i look forward to seeing your progress

[dandy7200]

Looks good. I would consider stapling some shade cloth to the ends of your hood to keep light spillage to a minimum (for human factor). Looks like you might beat your 2010 deadline if you keep this pace up

 

I love PFO parallel reflectors too.

[mogurnda]

if you need any company while working give me a ring and i look forward to seeing your progress

This week will be complicated (YGPM), but I will probably be messing with the tank to distract myself.

 

Looks good. I would consider stapling some shade cloth to the ends of your hood to keep light spillage to a minimum (for human factor). Looks like you might beat your 2010 deadline if you keep this pace up

 

I love PFO parallel reflectors too.

I've decided to start a jawfish colony, so I will be covering all the open areas with dark windowscreen to act as a jawfish retention device. Should act like the shadecloth idea. I hope.

 

We'll see about beating the deadline. If you set the sights low enough, you can usually meet them.

[jason the filter freak]

Thats a HUGE canopy

[davelin315]

What types of jawfish are you getting? My favorites have always been the dusky jawfish for some reason. Although they don't have the coloration or the hovering that the other ones have, they certainly have the iridescent eyes and a ton of character. I always loved watching them pick up hermit crabs that were collapsing their burrows and carrying them a few inches away only to have the return again. I also had a breeding pair years back (found out they were breeding when the one spit the egg sac out of its mouth when I moved the tank).

 

I am curious how you are going to do the sand with these guys. I have always set my tanks up with a significant amount of larger crushed coral and shell in order to give the substrate enough large pieces so that it all holds together as they burrow. Not sure how this will work with your white sand idea. For what it's worth, I know they say that it should be 5-6" deep, but I have always kept it to only a couple of inches deep and given them rocks under which to build their dens. I also have never had one jump out as it has always been more of a tendency for them to shoot up to nab something and splash water out rather than them ever being jumpers. Live guppies were always a fun treat for them, really showcased them as hunters.

[mogurnda]

I am planning to go with about 6" of mostly coarse sand/shell. It should still be white enough for the effect I want, and I figure the constant disturbance willkeep the top layer looking fresh. That was one reason the extra height of the 65 appealed to me.

 

Because the substrate will be fairly coarse, I was toying with the idea of a plenum, covered by a layer of crushed coral under screen to keep the diggers out.

 

In a perfect world, I would go with bluespotted jawfish. They are nothing short of spectacular when in breeding coloration. Given the price, I'll probably go with pearlies, though.

 

Thats a HUGE canopy

It's a few inches taller than it needs to be, I suppose, but I wanted plenty of room between the halide and the surface. It will help keep things cool in a warm room, and will give better spread in a 3' tank.

[davelin315]

I think that with a plenum you may want to have a double layer of screen and also keep the sand bed a bit deeper. If I'm not mistaken, the pearlies build their burrows fairly vertically and it can go down quite a distance. With the static sand beds we keep in our tanks, a far cry from the foot or so of sand that shifts in the oceans, a pearly might descend so far down that it creates a problem with the plenum and by releasing too much gunk into the water from hitting the anaerobic bacteria. Sounds kind of silly, but perhaps a reverse flow undergravel filter might be a good idea? This would keep the sand bed aerobic if it was supplied with a good clean supply of water and prevent the jawfish from mucking around in anything that might cause a tank crash. Of course, you'd lose the benefits of that sand bed...

[Jager]

you may also try a softer sand in a pvc pipe piece that is level with the sand bed. placing it in an area yo want . the jawfish will likely burrow there being its teh softest sand, and the pvc keeps it neater, and if you need to move it or forsee any potential issue, just cap the bottom of the pvc section and you can lift the whole thing out without any major fuss.

 

 

ive used this several times in shalow sand beds by putting small LR pieces around teh PVC pipe to hide it, it also keeps your major sandbed safe from overt digging and such.

 

you can always use a rdsbb setup (really deep sandbed in a bucket) for your main denifification and then regardless of your jawfishes digging youll be stable.

[lanman]

What would be the absolute minimum amount of rock one could have in a system and still have good water quality for corals - given good, over-capacity skimming. I know with bare-bottom tanks, the objective is to never HAVE any nitrates by getting rid of all the organics before they can become nitrates.

 

bob

[mogurnda]

I think that with a plenum you may want to have a double layer of screen and also keep the sand bed a bit deeper. If I'm not mistaken, the pearlies build their burrows fairly vertically and it can go down quite a distance. With the static sand beds we keep in our tanks, a far cry from the foot or so of sand that shifts in the oceans, a pearly might descend so far down that it creates a problem with the plenum and by releasing too much gunk into the water from hitting the anaerobic bacteria. Sounds kind of silly, but perhaps a reverse flow undergravel filter might be a good idea? This would keep the sand bed aerobic if it was supplied with a good clean supply of water and prevent the jawfish from mucking around in anything that might cause a tank crash. Of course, you'd lose the benefits of that sand bed...

The idea would be to sandwich a layer of CC between the plenum on the bottom and a layer of screen above. That way there would be an undisturbed layer of gravel over the plenum no matter what. If there's a burrow or two nearby, it should not cause a major disturbance. Despite the resurgence in popularity, I am still not convinced the Jaubert method will work here, so I may forget the whole plenum idea. Just was thinking about it, because I'll be going with a coarse substrate.

 

What would be the absolute minimum amount of rock one could have in a system and still have good water quality for corals

According to Jaubert, none. The substrate/plenum will do the denitrification. I am not 100% convinced, but thought it might be a fun experiment. The main corals will be gorgonians, which aren't all that sensitive to nitrate.

 

Regardess, with a 20 gallon fuge full of macros, I do not expect nitrate to be a problem in the long term, even if the sandbed is somewhat compromised.

[davelin315]

I have a friend who built his tank with a plenum and he has resorted to building himself a coil denitrator as the plenum was not doing its job. I don't know if this is a problem with how he set it up, but now that he has it and can't get rid of it without a tank tear down I think he regrets the idea.

[mogurnda]

That's the problem with these things. You never know whether they are voodoo, or if you failed to follow some critical magic instruction. Sprung and Delbeek devote a chunk of their new book to the method, but they still seem lukewarm about it when you read between the lines. The one thing that seems fairly clear is that the floor of the tank should have as little live rock as possible on it.

 

I have done the equivalent of a RFUGF on a marine tank, and I had an incorrigible cyano problem, so I don

[mogurnda]

Inch by inch...

 

The shadow from the center brace annoyed me.

 

So I replaced the yucky black one

 

with a clear one.

 

No shadow.

 

The plumbing and wet-testing are done (pics to follow), so it's time to move it upstairs and get it cycling. My wife is currently on the disabled list, so I will have to flag down a neighbor at some point this week for the moving job.

[lletellier]

nice looking tank, hope everything works out. like what you did getting rid of the shadow

[bigJPDC]

weird, I just went through all my 65g build pictures, and I never got a cross brace shadow with my T5's BUT my DIY moonlight bar, which runs the same way as the T5's will block light. I can't wait to see this full of water and lit up so I can have an idea of how my tank would look.

 

jp

[toastiireefs]

update photos?

 

(to completely revive a dead thred much? haha just interested!)

[lancer99]

Sara, it was updated here (stealing Dave's thunder).

 

Dave, would love to see some new pics!

 

-R

[toastiireefs]

OOOO haha

yup would love to see new pics

 

im sure a lot has changes since when i saw it this summer