JK1's floating reef

[Lionfish]

That it's a super cool island

 

[JK1]

Nice scape. Are you still using 8x39 ATI fixture on your last pic?

Thanks. No I was planning on using my other ATI unit but the current one looks better with the matching white facing. I hated the colour but I've switched out the bulbs for ATI and it now has much better colouring. It's 8x54W sorry not 39. Will be getting an ATI hybrid though as soon as I can.

Thank you for posting this. I'm in the process of setting up a floating reef as well.
I'm trying to source shelf pieces, similar to what you have. Though, I will add some live rock above the shelf rock.
My pleasure, bust of luck. I do recommend laying the table top on its side if you're cementing and leaving overnight before moving. If you have questions I'm always happy to help.

Your reef looks amazing!

Thank you, it needs time but I hope in 6-12 months it should look the way I want.

Very nice JK
Wish I had a man cave

Thanks, every man should have a cave to retreat to in times of need.

Interesting look but I don't think it looks natural at all. Sorry. Maybe it will look better down the road when the corals are filled out.

I agree but it has only been running two weeks. Eventually, all you will see is the central stem which will be coloured with coralline. The shelf will be buried with SPS and a few dendro on the underside. I appreciate your honesty, please come back in 6-12 months and let me know your thoughts.

Love the scape! Can't wait to see those sticks grow out. Tagging along.

Thank you, me too.

Looks good, I'm about to scape my 90 and I really like how you pulled off the floating shelves and am interested in doing something similar.

Thanks and good luck. Just shout if you're stuck.

That is incredible. Love it man! Great job! Love the scape!

Thank you. I'm pleased, I'll enjoy watching it mature.

Love that scape, those will fill in nicely.

Thanks, I hope so. I'm planting the SPS is groups that won't fight so I hope they should grow quite densely.

Love it!

Thank you.

Looks amazing! That is going to grow in beautifully! Way to think outside the box inside the box.

Lol, thank you. I pulled inspiration from other floating scales like Mr Kangs. I just put my own spin on it.

I really like how you did that.

Thank you.

Amazing!

Thanks

Looks awesome! Very nice work!

Thank you

Hi from sunny Kent uk ....well maybe not so sunny
Looks real nice mate , making me wish I could start all over agin
Following
Are you still having lps nipped ?

Hi, I studied in Sunny Rochester
Thanks. So far no. I've never seen a nipper and lps are inflated well so I think it could have been a rogue pep shrimp.

Unreal scape nicely done colors aregreat as well keep us postsd

Thank you, the colour needs a lot of work. My previous tanks have been much brighter but this will bounce back in a few months I'm sure.

That it's a super cool island

Thank you

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Love the scape! Great job! I'm excited about following as it grows in.

 

[Robink]

Following. Love your scape!!

 

[JK1]

Thank you. It's filling up already! Have new tank syndrome at the moment, just a minor diatom bloom but will clear up soon. Hopefully by the time it is clear I'll have found my charger for my DSLR. I've added around 20 new SPS frags and a couple more gorgs. I think I'll add a few sun corals to hang upside down under the front plate but will wait for the water to mature first. Thanks again for following.

 

[JasReef]

Nice job! I think it looks great now.

 

[Goby-won]

Is it grown in yet? It's been like two weeks...

Really awesome. That is really one of the things I continually play with - my scape. Drives me crazy I didn't take more time in the beginning. I should have listened to everyone...

 

[justingraham]

Updates please

 

[Sahin]

Looking forward to seeing an update.

 

[JK1]

Hi, thinks it’s time for an update lol.

I unfortunately had a huge disaster. I lost pretty much everything along with my will to continue! I couldn’t get the tank to settle, I think the new rock was the issue. I used ATM colony but it clearly wasn’t enough to prevent huge ammonia spikes. All my coral died despite lots of heavy water changes. I did all I could but lost the battle. I managed to save a few fish. My Regal tang, one yellow tang and my female clown.

It hit me hard but I decided to let the tank keep running and let the rock mature. For almost a year. I picked myself back up last August and got the tank back in shape.

