Guess what! UPGRADE TIME
 

Alright so its about time I upgrade my tank :D :D :D

I am in no rush and I am going to do things slowly (I hope :razz:) and very well planned. I have some limitations that I have to abide by:

1. Space: I cant have a biggy biggy tank
2. Budget: I am constrained by this valuable parameter but oh well, things should be able to be done
3. Lighting: Since I have a 4bulb T5HO light from odyssea (hence not individual reflector), I have to use it

SO!

Tank size:

I have been thinking to have a nice foot print so that I can keep some nice fishes this time instead of just concentrating on corals (where are the tang police?! I am planning on keeping a tang!) like anthias and a tini tiny tang (tomini perhaps). Since I dont have large space and I want to use my existing light, I have chosen a decent footprint:

40" x 15" x 14"

The legs of the light can be extended up to like 42" or something so I chose 40". I limited the width and height to 15" and 14" since my light, not being of individual reflectors, has some limitation and I dont like high tanks.

Sump:

Time to get things the right way using sump! This is where I need to do a lot of studying since sumps have always intimidated me! I am going to have a refugium, a skimmer chamber and a return chamber. I really don't want to run any reactor right now so I was thinking of putting a smaller chamber between skimmer and refuge for medias like carbon and phosguard. Refugium light is going to be the same light that I am already using for my refuge mod; a coralife mini.

Now I am a bit confused about skimmer over here. I already have a remora which can hold upto 70 gallon. Since I am going to incorporate sump, I am thinking whether I should use the existing remora in the skimmer area (maybe invest in a skimmer later since I don't want to take a big hit right now). Like I said, I want to use as many things as possible which I already have.

Aquascaping:

This is where I will try to be creative. One rule of thumb: NO DRY ROCK! I am a big believer in live rock. Till now, I have planned to make something like U shaped aquascape with flat rocks at the top.

Content:
I am thinking about leaning towards mixed reef for this tank also since I like to keep things diverse :D Very little softies: going to stick to rics and zoas only. LPS that I already have other than the torch since it takes away lots of good places. SPS is going to be mostly montis, birdnests and few "easy to keep" acros which would be compatible with my lighting.

Maintenance:
Now this is where I am going to concentrate most. My current tank is a bit on the heavy maintenance side (dosing and cleaning the glass every other day) so it is not the most "being away" friendly type tank. Hence, for this one, I am going to make sure that I only have to clean skimmer, change water biweekly maybe and feed! And big maintenance (filling up dosing if needed and things like that) maybe once a month.

So this is my whole scenario for now. As always, suggestions, comments and flaming are welcome :D

Your in deep now looking forward to this one

:pop2:

Actually, he's only going 14" tall. Pretty shallow.

Pretty shallow? :O Ok I need to get some more inches off to make it "really shallow" :razz:

Anyway Kien since you are one of the few ones who are still surviving with the T5s, I have a question for you :)

Will the 4 bulb 36" not individual reflector be enough for this footprint? My current tank is having like sweet point with things growing crazy. I am just increasing the height by 2" and width by 3". Also though about not using the legs and resting the fixture directly above the tank to cut down the 3" height.

If you are having great success with the light now, I don't think another 2" up is going to make a huge difference. I personally wouldn't rest it right on the tank as you'll likely get a lot of salt creep on it ultimately dimming the light as a result. Presumably your new rock work will be different so that is going to play a role in how much light your various corals will get as well.

Thanks for the input. I guess I will then keep the light on legs.

Rock work is going to be more or less in the same style but a bit creative. Rocks at the back side will be higher and then gradually slope down to the two sides separately. Time for some cleaner looks than just cramping it.

I am taking this one as inspiration (the rockwork):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...k/Japanese.gif

Very hard to re=create this in a tank that is not very wide....your going to have to be awfully creative with the rock work. Good luck with the upgrade your little tank is quite beautiful...so this one should be as well.

Yap not possible to recreate that one since its very wide (like you said) but I am hoping to pull something similar to that concept.

Thanks for the appreciation :) Will try my best.

Awesome. Alway love a upgrade. In the middle of mine right now

A couple thoughts for you though.

You said no dry rock. While its your choice I like dry rock for the reason of no pest, hitch hikers. It's also cheaper. You can use some current live rock to seed it

Sump design. Really do your homework. I've built all my sumps and each time, find another thing I rather have .
I always have all chambers (2/3) to fill with crush for more bio filter. Have good flow through it
I do run a reactor but its full of hydroton but could have filled it with crush also
I run carbon passively in a media bag

Take this into consideration.
I run a prodibio tank. No gfo, passive carbon, 7 fish with 35 sps
My tank get gravel and rock cleaned weekly a WC to follow. Glass gets cleaned every week and half or so. So to speak I am 100% sold on prodibio

As for fish you said anthias. I keep them and in my experience and discution with others found that they do better in high flow

Looking forward to a build thread

First off, your existing tank looks amazing. Very good use space. I have huge respect for people who can pull that off with a smaller tank. But I was thinking about your new tank dimensions. My 77 is 16" front to back and I struggle with aquascaping to find a sweet spot between placing rock work and leaving enough negative space for glass cleaning and visual appeal. If the space you want to put your tank allows for it, you might consider a bit wider tank.
You mention that you want to use your existing T5 lighting and are concerned it may not be enough for a larger tank. If you went with an 18"-24" tank and put your rock work either centered or a bit back of centre, then mounted your light right above it, that would give you nice visual negative space with your rock work highlighted by the light. Place all your high light requirement corals on it, and low light or non-photosynthetic corals on the sand bed, (like dendro's, gorgs, or blasto's)
Then when finances become available, you can upgrade the light and you've still got a really nice dimension tank.

