Some of those cool kids never budget their builds for fish and corals though :razz:

hmm, that strategy had never occurred to me.. brilliant! :biggrin: Who needs fish and corals when you can just sit there and watch your Vortech swoosh your water back and forth :-) Throw in some neon beads and you've really got a show!

- No heat transfer to the tank
- smaller footprint
- Provdes water FLOW vs Overpowering Jet of water. :lol:

Worth the money in my mind.


You got sweet SPS, you can still sit at the cool kids table. :smilecol:

Since you asked nicely, here you go :-) (do excuse the white balance. There are 4 sources of light in that room and all 4 are a different colour temperature :lol:)

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262503331

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262503438

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262503497

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262503519

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262503542

Need to paint the stand then plumb when I get back from Mexico. I suppose I could just take a page from Josh's book and just leave it all raw like :-)

Looks awesome.. My stand won't be raw forever!

Looks good Kien...and and now for the fun part (at least for me)...plumbing and then aquascaping....Im envious of the "new tank high" you must be on....

looking good buddy. skin that stand before you put water in, if i could change one thing about my start up that would be it

What made you choose that location for the return? Why not also in other corners/locations? Looks really sweet I'm anxious to see more!

I think a single pendant somewhere near the center (with most corals under it) would be so cool. The light falloff would look killer I think.

Ya, I plan on sealing it and painting it before putting any water it. If its one thing I´ve learned from my other stand its that saltwater and wood don´t mix. It is so nice to be able to wipe salt water off of a finished surface rather than raw wood.

Just preference. I didn´t want any hardware at that side of the tank and I didn´t want to run any pipes behind or above this tank this time around. So <I´m playing around with having all pipes inside the tank and see how it goes. This tank wasn´t originally planned out to be a display tank. It was not supposed to be all that pretty :-)

Seeing all these shallows tanks has me pondering haha... I'm definitely gonna follow this one

It is just me, or the picture, but is your stand slightly too long/wide on that one corner (nearest the camera)... or is the tank not positioned yet? The questions been nagging at me since you posted.. :lol:

where have i been, i cant believe i missed this build. :surprise:

looks wicked, shallow tanks are killin it

Good observation Josh :-P I had to push the tank and stand into the corner to take pictures of it and I ended up pushing the tank slightly off centre. The whole rig was in the middle of the room in preparation for priming and painting but some eager canreefer kept nagging me to take pictures of it.. :wink:

You should just tell that eager reefer to pound sand! lol :lol:

So when do you expect to have water in this bad boy?

stocking ideas??

I need to find time to paint the stand, then plumb, leak test, build sump, then I should be ready for salt water. I have a rubbermaid tote sitting in that room right now with about 70 pounds of live rock in it (from a tank shutdown). It has a 6 bulb tek t5 fixture over it :-D

I plan on just stock this tank with corals (mostly SPS) for now. Going to go fishless and see how that goes for a while. If that doesn't work out I'll probably throw in a bunch of threadfin cardinals and call it a day.

Found a great deal on a used skimmer. Just need to go pick it up. Also got my powerheads used. One tunze 6105 and two 6101s pretty cheap. Will control those with the tunze controller I got also for cheap on boxing day :-D

I'm debating about getting a used profilux for a pretty good deal.. Are you sensing a theme yet? :lol:

Have you gotten around to plumbing this thing yet? I WILL be home all weekend and still got that PVC laying around if you want it...

Updates?

I lined up the tank with the stand so it isn't off centre anymore :P

Actually you are right I should probably update this thread. I have the stand painted, sump built, plumbing purchased, skimmer (Hydor 700) and return pump (magdrive 12) acquired, lighting purchased (2 x 6bulb tek T5s). I am planning to plumb the tank tonight and if all goes well should have water coursing through the system by the weekend.

I've also had a couple of tubs (33gs each) of water with cured live rock from a fellow canreef that's been cooking for the past 3 months so I'll be dumping those into the tide pool this weekend.

