Wayne's 105g 'Rainforest of the Sea'
 

If you don’t know me, my name is Wayne and I have been, more or less, infatuated with marine aquatic life since I laid my eyes upon my first ever reef aquarium. Dabbling in freshwater for a couple years I decided to try my hand at reefing about 10 months ago, after many weeks of research, and put together my first 90G reef tank.


In my short time reefing, I have lurked around every forum, read every article, and experienced success and disaster, yet I still believe I have only discovered the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this rewarding hobby. I still have much to learn but am looking forward to the challenge.

Objective: I am moving into my new penthouse apartment suite on November 1st and want to create a focal point/center piece of the main room. The reef will be the first thing you see when you walk in the door, so I want a clean, aesthetic and modern looking build. Fish and high quality SPS corals will dominate this reef, with some LPS corals filling in the aquascape.


I have looked into the Zeovit system by Korallen-Zucht but with my schedule, doing daily dosing is just not possible. For this reason, I will be dosing the ProdiBio big three: BioDigest, BioPtim, & ReefBooster, once every two weeks in order to attain a thriving ultra low-nutrient ecosystem.

Inspiration:

We'll reserve a TOTM spot for you next year :)

The Display Tank:
Courtesy of sphelps. It was a pleasure doing business with you sir.

Original plan was to have one built custom, but Steve’s tank had very similar dimensions to what I was looking for, so I bought it, for quite a discounted price compared to building new, so that was a plus!

Since I am limited as to what weight I am allowed in a 4th Floor apartment, this isn’t as much as a size upgrade as it is an equipment, functionality, and modernization upgrade.

103 gallon ‘Rimless’ design
54”L x 22”W x 20”H
3 sides 12mm Starphire Glass (front & sides)
Clear silicone, black painted background
Internal overflow and return holes through the bottom glass are so the tank can be flush against the wall.


The Sump:
Custom built by Concept Aquatics.

Regular 3/8” Float Glass
40”L x 18”W x 16”H


The Stand:
Custom built by The Grizz.

54”L x 22”W x 32”H
Welded Steel
Black Marine Enamel Paint

In time, I plan to do the skirting for the stand myself depending upon the color scheme I decide to go with in my new flat. This will be decided later on.

If that isn't encouragement, I don't know what is!

Some stunning pictures you have found! Good luck with your move!

Look forward to seeing this! :mrgreen:

Thanks! Im planning on adding one of the new CSC-250 to this system when you guys get them in!

Agreed. If I could even come close to these gorgeous systems I would be happy! Takes a lot of hard work and careful planning but I am looking forward to it!

Hey Wayne, I notice there are 2 holes in the bottom of the tank. If you have bulkheads that fit the holes you need to put them in and measure the distance from the edge of the bulkhead to the back of the tank. There needs to be at least 2" there in order to get the bulkhead tight.

Just as an FYI, Zeovit can be used on a similar schedule to all the other probiotic products. You just gotta play with the ratios.

Thanks for the input Greg. I don't have any bulkheads yet but sphelps whom I purchased the tank from was using 1 1/4" bulkheads for the returns so I am assuming this will be fine.

Is that right? I have never heard that and will have to look into it more!

Oh that Steve, I am sure it will be fine but I will ask him as I recently finished & delivered his new stand. I want to make sure it will be all good :biggrin:

Frig you've got me all nervous now! The holes are pretty close to the glass.. 1 1/4" from the back glass.. Im assuming your worried about the clearances between the bulkheads and the stand. What size pipe are you constructing the stand with?

The tank is still a little dirty and I can see the water marks of where Steve's bulkheads went to. Measuring from the outer edge of the tanks back pain to the edge of his bulkhead mark, I got a distance of about 1 1/4". If you're using 2" pipe I may be in trouuuuble.. Let me know Greg.

Then again, I am not sure if the bottom of the bulkhead has the same diameter as the top half, so I will try and pick one up tomorrow. That way I will know for sure.

I'm assuming you're going with a Herbie overflow because of the two holes you have for your overflow into your sump? Also I didn't see a filter sock tray. Are you going to be using filter socks?

The stand will be 1 1/2" tubing Wayne.

Yes, I will be doing the Herbie overflow as I used this on my 90 with great success. I do not plan to use any filter socks as I believe they do more harm then good.

I'm going to pick up a bulkhead tonight after work and see what my clearance is. If I have less than 1 1/2" is it possible to widen the stand slightly in order to incorporate more room for the bulkhead?