I decided to go SPS only and grow everything out from tiny frags. Everything was going well and I was achieving great colouration and growth. Then I upgraded my lighting to the new gen ATI Hybrid. I overcooked it and bleached everything in a day! Oops! This didn’t deter me, I didn’t lose anything other than colour. It’s all beginning to bounce back nicely.

I then decided it was time to go bigger so upgraded to a 7x2x2.4. I had the tanks side by side so I could transfer easily. The new tank will stay where it is and my couch will go where the old tank is as soon as I’ve sold it.

I’ve annoyed the boss a little but she’ll get over it. She thought my current 5ft was too big. Apparently size does matter!

I bought this tank back in October but it was 300 miles away from me and running when I bought it. I had to wait for it to be shut down and then couldn’t find a free weekend to collect it until a week ago.

I hired a Luton tail lift van and embarked on a 300 mile journey picking up 2 strong lads en route. 5 people managed to load the tank relatively comfortably. I was surprised to find that the stand weighted more than the actual tank! I left the house at 9am and got home at 3am! 18 hours and 600 miles later! Everyone keeps telling me I’m crazy. I have to agree.

I left the tank in the van over night and treated myself to 4 hours sleep. Unfortunately, there were now only 2 of us to unload! I needed to get the van back by 11am so got straight on it in the morning. The stand nearly broke us both. It’s insanely heavy and awkward to lift. The only place to grip it from left wood cutting into our wrists. It was a case of taking lots of two inch steps and putting it down every four or five meters. There was an 8 inch step to contend with into the summer house in my back garden and it’s about 25 meters from the van. It nearly killed us but we survived.

I left the stand in the centre of the room as the tank had to slide in from the back. We were both dreading the tank. I had lots of polystyrene so laid some out on the grass outside the summer house in case we needed to put it down. We agreed we would try to avoid putting it down as deadlifting the tank from the floor was not appealing. I’m thankful I did this as we had to put it down. Dead lifting it was hard enough but the real challenge was having to not only lift it up the step but over the lip of the stand. I had to lift it to chest height! I’ve never lifted anything that heavy in my life! My face was shaking and I could feel blood vessels bursting in my face! The look on my friends face holding the lower end is a look that will never leave me!

I don’t quite know how, but we did it. I think I may owe him a beer or two. Maybe a whole brewery.

I took the van back and dropped him off. I then had to re-silicone the plumbing before single handedly moving the tank back in place against the wall. I got out my spirit level and found it dropped 1.5cm left to right! I then had to lift both tank and stand single handed whilst kicking wood underneath. To lift that weight whilst standing on one foot was nothing short of insanity.

But, it was all worth it!

Now the transfer.

I decided to keep 100% of my old sand. I later thought I was going to regret this when I ended up with 300 gallons of dirt soup!

I ran lols of carbon and agitated the water as much as possible and got through my own body weight in floss. 24 hours later and the water was crystal clear.

After a week of spectating, everything looked happy and stable so I though I should add a little movement. I went to my LFS yesterday and picked up a male clown, powder blue, copperband and a couple of starfish.

My lighting is really annoying me at the moment. I love the ATI Hybrid but I’m running it alongside a 39W ATI regular T5. The difference is huge and doesn’t need me to point out which side the Hybrid is on. I’ve ordered a 2nd Hybrid but it will be about 5 weeks before it arrives as they are built to order.

Anyway, this is where I’m up to. All frags were around 1 inch 5 months back so I can’t complain at the growth. I’m still using FM balling but moved from RSCP to Hotsalt. I much prefer it, it mixes better and the levels are more realistic so it doesn’t cause swings with each water change.

The money shot!

I’ve decided I want LPS again so will slowly be adding a few scollys, acans, a rainbow trachy, torch and probably a RBTA on an independent rock. I don’t want a cluttered sandbed so I’ll be keeping it understated but high end. I have a few Zoa stones already around the bottom left island. There are only a few I’ll keep though such as pink diamond and Sonic flares. These were all left over from a small frag tank I recently shut down. I will be looking to replace the rest for the sexiest zoas I can find.

