45G Shallow Reef with DSB and Display Fuge

[Lone_Reefer]

Been slowly creeping back into the hobby, this tank in comprised of my old refugium remote DSB tank from a 150G display 250G total volume reef back in the late 1990s. The display tank now will be 40" Long, 14" tall, and 22" from front to back. This tank was plumbed as a gravity feed siphon on the old system, and a standpipe overflow, and I have thoughts of someday using it that way again so I didn't want to change the plumbing much. My old DT, LeeMar 150G 5x2x2 was a great tank, however I am finding I prefer the new shallower style tanks these days, and also did not like the maintenance of a 2 foot deep tank. While scanning Craig’s List for a tank/sump/deal, I came across a very nice acrylic tank, 72" long, 20" tall, and 18" from front to back with one corner overflow. I really like the dimensions and it was in great shape. When I showed up to look at it I discovered it came with a 36" x 16" x 14" sump and a large unknown skimmer. They looked like they had good bones so I took them home. I could not set up the large tank at the moment so I figured I would use the time to test drive and tune the sump and skimmer in the smaller tank, so here goes....

[Lone_Reefer]

The stand was built according to basics, since I used to frame houses for a living this was not a big deal, here are some pictures. All holes were countersunk, pre-drilled, glued and screwed, The tank itself will sit on 3/4 inch plywood supported by 2x4 pine. The rear of the stand is sheared with 1/8 inch door skin, as I had some laying around, the sides will eventually be sheared by decorative wood of some kind, however not sure yet. Each side was also braced by 2x4 cut to a 45 deg. wedge, glued and screwed just to be safe while I decide on the finish. Two coats of primer and then the bottom was caulked to provide a reservoir to contain any leakage, and then the final two coats of acrylic latex went on..

[Lone_Reefer]

The tank itself is made out of 1/4" cell cast acrylic, and braced similar to Euro-bracing I would say. The rear and right side are solid black, as they used to sit in a corner, the 1 " return is on the far left rear panel and the drain is a 2" standpipe in the right rear 1/4 of the tank itself. I would have changed this but it fits in with my rock-scaping ideas anyway so I left it alone. On the right side of the tank I am building a display refugium, it will be 22" long, 16" tall and 6" front to back. It will be fed by a small pump within the tank and gravity drain back into the display tank. The sump had "good bones" but was lacking. I added the last baffle and glued the two old ones in place to provide support. Also patched some un-needed bulkhead holes and made a few other minor repairs.

[Lone_Reefer]

I chose the Reef Octopus VarioS-2 Controllable DC return pump, and plumbed it in to a check valve and "T'd" off the return to feed two 1/2" outlets controlled by gate valves which will probably be used by reactors in the future. With this set up I have more than enough flow, and I can regulate it two different ways. The drain falls into a 300 micron nylon mesh sock and is surrounded by old bio-balls I have had for a while. They will be submerged so just more surface area to grow bacteria. I will probably use 3/4' Loc-Line to direct the flow once the rock-scape is set up. I also installed a DJ power bar, it seem sort of redundant, since I do have a Reef Keeper Controller to set up still, but I will evaluate it for future use.

[Lone_Reefer]

Next the Skimmer. As I said before, I obtained this skimmer as a bonus on the tank purchase and did not have a clue about it. After doing some surfing it looks to be an ASM G1X. I seriously believe that ASM is paranoid about providing any information on their products, there was no label or stamp anywhere, and once I had a good idea of what it was, trying to find information on it was ridiculous! Fortunately during that process I ran into some great threads on modding the ASM skimmers and set to work. In the beginning, the first mod was the gate-valve, seemed kind of like a 'no-brainer" as I have used similar mods on other skimmers before. Next was the re-circulation mod. I purchased the Sedra 3500 for the skimmer which is the OEM pump for it, and plumbed it as the re-circulation pump using 3/4" uni-seal bulkheads, and used the OEM input to feed the skimmer with a Rio 800PT (for now). All inputs feed into the bottom of the skimmer into a 4" PVC pipe/bubble cup. This whole process is still in testing. but here are some pictures and a video.

[Lone_Reefer]

Since I can't add the video for some reason, here is the link. Looking good, I have not sealed anything here yet, so there are some leaking bubbles here and there. I used old tank water for the test, and I think I will be upgrading to a larger feed supply pump. The entire column is completely occupied by micro bubbles so I am happy with this test. Just need to do some silicon work and tweak a couple of things

https://youtu.be/FYnXo8xquwU

[Lone_Reefer]

I have completed leak tests on the main DT and sump, and will be moving it into its new home soon. I will be using an older MP-10 for water movement, and the lighting will be an AI Nano and an AI 26 for the DT, with a Current 18" for the refugium. The tank will house mostly soft corals with some LPS, and I will be re-homing my mated pair of ocellaris clownfish there with their Green BTA. After that I hope to populate the rest of the tank lightly with some firefish, and some other small blennies and gobies and a Blue Spot Jawfish. More to come..

[Lone_Reefer]

Did some mock ups for the rock, settled on a pretty open scape, utilizing large pieces for the most part. Since the inspiration for this tank is a shallow mangrove lagoon setting, the presence of large rocks is kind of strange anyway, so I wanted to keep is as clutter free as possible.

[Lone_Reefer]

Added 90 lbs. CaribSea Aragamax Sugar-Sized Sand and topped that with 30 lbs. CaribSea Aragamax Oolitic Select Sand. Changed the rock scape a little bit once I saw it in the tank. I was hoping to get the tank wet before tomorrow, but that didn't work out. Please excuse the poor picture quality, I was running on empty, don't think I will be able to proceed until the weekend now.

[Lone_Reefer]

Surgery went ok, after a month or so I was able to get the tank wet and cycled..I was also able to get a good start to my DIY display fuge.

[Lone_Reefer]

DIY ATO reservoir and JBJ ATO system installed, DIY Fuge installed and stocked with Gulf Coast Eco Systems sampler packs of red and green macro. Netting covers made and installed and temporary light system installed.

[Lone_Reefer]

Tank stock is pretty restricted right now as I have too many large fish that do not belong in this tank. Master bedroom will be remodeled soon and new 150 gallon tank will go in there, currently sitting in my garage.

As of now there is:

1 - Blue Tang (yes I know)
1 - pair of Ocellaris clownfish
1 - single tank raised Ocellaris
1 - Lubbucks Fairy Wrasse
1 - Royal Gramma
1 - Pistol Shrimp
2 - Peppermint Shrimp
1 - Green BTA
1 - Cuke
1 - Sand Sifting Starfish
2 - Conchs

and various snails and hermits, along with a few Leather Corals, LPS and Zoas.