Hi everyone, I've just acquired a free 50G tank and stand, which of course is more than enough reason to upgrade. My current tank is only a 10G, so 50 looks huge. I would like some ideas for my aquascape. I originally planned on several fairly narrow live rock pillars supported by acrylic rods with shelf rocks extending from the pillars here and there, but the dimensions of the tank may make this difficult. Dimensions are 48" long, 12" wide and 20" deep. It's the 12" wide that makes things tricky. To make things more interesting for all of you expert aquascapers, the tank will be barebottom and viewable from three sides-- one of the short 12" ends will be against the wall. I hope to keep a mixed reef focusing on SPS along with a clam or two and a low fish load with 5x54W T5 lighting. Would two or three pillars of varying heights be a good setup?
Need aquascaping ideas
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you can make a pile of rock on one side of the tank and have swimming room on the there side or make 2 and leave the middle open
COOL!!!!!!! I've always said that if a person pulls there tank away from the wall, the will never go back again!
I've maintained a 3 side viewable tank for years and love it. You'll love yours too. I'll try to get pics of my tank up soon.
Before I upgraded I had a 30 long tank and managed to get all my equipment on one 12" side of the tank, so there was no clutter on any of the 3 viewable sides. My 65g now has a sump and I don't have that issue.
As far as aquascaping, I've found the best way to do it is to set the base rock in an "S" shape and build it up with that pattern in mind.(which insures you'll have visual interest on BOTH sides, you can almost think of it as a double "Lagoon" style, back to back and offset to the side). Use small to medium sized rock in your tank as you need to leave clearance on two sides of your tank now for your magnetic algae scraper and small and medium size rocks turn corners neater that large pieces. Of coarse piling rock against any glass would be unacceptable in this set-up and would not serve you well visiually. At no point in my tank does rock touch glass (a pet peave of mine.)
I wish more people would go the route we've chosen, as you get better circulation and more visual interest by bringing the tank away from the wall. Think about it, you will be getting 9 feet by 20 inches of viewing space from your tank. Thats more than you get from a 120gallon that is up against the wall, yet you only have to maintaince 50 gallons. You wont regret your decision.
What equipment you plan to use? Sump? Canister filter?
I'm very excited for you! Please keep me posted on this!
I've maintained a 3 side viewable tank for years and love it. You'll love yours too. I'll try to get pics of my tank up soon.
Before I upgraded I had a 30 long tank and managed to get all my equipment on one 12" side of the tank, so there was no clutter on any of the 3 viewable sides. My 65g now has a sump and I don't have that issue.
As far as aquascaping, I've found the best way to do it is to set the base rock in an "S" shape and build it up with that pattern in mind.(which insures you'll have visual interest on BOTH sides, you can almost think of it as a double "Lagoon" style, back to back and offset to the side). Use small to medium sized rock in your tank as you need to leave clearance on two sides of your tank now for your magnetic algae scraper and small and medium size rocks turn corners neater that large pieces. Of coarse piling rock against any glass would be unacceptable in this set-up and would not serve you well visiually. At no point in my tank does rock touch glass (a pet peave of mine.)
I wish more people would go the route we've chosen, as you get better circulation and more visual interest by bringing the tank away from the wall. Think about it, you will be getting 9 feet by 20 inches of viewing space from your tank. Thats more than you get from a 120gallon that is up against the wall, yet you only have to maintaince 50 gallons. You wont regret your decision.
What equipment you plan to use? Sump? Canister filter?
I'm very excited for you! Please keep me posted on this!
An S-shape is kind of what I had in mind, though probably spaced pillars rather than a continuous S. I'll order some dry rock from marcorocks.com and spend some time arranging them, 40 pounds (dry). I'll eventually add in the 15 pounds of LR from my current nano. The entire tank is tempered, so no drilling. I'm going to try to put a CPR HOB overflow on the short non-viewing end to whatever sump I can fit in the bottom of the stand, probably a 20L or 30 (only 12" of width space in the stand for a sump) with chaetomorpha. I'm estimating 600-800gph from the return pump. For the sake of easy viewing I may have to put the return line on the same end as the overflow... not ideal from a flow standpoint but fitting with the design. To overcome this I may have the return line flow out near the bottom of the tank so that it's not blowing water right back into the overflow and instead making a circular current (as well as keep detritus off the bottom of bare bottomed tank). The stand currently has a shelf in the bottom that I need to remove with a few strategically placed hammer swings. As far as the rest of the system goes, my plan is 2 Koralia 4's (1200gph each) for the majority of the flow, which means I'll have to put one on the short viewing end... a slight viewing obstruction, but it has to be done. Estimated total from the return pump and koralias would therefore be ~3200gph or ~50x the total water volume. Does anyone have experience with the Koralia 4's and how well they project across 4 feet of water? I'm undecided on the skimmer, that's a long way off (it will probably be after christmas before water's even in this tank, as I don't have a home RO/DI and carry a couple of gallons of doubly distilled water home every day from the lab). Lastly the lights will hang from the ceiling, so no canopy except for some eggcrate to contain jumpers.
Right now the task is cleaning it up (it was my little brother's freshwater tank and it's pretty dirty), making sure it's level, "modifying" the stand with a hammer and ordering some dry rock. I'll keep you posted.
Right now the task is cleaning it up (it was my little brother's freshwater tank and it's pretty dirty), making sure it's level, "modifying" the stand with a hammer and ordering some dry rock. I'll keep you posted.
The Koralias would be a poor choice, as they are better at moving a "wall" of water comparatively slowly (compared to the Tunze 6025 that moves water very quickly, and are much smaller and less intrusive in size).
You are shooting for A LOT of flow for the size of the tank, you could easily back off that plan some and still have a good habitat for SPS.
Having the return and drain on the same end isn't really an issue, the water will just move in a circular motion around the tank. By not stacking rock against the glass, you've already taken most dead spots out of the equation.
You are shooting for A LOT of flow for the size of the tank, you could easily back off that plan some and still have a good habitat for SPS.
Having the return and drain on the same end isn't really an issue, the water will just move in a circular motion around the tank. By not stacking rock against the glass, you've already taken most dead spots out of the equation.
Hm. The reason I'm aiming for such high flow is due to the bare-bottom nature of the tank, all detritus from the rocks/fish/whatever needs to be picked up and kept in suspension until it can go through the overflow and into the sump. The Tunze are pricy but I'll look into them.
This is true... I've read about BBs and the need for added flow. If its any help to you, I did a write up on how I moded my Tunze 6025 (VERY easy mod) to double its out put, I can find that thread if you'd like. You'd actually come out the same or better money wise by going with the two 6025's.
I've never done a BB myself (part of that whole rock touching glass peave I mentioned earlier), but would like to ask what sold you on the idea of doing a BB yourself.
You've got some great ideas and I really admire the effort you're putting fourth to research this. Remember as this project begins that adaptability </em>will play a role too, as you are doing something a little different than most, and what you've planned for may not happen the way you envision it, and need to adapt your plan in a different way to make it come together...... I had to do just that with lighting, plumbing and aquascaping (the list goes on actually but I'll stop there).
Good luck and I look forward to all you're willing to share about ths project.
I've never done a BB myself (part of that whole rock touching glass peave I mentioned earlier), but would like to ask what sold you on the idea of doing a BB yourself.
You've got some great ideas and I really admire the effort you're putting fourth to research this. Remember as this project begins that adaptability </em>will play a role too, as you are doing something a little different than most, and what you've planned for may not happen the way you envision it, and need to adapt your plan in a different way to make it come together...... I had to do just that with lighting, plumbing and aquascaping (the list goes on actually but I'll stop there).
Good luck and I look forward to all you're willing to share about ths project.
Sure. I would like to see the information on modding the 6025's. When I first started in the hobby I had a 10G nano with a ~2" sand bed. It was always getting dirty (cyano, diatoms, etc.) and took up a lot of space for something that wasn't really even deep enough to make a big difference. After having the tank for 8 months I moved, and as I set up the tank again I decided I liked the look of just rocks in the tank, plus it makes breaking down and moving a tank much, much easier when you don't have to worry about the sand bed... just bag the livestock, put the rocks in buckets, drain the tank and go. None of this "disturbing the sandbed" voodoo or sandstorms or having to clean out all the ****** sand to move the tank. It's still not an easy undertaking but it removes an entire level of complexity. As an added bonus you get additional water volume. Since I'm an unsettled grad student and rent my place, a degree of mobility is extremely important (therefore a 50G is the biggest tank I'll have in the foreseeable future). Right now I have rocks sitting directly on the glass, though like you I really hate rocks touching or near the vertical glass panels, they have to be at least a mag-float's distance away.