[center]v1…rotate’s ‘A Reef in the Sky’
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...5thMay2012.jpg

man this tank is beauty can anyone send me info on this thank?

An airline pilot out of Hong Kong, his build thread is here.

The original stand was 3/4" plywood and I recall it being pretty tight.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ank/stand1.jpg

The marks you're referring to will probably be from the gasket as well which is small than the actual bulkheads so you have less clearance than you might think. I would account for 1" max.

A couple options I could recommend:

If you're using 1-1/2 tubing an option is to make the stand 55" x 23" meaning it will extrude 1/2" out from all sides of the tank but should give you the clearance you need.

Another option is to build up a few layers of plywood on top of the metal stand, you can drill large holes for the bulkheads and use the plywood as a spacer, not great for access after the tank is in place but an option.

Other options involve build the stand around the bulkheads or notching with added support. Or make the stand from 3/4" plywood like I did.

Either way be sure to get the bulkheads first, make sure they fit the holes properly, then measure for stand clearance. If you don't follow this order you're asking for problems.

Tagging along.

Thanks for the info Steve, your always great for help & ideas.

Wayne, I think making the stand a little bigger like Steve suggested as well as 2 layers of 3/4" plywood might be the best option.

Alright well I busted my butt over to Illusions after work and picked up some bulkheads. Like I originally thought, the edge of the bulkhead to the back edge of the back pane is about 1 1/4". Meaning a 1 1/2 tube is going to contact 1/4" of the bulkhead.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCF3880.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCF3883.jpg


Thanks for chiming in Steve! I understand the theory of lengthening the stand an inch but I'm not quite sure what stacking the tank on 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood is going to accomplish.. must be having a brain fart. :redface:

I am good with increasing the stand width from 22" to 23" Greg, if that is okay with you of course!

If you shack 2 - 3/4" pieces of plywood it will raise the bulkhead nut 1 1/2" above the stand allowing you to get to it to tighten the nut, you would have to cut at least a 4"- 5" round hole in the plywood where the bulkhead is though. I can easily make it 23" no problem.

Okay gotcha! Well now that I know I have a few options I am not so worried! Phew! Lets do that then. Thank you for helping me out! :biggrin:

So go with 23"?

Yup, the extra inch should do the trick

Yup the extra inch should do the trick!

Done deal :thumb:

I think the biggest issue for me right now is trying to decide what I want to do with my background...

My 90 had a black background but I think I want to do something different.. a dark navy blue maybe? Im unsure how this will look with the black overflow box in the center of my tank.
Does anyone have pics of their tanks with a blue background and black overflow? Just curious!

I also like the idea of the shadowbox background. It creates a really nice gradient affect but I think I would have trouble finding an acrylic sheet to do it with & am unsure how the box setup would fit with the open top rimless tank.

Here's an example of the shadowbox. This particular individual had a canopy.

How is that shadowbox done? Is there is light running along the back above the shadowbox? That looks pretty nice, but I think the center overflow is really distracting from it. I imagine it would be a pain in the butt to clean the back glass too.

You can get a similar effect using paint and painting the low lighter and slowly fading into a darker color near the bottom. I really like this look.

Very nice setup you've got planned out! :pop2:

There's a really cool shadow box thread on RC. Looks awesome but you'd have to be really diligent about cleaning the back glass or it'll look like crap. I thought it was awesome until I got to thinking about my glass cleaning regimen. I have problems keeping 3 sides clean and free of coraline, :D

It's essentially a box with blue acrylic inside it and a light or leds mounted inside the top of the box shining through and giving the perception of the sun on the horizon and depth into the background.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...tar74/uwe4.jpg

Thank you very much. We will see how it works out!

Yeah I do hope to be diligent and have consistant schedule of cleaning the back glass but I think the shadowbox is out of the question this time. I think I am going to have to go by a few colors of paint and do some experimenting tomorrow :p

Here's a quick sketch mock-up of my proposed plumbing plan:


The manifold is not a for sure as I may be running my reactors from a separate pump (Maxijet), as with my last tank I noticed that a lot of debris/algae would pass into the manifold and clog up my TLF reactors.

Any ideas/comments are welcome.

Have you picked up the stand yet?

I went and saw it! Looks awesome and is solid as can be! Thank you.
Not gonna bother moving it right now since my buddy and I are moving in together next week.

Sweet glad your happy with it, can't wait to see a tank on it.

Me neither! Counting down the days till I get moved in and get to do another tank build. The build is the best part! :mrgreen: