24x24x10 Shallow Rimless AIO Build - 21g
 

Just thought I would share some pics of my current build. Last tank was a 44g corner tank and I just didnt like the look of it and the maintenance was a bear. So I decided to downsize a bit. I didnt want to run a sump/refugium so I was looking at AIO's. I couldnt find one that suited me until this one. This is an Advance Acrylic custom tank. Dimensions are 24x24x10 which not sure what empty volume is but with the live sand and rock work it comes in at 21g including the back chambers. Other than the hair algae I imported from an old tank everything looks sweet. Once I get that cleaned up I will finish moving the old stock into this tank so pardon if it looks empty at the moment. Enjoy!

Ok so now some pics of the stand build. Plans came from another thread here started to Rocket Engineer.

A few pics of the "old" light fixture on the tank. At first I wanted to have the replacement fixture to mount on the tank.

Ok... so I was in the market for a 4x24 t5ho fixture. After a BUNCH of research I concluded the Tek fixture was the BEST fixture within my budget. I purchased one from a fellow board member (thanks SO MUCH Chris!) who's tank I really admired. The fixture didnt come with tank mounts though I could by them so I decided I try suspending the fixture above the tank and see how I liked it. Well needless to say I LOVE the way it looks suspended above the tank. Dont know why in the heck I even considered mounting it on the tank in retrospect. Anyway some pics of it skinned and with the new light above the tank.

Hey Mark,

It looks really good hung like that!! I think that is actually better than the hanging kit I had, much cleaner looking. It fits perfectly over the tank. How does it look with the lights on though?

that is a really cool tank too, I love the Mangroves I always wanted to try them too.

What kind of sand and rock do you have in there?

Ask and you shall receive.. dang the HA looks worse at night... going to be scrubbing those rocks tomorrow..lol... Like most night pictures these dont do it justice. Was trying to get some shots of my Golden Eye Zoos but cant get a good angle on those. They look freeking sweet. The sand is Indo Pacific Black. Not sure what the rocks are. Bought them from LFS as dead rock. You really cant see in the pics but these things are very porous and have been seeded in my old tank for about 6 months. Had them on the bottom so they dont have a bunch of coralline growth on them yet.

Few more pics...

nice

Thanks Cameron. Still a work in progress...

What did you sead the tank with? Be careful with that dead rock, did you cook it or clean it, sometimes that unknown dead rock can have a lot of trapped nutrients and phosphates etc in it, and leach it into your aquairum over time and cause major algae problems. I had that problem with some old dead rock I used.

Before I put that dead rock in my old tank it got a good thorough acid bath and then cooked & dried before being put in the tank. I seeded the old tank with LR bought from LFS as well as live sand (bagged) and a few scoops from fellow reefers. I dont think the rock is the issue. I let the old tank when I bought the new go a little too long. I believe the issue to be phosphates and silicates. Which I can fix. Problem was I had a bit of HA on a rock that I brought in the new tank that was lodged between some zoos and I thought my CUC would take care of it... but as you can see they didnt lol... easy enough to fix tho...

Thats a sleek looking tank. I am really growing fond of the shallow tanks people are building these days.

Thanks Eshook... yeah they REALLY grew on me after I looked at the shallow reef thread here on RC and saw a couple of local reefers with them setup. Chris who posted earlier is setting up a 75g shallow which I have no doubt will be BAD _SS. I think the real thing that swung me was being able to just reach in and not be in up to my armpits to move things, clean, scape, and whatnot. Dont get me wrong I still love deep tanks and sort of miss being able to make a 24" stack of rocks which looks cool in its own right. But having had this tank for a little over a month now I can tell you that I will likely never go back to a "deep" tank. Problem is next tank I will do I would like to do a 36x24 or so tank and the real estate they take up in your house kind of sucks but I will deal with them given all the positives.

Mark

Update? Hows the tank coming along?

Its good man. Trying to take it slow and easy you know the drill. Parameters are good... got the HA under control... havent added much but will attach a couple of pics none the less. My biggest issue seems to be water loss. I guess with a shallower tank I just might notice it more but I am losing about a gallon every two days. So I am looking at setting up some sort of ATO. This normally wouldnt be a huge problem but my return pump is flushing all of the back chambers if I dial it up but whenever I dial it down it only sucks out its chamber and blows a bunch of air in the tank when the water level drops.

I think I may have hung the fixture a bit too low. Some of my mushrooms on the bottom were shrinking and the SPS frags I had up high were bleaching out. I bought a BIG chunk of monti from a friend of mine and made a "shade zone" that is helping the shrooms. I moved the SPS frags to the bottom for now and they are doing well. I will let them acclimate to the lighting and see if I can move them back up. I havent been supplementing with anything as of yet but have been looking at a product called Oyster Feast some folks have been having success with and am thinking about giving it a whirl.

I have been treating the HA with Algefix and picked up a new 6 stage RO/DI which has pretty much killed it all off. There are a couple of spots I need to brush off the dead stuff that I will get to sometime this week. No diatom outbreaks or algae at this point so knock on wood.