As for adaptability, the original plan was a four-sided tank, but the fact that it's undrillable and requires a HOB overflow made me compromise to a 3-sided tank.
I don't have the funds to put the entire system together right away even if I wanted to, so I have plenty of time to gradually piece it together.
As for adaptability, the original plan was a four-sided tank, but the fact that it's undrillable and requires a HOB overflow made me compromise to a 3-sided tank.
I don't have the funds to put the entire system together right away even if I wanted to, so I have plenty of time to gradually piece it together.A four-sided tank seems very modern and different. The only one I've ever seen dominated the entire room, as there was not space for anything else. A tank without furniture around it for comfortable viewing was just a waste in the one I saw.
If you could see my DSB you'd be appalled, as it's eight inches in some spots, but my tank is very stable, so I guess it serves its purpose.
I ran my 3 sided 30 gallon off a canister filter, with the heater running in-line on the out put of the canister, and the uv sterilizer in-line on the in put of the canister. I added a HOB skimmer and 1 power head in the tank and thats how my tank ran for a couple of years, so if budget is an issue, a set up like that will surfice. Hard to believe, but all my external filters and pumps fit in the 12 inches of space I had at the end side of my tank. With that simple set up, everyone who saw my tank commented on the high quailty of my water, which was actually much better than the sump system I have now.
If you could see my DSB you'd be appalled, as it's eight inches in some spots, but my tank is very stable, so I guess it serves its purpose.
I ran my 3 sided 30 gallon off a canister filter, with the heater running in-line on the out put of the canister, and the uv sterilizer in-line on the in put of the canister. I added a HOB skimmer and 1 power head in the tank and thats how my tank ran for a couple of years, so if budget is an issue, a set up like that will surfice. Hard to believe, but all my external filters and pumps fit in the 12 inches of space I had at the end side of my tank. With that simple set up, everyone who saw my tank commented on the high quailty of my water, which was actually much better than the sump system I have now.
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I like your aquascaping plan, it sounds similar to how I have my 75g set up. I like having large open areas of sand to contrast the pillars of rock and coral.
However I would rethink the bare bottom approach I know it can work but Its more natural to have a sand bed. The only two negatives with the sand are it blowing around in a high flow tank and all the microfauna consuming oxygen during power outages. The list of good things a sand bed does for your tank is much larger. For starters it helps buffer your water, many reef fish eat sand to help with digestion( My Cherub angel and bi color blenny), its a good breeding ground for worms and coepods and many other fish and coral foods. Its a great nitrate filter if you have it deep enough. One more great thing about sand beds is that they can act as a barrier to keep anemones from wandering around the tank or you can keep a GSP/zoanthid/xenia island without the fear of them taking over your tank.
I'm using two of the tunze nano streams (6025 and 6045) also my tank is open with MH pendants hanging from the ceiling. I'm using a macro algae refugium as the filter with no protein skimmer for over a year now and have had wonderful growth and color from my sps. One thing I would not recommend is the cpr overflow this thing has lost its prime three times in the last year causing my tank to over flow. Good luck with your tank post some pictures
Merlin
However I would rethink the bare bottom approach I know it can work but Its more natural to have a sand bed. The only two negatives with the sand are it blowing around in a high flow tank and all the microfauna consuming oxygen during power outages. The list of good things a sand bed does for your tank is much larger. For starters it helps buffer your water, many reef fish eat sand to help with digestion( My Cherub angel and bi color blenny), its a good breeding ground for worms and coepods and many other fish and coral foods. Its a great nitrate filter if you have it deep enough. One more great thing about sand beds is that they can act as a barrier to keep anemones from wandering around the tank or you can keep a GSP/zoanthid/xenia island without the fear of them taking over your tank.
I'm using two of the tunze nano streams (6025 and 6045) also my tank is open with MH pendants hanging from the ceiling. I'm using a macro algae refugium as the filter with no protein skimmer for over a year now and have had wonderful growth and color from my sps. One thing I would not recommend is the cpr overflow this thing has lost its prime three times in the last year causing my tank to over flow. Good luck with your tank post some pictures
Merlin
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7860&highlight=Tunze+6025+mod"><span style="color: #810081;">Tunze 6025 Mod, WOW!!!!!!!!!! - Atlanta Reef Club Forums</span></a>
Here's the link tgo the thread where I moded my Tunze 6025. If I ever mod another, I'm taking pics. It made a HUGE difference in the flow.
