Ed Reef’s Shallow Crest Inspired ART
 

Introduction and Background:

Hi guys…. I’m BACK sooner rather than later as some issues started to sort themselves out sooner than I expected and most importantly I’m INSPIRED. (Plus the fact I’m driving my wife and son nuts with all those free time I have now that I’m reefless) :lol:


Anyway, just to get this thread started, for those who are not familiar with me, I used to have another build thread called “Ed Reef's '295-gallon Peninsular ZEOVit SPS tank”

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1348455

which I have since sold it off as a whole, before it could even mature.


I do miss having a reef at home, especially my 3-side view Peninsular but a 295g tank is very time consuming and not to mention the sweet offer I had to sell the tank as a whole and I get to keep ALL of my equipments too :p The only catch is I need to reset it up for him….


However, my prayers seem to be answer as priorities quickly sorted themselves out and now this have given me another chance to create a new type of tank concept that’s been playing at the back of my mind for a long time now and will be quite different from the normal shallow tank builds you see around…


And YES, I downgrade from a 295g to a 169g reef….. :rolleye1:



“What don’t kill you, will only make you stronger”

The Theme??
 

The Theme:

Being reefless these two months have given me some time to evaluate things over and one of the things that’s been constantly coming back to my mind over and over again is why can’t we turn this hobby of ours into a ‘Work Of ART’, like what ‘Takashi Amano’ done for FW hobbyist?

As in all ART form, we need to have a theme, so with that, I would like to present to you my theme for this tank will be called “Lost Horizon” - taken from the novel written by James Hilton


The Dream:

Dream vision is to create a 5-view mystical Island in the middle of the ocean with a under-water ‘Paradise’, combining of mountains, trees, fishes, clams and corals – all in one.


The Objective:

Objective is to focus on simplicity and modern looking shallow natural reef crest, and at the same time turn the whole set-up into an ART display, and not just focusing on the LS.


But aaahh…. we all know sometimes ‘Dream’s and ‘Reality’ don’t met eye-to-eye :eek1:

I will also make the tank easy maintenance and automate it as much as I can due to my busy work and travel schedules increase this year as I gotten on additional responsibilities.

My last tank was a 3-side viewable Peninsular and for this new tank, it’s to design a tank with a 5-side viewable area with a ‘Takashi Amano’ style aquascape as it’s main focus with a mix of LPS, some wide branching and table acros. Ooooh and plenty of clams…. :D

Hopefully once completed, this tank will not be the ‘normal’ shallow reef you see around and will take this hobby to a whole new level of ART form in display for a reef tank and not just focusing on the inhabitants, but the overall set-up to match the theme.

Will used the same philosophy I used to train my staffs when planning for any new project and YES, it spells out my name :p


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...Reef/EDDIE.png


Each stage is of equal important IMO to ensure a successful set-up of any project.

That’s all for now so stay tune in as I chronicle the development of my new shallow reef inspired 5-side view over the coming months.


Hopefully this will be as entertaining (if not more entertaining) as my previous build thread.



:rollface:

Welcome back Ed ... Sound like you are going to have another exciting build thread

Thanks Steve..... should be fun, I hope

The Display Tank and Canopy


OK, over the next two days, we will start with the boring but important stuff….

This tank will be a rimless shallow reef tank measures 160cm long, 100cm wide and 40cm high, making it hold approximately 169 gallons. It is viewable from all sides (including top), with a center overflow hidden by aquascape.

All 4 viewable sides will be using 15mm Low iron glass with the same thickness regular glass on the based.

I know most people with this similar dimension tank uses 12mm glass thickness but I sleep better at night with a thicker glass……hey, that’s just me!!

