My rimless shallow reef tank build 48x48x16

[reeftank250]

I just thought I would start a build on my new tank. Its a 48x48x16 rimless with starphire glass.

Here's a few pics of the stand so far.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4471/p3050316.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/681/p3050313.jpg

[xpirtdesign]

lookin good so far

[reeftank250]

I got a little more done on the stand today. I put more bracing in and a plywood wrap on it. I still have to cut out the door opening, then I can start the tedious part (molding).

The canopy will be hanging about 20" off the top of the tank.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5420/p3110336.jpg

[reeftank250]

I got the door cut out, so I thought I would do a test fit before I finish my drywall. Now the molding.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4052/p3110337.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2508/p3110340.jpg

[reeftank250]

I got a little more done on the stand today so I thought I would post it.



http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/946/p3150347.jpg http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5527/p3150343.jpg http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5825/p3150345.jpg

I still need to do the molding around the top.

Thanks for looking.

[noahm]

That is going to be a real nice tank to work with and look at size wise.

[reeftank250]

Thanks, I hope so. I plan on having a large pile of rock in the center with a Mangrove growing out of the top of the rock pile. Like a little island.

[widmer]

Very unique. I'm really looking forward to seeing it progress.

[Opes]

I like the measurements on this tank. Lots of potential! I'll be following.

[reeftank250]

Thanks. I'll try to get more pics up soon. The tank will be here Sunday. I picked out the paint for the back panels. I'm going with Marine reef. It's like the blue/green you see when looking at the Great barrier reef from above.

[FadeToGrey]

This looks like it is going to be very cool. Congrats on the new set up.

[thedoctor06]

great dimensions! What are you doing for lighting?

[Frick-n-Frags]

this would be my idea of the ideal tank dimensions too.

tons of surface acreage for the reef, yet none of the everyday hassle of dealing with a deep tank you cant reach around in.

16 square feet of reef! that's nice.

[FadeToGrey]

reeftank250,
Is this going to be a corner tank? If so, have you thought about having a door on each of the viewing sides of the stand to make it easier to get to the sump area? Just curious because I am contemplating a (smaller:() square tank myself. How big will your sump tank be?

[chimmike]

the minimal use of 2x4 in vertical support on the stand kinda has me worried merely due to the volume and sheer weight the tank will hold.

I think the skin will help but I'm not quite sure just how much.

Looks good though!

[reeftank250]

The lighting is 2-400 watt MH and 2-VHO actinics.

The tank is going in the corner. I only put in one door because the sump is going in the adjoining room so I have enough room for all the equipment.

I did add more vertical 2x4 supports after I took the picture. There are 2 on each side of each corner doubled up and 2 doubled up on each side of the door. Which is more than enough support. A standard 2x4 has a vertical strength of 240 psi and I have 24 vertical 2x4 which would give me a vertical strength of 5760 psi. The tank fully set up should only weigh about 2000 lbs.

The sump size is still in the works. Most likely it will be about 100 to 150 gallons

[reeftank250]

I got the stand all put together today. I'll try to get some pics up tonight.

[reeftank250]

I got the stand almost done and primed. I just need to add the final piece of trim after the tank is in place to cover the bottom edge of the tank.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6466/p3180010.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7536/p3180008w.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7166/p3180009.jpg


Here's a pic of the canopy so far. It's on its top I was installing the reflectors. I still need to put all the molding on it. It will look just like the stand when it's done.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2909/p3180011.jpg

[FadeToGrey]

Looking amazing, I am so jealous! Do you have a stock list planed yet?

[atwinparadox2]

great start! Nice work on the stand!

[reeftank250]

Thanks!!

I have my fish and corals in a kiddy pool right now. I had to sell off most of my corals when I sold my last tank, so I'll be looking for some soon.

As for fish I have:
White Freckled Tang (Acanthurus maculiceps) My pride and joy
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8586/acanthurusmaculiceps.jpg
Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma veliferum)
Tomini Tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)
Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)
Naso Tang (Naso lituratus)
Ocellaris Clownfish

[FuzzyFish]

Very Very Nice!!

[todd141]

I've never seen a white freckled tang before. He's awesome.

