45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[oliverout]

No trouble...I think the tank was about 840 dollars out the door which is expensive for a tank this size, but it is 3/4" thick acrylic and it is indeed a nice tank. The whole build has exceeded the 8000 dollar mark.

I could have gotten a much larger tank, but I don't want to deal with a large tank and all the humidity and spills and other things that come with it. I just wanted a nice clean fully self-contained system that I can wheel around if need be to clean and that is easily manageable to change water and the like. If I ever decide to upgrade, I can order a tank twice the length, buy another stand identical to this one, or a kit to expand it and do that. And all my other equipment will be more than adequate. But I doubt I'll go there. I'm really happy with this.

The only thing I am thinking about doing at this point is some kind of refugium that can hang off the sump.
Just a small miracle mud refugium as my most successful tank is totally attributable to the mud refugium.

The price isnt that bad in my opinion, seems like you are getting total quality for everything you got. good job. Miracle mud is something i want to do in my large tank. I hear great things about it. What pumps are you running on this tank? Thanks, Oliver.

 

[CBonito]

The price isnt that bad in my opinion, seems like you are getting total quality for everything you got. good job. Miracle mud is something i want to do in my large tank. I hear great things about it. What pumps are you running on this tank? Thanks, Oliver.

I dont think it has anywhere near as much to do with the mud itself, but rather how the mud does at hosting all of the cryptic organisms you would want in a refugium. They say it leeches trace elements and I can't prove or disprove it, but what I could prove is how healthy all of my corals and fish were with only infrequent feeding and how there were little pods and things I couldnt even identify all over the tank. I also had a high population of little sponges too which is a great sign of water with plankton in it and all of my corals were big. This was in a 90 gallon tank.

I'm running a single octo varios 4 with 2 half inch returns and random flow generators.
Inside the tank I am starting with one Nero 3 on the back.

 

[oliverout]

I dont think it has anywhere near as much to do with the mud itself, but rather how the mud does at hosting all of the cryptic organisms you would want in a refugium. They say it leeches trace elements and I can't prove or disprove it, but what I could prove is how healthy all of my corals and fish were with only infrequent feeding and how there were little pods and things I couldnt even identify all over the tank. I also had a high population of little sponges too which is a great sign of water with plankton in it and all of my corals were big. This was in a 90 gallon tank.

I'm running a single octo varios 4 with 2 half inch returns and random flow generators.
Inside the tank I am starting with one Nero 3 on the back.

Yeah it has just a lot of life that will live in it. What happened to that tank, nice return pump have never used one but i know people like them, i do have a Nero 3 though!!!!

 

[CBonito]

Yeah it has just a lot of life that will live in it. What happened to that tank, nice return pump have never used one but i know people like them, i do have a Nero 3 though!!!!

It should be right within the perfect amount of flow for the tank. I like how I can pause it to feed and dial it up or down. Sometimes a slow flow through the system is better than turning the tank over so much. It also has a float switch to shut it off if for whatever reason the pump compartment ran dry. Nothing sucks worse than killing a 300+ dollar pump.

I took the 90 gallon down to start another tank that ended up not what I had hoped. lol

 

[oliverout]

It should be right within the perfect amount of flow for the tank. I like how I can pause it to feed and dial it up or down. Sometimes a slow flow through the system is better than turning the tank over so much. It also has a float switch to shut it off if for whatever reason the pump compartment ran dry. Nothing sucks worse than killing a 300+ dollar pump.

I took the 90 gallon down to start another tank that ended up not what I had hoped. lol

Very smart of them for doing that. sorry about that. i think this tank will go very good for you, any thought about an algae reactor?

 

[CBonito]

Very smart of them for doing that. sorry about that. i think this tank will go very good for you, any thought about an algae reactor?

Nope. Just regular water changes and an overkill skimmer. Not too worried about nutrients in this system. Very easy to keep them lower, but you want to have some. I'm starting the tank with real live rock too, and again I'll eventually be integrating a small mud refugium where nutrients will produce food. I only plan to feed corals maybe once or twice a week. I only fed weekly in my last system with like DTs Phytoplankton and Oyster eggs. The fish were all little fat slobs. They were getting it somewhere!

Speaking of fish, I have decisions to make there too.

 

[dangit]

Any updates on when you’ll be getting the new tank? dang UPS…

 

[CBonito]

Any updates on when you’ll be getting the new tank? dang UPS…

I'm thinking I should see it this week. I mean, I received the broken one on the 5th and at the time they asked I give them another week which is reasonable...and of course nothing ever goes as scheduled...so we'll see.

 

[CBonito]

Update/Recap: So I received a broken tank on September 5th From "Somebody" after ordering it on Aug 20th.

I contacted "Somebody" on Sept 5th to notify them that I received a broken tank.
"Somebody" replied on the same day asking for photos of the damage with the shipping label etc and told me they would make another and get it shipped in a week. Ok, great no problem. I sent a bunch of photos of the damage and the box and all that twice just to make sure they were nice and clear. Legit Companies make things right quickly and move on with their lives. It's a widely-known cost of doing business. And ultimately, that's none of my business...my only business is receiving what I paid for, unbroken.

