New Lagoon Set up...

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Time to set up the new tank. I was planning on having a new custom tank made (and still may at some point) but having a mortgage for the first time and owning a place has been WAY more expensive than I thought! I think living directly across the street from a new home depot is not helping either :) For anyone who knows Vancouver, its the new Home Depot on 8th and Cambie.

Anyways, the move was a disaster! It was probably the worst day I have ever had in my time keeping fish. I had moved so many times with tanks and never lost anything. This time I lost 3 fish, my huge leather coral and my display tank. It really could not have been worse. And I only moved 5 minutes from my old place...

I know people will ask, so...my hawkfish and blue damsel died in the truck on the way to the new place and I have no idea how. Everything seemed fine. My beautiful big sleeper goby jumped from his QT tank an hour after we moved in and I did not find him in time. My leather just never opened up after the move and basically melted a day later. And during the move, the bottom of my display cracked. Needless to say, it was a terrible experience.

My puffer both made it and although they hate the rubbermaid they are living in, are doing fine.

So I needed a new display tank and luckily a friend of mine had one that he sold to me for cheap. The crazy thing is that it is almost the exact same as the tank I had. Custom made by Sea Star in Victoria, 72"long,19"wide and 18" tall...so just 1"narrower and 2"shorter. Thinner glass though than my old tank which was 1/2". This one is 3/8".

There is one catch though...it originally was eurobraced but he removed the bracing about a month ago with the intention of using the tank for turtles with a small amount of water in it (no need for the bracing in that case). So the tank is rimless, which I LOVE but the glass really is too thin for no bracing. I spoke to a few builders and they thought it was close but wouldn't risk it. Except one guy who seemed to think it was more than enough but I disagree with him.

Originally the plan was to reattach the eurobrace and use the tank normally but I will not have a canopy and hate how the bracing looks, so I am trying to come up with another way of doing this. Since it will be a shallow water lagoon like the last tank I had, I am considering making the overflow shorter than it is now so that the water level in the tank is only 14". The hope here is that I can get away without bracing if the tanks water level is that low. The other reason I want to do this is so that I can have rock pillars breaking the surface of the water and maybe even the top of the tank, creating a unique look. Im still trying to figure out if this idea will allow me to use no bracing though, so if you have an opinion, please let me know!

The place we bought is a very industrial style loft with all exposed concrete floors, walls, exposed gas pipes, ect. and we have bought a lot of new mid century modern furniture, so the stand needed to match. Its basically 2 rectangular boxes, one that supports 2/3 of the tank and the other just the other end of the tank, leaving a gap between them. The tank is one a 1/2" sheet of plywood to bridge the gap. So a modular looking stand, only 20" tall, to keep a nice low profile because the tank is not against a wall but instead a very low divider between the kitchen and living space. Its primed now and will be painted a very high gloss black and white (think car paint). I will take pics soon.

If anyone has an idea of whether my lower water level and no bracing idea would work, please let me know. If 14" is still too high, please let me know what you think would be a better height. I can't go too much lower but there will not be many fish in the tank and nothing like tangs that need more water volume. We are thinking it will simply be the 2 puffers and a bunch of blue chromis to give it a bit more life. Maaaaybe another goby...but no more than that.

Thanks!

[Zoaelite]

I think it would look amazing if you could have a little extra room on the top, too many tanks nowadays are build with an open top look. If you put it at 14 inches of water (which should be fine without the Eurobracing) and build the rock work "out" of the water you also have the amazing opportunity to create a "coast line" for your "shallow water laggoon" (Please note I like "finger quoteing"). If you do some research and find some plants that can tolerate high salinity (Mangroves and certain bamboo's) your going to create something that I personally have never seen. Perhaps a little research is in use as you could also have some tidal zone creatures that live half and half?
Just my 2 cents.
Levi

OOOO EDIT~!- What if you incorperated not only a few powerheads under the water but a few powerheads that direct water right onto the rockwork? Perhaps a waterfall or two. Not only would you keep the above water rock wet but you could also use that to grow your mangroves?
Levi

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I think it would look amazing if you could have a little extra room on the top, too many tanks nowadays are build with an open top look. If you put it at 14 inches of water (which should be fine without the Eurobracing) and build the rock work "out" of the water you also have the amazing opportunity to create a "coast line" for your "shallow water laggoon" (Please note I like "finger quoteing"). If you do some research and find some plants that can tolerate high salinity (Mangroves and certain bamboo's) your going to create something that I personally have never seen. Perhaps a little research is in use as you could also have some tidal zone creatures that live half and half?
Just my 2 cents.
Levi

OOOO EDIT~!- What if you incorperated not only a few powerheads under the water but a few powerheads that direct water right onto the rockwork? Perhaps a waterfall or two. Not only would you keep the above water rock wet but you could also use that to grow your mangroves?
Levi

Great ideas! Along the same lines as what I have been thinking. I am considering mangroves. I have come up with an idea where I would create a island in the middle of the tank that comes right out of the water and can hold some mud for the roots to grow. I actually already built that island out of LR and an epoxy :) Just not sure yet if I want to keep mangroves again because of the intense light they need.

I think for lighting, I will use a single 250watt MH like I did before that is used like a spotlight angled across the length of the tank. I just have to find a way to house the huge MH socket and bulb. I wanted to use a regular lamp or desk lamp but I can't find one big enough that still looks real nice and can fit a MH socket. Any ideas here would be great too.

I love your water fall type idea. As long as it doesn't splash everywhere :surprise:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Actually to be completely honest, my brother came up with a lot of these ideas when we were talking about it last. He also had the names of certain types of crabs that would most likely climb out of the water from time to time to look for food. I forget the names though and finding them would be very hard I think. Plus my puffers would probably eat them.

The puffers limit a lot of things I would love to keep in this tank.

[Zoaelite]

If you covered the opening of your tube from the powerhead with liverock instead of pouring out you could have a "Trickle Effect" down the rocks. If the tank is that large I would go with atleast 2 250W but I would suspend them from the roof so that you have added splash onto your live plants. As far as rock out of the water goes I would use somthing like a cheap travertine or dry argonite. No use wasteing cash on $7.00 a pound live rock if its going to be out of the water.

[Zoaelite]

Also, just a tip if you have the chance for some added room behind and at the sides of the tanks find some cheep tropical creepers/ ferns (Fresh water plants) that have a similar leaf build to your macro/ mangroves and it will make the tank seem MUCH larger than it actually is. Another added benifit of this is those gross black cords coming off everything including your lights can be covered by natural more asteticly looking plants.
Levi

[ElGuappo]

i jusgt got a 120 gph pond pump for my newt tank yesterday. it cost 20 at summyside. i am planning on using this for a waterfall so i can get rid of the HOB filter as it creates to much current as the water level is 50%. there is nothing to it at all. the pump is submersable and the hose runs directly of that with the intakes in the bottom of the pump. the pump is about 1.5 in sq. ive seen water falls in ponds lots and always wondered if it was posible in a tank and i saw it in a pet shop yesterday and was instantly sold.

[Brighteyes_13]

all the ideas talked about on this thread have my head spinning creativity! sounds like it could be a fantastic setup.

i would see the only disadvantage of having a waterfall would be salt left from evaporation. if the water is trickling over the rockwork (especially under intense lighting) you will probably get quite a bit of evaporation from the hot rock. but if you could keep the rock cool enough, that would look incredibly awesome.

im sure you'd have many people envying your setup.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Yeah Im not so sure I will end up with any waterfalls. The idea is pretty cool but I want to try to create a really natural lagoon/shoreline type tank. In my old tank, a few of the rocks poked up out of the water a little bit and a powerhead was pointed right at them creating a cool kind of wave that would go up and over the rocks...I will probably do something like this again.

Im really still trying to figure out if the tank will be fine with no bracing with a water level of 14"...Anyone? If you did not read above, the tank is 72"x19"x18" tall with 3/8" glass but the water level would only be at 14"...

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Ok so this build is going way slower than I wanted and I still have no pictures :(

Its been very hard to make this tank work because its all about aesthetics and keeping things as simple and clean as possible. Unfortunately I have had to put a center brace across the top of the tank which for me really takes away from the overall look of the set up but oh well. Once the clamps come off in a day, I will take some pictures.

The other thing thats taking a long time to figure out is how to keep this thing low wattage. I am always pushing the "Go Green" thing on my family and friends yet I had an aquarium that just sucked up a ridiculous and wasteful amount of energy, so this time I am doing my best to make this a very low wattage set up.

So far Im at about 264 watts for everything including lighting (2x23 watt CF bulbs), Skimmer (40 watt Bubblemaster pump), Return pump (140 Watts), Powerheads (Koralia 20 watts), and my ozone is around 18 watts apparently. Im sure there will be a little more but I want to stay below 300. It will be nice to save the money too :) I guess I may have to go back to a single MH if my colt corals don't like the CF but I had a colt coral in my old fuge under only a 23 watt CF for about 6 months and the thing grew like a weed. Same with some mushrooms that somehow got into my fuge.

Pics soon!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Finally...some pics!

Just a few of the empty tank and how it was designed to work with the condo and furniture. As I said before, it was important for the tank to look right and we even sacrificed a bit of function for that. So the loft is has a very industrial, modern feel to it and we went for the same in the tank...

What you see from the front hall:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft013.jpg

From Kitchen:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft024.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft021.jpg


End:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft033.jpg


From Living Room:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft025.jpg



The big white unit that looks like huge cupboards is our king size murphy bed, so when its down, the tank is beside our bed and at the exact height of the bed. Should be really cool...I have always wanted a tank at bed height!

[Mattgesy]

that's awsome! i bet those floors are very cold! lol

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

that's awsome! i bet those floors are very cold! lol

Once in a while the floors are a little cold but thats only when the heat is off...they are heated.

[Midknight]

Sweet looking setup. Can't wait to see water in it.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Wow, dude. A very modern, aescetic sort of look. Cool! I've always like the idea of the Murphy beds.

[Keri]

Beautiful! I look forward to seeing it up and running, having it right beside the bed is such a great idea!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Wow, dude. A very modern, aescetic sort of look. Cool! I've always like the idea of the Murphy beds.

Yeah the murphy bed is the coolest thing ever! We love it. I never knew they came in king size either until we started looking. We couldn't afford a bigger place yet, so we had to go with a studio style loft. So far its been great though. I wish we could have afforded one of the bigger lofts in the building that was for sale but it was way over our budget...Vancouver is just so expensive now!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Beautiful! I look forward to seeing it up and running, having it right beside the bed is such a great idea!

Yeah its going to be really cool. All the equipment is very quite, so it should be fine noise wise. There is a slight hum from the skimmer pump but its actually quite soothing. The bubblemasters are super quite skimmers. Our QuietOne return pump is silent and the overflow is a herbie style, so silent as well.

[spoot]

Looking good Justin! How are you going to hang the lights?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

The lights are already mounted behind the end of the tank. Just using the metal "rods" that are used for shelving. I will take pics later.

[Lance]

The tank and stand are going to look real good with your decor. Post lots of pics OK.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

The tank and stand are going to look real good with your decor. Post lots of pics OK.

Thanks! I actually have some pictures on the way.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Woke up to a bacterial bloom. Hopefully this will pass soon. I think this will be a long cycle :( Anyways, here it is, still needs to be aquascaped though.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft038.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft041.jpg

[Jason McK]

Look'n good. Love the pad. very funky

J

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

The lights are not going to work out as well as I had hoped. I don't want a lot of lights over this tank but the CF bulbs are not enough. I may have to go with MH after all.

These are the lights for those you you who asked what they looked like:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft044.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/loft043.jpg

So what I will have to do I guess is try to make a spotlight style reflector for a 250 watt MH. Problem is, the bulbs is like almost a foot long I think!!! I would love to just have stripped the socket from a regular spotlight but they are not big enough to house a 250 watt bulb.

Any ideas?