Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Share December 10, 2014 (edited) Hello all! I’m new to WAMAS, but have had a few SW tanks over the years. I’ve been pretty much a loner in the hobby since I had been moving a lot and never really joined a club or met any good reefers. I bought my first tank (65g) in 2003. I moved that tank from Utah to Seattle to Florida to Colorado to New Mexico. I had very good luck moving the tank with no major deaths. Granted I was only moving LR, softies and fish. By the last move, I had it down to a science!!! ….then I got tired and stopped reefing for a while. About 3 years ago, I moved to DC and found some amazing reef shops. The reefer bug really kicked in at that point. So I went crazy and bought a 4g nano tank!!!! I tricked it out with nice LED lights. I kept that tank for about a year with great luck. I did water changes every week and had all of the benefits of a large tank in that little teacup of a tank. Between us WAMAS members…that was just my gateway tank for my wife. I knew she would love it, but it was hard to ask her for $$$$ to start up a big tank. She became obsessed with our little teacup reef. All the pieces fell into place when she saw the Red Sea plug and play tank in one of my reef mags. Secretly I knew she would be completely shocked by the cost. I didn’t even want a Red Sea tank, but I knew that when she saw the $5k price on it she would say “Holy $#H!! there is no way we can get that tank”…..then you show her the cheaper tanks. Well needless to say, we left the LFS with an IM Nuvo 30 with stand and 92w LED light. I’ve had that tank going for about a year and a half. I moved all of my little guys from the teacup reef over to the “big” tank and they are happier than ever. With the new light and access to good LFSs I was able to get into SPS corals, which is amazing. Now I have outgrown my 30g and have just bought a 60g cube. I’ll get into the equipment I have later. I don’t have it all, but I am working towards it.Every time I have aquascaped my tank in the past, I have gone with the standard “wall of live rock” on the back wall. Sometimes I put a cave, but that is about it. Because of my moves I have done this lots of times. Normally I am trying to get the tank up and operational as quickly as possible. This time is different. I have time to plan and think outside the box (cube) with my aquascaping. A few ideas I am bouncing around are pillars, shelves, and maybe a big cantilevered piece. I’d like to hear thoughts on these ideas or maybe pictures!Equipment I have now:60gallon cube framed - Deep Blue24x24 Marineland Venture stand130 Vertex Omega 130 skimmer2 – MP10sDigital Aquatics Elite controller2 – BRS dosersAutoaqua Smart ATOAquaLife RO Buddie RO/DI system Trigger Systems 20x20 Ruby Cube sump - Just got it. Waveline DC-6000 pump - Just got it.What I need:New LED light – My crappy choice of an LED just went out of warranty and a row of lights is out now!Sump – I plan to use a 10g tank and make a sump Sump return pumpHeaters – Probably 2-150w heatersMy goal is to have a very natural looking tank and not just a wall of rock with corals on it. I like the idea of columns (in the wild) but have quite figured out how to implement one in my tank. Below are a few pictures of my inspirations and my equipment.Ben Edited December 22, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) I love the color of the contrasting colors in this one. Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) I like the idea of a pillar or column, but this one is entirely too big. Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) Overall I really like the aquascape of this tank. I just don't have the length to do this. Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) This one and the next tank are my two favorites (not my tank) Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) Not my tank.... Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) Not my tank..... Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR-Tanked150 December 10, 2014 Share December 10, 2014 Looks like it is coming along nicely. And welcome to wamas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 I wish those were my tanks!! Those are just my inspiration!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 (edited) This is my tank.....dry and empty at the moment. Edited December 10, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yauger December 10, 2014 Share December 10, 2014 I prefer open rock work allowing for maximum swimming space for fish! it looks great for corals also! welcome to the club broski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime December 10, 2014 Share December 10, 2014 Hey bud. Try this out for size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 10, 2014 Author Share December 10, 2014 YHSublime........aquascape overload........must.....re-think everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b December 11, 2014 Share December 11, 2014 How do you move a tank from Seattle to Florida without any major deaths? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt December 11, 2014 Share December 11, 2014 Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 11, 2014 Author Share December 11, 2014 sen5241b - basically the same way we get our corals from across the world. Lots of Styrofoam, temp heaters, bags, buckets, and drive straight through. It was just soft corals, fish and live rock. A real pain in the butt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 11, 2014 Author Share December 11, 2014 I got some supplied to try my hand at a PVC frame for my aqua scraping. We'll see how it goes. 1/2" CPVC. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 12, 2014 Author Share December 12, 2014 I'm making some progress. I decided to make a big cantilever style overhang. This is my first prototype.... Work in progress...I'm going to put a pillar or island in the empty spot on the left. I still have some issues to work out, but the basic theory is looking good I think. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 12, 2014 Author Share December 12, 2014 (edited) The weight of the LR is something I need to think about. My prototype will need some additional supports. Maybe webbing. I just need to put some weight on the arch and check things out......... Edited December 12, 2014 by Reefer_Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime December 12, 2014 Share December 12, 2014 Unless you plan on slidding your rock onto said structure (btw, your PVC doesn't look sch 40, which I believe would be a big stronger) I don't understand what the PVC's function will be. Maybe I'm not thinking outside the box here. This is just my opinion, but I like to search for more organic shapes that you can create with the rock, and think it would be more helpful to have the rock you are going to use present. I can definitely see something like your structure done with rock, and look forward to the end result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 14, 2014 Author Share December 14, 2014 I'm in construction and a have lots of tools, so I have an entire different "box" to think outside of. In my mind, I need a structure to attach the rock too. With the type of aquascaping I want to do, I don't want any movement in the main structure of the freestanding feature. After thinking about my CPVC erector set, I realized that my original idea was going to need some major rethinking ......so I turned it into a model session and basically a visual tool. The frame around the outside allows me to see the basic footprint of the tank bottom while I am moving around the layout on my kitchen table. It has no function other than seeing the tank rock spacing. I need to figure out my end product before buying LR. I am experimenting with the different shapes in the tank. I have the tools to shape the rocks, but I don't think I want to do that. Once I figure out the basic layout for the rock, then I can go rock shopping. I assume I will need to so some basic rock shaping, but I don't want to build the entire structure to look like masonry. Live rock is very soft, so that would be pretty easy to do, but I need to do some more research.... By the way rather than using the 10g small sump, I decided to go with a Trigger Systems 20x20 Ruby Sump with refugium and adjustable weir for the protein skimmer depth. Premium Aquatics says it will be delivered on Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness December 29, 2014 Author Share December 29, 2014 My aquascape is coming along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR-Tanked150 December 29, 2014 Share December 29, 2014 That looks pretty cool, looking forward to see it wet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness January 10, 2015 Author Share January 10, 2015 I got the tank wet. With a little RODI system and not much time over the holidays, it took me forever to fill the tank! Put in a recirc line from my return back into the refugium. I'm working on balancing the return with the overflow. With that DC-6000 controllable pump it makes me wish I would have drilled my overflow bigger. I would love to turn up the pump, but I can't get rid of the water fast enough. The overflow keeps bouncing up and down with the vapor lock and siphon effect. I'm temped to drill the breather hole bigger, but I hear that is a bad idea. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greef January 12, 2015 Share January 12, 2015 You got pictures of your sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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