Charlies Shallow SPS Lagoon

[CharlieBB]

Hi Guys, take 2 for an all SPS System. I was finding the 2 foot cube a little much for me to handle and balance with preliminary HSC and work, so i decided to downsize and try and make the best go of having a fully functioning SPS system.

System Type: SPS, with a few Zoas.

Strike up Date: 1/08/12

System Aim: To have a nice SPS tank, and grow some corals out from Frags. Id like it to be a nice feature in my room.

Display Tank: 60cmL X 60cmW X 30cmH. Its a shallow tank, and the external weir is cut to be 25cmH so I've got about 5cm to make a little wave :devil: Its a Herbie style overflow with a separate inlet. The tank itself is 8mm Bevelled all round, and has a black acrylic background (that i will do my best not to scratch). Will be BB i think, will decide tomorrow when Im at LFS.

Display Lighting: : 6 X 24W ATI Sunpower (2 New Gen, 1 Fiji Purple, 3 Blue Special... KZ Tubes)

Stand: custom stand, wooden with white 2pac gloss painting, roughly 900mm high.

Hood: Rimless/hoodless.

Sump: 45cm cube sump, just with Skimmer, live rock and filter pads. Also running RowaPhos and RowaCarbon passively.

Skimmer: Skimz SK201

System Water: Natural salt water

Display Water circulation: 2 X Tunze 6015 (Moded to output much more flow) 1 X Vortech MP10

Return Pump:Eheim Compact 2000

Evaporation Top Up: manual

Additives:
Coral Snow
Coral Vitalizer
K Balance
B Balance
And I run Cal, Mag and Alk via a Kamoer Dosing Pump.

Stock: Transferring existing corals and adding a few steadily as I go.
Fish: 5 Small Cardinalfish (Zoseterophora, Leptacanthus... sugestions?) Or 5 Yellow Bellied Kupang Damsels just to liven the tank up and for nutrient import.
1 Times very small Yellow Tang (I know I know.)

Anyway ill put some pictures up when i get the chance soon. Big thanks to Dave @ Extreme Reef for the tank, a great guy to deal with :) And my two non biological brothers that always steer me in the right direction Ryan and Rod!
Cheers.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1427.jpg

[CharlieBB]

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1423.jpg
Not a bad view from my bed.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1415.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1421.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1420.jpg
Sorry for the quality of the photos, ill get someone with a good camera over soon.
Thanks guys

[Whisperer]

Nice tank, I like the clean look. Just make sure you have a lot of room for that birdsnest, it grows fast for me.

[sponger0]

IMO it looks too clean. Just doesnt look right.

And that rock is pretty white. Did it even cycle??

[CharlieBB]

It's a new tank, it's only just been changed over from the old tank, so the sump stayed the same, but I did use new rock. But there is over 9 KG's of seeded rock in the sump, so hopefully this new rock will kick in soon.
But thanks for your opinion mate, I'm sure it will get messy soon aha!

[sponger0]

Ok just curious....no offense intended but that rock is glowing lol

[CharlieBB]

Nah mate all good, none taken. I'm hoping it will turn nice a purple in the next few months :)

[nvdiz]

Nice look, keep an eye on the corals because your tank is really shallow and that sunpower puts out a lot of light.

[yano]

Nice, very nice!
Can you shown us the sump?

[CharlieBB]

Thanks Nvidz I can move it higher if need be :)
Yano, seriously I've taken so much inspiration from your reef (bookmarked and all) and I'm pretty happy you like my tank!!! I'll get some photos as soon as I can :) Should get some tomorrow after school, too much work for a grade 11, and not enough time to spend on my tank!

[ivanlo_0120]

nice without sand

[MBIETZ]

Love the tank and your aquascape cant wait to see it in a few months it will be awesome.

[naterealbig]

Don't let anyone tell you the tank doesn't look right :) You are off to a great start, and by the way - love the bare bottom. Update often.

And have to ask: 2pac? As in 2pac Shakur? wooden with white 2pac gloss painting

[CharlieBB]

Thanks guys! And yep, Tupac has been my stand for a while aha! It's just a gloss white paint :) Really good to hear people like the tank

[ShaunMonahan]

great looking tank!

[CharlieBB]

Thank you very much :)

[layer3switchguy]

Great tank! Can't wait to watch it mature, it's going to be a stunner for sure.

On another note, how high off the water line is your fixture?

[CharlieBB]

Thanks man!
The ATI is 30cm above the water level :) And the scape is pretty low, so I think it's reasonable :)

[patekphilippe]

Nice looking Tank,dont listen to much, every tank, system different if u think they r alive and keep the colors way to go keep up date please
Best Luck

[Arkayology]

Great looking tank! Everything looks very clean. I will be building a tank with similar dims soon.

[CharlieBB]

Thanks people!
Just added some new Frags, so hopefully over the next few weeks, I'll keep stocking up and then let the tank grow out :)

[cFloor]

Excellent start! I just set up something very similar. have fun

[CharlieBB]

Thank you :) Hopefully will get some new Frags over the next few weeks :)

[ryanrid]

Sweet Charlie catch up soon

[CharlieBB]

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1475.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1423-1.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1421-1.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1420-1.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1415-1.jpg
img]http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1475.jpg[/img]
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1436.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1437.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1452.jpg

[CharlieBB]

Some of my old photos have been deleted, not sure how to edit them out of my posts, if the mods could help that would be great :) Anyways i decided to upload them all again and add some photos of the sump and some other corals

[Arkayology]

Could you post some pics of how you plumbed your overflow and return?