I intend to add an Achilles, a sailfin, a tamarin pain, mandarin pair and lots of blue Chromies. Maybe 15-20. I’ll wait for the SPS to grow out a bit more before getting the Chromies so they have hiding places.

Thanks for reading. It’s great to be back!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hi, thinks it’s time for an update lol.

I unfortunately had a huge disaster. I lost pretty much everything along with my will to continue! I couldn’t get the tank to settle, I think the new rock was the issue. I used ATM colony but it clearly wasn’t enough to prevent huge ammonia spikes. All my coral died despite lots of heavy water changes. I did all I could but lost the battle. I managed to save a few fish. My Regal tang, one yellow tang and my female clown.

It hit me hard but I decided to let the tank keep running and let the rock mature. For almost a year. I picked myself back up last August and got the tank back in shape.

I decided to go SPS only and grow everything out from tiny frags. Everything was going well and I was achieving great colouration and growth. Then I upgraded my lighting to the new gen ATI Hybrid. I overcooked it and bleached everything in a day! Oops! This didn’t deter me, I didn’t lose anything other than colour. It’s all beginning to bounce back nicely.

I then decided it was time to go bigger so upgraded to a 7x2x2.4. I had the tanks side by side so I could transfer easily. The new tank will stay where it is and my couch will go where the old tank is as soon as I’ve sold it.

I’ve annoyed the boss a little but she’ll get over it. She thought my current 5ft was too big. Apparently size does matter!

I bought this tank back in October but it was 300 miles away from me and running when I bought it. I had to wait for it to be shut down and then couldn’t find a free weekend to collect it until a week ago.

I hired a Luton tail lift van and embarked on a 300 mile journey picking up 2 strong lads en route. 5 people managed to load the tank relatively comfortably. I was surprised to find that the stand weighted more than the actual tank! I left the house at 9am and got home at 3am! 18 hours and 600 miles later! Everyone keeps telling me I’m crazy. I have to agree.

I left the tank in the van over night and treated myself to 4 hours sleep. Unfortunately, there were now only 2 of us to unload! I needed to get the van back by 11am so got straight on it in the morning. The stand nearly broke us both. It’s insanely heavy and awkward to lift. The only place to grip it from left wood cutting into our wrists. It was a case of taking lots of two inch steps and putting it down every four or five meters. There was an 8 inch step to contend with into the summer house in my back garden and it’s about 25 meters from the van. It nearly killed us but we survived.

I left the stand in the centre of the room as the tank had to slide in from the back. We were both dreading the tank. I had lots of polystyrene so laid some out on the grass outside the summer house in case we needed to put it down. We agreed we would try to avoid putting it down as deadlifting the tank from the floor was not appealing. I’m thankful I did this as we had to put it down. Dead lifting it was hard enough but the real challenge was having to not only lift it up the step but over the lip of the stand. I had to lift it to chest height! I’ve never lifted anything that heavy in my life! My face was shaking and I could feel blood vessels bursting in my face! The look on my friends face holding the lower end is a look that will never leave me!

I don’t quite know how, but we did it. I think I may owe him a beer or two. Maybe a whole brewery.

I took the van back and dropped him off. I then had to re-silicone the plumbing before single handedly moving the tank back in place against the wall. I got out my spirit level and found it dropped 1.5cm left to right! I then had to lift both tank and stand single handed whilst kicking wood underneath. To lift that weight whilst standing on one foot was nothing short of insanity.

But, it was all worth it!

Now the transfer.

I decided to keep 100% of my old sand. I later thought I was going to regret this when I ended up with 300 gallons of dirt soup!

I ran lols of carbon and agitated the water as much as possible and got through my own body weight in floss. 24 hours later and the water was crystal clear.

After a week of spectating, everything looked happy and stable so I though I should add a little movement. I went to my LFS yesterday and picked up a male clown, powder blue, copperband and a couple of starfish.

My lighting is really annoying me at the moment. I love the ATI Hybrid but I’m running it alongside a 39W ATI regular T5. The difference is huge and doesn’t need me to point out which side the Hybrid is on. I’ve ordered a 2nd Hybrid but it will be about 5 weeks before it arrives as they are built to order.