Okay, so here we go! Finally got around to putting it all together. Here's what the guts look like.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361367

33g two chamber sump. Return on the left, skimmer on the right. Herbie overflows with 2 1/2" drains. Return is driven by a mag 12 into 1" pipes. Skimmer is the awesome Hydro 700.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361508 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361489

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361552

Here's a shot of the overflow box with the herbie overflows. At the opposite end is the return. The third pipe in the overflow box is currently blocked off. I was going to use it for a return as well but decided against it (for now).

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361573

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361651

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361667

Aerial shot.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265361690

So all that's left to do is wait for the PVC cement to cure, then tomorrow night hang my lights. Push the whole setup into its corner and we're off to the races!

Sweeeet!

I can't wait to see it filled

Aren't you worried about a back syphon on your return if the power goes out? That 90 elbow looks pretty low, unless your sump can handle the extra water. Just curious.

Setup looks killer though. Love the dimensions. :mrgreen:

It looks low because the tank is so frakking shallow LOL.

That return outlet is only an 3/4 to 1 inch below the water line. I measured :-). So not that much water is going to siphon back. The sump is only half full (possibly even less) during normal operations so ya there is lots of room for water in the sump. I always design my systems this way. Pretty much the exact same deal as my 150g. I actually use this to my advantage when doing water changes. I turn off the return and let all the water drain and siphon into the sump that can and will. This fills up the sump tank. I then just pump out all the water from
the sump tank and refill to the previous line with NSW. Turn pump back on. Done :-)

It's Alive!!!
 

Fired this bad boy up last weekend. Made some tweaks to the plumbing and hung the lights last night. All params are zero(ish). There's currently 1 blue legged hermit crab and a hitchiker crab residing in the tide pool.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876333

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876372

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876392

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876409

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876445

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876472

Lights consists of two 6 bulb 48" Tek T5 fixtures. Bulb selection is:

Back to front

Hamilton Tech - Actinic (420nm)
KZ Coral Light New Gen (15K)
KZ Fuji Purple
KZ Coral Light (10K)
KZ Coral Light New Gen (15K)
KZ Superblue (22K)

KZ Superblue (22K)
KZ Coral Light New Gen (15K)
KZ Coral Light (10K)
KZ Fuji Purple
KZ Coral Light New Gen (15K)
Hamilton Tech - Actinic (420nm).

and it looks something like this..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1265876543

I have it hung pretty high right now to work in the tank but will lower it a few more inches once I'm done.

Oh you bastard that looks nice.

You have some plumbing to hide though =)

haha, agreed :-) My location choice for that return was definitely flawed on this build! The return box will cover with coraline or I'll build a mountain to cover it, but ya.. that return line is fugly!! I'm thinking about just covering the whole thing up, removing that pipe and plumbing the return in the back of the tank and over the lip instead... if I can be bothered. That or I'll get the GSP to grow over it :lol:

Oh.. I guess I have that 1" line in the over flow box that's just capped off right now not doing anything. I should just use that as a return instead.

I know by the way you take your pics...you CARE how it looks. So take care of it man.

Ya.. I sort of do now. When I designed it it wasn't supposed to be pretty. It was supposed to be a frag tank! :lol:

anyway, I'm just happy it is holding water at this point. I was half expecting it to just fall apart and dump everything onto the floor over night. :lol:

That never happens until the thing is nicely stocked.

Okay, phew! Good to know.. I have some time then.

I'm blind from that much white!!!

lol looking good buddy

ya.. I could sure use some more red planet in that tank. :lol:

That looks awesome Kien... wish I had the room where my tank is for 36".. next tank I guess!:lol:

In this hobby there is alway a next tank.:razz:

I wish you are much closer to my home so i can drop by and watching the action in real time. Also, i can give my wife an excuse to spend more time on the tank. "Look, Kien lovely wife lets him do it, come on"

Damn nice theater too.