YES, I’m joining in the ranks of ‘Rimless and Shallow’ reef club] :rollface:


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...TankDetail.png


NOTE: Ignore the plumbing diagram, as this was sketch up in a rush just to get the build thread started…

System Profile:

Tank Size: L: 160cm x W: 100cm x H 40cm (4-side view Low Iron Glass)

Sump Size: L: 90cm x W: 40cm x H 50cm – main sump

Type of Reef: Simple LPS/SPS dominated tank with some fishes

System: Center Overflow with 100 pounds of LR and base rocks. Part of the rocks will be in the sump, as I want the display to be as clean as possible for an unobstructed top view

Cabinet:Iron Metal or wooden Stand with custom made 4-side wooden Panel
(not sure yet at this point in time)


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...nkTop-view.png

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...Front-view.png


The tank overflow is located on the off left topside of the tank, which will be hidden in the aquascape with a mixture of LR, Tonga branches and an island landscape above.

As it’s a 5-side view, it’s important that scape is the main highlight of the tank as the main view will be the top view.

The Stand

I will designed the stand for a clean simple modern look and will get a local contractor to construct.


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...-viewwStan.png

At this moment I’m not sure if I will use wood or iron rods welded together to build the stand frame, as I will firstly need to find a contractor and discussed this with him.

But whatever, it is, I will used a layer of 3mm thick high-density rubber matting (same material used for mouse pads) as the based for the tank.

I’m looking at the height of the stand to be close to 1m and the cabinet must be part of the showpiece to match the overall artistic shallow reef tank concept.



Sump and Refugium

Here I want to keep my sump as simple as possible for easy maintenance. What I realized is that my old sump is too complicated and makes cleaning the inside of the sump a real hassle.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...kOver-view.png
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...Front-view.png

Hmmmm somehow not too convince on the design at this moment so I’m sure this will change….my brain just seem a little rusty at this moment…any help out there??

The sump have to incorporate my Zeovit reactor and Skimmer and at the same time I want an area in the sump where it can acted as a cryptic refugium for pods and sponge to grow in plentiful and also to hold LR as I planned to used less LR in the main display…

Of course a reservoir tank for ATO is a must

:D

Water Quality and Filtration

I will be reusing my current 5-stage RO + 1-stage DI water filter as filtered water. (no, I didn’t sell this off…..out of sight, out of mind, they say) :p

Biological filtration will be provided by approximately 60lbs. of based rocks, which I plan to seed using some live rocks and ZEObak. I also plan to add in approximately 2-3cm of aragonite in the display – just enough to facilitate aquascaping rather than provide any significant biological filtration.

Actually my preference will be to use a mix of larger size grain for certain part of the tank and sugar fine grain for some parts but we will see how that goes once the actual set-up is in place.


Water Parameters

I will continue to run a ULNS using the ZEOvit method to maintain my water parameter in this new tank.

All of the equipments from my old tank will be reused, as the person who bought my tank prefers to use brand new equipments.

So for Calcium, I will reused my trusty Deltec PF 601S Series Fluidised Calcium Reactor powered by Aquabee pump.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii30/EdReef/CR01.jpg


To avoid a CO2 disaster, the Ca Rx will be connect to a D-D Solenoid Valve and D-D CO2 Pin Wheel Regulator and a Tunze Universal pump Mini (5024.04) is used to feed water to the reactor.

The output of my Ca Rx will flow into my simply DYI Ca Rx PO4 reactor (which is actually a 100ml syringe) before going into the sump as I learn from my past experience the PO4 output from em Ca Rx can cause some PO4 problems!


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...4Reactor03.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...4Reactor01.jpg

The above is an old picture but this time I actually make a place in the sump to hold this :lol:


Similarly to my old system, no UV will be use, apart from the used of ZEOCarbon, which will be exchanged out monthly, as it’s recommended for the ZEOvit system.

For mechanical filtration I will utilize 100-micron nylon filter bag on the drainpipe and skimmer output and will exchange the 100-micron filter bag daily. The bag will be hand-washed/rinsed in warm water; no detergent or bleach will be used during washing.

