tpallas February 24, 2012 Share February 24, 2012 (edited) Introduction Some of you may know me from my other thread on this forum, my 11.4 gallon Mr. Aqua SPS tank. I've been keeping fish since I was 6, and saltwater fish since I was 12. My first job was at my LFS, Marine Care Specialists. Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since. First and foremost, I am 100% keeping the 11.4 gallon tank, and am very excited to see it grow out into a full-blown SPS nano forest. Since I am moving into a 1 bedroom apartment, however, I now have the opportunity to consider one more tank - a nano, at that. Although I love the challenge and look of SPS, I also love the vibrant colors and ease of soft corals and polyps. The types of tanks that have large, waving neon Neptheas, kaleidoscope clove polyps, a matt of green star polyps, and all sorts of other cool, but easy, corals. Therefore, I resolved to set up a second tank to house these corals. But instead of the normal rectangular tank, I am jumping on the dropoff bandwagon. There are some great dropoff tanks starting on RC, so I thought I'd throw in my hat as well. So hopefully my build will be interesting and entertaining, and give me the results I'm looking for. Design Concept Here's a Sketchup of my concept: The idea is to have the tank and stand match my 11.4 gallon tank as a piece of furniture in my living room, and a semi-room divider. This sketchup is very preliminary; I intend to lay out the exact setup in detail before I make my first purchase. Equipment List Lighting: AquaIlluminations Sol Super Blue. At some point, I intend to replace the Sol on my 11.4g with a Radion unit. When that occurs, I will be ready to move the Sol to this tank. Skimmer: Probably, the Tunze 9002 Nano. I've been using the SWC-120 on my 11.4g, which is a fantastic skimmer even on such a small tank, but unnecessary on a soft tank (and my wallet). Sump: I plan on building a glass, or potentially acrylic, sump, which will be approximately 6-8 gallons in total capacity. ATO: Tunze Osmolator. Controller: The hope is that I will use an extension box for the Profilux 3 and run a control cable to my tank from the 11.4g stand. This way, I will be able to control both tanks through one controller. Return Pump: Eheim 1250. Plumbing: Very similar to my 11.4g - a Glass Holes Super Nano con Dientes with black tube or PVC plumbing. Flow: Maybe, when time permits, an MP10. In the meantime I may settle on some Tunze nanos. Way Ahead There's a lot to figure out here as this isn't a readily available setup. First, I don't know if a single piece of glass can be cut in that L-shaped pattern, or cheaply at that. If not, I may be looking at a 2-piece side. One option for the tank is to have it built, a second is to have the pieces cut and do the silicone job myself. The stand will obviously have to be built as well, and I intend on using the furniture builder who built the stand for my 11.4g. Same mahogany stain with a white painted interior, with matching furniture. Finally, I'll need to lay out the sump. Since I have far less equipment here than in my 11.4g, the design will be much simpler. The only complicator is that the drain from the overflow and the return will be right next to each other, on the back side of the tank. That sums up my current challenge set in getting the basics of this tank together. I'm not even moving until mid-March, so I'll be in the planning phase until then at a minimum. After the basic layout is together, I'll need to look at the specifics of the controller and rockwork, which will be less filling than it is in my 11.4g. More to follow. Cheers! Tom Edited February 24, 2012 by tpallas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals February 24, 2012 Share February 24, 2012 I love tanks like that! I saw a nice pic of one a few days ago and have been thinking about how cool they are ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRon February 25, 2012 Share February 25, 2012 Never seen one of those - I'll have to go search out some pics now. Can't wait to see it come to life Tom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.eclipse February 25, 2012 Share February 25, 2012 that stand has got to be exactly right, or the tank will crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas February 27, 2012 Author Share February 27, 2012 I love tanks like that! I saw a nice pic of one a few days ago and have been thinking about how cool they are ever since. Yeah, I saw a couple of great ones on RC, and some new ones starting. I really like the concept that you can look through from both side. Never seen one of those - I'll have to go search out some pics now. Can't wait to see it come to life Tom! Thanks Ron! I'm pretty excited about this one. that stand has got to be exactly right, or the tank will crack. Yeah, I had the same thought. Hence I'm having the tank built first, and then the stand to match it perfectly. In fact I spoke to NAGA the other day about it, he's going to build it in acrylic. Glass would be pretty expensive and more prone to cracking. Looks like the build time is about 4 weeks, with another 3 or so for the stand, so unfortunately this won't be getting water anytime soon, but gives me plenty of time to plan. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas May 25, 2012 Author Share May 25, 2012 Alright, this project is back on track. I've been working with Adam of Artfully Acrylic and it looks like he's got the capacity to do exactly what I want. Now here's the question. This is going to be closer to 40 gallons total system capacity. Do I make this my main SPS display and convert my 11.4g into my softy display....or keep this as the softy display? Cheers! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim May 25, 2012 Share May 25, 2012 SPS, that way you can really crank the flow and stop waste from settling on the drop off side. Plus, more room! