I've been lurking a bit and thinking of doing another reef. I had a 55 gallon reef a long time ago (like 9 years long time ago) but things happened, relationships ended and I ended up going to law school instead of doing IT. Having learned a lot from my old tank, and having a job, I've been thinking of doing another one. Sorry if my first post is long-winded, i'm an appeals lawyer and it takes me 2000 words to clear my throat.
My old tank ran ok. I had LPS, a couple tangs, some SPS frags that had started to plate a bit... until one day I woke up and it had been nuked...everything dead. This wasn't a gradual die-off, it was literally overnight. I'm not sure whether something got into the sand bed and hit a hydrogen sulfide pocket (didn't smell it if that was it), whether a tiger tail died and possibly nuked the tank, or whether gremlins simply dumped a gallon of cyanide in while I slept...everything sure was deceased. I tore down the tank and sold off the parts, gave parts away etc. Just didn't have the heart to handle the apocalypse and then life intervened and I never set up another one.
Now that I have the budget I'd like to do it again but properly.
This time my philosophy will be "plan instead of react" and "go slow."
Glass tank is a must. I know scratches in acrylic can be buffed out but its a constant thing and it only takes one snail to drag its shell wrong to make a nice 18" scratch across the front pane. I won't be going much bigger but I will be going in a different shape. a 55 gallon makes a moderately dreadful reef. 48 length is ok, and 18 high is ok but 12 front to back is no good. I found it very difficult to keep detritus out from behind the rock structure.
I have pretty much settled on a 60 cube because of space constraints. Three-sided starphire tanks seem to run around $1300 in this configuration including the stand, a sump and starter ATO. Looking at Solana 60 or similar (I was looking at glasscages but the reputation doesn't seem worth saving a couple hundred and gambling). Great Lakes Aquariums also sells a starphire/sump/stand for about the same price...My apartment is tiny but I can easily fit 2x2 and thats a reasonably easy to move size for when I upgrade my housing.
Former tank was, I believe overskimmed. I was using a dual-downdraft ETS800 Gemini off an Iwaki...way too much skimmer for that tank even if I did get it cheap off craigslist. I think it was bad for the tank because organics would have to build up before it would really work. Just because bigger and better sounds good on paper or for bragging, it wasn't right for the tank. Also, an dual stack downdraft skimmer sounds like (an angry) vacuum cleaner running next to a waterfall. Not knocking ETS but that model belongs in a remote sump and not in a living area.
Going to get an appropriately sized and non-venturi skimmer..no idea what though. The needle wheel skimmers look promising.
Looking forward to trying chaeto in the sump, I don't think I'd heard of that 10 years ago but it does seem an efficient nutrient/phosphate export to just grow it and then prune it.
Going to use dead, cured, eco rock and dead aragonite sand. Then liven it up with GARF grunge after cycle. Nice to see GARF still in business after taking a decade out of the hobby; if you stay in business for years on end you're generally doing something right.
This way I control what the tank starts out with. Yes, the tank will appear to be a moonscape, maybe for months but its a moonscape I control rather than dealing with dubiously cured LFS rock, aptasia, bristleworms etc. I'm willing to wait six months or ten months for coralline to get growing before stocking frags.
Old tank was 4x96w PC which was fine. The old school giant ballast boxes though I could do without. I'm thinking of all LED and specifically of AI modulars...their website says one module can cover a 24 inch width but every post I have seen here and elsewhere says to use two modules for a 60 cube.
Going to get an RO/DI first instead of after an algae outbreak...not making that mistake twice.
I think a chiller is inevitable here in the inland valleys of the SF Bay Area...it can easily top 100F outside during the summer and this apartment has wall-unit AC. With LEDs I might try a 1/10HP and just run the heck out of it during the few weeks each summer its really miserable (for example this week it got up to 105F but other days peaked at 68...that fog for you).
Also thinking of dosing kalk in the ATO bottles versus just dosing my water-change water which is what I used to do...pain to get right.
One thing I am undecided about is whether or not to run a plenum. I do not think I have enough room in a 24x24 stand to park a sump and chiller and have enough room in a sump that narrow for a working sand bed. I believe in sand beds but I might do 3" aragonite in the main tank over a plenum and nylon cloth for the bottom inch to prevent anyone disturbing the bottom layer. Like I said, undecided.