[REEF SMAC]

That is definitely one clean looking tank, that is for sure.

Looks like you are off to a pretty nice start. Also looks like you've done this before.

I'll be watching to see how this one grows in. Should be pretty sweet especially with all that flow you're rockin. :)

[CharlieBB]

Thanks guys :) First real tank for me though, only 17, so still a Baby... Just added some sand, will see if I like it within a few months, I think I prefer it now, but not sure yet :)

[CharlieBB]

Updates soon to come, big changes, all I'll say for now is that CUNAreefer's tank has been some of my biggest inspiration!
Thanks for tagging along everyone, photos on Wednesday

[CharlieBB]

New Tank shot, from my bed
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1577.jpg

Top shot, looks better with pumps off!
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1599.jpg

A nice acro
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1580.jpg

Again:
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1582.jpg

Polliciopora and Acro in foreground:
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1604.jpg


As you can see the tank has undergone some changes, im very happy with the Blue Glow Frag Racks and i think they are helping me in what i want to achieve. Sorry about the terrible photos however.....
Thanks for the help guys, hope you like it, and thanks for the inspiration, especially CUNAreefer, what im aspiring to do with this tank, is fully based on yours!

[yano]

Why you out the rocks? This is your new acuascaping?
Carefull with this ciano...

[CharlieBB]

For the time being yes, however I may change down the track when the tank has grown out some nice colonies....
Yeah I've been keeping an eye on it, seems it doesn't like the flow though, thats a good thing :)

[Tank Girl]

Nice tank. Old aquascape looked better. Beautiful corals.

[CharlieBB]

Thanks for the opinion guys, as I said, this will be temporary while I can accumulate frags through trades, before replacing them into the tank with the old scape :)

[smartandfast]

Nice. That's what I'm doing with my 40 breeder. Everything is on frag rack for future big tank

[doosiec]

The original aquascape looked superb, a bit tacky with the adjustments.
Regardless, great looking tank!

[CharlieBB]

After much pressure from the family and friends that preffered the previous look of the tank, I decided to rescape what is hopefully the final time (ive definately said that before).....
Anyway, the pictures arent great, but i like the scape, especially the little overhang on the left hand side.
Here are some photos:
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1658.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1667.jpg


And some zoos and montipora
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1664.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1663.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1662.jpg

[jroovers]

Nice scape - looks better IMO.

[yano]

Very nice, and better now...beautifull frags of Montis.

[CharlieBB]

Thanks Yano! Will stock up some more soon!

[40+]

Yeh, that looks good, clean and crisp.

[Reef_Noob]

Tank looks better with the rocks :)
Happy Reefing!!

[Acronic]

muchos better :)

[tommer725]

updates?

[CharlieBB]

Will come soon, resacaprd and looking good

[CharlieBB]

So have recieved some coral and rock from a guy who works at the same shop as me (an aquarium actually) as he shut down his tank. So the tank had to have a rescape to accomidate the new additions. So here are some coral pictures, and ill take some tank shots later...
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1713.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1712.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1709.jpg

[Arkayology]

That last acro is amazing. I love the PE and growth pattern.

[CharlieBB]

Thanks dude, it's a stunner for sure, the PE is so good at night!

[CharlieBB]

Double Post

[CharlieBB]

Heres some new tank shots from tonight.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1725.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1723.jpg
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/CBrian1/DSCN1721.jpg

Hope you all enjoy

[biggles]

Love these shallow rimless tanks, looking good so far mate and will be following the grow out progression. Your bare bottom doesn't appeal though Charlie, i like my bottom to be covered......... :)

[rivvir]

Loving the branch live rock once grown out should look amazing.

[CharlieBB]

Aha I don't mind a bare bottom, much easier to clean.....
Thanks very much, I'll update soon, took some photos with new iPhone and they worked very well :)

[quantim0]

Tank looks great, keep it up.

I'm looking at the same length/width but just a little taller for my tank.

[BigAl2007]

Amazing looking tank!!

[Reef and Rock]

Potteri is awesome ...

[biggles]

How is the tank progressing Charlie, any updates on your display.

[CharlieBB]

Hi Andrew, unfortunately, as I'm in my final year of school and doing my HSC, this tank just took up too much space in my room, and in order to get a desk and be able to study properly, I had to sell the tank... But I did set up another tank, a smaller AquaMedic Blenny, I'll start a tank journal for it in the nano reef section tomorrow when I snap some photos!

[Arkayology]

Hi Andrew, unfortunately, as I'm in my final year of school and doing my HSC, this tank just took up too much space in my room, and in order to get a desk and be able to study properly, I had to sell the tank... But I did set up another tank, a smaller AquaMedic Blenny, I'll start a tank journal for it in the nano reef section tomorrow when I snap some photos!

:( Update us on the smaller tank when you can.