Anyway, this is where I’m up to. All frags were around 1 inch 5 months back so I can’t complain at the growth. I’m still using FM balling but moved from RSCP to Hotsalt. I much prefer it, it mixes better and the levels are more realistic so it doesn’t cause swings with each water change.

The money shot!

I’ve decided I want LPS again so will slowly be adding a few scollys, acans, a rainbow trachy, torch and probably a RBTA on an independent rock. I don’t want a cluttered sandbed so I’ll be keeping it understated but high end. I have a few Zoa stones already around the bottom left island. There are only a few I’ll keep though such as pink diamond and Sonic flares. These were all left over from a small frag tank I recently shut down. I will be looking to replace the rest for the sexiest zoas I can find.

I intend to add an Achilles, a sailfin, a tamarin pain, mandarin pair and lots of blue Chromies. Maybe 15-20. I’ll wait for the SPS to grow out a bit more before getting the Chromies so they have hiding places.

Thanks for reading. It’s great to be back!

Sorry about the issues but it sure looks like it didn't keep you down! Looks great!

 

[Peter luu]

Hi love the aquascape and that’s an awesome upgrade. Will be following.

What kind of cement did you use to bond the rocks together and is it safe to use and add into an aquarium that’s being cycled right now?

 

[Vincent100]

Glad you stuck at it, pictures look great and the new tank is a monster
Keep us updated as I love reading your stuff and once again glad you stuck at it

 

[JK1]

Sorry about the issues but it sure looks like it didn't keep you down! Looks great!

Thank you, kept me down a while but thankfully not out.

Hi love the aquascape and that’s an awesome upgrade. Will be following.

What kind of cement did you use to bond the rocks together and is it safe to use and add into an aquarium that’s being cycled right now?

Thanks Peter. I used E-Marco cement. It dries within 20 minutes but due to the weight this one holds. I gave it 24 hours to be safe. Depending on what you try to achieve, you should be able to do it fast enough not to affect your cycle. If you scape it out of the water, give it 20 mins and then start spraying water on it to keep it wet for as long as you think you need to keep it wet. Just be conscious of the total size and weight as you’ll have to lift it back in.

Glad you stuck at it, pictures look great and the new tank is a monster
Keep us updated as I love reading your stuff and once again glad you stuck at it

Thanks Vincent, I’ve found the love again so I’ll keep regular updates coming.

 

[Peter luu]

Thank you, kept me down a while but thankfully not out.


Thanks Peter. I used E-Marco cement. It dries within 20 minutes but due to the weight this one holds. I gave it 24 hours to be safe. Depending on what you try to achieve, you should be able to do it fast enough not to affect your cycle. If you scape it out of the water, give it 20 mins and then start spraying water on it to keep it wet for as long as you think you need to keep it wet. Just be conscious of the total size and weight as you’ll have to lift it back in.


Thanks Vincent, I’ve found the love again so I’ll keep regular updates coming.

Thanks !! Will buy some online and give it a try

 

[n21benson]

Looks fantastic, well done!

 

[kdc]

Love the different look! Can’t wait to see it grown out. Following along.

 

[I luv coralz]

Wow that’s shocking!

 

[Francesca]

Hello from Sunny England

Been a while since I've been here sorry but I'm back with a new build! It's a temporary 5x2 until I get an 8x2.5 built.

I just moved house which came complete with a man cave!

I decided to be bold and create a floating scape! Drawing inspiration from builds like mr Kangs' but I didn't want branching rock, I wanted plates. I also wanted to be reef friendly so initially thought Marco rock but learned it wasn't available in plate form. ATM saved the day with their plating pure reef rock. It cost me a fortune, £12:95 per kg with 48kg total and 3 buckets of Marco cement required but I feel it was worth digging deep for.

I know many try a floating scape and fail but I'm very determined!

So, this is the tank in question, picked it up for a bargain but it needed a good face lift.

She scrubbed up well after a good sanding session and a re-paint - stand and back glass.

