FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

I'm in the midst of planning my next tank which will be 6' shallow reef. I probally wont start on the tank until spring which gives me lots of time to plan the perfect tank and stock up on supplies!



My current tank is an IM Fusion 30L.










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One of the side goals of my new tank will be versatilty. For now the tank will be in the media room down stairs against the wall.. down the road I plan on removing the banister at the top of the staris and have the tank a a peninsula.

Future home
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The new tank will aprox 5.5-6' x 18-20" x 18-20" in startfire glass. I'm still debating to do 1/2 or 5/8". I'm going to go with a bean animal full siphon overflow. One of my goals is to keep the tank as silent as possible.






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Lighting will be 3x Radion XR15 Pro's. The return pump will be a vectra if funds allow .. otherwise a DC Jabeo return.



The overflow wall will also have 2x MP40WQDs for the tank flow.







For the Sump It will go Sox > Frag Rack > Skimmer > return pump. Each drop will be less than an inch to keep things silent.
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Skimmer will be either a bubble magus curve 7 or a coral box d7000

I love the long shallow look. Good choice.

Thank you. It's one of my favourite looks aswell :)

Do you think there will be any issues with sag in my light bar? The xr15 s only way 3-4lbs each so its not much weight. I'm hoping a 1" square steel (or aluminum) bar will work with out any sag

Steel I think you would be fine, but aluminum maybe not. You could hang the bar from the ceiling rather than mounting it. Or hang each light from the ceiling and skip the bar. Why don't you remove the banister now and install the tank in its permanent home? I would not want to put "move tank up a flight of stairs" on my tank plan list.

The build is going to look nice. I like the look of the swallow reef as well.

Cantilevering the lights over a 5.5ft span is going to be a challenge, Mykas ceiling mounting suggestion will turn out as well. I ended up suspending my from a overhead shelf.

Check the structure below the banister, if there is a wall directly below it you should be fine. If not you'll need to shore it up with a beam and posts (build a wall).

I'm currently living in the bottom half of the hose so I want it in my area :). It will be prob 2-3 years before we officially buy it and take it over. So you gotta do what you gotta do!

The only thing in don't like about hanging is you still have the wires to deal with the wires. If I do the square tube then I can run the wires in the centre of the tube and everything is hidden

I did find and old pic of the floor below. Directly to the side of the stairs is a double header beam running with the stairs then then the other joists run the opposite way so I think I should be safe hitting multiple joists

I'll post the old pic in a bit when I dig it up


Do you suspect there will be any weight issues?

Pic from way back when showing joists. Do you think I need to worry about any weight issues?
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You should be good there, lots of joists to spread the load. (disclaimer - I'm not a engineer)

I totally understand with the cables, however it's a long span for a 1"X1" tube. You'll likely need to increase the tube size and add a gusset.

FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

A little 2-3" triangle at re corner would likely do the trick f required.

I wonder if the stock radion arm with the long bar would hold if it was welded to a vertical steel bar.

(This with only one end price and the other bolted /welded to the stand?)
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Prob easier and cheaper to just weld some 1" steel tube

why not just hang a bar from the ceiling?

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking. I don't like the wire look either. Your tank move makes sense now, haha! I don't think you'll have any weight issues there - your tank is long, narrow, and shallow which is great for weight distribution.

Spit fire - I plan on moving the tank in a few years and wanted to have a solution that worked for both locations with out putting holes all over the place.

I ended up ordering some extruded aluminum to build my light mount. In theory with 1.5" 1515 and 20lbs of weight I should have a max of 0.5" of sag. Now the xr15s are only 4-4.5lbs each so it should be more like 12-13 lbs so I don't suspect there to be any noticeable sag!

Concept has a Black Friday sale which was an excellent excuse to put down a deposit and get an awesome deal on my future tank / sump.

I'm over killing it a bit with 5/8" (15mm) star fire. This thing will be a tank! The display will be 66x20x18. I figure the extra 6" at the end will be used for the light stand/overflow and mp40 dry sides all hidden behind a flush mounted u shapes acrylic cover :)

I picked up 80lbs of key largo rock on Boxing Day have already started working on my scape. It needs a bit more but I think the main structure is almost there


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I think the main structure is almost there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tF3EuzktKE

FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

For a little eye candy.. A few close up of some of the future Corals moving to the new build

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My new skimmer showed up today and Damn! It's huge.
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A big thanks to FragBox as I won a photo contest for $100 in frags!! Woo. Of course I ended up ordering a bunch more goodies to help fill the future (soon to be tank!).

I'll post some pics of my new goodies when they show up. Thanks again March from Fragbox!

A few shots of some of my new goodies

March is amazing! Thanks for all the great frags!

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FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

It's exciting to see my designs come to life!

Yesterday's I build two DIY reactors. They turned it really well and were a great Sunday project. I'm not sure what I will run in them yet (carbon, gfo, bio pellets? Who knows)
But I'm sure they will come in handy!

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Not bad for about $60 and a few hours


And in even better news my tank is complete! It's looking amazing and I'm just waiting on the stand to be built before I get it all shipped up!


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The day has finally come!! My new. Baby has arrived and in so excited to get it going

Today I got it in the stand. Put black vinyl on the back and installed the light bar
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http://youtu.be/D3fsTaljPFM

Dave at concept did an amazing job on my tank

I have been spending my morning working in the wood for the inside of my stand.
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Smart looking control panel on the end!

Why thank! I still have another pump controller or two to add but it's getting there!

I have been filling it for about 10 hours so far!
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The dust storm is finally starting to clear!
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I added the banggai from my 30g and they instantly became friends! Also added a few more
Corals including a BTA and a few test sps frags

FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

I now have 2 banggais and 2 Chromis in the tank along with some frags

So far so good. I have also been mixing water back and forth with the new and old tank to level out the parameters before I move over the rock / coral from the 30g. It's getting there!

Mission control
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The rock on the bottom left of sump is only temporary holding as this space may be used for a calcium reactor once I finish resurrecting an old one I got on a trade.

The space to the left of the sand dune will be for the rock from my 30g

Pretty Slick setup, I am jealous!

Why Thank you! I have been planing and stocking up on parts for this baby for probably 6 months now!

I'm going to move over my old rock after work.. i can't wait to see it all come together :D

Make sure you post pics!

Well I moved all my rock and coral over.. And Fish! Will have to wait until the water clears up more


I also built a magnetic doser mount!
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Added matching tubes :)

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What's in the AFS on that return baffle?

Because I plan on dumping food directly above the return pump intake.. My hope is it will get sucked in and spit into the tank.

I don't want anything visible cluttering up my fancy new rimless :)


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It's going to be a tight fit in the stand. But should work out

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Funny how all that room gets used up so quick haha. I wish I had 6'!

I know right? Haha there goes my hopes of a bugger ATO chamber.

Awesome setup!

Could I request a clear pic of your return manifold, where you've got valves to feed reactors and such? I'm planning something similar and would love to see it up close. Thanks!

Gary

How is the feeding through your return going, would love to do the same

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

FishTankProjects - 6' Shallow Reef Project
 

Just set it up so let you know soon! I did manage to spill a bunch of food by not having the lid on flush and most get sucked up by the pump and scattered thought the tanks so it should work. Worst case I'll use a little pipe to force it to drop directly into intake


Took a few updates pics

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