So to update the tank here is the livestock list and additions:

Livestock

Pulsing Xenia (old)
2x small Kenya Trees (new - got from buddy)
Tricolor Ric (old) - moved and is doing great
Red Shroom (old) - needs to be moved
Golden Eye Zoos (old) moved once but now looking KILLER looks like I have sprouted a few new polyps since the move.
Green Zoos (old) - still doing good in their original placement
2x GSP (new-xfer) - cant kill this stuff
3x Purple Srooms (1 old 2 new xfers) - now have all in shaded areas and doing well
Red Monti - (new - got from buddy) - Seems to be doing well.
2x Astrea Snails


Chemical/Media

Chemipure Elite Bag (new)
Phosphate Pad (new)
1ml Iodine weekly (old)
1ml Algeafix weekly (new)

I think thats about it. I will attach pics in 2nd post.

Thanks,

Mark

And the pics as promised. I will shoot some night pics soon as it looks MUCH nicer at night!

Nice little set up you got there!

Thanks Sin... need to fill it up with some livestock tho...lol

What do you plan on getting?

Nothing set in stone at the moment. I would like to have a layered effect tho...sps up top, lps in the middle, softies on the bottom and a couple rock "islands" here and there. I think a nice clam would be cool also.

Mark

Looking good !!! Need some lit pics now

Well.... a couple of few additions that I will attach some pics to in a few days... but for now my latest and by far the COOLEST addition thanks to my good buddy Chris is an AC JR. My goodness this thing rocks... Have had it for a couple of weeks now and keep learning new tricks you can do with it every day... I am addicted to controllers now... already working on plans for an APEX in the future so I can REALLY "pimp my aquarium".

As promised... pics of the new additions... Picked up a open brain coral from a buddy as well as some duncans... The brain is a beast. This thing fully opened is like 8-10". Kind of creepy if you ask me the way it shimmys and shakes lol....enjoy!

Well I fed the brain its weekly meal yesterday. My first time feeding it since I got it. I took a silver side... cut it in half... and put one on each side of what I thought was 2 mouths... well lo and behold it has one HUGE mouth that runs from one side to the other. This thing is totally cool. He put out his feeders and dragged the pieces into the mouth. Its a pig too... when I fed my other corals this morning he opened up again (begging I guess)... Anyone know how much and often I should feed this guy? Next time I will take a couple of pics of the mouth all opened up and the feeders extended.

nice tank i love the specs

Thanks Jeff.... I would have liked to go just a tad bigger but this works. I think my next tank will be something like 36x36x16.

Mark

It's only a matter of time lol :lolspin:

I already look at my new tank and wish it was bigger lol.

Glad you like the acjr

The apex is sick, I can check my tank from anywhere now, the control is amazing. I just got the Vortech Module and now have my Vortechs doing all sorts of stuff.

Your tank is looking good, when are you gonna post some full tank shots

I will try to get one up next week some time. Getting ready to head to San Diego to watch my Jags take on the Chargers. Just killing me waiting for these corals to mature. I raised the light about 3" or so and everyone seems to be much happier. My SPS is starting to get its color back from me having the fixture too low. Hopefully next week it will have better color when I take the FTS.

Thanks for the kind comments.


Mark

Looks nice! Famous last words My next Tank....always make it bigger because you will find something to fill the space you didnt think you needed!

Yeah I have already had "bigger" tanks but your right no matter what you have you always seem to find something else that tickles your fancy. I dont think I will ever go back to a "traditional" tank. I love how easy it is to work in this tank (and my bio cube). I think 36" is about as big as I can go though given the areas I have available to place the setup. Now if I move that will be something else entirely.

One of my local reefer buddies has a 48x48x14 which I am absolutely in love with. You can really create that lagoon look I like. I just dont have that kind of real estate to work with. I am considering pulling out most of the LR from my setup and starting over with lower profile rock. I really want that shallow lagoon feel but the rocks are getting in the way lol....

Thanks for the positive comments...

Mark

Ok... so I got tired of they way my rock structure was looking so I pulled out the LR... Anyone have any suggestions on some new aquascape? Not sure what direction I want to go in at the moment... so running a "frag tank" for the moment lol...any input would be appreciated.

Mark

Go for minimalist setup on rock

nice ..was thinking going with T5ho but ....they are same price as LED for me

Well... hadnt posted any updates in a while... still not sure what I want to do with the rockwork/aquascape. Been dealing with some sort of algae/blue green cyano issue. Newest coolest addition is AI Sol LED. Funny after looking at some of the old pics I actually have had some decent growth on alot of my corals. Anyhow... enjoy...

Quick update... will snap some pics soon... Absolutely no doubt I am getting significantly more growth under the AI Sol. The SPS is stronger than I have ever seen it. Even the softies are loving it. Money well spent.

Pictures look nice with all those pumps u should pick up a mp10

Got one in the garage I havent put in service yet. Not sure where I should place it though. You think one MP10 can replace those 2 knano and k1's? How about placement? Any suggest mode?

Mark

I would put it on the back wall centered. And yes i would think it could replace them. Maybe keep one of the nano's in case u find a dead spot.

Wont work... back has chambers like a nano tank... will have to go on a side wall... just not sure if I should go front/back or center side wall... if I went center it would have the flow deflected by the rock work which is about centered...


Thanks,

Mark

You can run it in the back chamber, you just have to built a small waterproof container to run the dry side in. Just slap a few pieces of acrylic together and you can hide it very well.

Jason... Thanks for the suggestion but I am not comfortable taking that kind of risk with this PH. I definitely put one of the Koralia's there but Im not going to attempt to make some sort "waterproof container" on the MP10.

Mark