Here's the link tgo the thread where I moded my Tunze 6025. If I ever mod another, I'm taking pics. It made a HUGE difference in the flow.
So, I've hit the first of what I'm sure will be many snags. The stand is going to need some work. It's structurally sound and adequate in appearance but it has a few problems.
1) Maximum width tank that can fit in the bottom is 12", and that's going to be with practically no clearance. This is the biggest problem, since this is the one I can't do anything about. I have 24" of vertical space and about 39" length to work with.
2) It has a shelf in the bottom. It's only 1/4" board and can be removed, but without a saw handy it might require some violence.
3) There are vertical posts in the center on both sides, making putting in any sump tank nearly impossible without removing one, either in the front or the back. I don't think they're necessary for holding up the tank, but for safety's sake it needs to be done before the tank is filled with water.
My lack of tools (I'm sure I can borrow some) will mean the necessary modifications will take some time.
1) Maximum width tank that can fit in the bottom is 12", and that's going to be with practically no clearance. This is the biggest problem, since this is the one I can't do anything about. I have 24" of vertical space and about 39" length to work with.
2) It has a shelf in the bottom. It's only 1/4" board and can be removed, but without a saw handy it might require some violence.
3) There are vertical posts in the center on both sides, making putting in any sump tank nearly impossible without removing one, either in the front or the back. I don't think they're necessary for holding up the tank, but for safety's sake it needs to be done before the tank is filled with water.
My lack of tools (I'm sure I can borrow some) will mean the necessary modifications will take some time.
Update!
I've made the necessary stand modifications by taking off the "back" of the stand (it will be just one of the long viewing sides for me) as well as the shelf and the back mid-span post. Turns out none of them were load-bearing and were mostly held on by long wood staples. A hammer and a screwdriver used chisel-style disassembled everything pretty easily. Eventually I'll put the back panel back on (loosely).
I've acquired a 20G sump tank and a Quiet One 2200 pump for the return, I'm estimating 350-400gph after head loss, a little less than originally planned but still more than enough. (thanks kissel!)
I've ordered 25lb. of dry Fiji MarcoRocks plus 20lb. of dry shelf rock that will arrive tomorrow. I probably will end up with a few unused pieces, I'll just put them in the sump for the time being (on a shelf above the bottom to prevent trapping detritus.)
So, once the rocks arrive I will begin the real task of aquascaping. Since they're dry I can take as much time as I want and really play with different options, I'm going to borrow a drill so that I can drill holes for both the posts (plastic coathanger pieces, 5/16" and 1/2" diameters) and frag plugs.
Here's my next question, I'm not sure if anyone here as experience with this. I'm going to go with a barebottom system, which entails limiting as much as possible the areas around the bottoms of rocks that could trap detritus (good flow around the bottoms of the rocks). The three methods I've seen are 1) glue the bottom of your post(s) to a clear acrylic base about the same size as the bottom of the bottom rock which will sit directly on the glass, 2) mount the bottom rock on short (~1") lengths of PVC or 3) just put the rocks on the glass and arrange them to minimize dead spots. The bottom glass is tempered, so it should be fairly strong, but I want to avoid point stresses where lots of weight is on a few small spots. The acrylic base would probably be best for this and is where I'm leaning at the moment. Any ideas? Without seeing the rock I'm not sure which of these options I prefer. Over the weekend I'll have some time to play and I'll try to post pictures. I also need to find a perfectly level piece of floor before I put in water.
Also, due to the arrangement of the tank and stand I have one additional unusual feature to play with. If the tank is bare bottom, there is no visual obstruction between the display tank and the stand/sump. Anyone with ideas for neat visual tricks I could play with this aspect? I was thinking maybe mounting LED's underneath the bottom glass for spotlighting specific corals/ other elements. Or I could just mount a mirror for maximizing light. In either case I can actually keep the bottom panel clean of coralline with a magfloat.