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas May 26, 2012 Author Share May 26, 2012 I know....I'm so tempted. But wouldn't it look really cool with big colorful leathers swawying back and forth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals May 26, 2012 Share May 26, 2012 Why don't you do the drop off with softies and such then do the high side with some sps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar May 26, 2012 Share May 26, 2012 that stand has got to be exactly right, or the tank will crack. Why not make the tank tall and rectangular, without the ell cutout, and achieve the drop off with an internal support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas June 10, 2012 Author Share June 10, 2012 Why not make the tank tall and rectangular, without the ell cutout, and achieve the drop off with an internal support? That's not a bad thought - I did see a similar setup on a build thread. But I wanted the tank edges to integrate seamlessly with the stand and this would be difficult to achieve doing that concept. I have been working with Adam of Artfully Acrylic, who is going to do the tank and stand for me. I think it is going to look sharp. The final dimensions will be 18" across, 24" deep, 12" deep on the top step, and 24" deep to the bottom step. On the rear will be an internal coast to coast overflow with a Bean Animal return and 2 returns. The stand will be matching in size, 36" high to the stop step bottom. It will be stained to match my current 11.4g tank. With this setup, I'll have a display tank volume of 33 gallons and hopefully another 15-20 gallons in the sump for a total system volume of about 50 gallons. The tank will also have 3x curved acrylic rods in the middle on which I can mount the rockwork on. Given how time time & effort is being put into this, I'm fairly sure I'm going SPS with this tank. So that means I will either move my SPS from my 11.4g and make that a soft coral tank, or more likely, set up a third, very small tank for softies & polyps. In any event that has lead me to reconsider all the equipment. For the sump, I have a space of 18" x 36" to work with. I'm going back to Jeff at LifeReef who is a master at sump design. I'm looking for enough room for skimmer, heater, probes, a refugium, and with the length I have, a frag propagation area. My intent here is to install a small LED unit such as the Sol Nano to have a hidden area under the stand to grow out frags. I plan on using an ATB Flowstar 1500 for the return. For the skimmer, I'm thinking a Bubble King Mini 160 with a self-cleaning head. Can't think of a better option. For flow, as the 1" thick panels of the aquarium are too thick for MP10s or 40s, I'm going to use 2 x Tunze 6055s mounted on the back wall, or potentially using their rock units. As for the controller, I'm going to network this tank in on the Profilux unit I'm using on my 11.4g. So I basically configure an extension box which can be custom built to have whatever capability I need on the tank, and is then networked with the main controller. The main unit will then be controlling both tanks. Now all I need to do is find someone who's proficient with networking to get everything intergrated into my home network. As for dosing, I'm torn between a calcium reactor or a dosing pump, but with 50 gallons still being pretty small, I'm leaning towards a dosing pump. In that case I'll go with a Profilux unit wired into the expansion box. Finally for lighting, I'm waiting for the Aqua Illumination Vega to come out. It looks like it has all the capabilities of the Radion but at a lower price. Hopefully it's released soon and we'll see some reviews. Cheers Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas June 23, 2012 Author Share June 23, 2012 So I'd just like to say that working with Adam of Artfully Acrylic has been wonderful! We've discussed just about every option and detail we can think of for three weeks now. I'm really excited to see it come to fruition! With his Summer schedule we're looking at an 8 week build time, but no worries as obviously I'm not in a hurry.....been working on this since February. In the meantime I did order the skimmer and Tunze pumps. I'm also trying to figure out the Profilux extension box issue. I think it requires a Doctorate in computer systems to get it all integrated into the home network. It will be cool though to link in two tanks and mount the Profilux Touch on my wall....getting there is the hard part.Is anyone out there knowledgeable with networking?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 June 23, 2012 Share June 23, 2012 Wow, I've never seen anything like that. Totally cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas June 29, 2012 Author Share June 29, 2012 So got some of the equipment this week. Maybe my favorite part of this hobby: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 June 29, 2012 Share June 29, 2012 NICE! Won't that tunze silence be overpowered for a 20gal tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas June 29, 2012 Author Share June 29, 2012 NICE! Won't that tunze silence be overpowered for a 20gal tank? I don't think so - I increased the tank dimensions to 33 gallons with another 15 gallons or so in the sump (not sure how to change the thread title?). The pump is also controllable via the Profliux so I can dial it back. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 June 29, 2012 Share June 29, 2012 I don't think so - I increased the tank dimensions to 33 gallons with another 15 gallons or so in the sump (not sure how to change the thread title?). The pump is also controllable via the Profliux so I can dial it back. Cheers Ahhh, ok. Didn't know you could do that with the profilux. Pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef June 29, 2012 Share June 29, 2012 WOW... love your choices! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas September 14, 2012 Author Share September 14, 2012 We're getting somewhere! Here's the steel frame sketchup for the stand from Adam: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef September 14, 2012 Share September 14, 2012 Awesome!...this thing is really coming to life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) September 18, 2012 Share September 18, 2012 Yep Yep, it is going to be an awesome little tank. These little dropoffs are a challenge to build due to all the variables, but they are so much fun . Below is the revised mockup for the stand. The previously posted design did not include the vertical bracing for the back side of the lower step. This bracing takes the weight off of the welds and puts it on the steel tube therefore, much more durable that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas September 18, 2012 Author Share September 18, 2012 Cool, thanks Adam just got your note. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) September 18, 2012 Share September 18, 2012 (edited) Lol, no worries, but if you know how to make the pic bigger that would be great . I haven't a clue... Edited September 18, 2012 by ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k September 18, 2012 Share September 18, 2012 (edited) . Edited September 18, 2012 by zygote2k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas November 4, 2012 Author Share November 4, 2012 Alright! So Adam has made some pretty sweet progress on the tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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