Elfer1
New Member
I’ve been out of the reefing hobby for the last eight years or so and decided it was finally time to start up another tank last Spring. My hope was to get my two kids interested and have something that we could do together. I’ve had a few different tanks since 2009 - my first being a 30 Gal AIO reef, followed by a 180. The 180 was supposed to be my dream tank, but it was more work than I anticipated and we ended up moving about a year after I set it up. So that tank was taken down at that time and I sold everything. That was back in 2015.
Last Spring I decided I wanted to start up something small for my kids to enjoy, so I found a used 30 Gal shallow cube setup and finally got that going over the summer. It ran bare with just a few blue leg hermits and a couple snails for about four months until I finally decided to start stocking it this October. Once I started stocking this one, I started to get the itch to upgrade to something a little larger and nicer… so here I am.
Here’s the current 30 Gal:
I love the look of a shallow reef, so I decided to go with a custom tank from Miracles Aquariums since I couldn’t find anything that was ready to go that fit my desired dimensions. It’s 48 x 20 x 14 with an internal overflow. Starphire glass on the front and sides, armored seams and completely rimless. It was ordered in October with a lead time of 8-10 weeks.
Since ordering the tank, I accumulated all of the other equipment I would need - waiting until Black Friday deals to save a little cash.
Lighting:
-2x Ecotech Radion XR-15 PRO Gen6 w/RMS mounts
Flow:
-1x MP40mQD
-1x MP10 QD
-Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 for return
Filtration/Sump:
-20 Gal long DIY sump
-AquaMaxx ConeS CO-1 skimmer
-Aquahub DIY ATO
-BashSea 10 Gal ATO reservoir
Control:
-Neptune A3 Apex
Feeding:
-Avast Marine Plank Autofeeder
I built the stand out of extruded aluminum and plan to make wood panels (or have them made, haven’t decided yet) to skin the stand.
And here’s the sump:
I’ll run filter fleece in the first (drain) chamber, a fuge in the third chamber with sand, LR and some chaeto (Canagrow light from Amazon for lighting). Media bags or some other type of biofilter media in the narrow chamber between the third and fourth chambers.
Not really sure about livestock yet, but I’ll most likely get some LR from KP Aquatics and transfer everything from the current setup once up and running.
Current livestock:
1 Flurry Snowflake Clown
1 Black Ice Clown
1 Tailspot Blenny
2 Purple Firefish
2 Firefish
2 Bluestripe Neon Goby
1 Cherub Angel
1 Extra Large RBTA
Last Spring I decided I wanted to start up something small for my kids to enjoy, so I found a used 30 Gal shallow cube setup and finally got that going over the summer. It ran bare with just a few blue leg hermits and a couple snails for about four months until I finally decided to start stocking it this October. Once I started stocking this one, I started to get the itch to upgrade to something a little larger and nicer… so here I am.
Here’s the current 30 Gal:
I love the look of a shallow reef, so I decided to go with a custom tank from Miracles Aquariums since I couldn’t find anything that was ready to go that fit my desired dimensions. It’s 48 x 20 x 14 with an internal overflow. Starphire glass on the front and sides, armored seams and completely rimless. It was ordered in October with a lead time of 8-10 weeks.
Since ordering the tank, I accumulated all of the other equipment I would need - waiting until Black Friday deals to save a little cash.
Lighting:
-2x Ecotech Radion XR-15 PRO Gen6 w/RMS mounts
Flow:
-1x MP40mQD
-1x MP10 QD
-Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 for return
Filtration/Sump:
-20 Gal long DIY sump
-AquaMaxx ConeS CO-1 skimmer
-Aquahub DIY ATO
-BashSea 10 Gal ATO reservoir
Control:
-Neptune A3 Apex
Feeding:
-Avast Marine Plank Autofeeder
I built the stand out of extruded aluminum and plan to make wood panels (or have them made, haven’t decided yet) to skin the stand.
And here’s the sump:
I’ll run filter fleece in the first (drain) chamber, a fuge in the third chamber with sand, LR and some chaeto (Canagrow light from Amazon for lighting). Media bags or some other type of biofilter media in the narrow chamber between the third and fourth chambers.
Not really sure about livestock yet, but I’ll most likely get some LR from KP Aquatics and transfer everything from the current setup once up and running.
Current livestock:
1 Flurry Snowflake Clown
1 Black Ice Clown
1 Tailspot Blenny
2 Purple Firefish
2 Firefish
2 Bluestripe Neon Goby
1 Cherub Angel
1 Extra Large RBTA
thanks for bringing us along on this build, it's gonna look great! Best of luck 