I've made the necessary stand modifications by taking off the "back" of the stand (it will be just one of the long viewing sides for me) as well as the shelf and the back mid-span post. Turns out none of them were load-bearing and were mostly held on by long wood staples. A hammer and a screwdriver used chisel-style disassembled everything pretty easily. Eventually I'll put the back panel back on (loosely).
I've acquired a 20G sump tank and a Quiet One 2200 pump for the return, I'm estimating 350-400gph after head loss, a little less than originally planned but still more than enough. (thanks kissel!)
I've ordered 25lb. of dry Fiji MarcoRocks plus 20lb. of dry shelf rock that will arrive tomorrow. I probably will end up with a few unused pieces, I'll just put them in the sump for the time being (on a shelf above the bottom to prevent trapping detritus.)
So, once the rocks arrive I will begin the real task of aquascaping. Since they're dry I can take as much time as I want and really play with different options, I'm going to borrow a drill so that I can drill holes for both the posts (plastic coathanger pieces, 5/16" and 1/2" diameters) and frag plugs.
Here's my next question, I'm not sure if anyone here as experience with this. I'm going to go with a barebottom system, which entails limiting as much as possible the areas around the bottoms of rocks that could trap detritus (good flow around the bottoms of the rocks). The three methods I've seen are 1) glue the bottom of your post(s) to a clear acrylic base about the same size as the bottom of the bottom rock which will sit directly on the glass, 2) mount the bottom rock on short (~1") lengths of PVC or 3) just put the rocks on the glass and arrange them to minimize dead spots. The bottom glass is tempered, so it should be fairly strong, but I want to avoid point stresses where lots of weight is on a few small spots. The acrylic base would probably be best for this and is where I'm leaning at the moment. Any ideas? Without seeing the rock I'm not sure which of these options I prefer. Over the weekend I'll have some time to play and I'll try to post pictures. I also need to find a perfectly level piece of floor before I put in water.
Also, due to the arrangement of the tank and stand I have one additional unusual feature to play with. If the tank is bare bottom, there is no visual obstruction between the display tank and the stand/sump. Anyone with ideas for neat visual tricks I could play with this aspect? I was thinking maybe mounting LED's underneath the bottom glass for spotlighting specific corals/ other elements. Or I could just mount a mirror for maximizing light. In either case I can actually keep the bottom panel clean of coralline with a magfloat.
The rocks arrived today, and wow. They're great, but I may have a bit more than I can use. 45 pounds of dry very porous rock and fill up a remarkable amount of space, they're going to have to be creatively arranged to fit. I got 25 pounds of Fiji dry rock, so those pieces are kind of cauliflower shaped, with 20 pounds of shelf rock. One of the shelf pieces is probably too large for me to use, even on its short axis it's almost as wide as the tank and it's almost 1/3 as long as the tank. I'm aquascaping on the floor and going over them with tweezers to pull off the very dry and extremely dead nasty bits, but they're overall quite clean and only smell like the ocean. I'll post pictures in a bit.
45 pounds of dry very porous rock and fill up a remarkable amount of space, they're going to have to be creatively arranged to fit. I got 25 pounds of Fiji dry rock, so those pieces are kind of cauliflower shaped, with 20 pounds of shelf rock. One of the shelf pieces is probably too large for me to use, even on its short axis it's almost as wide as the tank and it's almost 1/3 as long as the tank. I'm aquascaping on the floor and going over them with tweezers to pull off the very dry and extremely dead nasty bits, but they're overall quite clean and only smell like the ocean. I'll post pictures in a bit.Ok, so I'm reviving this old thread, because the theoretical has been actualized! At least mostly. No H2O yet, but here's the aquascaping, tell me what you think. The tank is viewable from 3 sides, with only one short side against the wall, where I have the overflow box, return line (pointed down to avoid interfering with the overflow) and the future location of a Koralia 4. There will be another Koralia 4 on the far end of the tank, firing all the way down the tank at the overflow box. All the rocks are secured with rods (see if you can spot them!)
On with the pictures!
FTS:
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Left Front:
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Right Front:
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Left Back:
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Right Back:
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Down the tank:
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Any suggestions (yes, I've already cleaned my room)? The tank is going to stay bare bottomed with a RDSB.
On with the pictures!
FTS:
Left Front:
Right Front:
Left Back:
Right Back:
Down the tank:
Any suggestions (yes, I've already cleaned my room)? The tank is going to stay bare bottomed with a RDSB.
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