Jayson & Thi-Le's Reef

[jaysauce]

Hi everybody! Finally getting a chance to post up pictures of our tank and setup. My girlfriend and I have had this tank running since December 2011. We have been in saltwater for 2.5 years and last had a 20 gallon nano tank. We had to move 3 times within a one month period and we lost a lot of corals/fish in the process. We decided to start fresh with this system and some of the corals/fish that made it through the move.

TANK SPECS
Display: 50 Gallon AquaPro Rimless (36"x18"x18")
Sump: 9 Gallon AquaPro Rimless (12"x12"x14")
Stand: Top Fin Stand Customized w/ White Paint and Frosted Glass Doors
Biological Filtration: ~22lbs of liverock (Bulk Reef Supply Pukani Dry Rock), 1.5” Sandbed (Oolite Sugar Sized Sand), ½ cup Bulk Reef Supply Bio-pellets in Two Little Fishies Phosban 150 Reactor
Lighting: 2x Aqua Illumination Nano
Protein Skimmer: Bubble Magus NAC6a
Heater: 150W Jager
Water Motion: 2x Eco-Tech Vortech MP10 ES, Eheim 1260 Return Pump
Filter Media: 6 tsp Bulk Reef Supply ROX 0.8 Carbon
ATO: JBJ ATO with Aqualifter Pump and 5 Gallon Bucket
Controller: Neptune Apex w/ Temp and pH Probes, Neptune VDM
Calcium Reactor: GEO 612 w/ Eheim 1048 Pump, Reef Fanatic CO2 Regulator, Neptune pH Probe, AquaPro Bubble Counter, 10# CO2 Tank

LIVESTOCK
Palys/Zoas: Chong Bongs, Candy Apple Reds, Avocados, Armor of Gods, Real Deal People Eaters (Cherry Corals), Rastas
SPS: Red Montipora Cap, Green Hydnophora, Red Planet, Green Millepora, Orange Digitata
LPS: Rainbow Rings Acan (Cherry Corals), Rainbow Rings of Saturn Acan (Cherry Corals), Orange Kool Aid Acan (Cherry Corals), Green Aussie Acan, Gold Torch, Aussie Elegance, Green Torch, Bi-color Frogspawn, Green Hammerspawn, ORA Red Goniopora, Bright Pink Goniopora, Yellow Goniopora, Rainbow Goniopora, Branching Pink Goniopora, Pulsing Xenia, Orange Wall Hammer, Octopus Coral
Clams: Crocea, Maxima
Other: Clownfish, Chromis, ORA Green Mandarin, Scooter Blenny, Sixline Wrasse, Red Spotted Dottyback, Yellow Watchman Goby, Bengaii Cardinals, Bicolor Pseudochromis, Astrea Snails, Hermit Crabs, Nassarius Snails, Fighting Conchs, Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, Red Linkia Starfish, Flame Algae

We know our sump is a little small but so far it has been working perfectly fine for our system..trying something new :wink:

Now for the photos...

 

[jaysauce]

And more photos....

 

[jaysauce]

And even more photos....







=] ….

 

[Gonzo]

I love it, Thanks for sharing

 

[jaysauce]

I love it, Thanks for sharing

Thanks man! We picked up a couple of rastas from you at the Bob Moore Frag Swap. They are looking sweet!

 

[Gonzo]

Thats awesome, glad i could have a part in help stocking that badboy!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

That is an awesome tank and set up!

 

[SteezySPS]

love the design of your tank. overflow boxes look unsightly to me now

 

[nata]

Very nice design..beautiful !!!!I love it!

 

[Ian]

super clean set up, thanks for sharing!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Love the clean setup and aquascaping. Just curious, how noisy is that drain?

 

[sprinklerdudes]

that is a sweet set up, I can see there was a lot of thought went into this build, keep the pictures coming,

 

[J Rog]

sweet set up! I like how you did the lights

 

[neuwave]

Awesome setup. Nice tank! Excited to see this tank evovle. I almost bought the same lights from ikea. Guess I have to change up my idea lol. I tip my hat to your for designing a tank that looks like it is a part of the furniture.

 

[secretreefer]

A tank with style for sure! thanks for sharing!

 

[jaysauce]

Thanks for the comments everyone! Really appreciate it. We will try to keep posting more pictures. I am waiting for my frags to grow out a little more and get a nice macro lens for my DSLR so I can put some nice pics of corals up.

love the design of your tank. overflow boxes look unsightly to me now

Yeah...we weren't interested in putting an overflow box in that would take up some space and take away from the fact that the tank is meant to be seen from all four sides. Definitely not surface skimming as efficiently as we could but there is no oily film on the surface and the skimmer is still picking up some good skimmate.

If we could do it again, we would drill through the bottom of the tank and hide the overflow and return in rockwork somehow. I guess that will a project for an upgrade =]

Love the clean setup and aquascaping. Just curious, how noisy is that drain?

Thanks! Starting with dry rock definitely made it easier to get the scape how we wanted it.

The drain is actually really quiet. This was important since the tank is basically in the middle of the living room and kitchen. There is no sucking noise, toilet flushing sound or gurgling. If you can see in the pics I originally had two 45s to get into the sump and there was no trickling noise from the water falling 2 to 3 feet. I had to change the 45s to two 90s to clear some extra glass I added to the top of the sump for any water draining from the display. I have a ball valve on the overflow and don't have it dialed back at all but I could potential close it to minimize the trickling noise. We actually don't mind the trickling noise because it is actually kind of relaxing (especially when you are trying to take a nap on the couch). The trickling is not loud enough to bug us while watching tv/movies. It is actually the MP10s ramping up to their max that I actually notice the most but even those aren't enough to bug us while watching tv. One of the photos I attached shows the "bubble killer" I made using PVC parts. This definitely helps with splashing/salt creep in the sump and also helps to minimize any gurgling noise from the drain.

When I first did a power outage test, the extra water from the display literally went to the brim of the sump. It didn't overflow and flood but I decided to add an extra 2-3 inches (I forgot the exact measurement) for peace of mind. I have also added a 90 degree elbow to the Eheim 1260 return pump so that the inlet points downward. This allows the water level in the return section of the sump to be as low as it can be without sucking air/creating microbubbles and allow me to maxmize the amount of display water that can be drained down into the sump. I have done several power outage tests and we even had a blackout for a few hours in January and the sump does not flood over at all.

 

[jaysauce]

Awesome setup. Nice tank! Excited to see this tank evovle. I almost bought the same lights from ikea. Guess I have to change up my idea lol. I tip my hat to your for designing a tank that looks like it is a part of the furniture.

sweet set up! I like how you did the lights

It was funny because we actually decided to use the Ikea laterns with RapidLED Par38s on our old tank quite a few months before that reefbuilders blog came out. We really like how the lanterns look just like a part of the room decoration. I was wandering around the hardware store for about an hour trying to see what was available off the shelf for me to mount the AI Nanos in the lanterns. I had to manually use the controls on the lights for a week to turn them on and off so the Neptune VDM really helps.

 

[jaysauce]

Some new additions...

 

[BarbH]

Nice looking additions and love the look of your tank.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Sweet setup.