For skimmer, I will reuse my workhorse Deltec – AP 702 skimmer. This is powered by 2 x Eheim 1260 series pumps and is rated for 1500L to 2000L system, so hopefully it’s not too large for my new system. (someone says there is no such thing as over skimming a reef tank – I hope that’s true)


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i.../Skimmer02.jpg

For my ZEOvit reactor, I will reuse my jam-free I~Aquatic’s ZEOvit Reactor: IZ-818 (Up To 4L of ZEOVit).

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...I-Zeo01JPG.jpg


This reactor will be feed via a tune-down Eheim 1250 series pump rated at 1200l/h, which will be tone down to match the recommended flow rated.

There is also a section in my sump to place my ZEOCarbon and this should help keep water parameter in line.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...OCarbonJPG.jpg

That's all the updates for today....going to get my beauty sleep now...


:sleep: :sleep: :sleep:

Looks like you are off to a good start, Ed!

I really like the current trend of shallow aquariums with less rock. I think it does take advantage of the aquarium's "natural" footprint, and will really help highlight the inhabitants, rather than detract from them.

Are you going to stock the tank with lots of differnt corals, or are you limiting the species? Curious what your approach is on this.

Your philosophy is excellent, and I'm looking forward to seeing your concept evolve! Best of luck!

Scott

Happy to see you back, shallow reefs for the win! Looks like a great tank.

Welcome back Ed, I am glad that you are back :)

Welcome back Ed, I am also glad you are back.

Nice to see you comming back so quick and so excited about your new project.

Sounds like it'll be fun to do and great to look at when it's finished! The shallow reef set ups are beautiful. Are you thinking of using any of those Japanese style MH spots for lighting?

:sad1: Hope you don't mean my shallow....




j/k I admire the Amano tank as muck as you do! My FF was also inspired on the freshwater tanks of T. Amano.... It is a lot harder to aquascape with coral, especially in a shallow, wide and deep tank. I experience this right now.

We almost have the same setup now so I'm trilled what you will do with it. (and it pushes me a bit harder to make it as beautiful as yours :))

Good luck Ed, and more important, have fun!

Leonardo

Ow, and I would suggest to make the stand 110 cm high. I think it is the perfect hight when you sit down on a chair :)

What are your lighting plans... I see T5 and MH+Lumenarcs? ;)

Leonardo

haha a whole 2 months. Nice to see a true addict!

Your last thread was entertaining and I can see this will be the same, looking forwards to it.

Looking forward to the top down view..Welcome back Ed.

Thanks Scott - the plan is to have mostly tabling acros but with a section near the overflow to have some branching acros to give it some character :D

Collecting tables will be an issue for me so I guess will be a slow process but I don't mind!!

Thanks Nick - I think in terms of maintainability, a shallow tank will suit my needs more.

Hopefully everything will turn out as planned thou' :rolleye1:

Thanks Mark..... good to have you on board my thread :rollface:

Thanks elijaher

Thanks Bax - was originally thinking of getting those cool spots but a couple of concerns:

1. They only comes in 150w MH, which might not give me enough lights for tabling acros
2. Colors are quite limited to 20k and 14k
3. I have all those brand new LB reflectors and Radium, which I don't want to put to waste....
4. I need to hang the lights higher to give me that unobstructed 5th view (over the top) and also to accommodate the island I planned over the center overflow

Hey Leo, your tank dimension was a clear inspiration for this tank. Originally I was a little concern on the shallowness of the tank but after seeing how well it works for you, that concern is no longer in my head!!

I started this hobby in fw as well so YES, Amano tank was a dream for us.

Agree on the aquascaping, but I got something work out in my head, which hopefully will turn out nice (getting the right LR to make this work is important)

I was thinking of the cabinet height as well and was going forwards and back with this one. One problem is if the stand is any higher, I will need a stool to stand up to get my 5th view over the top!!

Also I will be having an island build-up over my overflow, so that does give add height to the whole visual of the tank.