10 foot Nano....kinda
 

So I was cruising reef central and fell in love with a tank on there. It was 144"x15"x15". Anyways to cure my multi tank syndrome I convinced my wife to let me do a similar tank. It cost me getting her another dog, but hey, we all know this hobby costs.

So I ended up with a 120"x16"x18 rimless. 3 side viewable mixed reef, front pane starphire.
Because of where it's sitting I didn't want cords and power heads everywhere so I went closed loop. Two sumps, one being filter socks, to skimmer, to return. Another "sump" that contains an a to chamber and a fuge that drains into the main sump. Main sump is 54" long and the ato/fuge is 48".

Return pump is a DCT-12000. Closed loop, there will be two loops each run by a DCT-12000. Being adjustable, having the ability to adjust the power and eventually control through an apex will be nice.

Skimmer is a Bubble Magus curve 9. Possibly a bit on the big side but I like fish so...

Stand is still being finished. Water won't go in till it's finished as we all know that if water, fish and coral go in it is unlikely to get properly skinned.

Lights are still up in the air. It will be a t5HO/LED combo. Am going to try 5-7 AI primes lined with 48" t5ho bulbs. 4 bulbs for sure, possibly 8, we will see. I will be building a hanging/floating canopy. House is a little rustic so it will be made of reclaimed wood.

Bit of a ways to go but happy to have it here in the house.
And now what we all care about, pics.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...3ABCE2C272.jpg
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Im in love with this!!!!! Your setup and design is fantastic.

I'll be tagging along for this one

Looks really cool!

And maybe I will address this before it gets brought up. Yes, I could have removed the railing and built it right in, I could have done a basement sump. It just came down to too much alteration. If in 2,3,4,6 years life changes or whatever, I didn't want to have to rebuild my house after I ripped out the tank.

Thanks for the compliments so far. I'm excited to continue working on it. Plumbing and finishing the stand are first on the block.

Naw man, were it is and the sump design is more than prime. Sometimes I regret not going simple like this. All it means is more work when the tank gets shut down, and more things to worry about.

Very interesting build. It looks great so far. Cant wait to see where you take it. Stocking is going to be interesting.

Looks great so far. Looking forward to updates as your build comes along.

Anthony

Cool idea. I know someone with an 8 ft x 16" x 16" tank and it's pretty cool! Tough to get good flow with powerheads, so I think you're on the right track with the closed loop. How are you finishing the stand? Will you finish the back too so you can't see from the railing? Have you considered installing some black vinyl on the overflow so you can't see in?

looks very cool, whats your finish plan for covering the sump area?

The whole stand, front and back is going to be covered. going to have 1/8 plywood as a base and then have a reclaimed barnwood panel overlay on to of that. I don;t want to look through the railing and see fish stuff. The front and possibly sides will have removable panels so I can access for maintenance. going for a rustic look to match my stone and barn beam fireplace/mantel.

From everything I heave read about long shallow tanks, flow is a concern so thats why I went closed loop. Possibly put one powerhead on the over flow side but we shall see if its necessary. I also have th return on the far end of the tank. The last hole on the bottom of the tank will be the return and be covered by a rock tower. Figured that it would help with some natural flow with the water being returned as far from the overflow as possible.