mlivvy
Well-Known Member
Long time lurker. Decided to post my build @R2R this time around. I've been in the hobby 15+ years and this will be my 6th build.
I purchased a custom 68g 40 x 22 x 18, front starphire glass, rimless tank about 2 years ago. We were in the middle of a long transition from miami to orlando so I put the build on hold and stored the tank. I finally moved to orlando a few months ago and I began the build.
Here's the tank when I first picked it up over 2 years ago..
My first month in orlando I went to atleast a dozen custom cabinetry shops to contract a stand since I didn't have a garage or tools to build my own. None of them called me back.
I went to a few local fish stores and most said "no" and or quoted me an outrageous price. I ended up finding a used tv console that came out of a hotel. It very heavy and made of all sorts of woods but I reinforced it anyway.
reinforced the interior with 2x4's and 3/4" plywood along the bottom of the top.
I decided to use all dry rock and sand to help prevent a pest infestation. I glued the rock together using waterweld and formed an island.
aquascaping.. The tonga branch is 1 piece and I glued a shelf to the overflow to give it a "floating" look.
I've always been a fan of tropic eden reeflakes so I went with that. Absolutely love this sand.
Next came what to do with lighting. I've been building my own lights for years but this time I thought about going with radions. After shopping around I still feel that I could get what I want by going with a custom setup. The first plan was a t5/led hybrid or modifying an ATI fixture with led's like this. I decided to keep it simple so this was the plan..
I went with a 6x20" premium heat sink/enclosure from rapidled. Rapidled has great customer service and they answered all my questions (and requests) via the chat option on the site. Since the enclosure is only 20" long and the tank is 40" I went with 2 clusters on opposite ends. Theirs a total of 4 channels.
Channel 1- Has (2) Bridgelux BXRC white led's
Channel 2- (12) Royal Blue CREE XP-E2
Channel 3- (12) Hyper and True Violet CREE Leds
Channel 4- (4) OCW Led's. (blue, red, green)
It's all powered by LDD's on a Coralux 4up board and a 180w 48v 3.75A DC Power Supply. For a controller I went with the bluefish mini.
I mounted the light to a Swivel TV mount to the wall and reinforced that mount with a shelf mount. The light weighs around 10lbs and the tv mount is rated to 70lbs but I decided to reinforce it anyway. The light came out great and honestly the few who have seen it in person think i'm running dual HQI bulbs and I only had it at 40-50%. Intensity doesn't really mean anything until I get par readings. Either way I am planning on upping the LED count and/or supplementing with T5's. Time will tell.
I really like the color and the control capabilities of the bluefish all done on my cell phone. I decided to remove the rock to the left to give a minimalist look. I also modified the island to the right to blend more into the tonga. The tonga looks more like it's floating now.
After..
Purchased a Red/Blue Multichip led on ebay for my fuge light. I was thinking about going with biopellets but I then decided to keep it old school and run a refugium for nutrient export.
I picked up a used pure water club RODI for 30 bucks on craigslist and to my surprise after a flush it was still putting out 0 tds.
Did my laundry with the waste water.
Filling up! Moving here from miami i've used NSW for the past 10 years. I couldn't really decide on new salt so I went with IO but i'll most likely stick to RO or use the Coral Pro salt.
Almost forgot to put something between the tank and the top of the stand. I found some panels @ Home Depot in the plywood section. Worked out great.
Done!
For flow i'll be purchasing a single Mp40 in the coming week. I'd like to keep it wire-free.
The sump is still work in progress. I'm still building the ATO, piecing together a ReefKeeper, and I need a better mount for the led on the fuge. I'm using a Jebao DC9000 return pump which is excellent (contrary to popular belief). Again it's still under construction.
I purchased a used ReefOctopus xp1000 but the pump was rusted out so I decided to just purchase new skimmer.
I thought I got lucky on Ebay.
Right now i'm in my third week of cycling and just about done. I'm going thru the diatom bloom stage.