Love your woodwork on the stand, too. I wish I could do stuff like that.

[ReneX]

That's a gorgeous tang! I've never seen one of them before.

Just a question, how are you going to reach the back sides of the tank? Those in the corner. I'm asking because it seems like having a tank that's too wide to reach across could be just as annoying as one that's too deep to reach into easily. I'm sure you've already thought of this, but curious minds want to know!

[reeftank250]

I got that tang just for that reason. I had to special order it and it was pricey. I'm a huge tang fan. It does get big, so its not a recommended tang. That's why you never see them.

I'm a little over 6'3" and I have long arms so I should be able to reach the back of the tank O.K. In the pic of the stand sitting in the unfinished room it has the canopy sitting directly on top of it. I did this to see how I would do reaching the back as the canopy is the same height as the tank. It was tough but do able.


I got my order of mangroves today. They all looked good most had over 2 leaves each 7 plants in all. I got them all for less than $10, that's with shipping from Hawaii. The local Pet shops want $15 each for the same size, so I couldn't pass it up.

[Ratpack]

Sweet looking tank. Can I ask where you got the Mangroves from?

[reeftank250]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone.

I got the mangroves on Ebay here's the Mangrove link (http://stores.ebay.com/PACIFIC-SEEDS_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3asstQQtZkm)

[FadeToGrey]

Love the freckled tang! SO cute! (I am sure that is just what you wanted to hear...lol.)

[reeftank250]

I don't mind it it pretty cute.

I get to pick up my tank tomorrow morning I'll take some pics and get them posted when I get back.

[IvanaO]

Your stand is beautiful!

[reeftank250]

Thank you!!

[reeftank250]

My older brother (left) and the glass cages guy(right)
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8074/p3220021.jpg
This is the tank while we wait for the other 2 guys to show up. When we unloaded the tank off the glass cages truck we had those nice suction cup things it made it so much easer to lift. With out them it SUCKS!!
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1673/p3220023.jpg
This is as you can see a pic of the stand. I still need to build the door and put on the finishing trim piece that covers up the bottom edge of the tank.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1985/p3220027.jpg
These are 2 of my 4 kids. My oldest and third.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8504/p3220026.jpg
And this is me.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9302/p3220031c.jpg



I still need to put on the finishing pieces on the canopy and I get my bulbs and ballasts tomorrow, so I should be able to get that up sometime this week. I still need to put another coat of paint on the walls and paint the back of the tank.

[blueye]

Congrats on the stand. I like the detailed molding, nice job!

[reef211]

wow, very nice and thanks for the mangroves link, Im going to order some of it soon.

Big Mike

[macreefster]

reeftank....sweet tank and the stand is amazing. love your tank dimensions and can't wait to see it full of water. so many aquascaping possibilities. keep up that great work.

[Creade]

Great start!

I was a little concerned at first about not being able to reach the back edges of the tank if you needed to for moving corals, etc, but it looks like it may not be that bad since your at such a low height!

Tagging along~

[Trueno22]

Wow that stand looks super impressive.

[kingfisher62]

That tank is amazing. I can not wait to see it set up with livestock.

How many gallons is it going to hold ?

BTW , your tank looks way overstocked you might want to take one ove your kids out! LOL

[mcrist]

If you have problems reaching the back of the tank you could mount a hand rail to the wall so that you could hold onto something while leaning over the tank. The only issue is to find one that doesn’t take away from the appearance of the tank.

[reeftank250]

Thanks everyone!! I'm hoping to have water in it a few days. I'll post more pics as it progresses.

[reeftank250]

I tried reaching the back last night I could reach it just fine.

[Creade]

Just remember, there is a difference between reaching the back, and then reaching the back while reaching over a mount of rock/coral etc =)

[GSMguy]

awesome!

This tank is going to be a winner, flow will be the biggest hurdle.

[reeftank250]

I have 2) Koralia 3 1) Koralia 2 and a Tunze 6025 + the return pump which will do 1500 gph so I hope that will be enough for now. I plan on getting 2) Ecotech MP40's

[reeftank250]

The majority of the rock will be in the center of the tank. I don't plan on putting any against the back glass.