Thanks for the input everyone :)

So since the only problem was the tank was too "shallow" and the width was very "limited". So I decided on a new dimension:

40" X 20" X 20" = 70 gallon!!!!!!!

Thanks to Dave and Denny for helping me decide on the dimension by explaining stuffs for hours! And I have placed the order with concept :mrgreen: So now I am in the concept team too :D

Here's the details:

40"x20"x20"
starfire front (and possibly two side; can't remember what Dave said :P)
external overflow centered on back panel
2x returns
built on foam base
full acrylic on back panel
clear silicon
trim (since non polish)
eurobraced (not single glass)

I am excited :D

So much for poor student. Haha

No really, awesome. I love the set up stage:)

The deal was student friendly :mrgreen:

You'll be happy my concepts tank is siting on my living room floor half full and it looks so bad ass

Half full or half empty? :razz:

Awesome man! Congrats. Glad to hear those dimensions. Expectin' pics soon :D

Thanks :D Yah the dimensions are pretty neat :D I am hoping to pull off some good aquascaping with it. Lets see how things go :)

looking forward to seeing you stock this new puppy . Do you have a timeline target before its wet ?

Not really. I will just go with the flow like gather the equipment slowly and things like that :) 60 gallon and a sump (possibly 20 gallon) is going to be a lot of water for me so I haven't set any timeline. If possible, I will go really fast (like my 20L) or go really slow. Let's see how things are in favor :D

And stocking? Man this is going to have crazy stocking! FISH FISH AND MORE FISH! Corals of course but I will take corals slowly but I am aiming for lots of fish. Hint: I have 7 fishes in 20L; do the math ;)

And it begins.............

Got some awesome pieces of liverock (30lb). I already have 25lb and so another 20-30lb should complete my live rock collection :D

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5e808316.jpg

Holy shelf piece batman! Love that one on the bottom left. That will be a great mantle piece for some corals for sure.

Yah the pieces are wicked :D I just need to pull off something creative!

such lazy rock just sitting there suntanning.... gettin er bronze on

Haha. It was before they got into a long swim ;) You have to agree, its always good to see sun shining in Calgary during this time of the year and the rocks are no different :D

Got in the sump (20L) and a vertex (in-80 or 100 not sure) skimmer today :D Right now, they are having a vinegar warm water bath.

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psad06fc2b.jpg

new skimmer .. looks fun . also looks really tall , is it ?

Its around 22" I believe. Vertex are notoriously famous for having a large footprint. And got it for a KILLER deal! :D

Looks good. When the tank commin

Thanks :D

Will be bringing it home this weekend :) and then will have to build the stand

Bought a speedwave dc pump (690gph) today :)

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7b9d2b53.jpg

Still undergoing vinegar bath:

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4751b3c2.jpg

Can someone suggest me how to clean off the vinegar residues afterwards?

Rinse it off with water. Not going to hurt anything. Consider it the first carbon dose of your new tank

Thanks for the heads up :D I was thinking that too but just wanted to make sure.

Time for some aquascape practicing:

A1:
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...pse738f13c.jpg
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7bf2dedf.jpg

A2:
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6ed83106.jpg
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6d3680e4.jpg
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psc158219a.jpg

A3:
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4d8b2b71.jpg
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2e31ab79.jpg

These are the LRs which I recently bought; the 20Lb+ rocks in my tank is not in these aquascapes...will incorporate them on site

And the water in which the LRs are in:
http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6b663b13.jpg

There's a slight tint of ammonia, no nitrite and huge nitrate. The rock is alive :) The high nitrate and the slight ammonia is due to the sponges which were on the rock I guess. I decided not to change the water so that it keeps on feeding the rocks.

Let me know which rockwork kinda looks alright. Basically, that's the idea I am trying to work out; a focus point at 2/3 length of the tank and a smaller island on 1/3 length location. Trying to achieve something like this:

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psb62aa868.jpg

Ofcourse I can't achieve anything like this (done by Andre Silvestre) but that's my inspiration. Don't want mountains of rock in my new tank unlike the nano so that I can enjoy the fishes too :)

I vote for a3 I think that looks sweet

Second from the bottom. There should be a poll on this. BAHAHA J/K dont torture us.

A3

I vote is for the good looking aquascape! It's the best of the bunch.

i think it may be a good idea to change your water, from the pictures i dont see any ammonia. and high nitrates are indicative that all the ammonia was converted to nitrites and all the nitrites were converted to nitrates

how long has the rock been in ?

About a week. The rocks are from a 4 year old established tank but there were some sponges and stuffs on the rock. Kept it in a rubbermaid can with heater and power head.

After posting, I cleaned the whole bucket and poured in fresh water.