55 Gallon Garage Reef

[RandomUser7]

Sometimes thats the best bet. Have you checked the back glass to see if its tempered or not with polarized glasses?

I'm pretty sure the tanks fully tempered.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Small update. These Quanta lights are phenomenal. My corals all seem to be growing great, I think 1 frag of zoas has more then doubled (1 head to 5) since last post. I don't think I have ever had a tank with such a great variety of coraline though I think that is mainly starting with the genuine live rock. Only real change since last post is that I got an anenome and some clowns, never kept tomato clowns before and the camera does not capture their vivid red. I love these guys.

I need to start saving up and replace the diy refugium with a CPR hob I dont think the algae in my current refugium does anything noteworthy. Also still being lazy and have not built a proper long term canopy for the LEDs. Other then that the tank is pretty much done, I want to get some ricordea for it and maybe gorgonians in future but I think its fully stocked fish wise. Planted the idea in my wifes head of removing the tank in our living room and moving this over, though then I do not think I could call it a garage reef lol. Here is a video of the tank and a bonus video of several tanks getting fed.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Love the Pygmy Angel!

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

The garage reef is dead. Got home from at 9pm and fed everybody, swung back through fishroom at 10pm before going to bed and saw it was pouring water out the bottom. Thankfully I had some empty 10 gallons I wanted to use for breeding cichlids so I was able to save livestock. Not sure how well they will do since I won't be able to set up a new tank for them until the weekend. Not sure what I'll do differently with new one. The old tank was perfectly level and had been used cumulatively for less then 2 years by me.

 

[ElementReefer]

What is the temperature like in the garage? How much does it swing?

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

What is the temperature like in the garage? How much does it swing?

Not drastically. It's ambient temp in winter is a little colder then rest of the house. Most of my freshwater tanks in there do not have a heater. So probably low 60s to mid 80s between coldest and warmest points of the year. I realized the other day the heater on my second saltwater tank in the garage was barely working which made me question how sensitive some corals are haha.

 

[ElementReefer]

Not drastically. It's ambient temp in winter is a little colder than hh I rest of the house. Most of my freshwater tanks in there do not have a heater. So probably low 60s to mid 80s between coldest and warmest points of the year. I realized the other day the heater on my second saltwater tank in the garage was barely working which made me question how sensitive some corals are haha.

Ahh so you’re in a mild climate. I was asking cuz it looks like the build has a DIY wood stand and lighting rack. If there is any point where the tank fits snugly against something wood, and it’s not in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, the subtle expansion and contraction of that wood creates enormous pressure, more than enough to crack a tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Small update. These Quanta lights are phenomenal. My corals all seem to be growing great, I think 1 frag of zoas has more then doubled (1 head to 5) since last post. I don't think I have ever had a tank with such a great variety of coraline though I think that is mainly starting with the genuine live rock. Only real change since last post is that I got an anenome and some clowns, never kept tomato clowns before and the camera does not capture their vivid red. I love these guys.

I need to start saving up and replace the diy refugium with a CPR hob I dont think the algae in my current refugium does anything noteworthy. Also still being lazy and have not built a proper long term canopy for the LEDs. Other then that the tank is pretty much done, I want to get some ricordea for it and maybe gorgonians in future but I think its fully stocked fish wise. Planted the idea in my wifes head of removing the tank in our living room and moving this over, though then I do not think I could call it a garage reef lol. Here is a video of the tank and a bonus video of several tanks getting fed.

Tank is looking really good!!!

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Ahh so you’re in a mild climate. I was asking cuz it looks like the build has a DIY wood stand and lighting rack. If there is any point where the tank fits snugly against something wood, and it’s not in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, the subtle expansion and contraction of that wood creates enormous pressure, more than enough to crack a tank.

Ah I get you. That could be the case but my current theory is manufacturing defect either with aquarium or the stand builder (me) was a sloppier craftsmen then I thought.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

So, I frantically went to petco and got a new 55 and one of their metal stands. And moved everybody over into the new tank then was out with covid for a week so never got around to making an update. Pretty much all livestock except for an emerald crab and my green star polyps seemed to weather the leak, moving to unheated 10 gallons for a few days and then new tank fine. I'm pretty happy. I moved some fish around, the timor wrasse, rosy blenny and clown goby went to my 30 gallon and the argus wrasse got moved to the 55.

The anenome moved around a bunch the first few days but settled into this rock. Hopefully it stays there, the clown has become very nippy if I put my hands near that rock now. I decided to upgrade the lighting a little and got a OG pop and reef crest bar from Quanta and I think i like the extra blue compared to the tropic sun more.



I moved the tropic sun bar to one of my freshwater tanks. My 75 gallon south american tank that is for some cupid cichlids and apistogramma. I am a little paranoid now though because I built that stand the same weekend I built the stand for the leaked reef tank so fingers crossed and time will tell. It is not normally this murky, I just disturbed some substrate earlier in the day and it had not cleared yet.

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Noticed today and thought this was cool. Sponge seems to be growing out from center of zoanthid colony and squeezing them up. The colony itself is still rapidly spreading.

 

[Fishkins88]

Love this build currently have a 55 i am setting up as a frag tank has a 29g sump hard line wasnt easy but well worth it should be wet soon finishing everything up over the next few weeks. 29g custom sump with refugium in the middle chamber. This gives me that fill my tank already feeling lol but just trying to make sure its done right. What hob did you use?

Looks amazing. The stand is fantastic. Would you be willing to share the dimensions you built yours too? I am i n the design phase of building a 55 gallon stand myself.

 

[907_Reefer]

Good work on saving the livestock after the tank issues!

Looks amazing. The stand is fantastic. Would you be willing to share the dimensions you built yours too? I am i n the design phase of building a 55 gallon stand myself.

I have some shots of my custom 55 gal stand at the start of my build thread also if you are interested (with no sump). The frame was built so the tank sits on the center of the outside supports, 49"x14" if I recall, with a wider top (52.5" x 17.5") for just over 2" of extra space all around to hold a few things as you are working on the tank, etc. Entire unit is 34" tall. I would do it the same again, unless I added a sump - stand would need to be bigger then and I would probably use 2x6's instead of 2x4's to eliminate the need for center bracing. Otherwise it has worked well for me!

 

[907_Reefer]

* double post *

 

[Fishkins88]

Good work on saving the livestock after the tank issues!



I have some shots of my custom 55 gal stand at the start of my build thread also if you are interested (with no sump). The frame was built so the tank sits on the center of the outside supports, 49"x14" if I recall, with a wider top (52.5" x 17.5") for just over 2" of extra space all around to hold a few things as you are working on the tank, etc. Entire unit is 34" tall. I would do it the same again, unless I added a sump - stand would need to be bigger then and I would probably use 2x6's instead of 2x4's to eliminate the need for center bracing. Otherwise it has worked well for me!

This is great information Thank you. I am interested in seeing any frame build photos you have. Thank you again/

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

Looking good. And good job with the transfer. Gladd the 55 has been working out i think the size has been perfect for a good balanced tank. Finally got mine dialed in and up and going things are doing well...

 

[BringingThatDottyback]

Looking good. And good job with the transfer. Gladd the 55 has been working out i think the size has been perfect for a good balanced tank. Finally got mine dialed in and up and going things are doing well...

Thanks I am still amazed there was so little losses (also shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't decided to do a late night walk through of the fish room). I agree the 55 gallon is bad for deep scapes but its a nice intermediate size and you can get a decent variety of livestock in there. I have always wanted to do some kind of freshwater planted tank in a 55 so I might set one up where the old garage reef was.