[Jflip2002]

I think a couple MP40ws would be good, one on each pane thats against the wall (I wouldnt move that tank totally against the wall, Id leave at least 6" around for space).

[RobbyVonAwesome]

This is going to be freaking sweet. I looked into doing a shallow lagoonish tank when planning my current setup, but I don't have room for it. Keep it up, man. It looks good.

[reeftank250]

I was planning on leaving a little room around it just for the mp40. I think its recommended to have at least 3".

I have 2 coats of paint on the back to panels it still needs a few more coats. I also got the canopy hung today, but it still needs some paint and a few pieces of molding. I'll try to get some more pics up later tonight.

[mixer911]

Nice Setup! I agree with Jflip, some mp40s woul be great on there.

[widmer]

~175g

[Jflip2002]

159.58 gallons =\

3" might be the minimum, but I'd go 6" around. I made the mistake of only going about 5" from the wall with my 190g, and it was a PITA to get back there if needed. Im about 6-8" from the wall now, and its a little difficult to get back there still, but much more doable. Just think if you gotta get to any of those return hoses, powercords, etc in the back corner. Id definitely go 6".

As for those MP40ws, have one on each pane that is against the wall, probably 12" from each outer edge. with alternating currents. Then maybe have that tunze on the overflow, blowing diagonally across the tank intersecting where the MP40ws are aimed towards. Thats how Id have it set up at least...

Looks like it should be awesome, I love me some shallow tank.

[Trueno22]

Can't wait to see the pics of it all set up.

[zorden]

Good job for your wood work.. thumbs up

[reeftank250]

Glass cages has it listed as a 175 gallon, but if you do the math 48x48x16=36864 36864/231=159.5844 gallons.

The only thing on the stand that will need to be plugged in are the powerheads everything else will be in another room. Plus the bottom of my stand is completely open, so if I need to get to a plug I can go under the stand to get to it. I'm going to have as little equipment as possible in the same room as the tank.

[Jflip2002]

Alrighty, do as you will. Should be a cool tank, Im looking forward to the progress. I may copy you if this goes well, lol.

[reeftank250]

Here is the tank so far. It's not all the way full of water yet my RO unit only makes 35 gallons per day, but I's getting close. I'm still waiting on my MH bulbs to get here so I'm just using the actinics and the 6500K Compact Flourescent that you would use on a sump. The tank is still really cloudy, so I'll post more pics as it clears up after the sump is in use.


http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8254/p3270022f.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1984/p3270017r.jpg
This is the tank with just the actinics and no flash.
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/33/p3270020.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6279/p3270010.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3623/p3270012.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6316/p3270015.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4364/p3270026.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2522/p3270027.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4076/p3270028.jpg

[widmer]

It looks great, but I sure hope everything in there does OK; I'm surprised you didn't wait for a cycle after you transferred all the rocks and sand in there before loading it up with fish.

[reeftank250]

I used 120 gallons of water from the other tank they were in and the sand and rock were all in the other tank. It shouldn't have to cycle much at all if any. I haven't added anything new rock or any thing else. The only newly added thing is some fresh saltwater, so its like doing a water change.

[mcrist]

Looking great...

[Megabite]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14708382#post14708382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reeftank250
I used 120 gallons of water from the other tank they were in and the sand and rock were all in the other tank. It shouldn't have to cycle much at all if any. I haven't added anything new rock or any thing else. The only newly added thing is some fresh saltwater, so its like doing a water change.

You'll be fine. I did the same thing when I set up my GlassCages tank. Looking good. I may do the same thing with bringing the rock up to the surface for my Mangroves.

[reeftank250]

It seems to be working good for some of the smaller fish. They like to hide in the mangroves. I ordered another tank form glass cages too it's a 24x24x10 rimless I'm going to use it as a frag tank. They've been great to work with I would highly recommend them to others looking for a tank.

[Megabite]

Yup, they were very cool with me as well. Here's my GC tank.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/MegaBite65/IMG_2236.jpg

[Eel-byte]

Love the tank!

[bs21]

tank looks excellent! really like the island. can't wait to see this progress.

[reeftank250]

I've already ordered another tank form them 24x24x10 rimless to grow out frags

[FadeToGrey]

Very cool! Love how everything is coming along.