Now, this is broke because the tank is an external overflow tank that was just put into a square box with some peanuts and bubble wrap with no support for the rear wall of the tank. And obviously UPS threw the box around and broke the entire back panel that the overflow attaches to. One of the corners is shattered too. I don't know, maybe most of them survive this way by some strange stroke of luck...this didn't. I'm not shocked though. The box was dumped on my porch like UPS knew it was broke and I did not sign for it. In fact, I only received an "out for delivery" thing from UPS THAT DAY maybe an hour before it was delivered early in the morning while I was in bed. I was notified of the delivery by my dogs lol, but by the time I got out of bed and went to the door, all that was there was this beat up Box. I mean this should have shipped on a palette via UPS freight like my sump where I would have gotten a call...nope, in a box man. A box. I would have paid for it to be shipped properly...

I still haven't seen my replacement tank yet...it's October 4th and I'm pretty disappointed, because this is holding up my project for WAY longer than it should for no legitimate reason.


Everything's going great so far!!!

 

[dangit]

dang man I think this every reefers worst nightmare… I can’t believe the company has ghosted you like this. You have any backup plans for the tank?

 

[CBonito]

dang man I think this every reefers worst nightmare… I can’t believe the company has ghosted you like this. You have any backup plans for the tank?

Oh, I ain't mad. I will address this one way or another.

 

[CBonito]

I spoke to Steve Bashi this morning from Bash Sea...he's getting back to me on whether they can do it.
Thing is, a lot of these companies want to build bigger stuff...we'll see how that pans out. They make really nice stuff and are pretty straight up people. They are also local to me. So we'll see.

I have never NOT been able to find what I need, so it's just a matter of finding it.

 

[CBonito]

There is another tank on the way now...

 

[CBonito]

So I have a tank. When it arrived I was almost sure it was broken too because the box was even worse than the last.
But as an added bonus, it's not broken and looks great. So now I guess it's time to get back with the program...

I have a pile of stuff to go through now and start getting things mocked up and plumbed. So I'm going to be a hermit for a couple days and I'll be back with pics and details...gotta go hit up my LFS too for some supplies and get this ro/di setup...gonna order a HOB refugium too for my sump so I can grow food for the tank.

Finally man...I was about to go buy another car and go back out west. Jeez...

 

[Ryebreadiest]

So bash sea made this one? Can you tell us about it?

 

[CBonito]

So bash sea made this one? Can you tell us about it?

No, they didn't. I spoke with them and they gave me a price which I thought was a bit high. But even then I was just going to do it because they are local, do great work and I could pick it up instead of trusting anyone to deliver it again...

Advanced Acrylics stepped up, did the right thing and built me a new replacement so no harm, no foul. I'm thankful.

It's a nice tank and I have no complaints. This tank cost me 840 bucks. The one from Bash Sea would have been more than double, so. They generally only do larger tank builds. How much do I need to spend on a 3'x2' tank though was my thought...but that's just me. I would think for something really really top notch...1200-1300 at the most?

Anyway, this one is 3/4" thick walls with 1/2" floor and external overflow box.
It's plenty strong, the corners are all bullnosed and polished, the seams are all nice and clear and this is going to be great. It has a single drain because I don't need or want 2 or 3 drain pipes in the way underneath. There won't be enough turnover anyway to justify it. It will never leak or cause me any grief and I can easily polish it if the need arises. I love the black back and floor. I am happy with it.

I'll take better detailed photos as I move along. I'm starting on it tomorrow.

Here's the idea...

 

[rhizotron]

Really cool hardware!

Following along...

 

[CBonito]

Really cool hardware!

Following along...

I've always wanted to do a system from scratch with all nice hardware the right way, so hopefully people enjoy it.
All of my previous systems were cool, but due to expense/poor planning, they always had something about them I wasn't happy with. The purpose of this is to eliminate anything that didn't go so well in my previous systems now that I can afford to do it properly. I still don't have all the answers on a few things yet, but I have a good LFS down the street and no budget limitations, so I'll figure it out. It'll be fun!

 

[CBonito]

I am jealous I think this tank will do great for you. I want to do something similar to this now. just maybe a bit bigger I do like the shallow look I think clams would be cool in this.

Go for it. They will make you whatever you want.
I would hope something a bit bigger would be shipped freight on a palette though.

I intend to keep a couple clams myself once there is an abundance of food in the tank from my refugium.

 

[oliverout]

Go for it. They will make you whatever you want.
I would hope something a bit bigger would be shipped freight on a palette though.

I intend to keep a couple clams myself once there is an abundance of food in the tank from my refugium.

Freight pallet definitely would be best for any shipment, thats what my redsea tank came on. got home and it was blocking on of the cars