Back to the scape, I posted on a Facebook forum requesting dead playing rock and the UK reps from ATM offered the best solution. I can't believe how good their service was. Craig not only sourced the pieces I wanted from a very basic sketch but he even put it all together in the formation I was aiming for and sent pictures. I gave a little feedback and he took a hammer and chisel to it until it was perfect.

The process was complete in around 2 hours and the rock arrived at 9am the next day! Now that's service!

I laid out the rock as I intended it to go and was pleased with the result

so started to build it in situ. It didn’t quite go to plan. Luckily, I had pre-empted a scape collapse and had added sand to the tank to protect the glass. I’m so glad I did this. I had watched tutorials on Marco cement on youtube and was told it was dry in 20 mins and fully cured in 24 hours. Foolishly I tested the strength after 30 minutes by removing a supporting brick. The whole scape collapsed! To be fair, I was asking a lot of the cement and I’m sure it would have been fine if I had left it until the following day. Back to square 1 but like I said, I’m very determined. This time I built it out of the tank and laid it on its side. I was struggling to get the cement to stick to the underside when working in situ. This was much better and meant I could cement both the top and bottom in one session.

I crafted the cement to look as seamless as possible. Obviously the cement is visible now due to the colour difference but once matured it should look pretty seamless. This time I allowed it to dry overnight before touching it. As I know I’m upgrading in the near future it was important that the scape could be lifted in and out, thankfully it just fit between the brace bars, lifting it nearly killed me but I go it in there in one piece. I’m really pleased with it, it totally defies gravity and I think it will look awesome once covered in sticks. It’s 1/3 full now, hopefully it will be fully in another day or two so I can add colony and get it filtered and clear stocked. I’m not adding any live rock, I’m relying on colony 100%. I’ll add some copepods and amphipods but it will be a nasty free zone.

Stock

Coral

So, The plan is for the main scape to be 100% sticks. I like uniformity so I will be grouping them by genus. I’ll have an area for branching montis with will have various encrusting montis planted between. Tabling acros will be positioned at the front as they will be at a height disadvantage, plus they are one of my favourites. Branching acros will be behind and will accounting for the majority. I have 4 different colour hystrix which will go at the back. They grow like crazy so will soon dominate. I have pink, limeberry, dark green (never seen before) & Green with purple tips (again never seen this before). I’ll also have smaller sections of millis & seriatopora. I have collected some awesome SPS over the years including Ice fire echinata, red dragon, strawberry shortcake, setosa, forest fire, branching meteor shower amongst many others. Can’t wait to see them all in situ.

I have 3 nice Welsos, 2 red rainbows and a green rainbow. These will take centre stage on the sand bed.

Both islands will be dominated with Acan lords, scolys and Blastos and surrounded with zoa stones. I like the zoas on individual stones as I find the grow over each other when mounted together and the largest polyps win. Stones allow control.

I want the sand bed to be as clear as possible. I have no idea what I will do with my candy canes and Euphyllias. I may mount them on egg crate and bury the bases under the sand behind one of the islands. I also have to find space for a goni. I may keep them in a frag tank until I upgrade but I’ll have a play around.

Fish

Mandarin pair

Snowflake clown pair

3 yellow tangs

Achilles tang

Gem Tang

Yellow tail Tamarin wrasse pair

I have a regal tang, purple tang and Harlequin tusk fish at the moment but one of them is nipping LPS! I need to work out which one is guilty and get them re-homed in a LPS free tank. I’m hoping it’s not the tusk fish as I really love her! When I upgrade I will add a shoal of something small, most likely Anthias.

Equipment

I’m a die hard T5 fan. I’m running an ATI 8x39W dimmable and a pair of Fiji blue aqua rays for evening / moonlight. When I upgrade I will invest in a pair of 8x39W ATI hybrids so I can have best of both. I run FM balling light, Ozone, external filter with UV feeding a chiller, cheato in the sump, I have a gyre but will be stitching to a pair of MP40 QD because I miss the back and forth motion. I have a BM curve 7 and Eheim return pump. Think that’s everything.

Thanks for reading. I’ll update once the tank is full and the water is clear. All questions welcome.

Spell check is going crazy with my UK spelling lol

Coming along nicely

 

[Cary]

Well done!