Need help establishing a drop off aquarium.

[Evieeeeee]

Hey all. Finally got my hands on a reef aquarium so I'm slowly making my way back in, getting different equipment over time. I got my hands on a drop off tank that has some quirks that i need people's advice on. The shallow section is 18" long, 16" wide, 11" tall, with 4.5" of the back having an overflow box at the top of it. The deep section is 9.5" long, 23.25" deep. The goal is to have SPS & clam at the shallow portion and brain corals & other LPS at the sand at the bottom, with some corals on the rock work going up to the shallow part.

So the things I need help with.
1. This tank doesn't have a weir, so I'm worried that fish might swim into the overflow box. Any simple way to DIY myself a weir without having to purchase and cut acrylic? Maybe cut some mesh?

2. FLOW: The acrylic is like 15/16" thick, so it looks like most wavemakers won't work on this tank. I'm thinking about putting a gyre or 2 jebao SLW20's on the bottom of the overflow box after sealing the magnet in plastic. Are there wavemakers that support glass thickness of 1" that I could maybe put under the overflow box instead? Also, do you think that would be adequate flow for the LPS at the bottom of the deep section or will I need to find a way to put a wavemaker towards the front as well?

3. LIGHTING: I'm limited to LED modules at the moment due to mounting restrictions, and since I only intend to keep SPS over the shallow portion (13.5" long X 16"wide X 11" tall not including the overflow), what lighting would be best? Would something like the XR15 provide enough coverage for this section with enough light spill for the deep end as well? i do intend on borrowing a par meter once I get the light but I just want to make sure what I buy will be good enough. If you have recommendations, please let me know!

4. Sand: I got a ton of bahamas oolite when i got the tank, anyone have experience using this sand? Did it cause a ton of sand to blow around with medium to high flow? Wondering if it's okay to use or if I'll need something bigger grained if I intend to keep SPS.

5. Any other recommendations you have, I'm all ears. Appreciate it for reading/answering this post.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Good looking tank and your plans sound like a good idea.

Hardware stores sell gutter guard which is a black plastic mesh that can make a fine replacement for the weir.

I'd suggest 2 light fixtures. One for the shallow section and one for the deep section. Any good brand of led should work. I use 2 Reef Breeder Photons of my 90g DT because it's 30" front to back a 1 fixture just can't cover 30" very well. It allows me to run the back fixture more blue and even makes the tank look like it's more than 30" thick.

Is there some kind of lip to keep the sand in place on the upper level? Or if it's going to be all clams and sps, are you going to do all rubble and rock up there? The sand should be fine in the lower level once things get settled down.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[bsr2430]

I’ve always wanted a drop off tank! These have so many great ideas that I’d love to try!
Please make a tank build when you start! I’ll follow it!

 

[Evieeeeee]

Good looking tank and your plans sound like a good idea.

Hardware stores sell gutter guard which is a black plastic mesh that can make a fine replacement for the weir.

I'd suggest 2 light fixtures. One for the shallow section and one for the deep section. Any good brand of led should work. I use 2 Reef Breeder Photons of my 90g DT because it's 30" front to back a 1 fixture just can't cover 30" very well. It allows me to run the back fixture more blue and even makes the tank look like it's more than 30" thick.

Is there some kind of lip to keep the sand in place on the upper level? Or if it's going to be all clams and sps, are you going to do all rubble and rock up there? The sand should be fine in the lower level once things get settled down.

Good luck and have fun!

I'll check out the gutter guard, thanks.

I like the new radions but I think a second XR15 just to keep LPS at the bottom seems a bit overkill to be honest. XR30 might be the same issue.

And yes there is a lip for sand about 1" tall.

 

[Evieeeeee]

I’ve always wanted a drop off tank! These have so many great ideas that I’d love to try!
Please make a tank build when you start! I’ll follow it!

Thanks! I'll make one as soon as I get the equipment in place. I'd love to hear your ideas as well so I can work off of them

 

[Evieeeeee]

Good looking tank and your plans sound like a good idea.

Hardware stores sell gutter guard which is a black plastic mesh that can make a fine replacement for the weir.

I'd suggest 2 light fixtures. One for the shallow section and one for the deep section. Any good brand of led should work. I use 2 Reef Breeder Photons of my 90g DT because it's 30" front to back a 1 fixture just can't cover 30" very well. It allows me to run the back fixture more blue and even makes the tank look like it's more than 30" thick.

Is there some kind of lip to keep the sand in place on the upper level? Or if it's going to be all clams and sps, are you going to do all rubble and rock up there? The sand should be fine in the lower level once things get settled down.

Good luck and have fun!

Hey quick question about the reef breeder! Does it have "disco effect" going on where you can see different colors on the sandbed?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I hate to answer this way but it's 75% no and 25% yes.

Any led where the leds are set out in an array rather than in a central disk (puck) has the potential to have some 'disco effect' (the 25% yes).

However, the Photon has 6 channels of color control and therefore the red and green leds can be dialed in as you see fit. Neither is really needed as the white 5w Cree leds add enough red and green spectrum.

I only run the red and green at 20% during the 6 hours I'm running the blues at 90% and the whites at 30%. During sunrise (4 hours) and sunset (5 hours) I don't run any red or green and only a little white during the 2 hours just before midday and 2 hours after midday. Given that, I don't see any disco effect at all (the 75% no).

I have a good water movement at the surface and I also get good light refraction on the sand and rocks.

 

[Evieeeeee]

I hate to answer this way but it's 75% no and 25% yes.

Any led where the leds are set out in an array rather than in a central disk (puck) has the potential to have some 'disco effect' (the 25% yes).

However, the Photon has 6 channels of color control and therefore the red and green leds can be dialed in as you see fit. Neither is really needed as the white 5w Cree leds add enough red and green spectrum.

I only run the red and green at 20% during the 6 hours I'm running the blues at 90% and the whites at 30%. During sunrise (4 hours) and sunset (5 hours) I don't run any red or green and only a little white during the 2 hours just before midday and 2 hours after midday. Given that, I don't see any disco effect at all (the 75% no).

I have a good water movement at the surface and I also get good light refraction on the sand and rocks.

So essentially there is definitely a disco effect but since you don't use red/green it's really not possible to tell, yeah?

 

[Ron Reefman]

So essentially there is definitely a disco effect but since you don't use red/green it's really not possible to tell, yeah?

There is a disco effect, but even with the red and green turned up, it not very obvious. With them turned down, and you really don't need them, there isn't any.