Suggestions? Ideas? Some really cool gadget I've missed?
-Thanks
My old tank ran ok. I had LPS, a couple tangs, some SPS frags that had started to plate a bit... until one day I woke up and it had been nuked...everything dead. This wasn't a gradual die-off, it was literally overnight. I'm not sure whether something got into the sand bed and hit a hydrogen sulfide pocket (didn't smell it if that was it), whether a tiger tail died and possibly nuked the tank, or whether gremlins simply dumped a gallon of cyanide in while I slept...everything sure was deceased. I tore down the tank and sold off the parts, gave parts away etc. Just didn't have the heart to handle the apocalypse and then life intervened and I never set up another one.
Now that I have the budget I'd like to do it again but properly.
This time my philosophy will be "plan instead of react" and "go slow."
Glass tank is a must. I know scratches in acrylic can be buffed out but its a constant thing and it only takes one snail to drag its shell wrong to make a nice 18" scratch across the front pane. I won't be going much bigger but I will be going in a different shape. a 55 gallon makes a moderately dreadful reef. 48 length is ok, and 18 high is ok but 12 front to back is no good. I found it very difficult to keep detritus out from behind the rock structure.
I have pretty much settled on a 60 cube because of space constraints. Three-sided starphire tanks seem to run around $1300 in this configuration including the stand, a sump and starter ATO. Looking at Solana 60 or similar (I was looking at glasscages but the reputation doesn't seem worth saving a couple hundred and gambling). Great Lakes Aquariums also sells a starphire/sump/stand for about the same price...My apartment is tiny but I can easily fit 2x2 and thats a reasonably easy to move size for when I upgrade my housing.
Former tank was, I believe overskimmed. I was using a dual-downdraft ETS800 Gemini off an Iwaki...way too much skimmer for that tank even if I did get it cheap off craigslist. I think it was bad for the tank because organics would have to build up before it would really work. Just because bigger and better sounds good on paper or for bragging, it wasn't right for the tank. Also, an dual stack downdraft skimmer sounds like (an angry) vacuum cleaner running next to a waterfall. Not knocking ETS but that model belongs in a remote sump and not in a living area.
Going to get an appropriately sized and non-venturi skimmer..no idea what though. The needle wheel skimmers look promising.
Looking forward to trying chaeto in the sump, I don't think I'd heard of that 10 years ago but it does seem an efficient nutrient/phosphate export to just grow it and then prune it.
Going to use dead, cured, eco rock and dead aragonite sand. Then liven it up with GARF grunge after cycle. Nice to see GARF still in business after taking a decade out of the hobby; if you stay in business for years on end you're generally doing something right.
This way I control what the tank starts out with. Yes, the tank will appear to be a moonscape, maybe for months but its a moonscape I control rather than dealing with dubiously cured LFS rock, aptasia, bristleworms etc. I'm willing to wait six months or ten months for coralline to get growing before stocking frags.
Old tank was 4x96w PC which was fine. The old school giant ballast boxes though I could do without. I'm thinking of all LED and specifically of AI modulars...their website says one module can cover a 24 inch width but every post I have seen here and elsewhere says to use two modules for a 60 cube.
Going to get an RO/DI first instead of after an algae outbreak...not making that mistake twice.
I think a chiller is inevitable here in the inland valleys of the SF Bay Area...it can easily top 100F outside during the summer and this apartment has wall-unit AC. With LEDs I might try a 1/10HP and just run the heck out of it during the few weeks each summer its really miserable (for example this week it got up to 105F but other days peaked at 68...that fog for you).
Also thinking of dosing kalk in the ATO bottles versus just dosing my water-change water which is what I used to do...pain to get right.
One thing I am undecided about is whether or not to run a plenum. I do not think I have enough room in a 24x24 stand to park a sump and chiller and have enough room in a sump that narrow for a working sand bed. I believe in sand beds but I might do 3" aragonite in the main tank over a plenum and nylon cloth for the bottom inch to prevent anyone disturbing the bottom layer. Like I said, undecided.
Suggestions? Ideas? Some really cool gadget I've missed?
-Thanks