I am dying for more picts pls

What a Fluke!
 

An interesting couple of weeks for this tank.. I wasn't going to post anything about this little incident, but when I told the story to my wife she convinced me that it would make a good post, so here goes..

A couple of weeks ago I picked up an Atlantic Blue Tang from a LFS. I thought it was a great find because I had wanted one for a long time. I felt he would be a great addition to the lagoon for algae control. So anyway, I brought him home and proceeded with my usual acclimation routine. The first step I take is to temperature acclimate which means bag sits in the sump for about 20 minutes or so. Went upstairs, did a little Canreefing and then came back down to check in on him. I was shocked and horrified to find that somehow his bag was completely empty of water! I'm wondering if maybe he poked a hole in it.. but the details here aren't that important. I pulled him out of the empty bag and found him lifeless. Yes, dead. I wiggled him in the sump water for a bit, nothing. This had never happened to me before so I was kind of beside myself. While sitting there under my tank staring at a lifeless body of my newly acquired Tang I somehow got it in my head that I shouldn't give up on him. It couldn't have been *that* long since he stopped breathing.. So, I decided to take action and perform CPR. I pulled his lifeless body out of the sump and placed him in the display tank in front of a tunze 6105. I tried to hold his mouth open as it blasted water into his mouth and through his gills, all the while I performed chest compressions by pressing either side of his body with my thumb and index finger. Yes, I felt as ridiculous doing it as it sounds. I don't know, I think I saw it on TV one time or something! I did this for probably 5 give or take minutes. I was about to give up on him and pronounced him dead but guess what???? Yup, he wiggled his tail. I was shocked!! I kept up with the CPR and sure enough, he started to gasp for air, started breathing and a little tail wiggle turned into full on swimming. To be honest I don't know if my actions really did anything or not. All I know is one moment he was pretty dead. No breathing, no movement, nothing, the next minute he darts off into a cave. :neutral:

So ya, that was a pretty exciting evening, but it doesn't end there for him. Yesterday I noticed that he was doing a weird head shake and was really scratching himself good on some rocks. I remember reading in Tony's Fluke thread recently about head shaking so I looked it up. Yup, sure enough, he has skin flukes! You can clearly see the little flukes on his skin. At this point I had not yet seen him eat (although he did eat at the LFS), so it was not looking good for him. I didn't have any medication on hand but he was already in pretty rough shape so I felt I really had to do something to at least help him out if I could. I decided to give him a fresh water dip. I've only ever done this once eons ago and even then it was a very very brief dip. I wasn't sure how this one was going to go. I filled a pot with RO water and got its temp up to the same as the tank's temp. I then spent 45 minutes trying to fish him out of the tank (ended up having to remove all my live rock). Placed him in a colander and lowered him into the bath. Let's just say he wasn't very happy about it. I set a timer for 5 minutes and kept a very close eye on him. He calmed down after the first minute. I could literally see all the flukes dropping off his body. After 5 minutes I placed him back into the display tank where he proceeded to bolt into a cave.

The next day I picked up some PraziPro to treat the tank.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1266907015

Although the flukes on his skin were taken care of the larvae and any flukes in the display tank still need to be dealt with. When I went to treat the tank I noticed that he was out and about grazing on the live rock. I had never seen him do this since putting him in the tank. Furthermore, when I plunked myself down in front of the tank to watch him he swam up to the glass and hung out there, staring at me. Hard to describe that moment. It was quite surreal. Almost like he was saying, "Thanks dude. I needed that".

Anyway, he still has some healing to do but is well on his way. I've seen him eat flakes and nori sheets.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1266907164

Has anyone else ever tried CPR on their fish?!

Great story Kien and congrats on the "dream fish score".....Hopefully he's seen the worst in your tank....

What a great thing to have experienced! That's going to be one gorgeous little fishy.