More to come so stay tuned!
I purchased a custom 68g 40 x 22 x 18, front starphire glass, rimless tank about 2 years ago. We were in the middle of a long transition from miami to orlando so I put the build on hold and stored the tank. I finally moved to orlando a few months ago and I began the build.
Here's the tank when I first picked it up over 2 years ago..
My first month in orlando I went to atleast a dozen custom cabinetry shops to contract a stand since I didn't have a garage or tools to build my own. None of them called me back.
I went to a few local fish stores and most said "no" and or quoted me an outrageous price. I ended up finding a used tv console that came out of a hotel. It very heavy and made of all sorts of woods but I reinforced it anyway.
reinforced the interior with 2x4's and 3/4" plywood along the bottom of the top.
I decided to use all dry rock and sand to help prevent a pest infestation. I glued the rock together using waterweld and formed an island.
aquascaping.. The tonga branch is 1 piece and I glued a shelf to the overflow to give it a "floating" look.
I've always been a fan of tropic eden reeflakes so I went with that. Absolutely love this sand.
Next came what to do with lighting. I've been building my own lights for years but this time I thought about going with radions. After shopping around I still feel that I could get what I want by going with a custom setup. The first plan was a t5/led hybrid or modifying an ATI fixture with led's like this. I decided to keep it simple so this was the plan..
I went with a 6x20" premium heat sink/enclosure from rapidled. Rapidled has great customer service and they answered all my questions (and requests) via the chat option on the site. Since the enclosure is only 20" long and the tank is 40" I went with 2 clusters on opposite ends. Theirs a total of 4 channels.
Channel 1- Has (2) Bridgelux BXRC white led's
Channel 2- (12) Royal Blue CREE XP-E2
Channel 3- (12) Hyper and True Violet CREE Leds
Channel 4- (4) OCW Led's. (blue, red, green)
It's all powered by LDD's on a Coralux 4up board and a 180w 48v 3.75A DC Power Supply. For a controller I went with the bluefish mini.
I mounted the light to a Swivel TV mount to the wall and reinforced that mount with a shelf mount. The light weighs around 10lbs and the tv mount is rated to 70lbs but I decided to reinforce it anyway. The light came out great and honestly the few who have seen it in person think i'm running dual HQI bulbs and I only had it at 40-50%. Intensity doesn't really mean anything until I get par readings. Either way I am planning on upping the LED count and/or supplementing with T5's. Time will tell.
I really like the color and the control capabilities of the bluefish all done on my cell phone. I decided to remove the rock to the left to give a minimalist look. I also modified the island to the right to blend more into the tonga. The tonga looks more like it's floating now.
After..
Purchased a Red/Blue Multichip led on ebay for my fuge light. I was thinking about going with biopellets but I then decided to keep it old school and run a refugium for nutrient export.
Time to fill her up!!
I picked up a used pure water club RODI for 30 bucks on craigslist and to my surprise after a flush it was still putting out 0 tds.
Did my laundry with the waste water.
Filling up! Moving here from miami i've used NSW for the past 10 years. I couldn't really decide on new salt so I went with IO but i'll most likely stick to RO or use the Coral Pro salt.
Almost forgot to put something between the tank and the top of the stand. I found some panels @ Home Depot in the plywood section. Worked out great.
Done!
For flow i'll be purchasing a single Mp40 in the coming week. I'd like to keep it wire-free.
The sump is still work in progress. I'm still building the ATO, piecing together a ReefKeeper, and I need a better mount for the led on the fuge. I'm using a Jebao DC9000 return pump which is excellent (contrary to popular belief). Again it's still under construction.
I purchased a used ReefOctopus xp1000 but the pump was rusted out so I decided to just purchase new skimmer.
I thought I got lucky on Ebay.
Right now i'm in my third week of cycling and just about done. I'm going thru the diatom bloom stage.
More to come so stay tuned!
