60 Gallon Custom Rimless

[tlo25]

Time to get back into the hobby!
I figure I should document my tank build somewhere and this seems like a good place to do it. This all started when my neighbor had a garage sale and tried to sell me his old complete 55 setup for 75 bucks. I was like damn, good price! So I started researching. Well, a lot has changed since I quit 4 years ago. There are a lot of rimless tanks out there now, and my wife and I really liked these tanks. One thing led to another and now I'm spending a lot more then 75 bucks for my setup.

I looked around and decided to go local for the tank even though it was more expensive, didn't want it shipped. I ordered a Glass rimless tank from ADHI with the dimensions of 30"x30"x16" drilled with internal overflow 1/2" glass about 3 weeks ago. Then I looked into storage to see what kind of old stuff I have.

Old dead rock

RO/DI Unit one of the housings is broken from being moved around, bummer.

Vinegar Bath for Old Ehiem. Very impressed that it started right up after being pulled out of sump and into storage 4 years ago. I wasn't sure it would work after that.

I really wanted to get the old rock curing so since the RO/DI unit was out of commission, I went and bought a bunch of RO water and started curing the rock in a rubbermaid.

I basically just threw in the dead rock with about 5-10 pounds of live rock and a couple bags of argonite. I have read that you should do some bathing of the old dead rock to get rid of dead organics but this is the way I have done it many times in the past and never had issues. Since my tank wasn't going to be done for a month anyway, I wasn't looking for a quick cycle. The ammonia shot up to 4 after the first week, then was down to 1 after the second week. As of today ammonia reads 0 and nitrites have been going down the last couple days.

I have been going back and forth on lighting for the past few weeks. Leds weren't even on my radar when I got out last time. So I have been doing a lot of reading and here is what I have been looking at.

Single MH
250 Watt Galaxy Ballast, Radium 20k, Lumen Max Large or Lumen Arc Elite reflector.
Pros: Proven, Looks Great!
Cons: Electricity, Heat, no dawn/dusk

MH/T5 Fixture
250 Watt MH w/ T5 Actinic
Pros: Proven, Looks Great, dawn/dusk cycle.
Cons: Electricity, Heat, Don't think one unit will cover a 30" deep tank.

LEDs
Rapid par 38 LEDs
Pros: Electricity, Heat
Cons:Coverage and I have seen so many arguments about color, growth, ect. I just don't know what to expect.

I just cant decide, but if I were going to buy today I am in an LED mood and maybe willing to try it out.

 

[Wicked Color]

welcome!

 

[dv3]

don't forget the all t5 option and check out the evolution leds ...also i seen someone did a review of leds on here last week and the maxspect (i think that was the name) looked real nice for the extra $

 

[tlo25]

I didn't look at T5's really, I would prefer a shimmer.When designing the tank I really overlooked the issues lighting a tank with a deep footprint, I have looked at some of those LED units and it seems it would cost a small fortune to get the right coverage. Not sure I could stomach spending a grand on lights after buying a 700 dollar 60 gallon tank. But Ill check those leds out.

 

[Wicked Color]

I prefer T5+LED supplement, T5 gives more color choices, LED makes the pop and shimmer.

 

[hurrafreak]

I prefer T5+LED supplement, T5 gives more color choices, LED makes the pop and shimmer.

+1, I'm a big T-5 guy myself as well and a strip of LED's for the shimmer is all you need!

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

I recently changed to t5 and am sold on the intensity and color choices! Corals are colorful and growing (better than metal halide for me) t5 will give you the shimmer and even better color pop!

Welcome back to the madness!

 

[tlo25]

T5+LED, now that's something I didn't think about, I'm gonna definately look into that. Are there any T5+LED units out there, or are those mostly retrofit?

 

[chrislorentz]

T-5 and if you have a few dollars extra stop by Elite Reef and pick up some reef brights to supplement.

 

[Wicked Color]

here is what I did;
http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?8312-Lighting-opinions

 

[120greefman]

I run t5's on my 120 and they do the job. Got sps, lps and softies. If you want leds but are worried about coverage go with led strips. However you will be going back into cost again.

 

[tlo25]

don't forget the all t5 option and check out the evolution leds ...also i seen someone did a review of leds on here last week and the maxspect (i think that was the name) looked real nice for the extra $

I looked into Evolutions, it would be cool to have a local supplier but think Maxspect are perfect! My big complaint with LEDs is color, everything seems washed out. From what I have been researching with Maxspect you can change out leds to suit your taste ala T5s. I'm really leaning towards going with these Maxspect units!

 

[tlo25]

After the meeting this Sunday I'm super motivated to get going on my build. I Don't really have any new pics have been super busy and haven't had a chance to work on anything. Since I don't have the real thing here's a Sketchup of what I am hoping to accomplish.

My goal is to have a stand and plumbing to the basement "fish room" done by the end of this coming weekend. The tank should be done very soon, this is the beginning of the fourth week since I ordered the tank from ADHI. My rocks and sand have been curing for over a month now so I am hoping once the tank gets scaped and filled that the parameters are stable for a week and I'll add a CUC and a couple fish.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Your plan looks good. Great to see a new and excited face at the meeting. Adhi does a great job.

 

[tlo25]

Update 7.7.11

Bad news and good news. Bad news is the tank will not be ready for pickup until 7.15. Good news is that gives me more time to finish up stuff. They say you should double your projected budget to get your real budget, I say that applies to time also. Thought I could get a lot more done in a week, but I did pretty good. We thought since the tank is going into our "library room" that the stand should look similar to the book case I built in there. Hopefully the moisture doesn't do anything weird to the books.

Future location of tank.

Basic stand frame.

Stand with doors.

Trimmed, stained, and sealed.

Not my best work but it will do, I figure if people are looking at the stand then I did something wrong with the tank. I also got the majority of the plumbing done, just need to finish up some of the detail work.

This is going to be the new fishroom, the wife doesn't know yet but behind that wall is my "man room" I can see a built in there, maybe a 6 or 7 footer.

My wife is not cool with me drilling through the wall or floor even though I was in professional remodeling years ago. So I'm going through a return vent nearby.

Here is where we end up in the basement, don't mind the primer incident on the bottom left there.

Just got a BRS package, that has my new RO/DI canister and new filters, membrane, and resin. So next on the agenda will be plumbing up the RO/DI unit, maybe an ATO, and since Petco is doing their $1 a gallon thing setting up a Q tank.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Looks wicked! Huge sump will give you the stability that most smaller tanks can not give! Great start.

 

[tlo25]

Yeah that was the plan. Since I had room for a fish room, I figured I could go for a stock tank for a huge sump. Having never seen one in person though, I was quite surprised at how big they are. Took up a lot of real estate, but I'm gonna make it work.

 

[dv3]

your not allowed to drill a hole in the floor an you think she is going to let you cut a 6 foot hole in the wall?....lol

stand looks nice though

 

[chrislorentz]

hahahahaha

 

[KhensuRa]

Dang what a sweet build. Can't wait to see more progress.