Asylumdown's 275 Tank build

[asylumdown]

I did a bunch of reading on the AI, there's a huge thread on RC regarding them (and LEDs in general) right now that sort of turned me off of them. It seems people either love them, and have mind blowing success with them, or they claim they have killed their tank. Also, I don't like the colours, just cool white and blue... it hypothetically is all the corals *should* need for growth, but I think they're missing something.

If the Orphek's were even a little controllable, I'd be more interested. I'm not looking for some cheesy storm effects or anything, but I would like the ability to simulate the sun rising and setting every day, and I want a proper moon cycle. I know Orphek's have a moon cycle that you can program manually on each fixture, but they're missing the integration and controllability in general I think.

I did look at the Maxspect, and Im going to continue to mull that over while Mark Callaghan (sp?) continues to test the Radions. I want something close to full spectrum, and as an out of the box solution the Radions just seem like they've got what I wanted, but it's still a couple of months out before I need to make a choice.

[mseepman]

This light is made by the Chinese...so who knows about the quality...but they've stepped up their game a little.
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/09/20/p...ue/#more-48493
Saw this light...looked okay but wasn't over a tank with livestock (as many weren't, like the Radions).

I also liked the Radions when I saw them, but wish they had put it over a live tank to see what the overall look ended up being like.

[asylumdown]

Driveway was poured this week

I'm considering going mostly bare bottom in this tank, and I would like some opinions:

1. I have no interest in dealing with a deep sand bed for several reasons, so sand on the bottom would be purely aesthetic and too shallow to offer much in the way of nutrient reduction (like in my last tank).

2. I was looking at pics of my old 90 gallon and I realize that as my tank aged, I started to develop more and more problems with nuisance algae and cyano, even though I was getting more and more sophisticated in my nutrient removal techniques and technology. There are plenty of reasons this could be the case I'm sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a big contributing factor was the progressive build up of crap in the sand under/behind rocks where I couldn't get a vacuum

3. I'm not really in love with the look of bare-bottom tanks, but I figure you can cover them over with LPS and coral over time.

4. I REALLY love wrasses though. So I was considering building several little 'sand boxes' that would hold a couple of inches of sand each, but in locations that I could easily access for thorough vacuuming.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[lastlight]

I've considered bare-bottom for my new tank as well but like you want my wrasses to be happy. The sandbox idea sounds good but when I think of the sand-storm my leopard stirs up EVERY night when he goes to sleep I'm seeing those areas depleted of sand pretty fast. You'd be very slowly adding sand to top the areas up while your wrasses gave you a shallow sand-bed over time I think.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I've considered bare-bottom for my new tank as well but like you want my wrasses to be happy. The sandbox idea sounds good but when I think of the sand-storm my leopard stirs up EVERY night when he goes to sleep I'm seeing those areas depleted of sand pretty fast. You'd be very slowly adding sand to top the areas up while your wrasses gave you a shallow sand-bed over time I think.

Yah I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll just do 1 or half an inch in most places then build up couple 'dune' areas where the wrasses can sleep

Also.. hardwood is 90% installed and the kitchen and closet inserts are being manufactured on site as we speak! Wheeeeee!

[asylumdown]

The finishing carpenter was there prepping the enclosure today. Site meeting with the builder, the finisher and Kevin on Friday to get exact final measures to place the glass order.

Dining room view:

We had to replace the original top sheet of plywood on top of the stand with a much thicker 3 inch piece of wood in order to have something to drill the door frames in to. Also, the MDF columns on either side needed to be wide enough to cover the steel legs of the stand in order for there to be enough clearance to attach the door hinges. In order to keep this view symmetrical, it means that about 3 inches of the right side and 5 inches of the left side of the tank will actually be covered up.

Office side view:

When I stopped by tonight, the finisher had also installed an MDF panel on the office side where the purple line is. It matched the front of the tank, but would have meant the tank couldn't have been installed without reducing it's length by 5 or 6 inches. I had him remove it (obviously), and we're redesigning the office side of the aquarium so that you'll be able to see 100% of the width of the tank. Depending on how the finished enclosure looks, I might also do cut-outs on the front side so less glass is hidden.

[mseepman]

Love seeing this coming together! What were the biggest hurdles in explaining what you wanted to accomplish to the builder? I am in the process of building a house around a tank and would love to know before I run into the same issues.