The new tank is finally on its way. Construction has begun on the entryway, where this tank will reside, and plans have been made. The tank and rock have been ordered and as soon as the new tile has been laid the tank will go through its final stages of assembly.
The planned specs and events surrounding each aspect of the tank are below.
Tank
The tanks' dimensions are 36"x18"x19", making it a bit over 50 gallons. It is glass with black trim and the back panel will be painted cobalt blue.
I was very specific about the size with this tank. I simply loved the layout I was able to achieve with my first tank, a 40 gallon breeder, and was never able to recreate that look with my current tank. To get back to this I wanted to have a much lower tank, hence the drop from a tank with a height of 24", referring to the 125 gallon here, to one with a height of 19". The width of the tank was a complete copy of the 40 breeder and so was the length. The length was supposed to be 4', but the only spot that lent itself to a tank was simply not big enough for a 4' long tank.
The reasoning behind the choice of glass over acrylic is the ease of cleaning glass with a razor blade and its scratch resistance. The 125 gallon reef I currently have running, also known as the "Family Room Reef," is acrylic and I have come to loathe each scratch as well as the time it takes to clean the front panel.
Cobalt blue was chosen as the color for the back wall because of how much it will hide the random crap floating in the water. With the black background I currently have you can see everything in the column; be it a grain of sand my Clarkii has kicked up or a pod that decided to go for a ride in the current.
Stand and Canopy
The stand will be made of maple and stained to match the dark mahogany colored stairs that are being constructed next to the tank. It will stand 30" tall and the foot print will only be larger than that of the tank due to trim along the bottom, where the tank rests, and along the top of the canopy.
The stand will have a pine frame and will have maple sheets on each side. Two doors on the front will allow easy access, and the back will be open to allow free airflow. Two 4" holes will be cut into the stand, one of each side for fans that will blow air into the chiller that will sit in the stand and remove the hot air.
The canopy will also have 4" holes for fans, one on each side, in order to keep the bulbs from overheating. It will also open from the top, and bring front of the canopy with it as it rises. This will allow me to have full access to the inside of the tank without having to take the canopy off.
Lights
When it comes to lights I am doing a small bit of recycling. I am using the ballasts used to power 2x54 watt T5HOs to power 2x39 watt T5HOs. I will be using two of the ballasts from my old tank leaving me with four very high output T5s. They will be mounted directly to the top of the canopy and the fans will pull air directly across the bulbs.
The bulb colors will be 2x1200k and 2xbluePlus.
The reasoning behind the bulb choices rests on my love for a blue tank and the fact that most coral inhabitants will be either LPS, mushrooms, or zoanthids.
Rock
I will be using 50 lbs of now dead rock. It will sit in the sump of my current 125 gallon tank for seeding until the new tank is up and ready to be aquascaped.
Sand
When it comes to sand I believe I will be using livesand in a bag from a LFS, about 20 lbs. I really do not want a deep sand bed, but still wish to have some sand.
Chiller
A 1/4 hp chiller will be used to cool the tank. As this is a sumpless system a pump will be hidden in the tank and pump water down to and back up from the chiller to a perforated line in side the tank to distribute the cold water more evenly.
Flow
4 powerheads will be used. 2 koralia 1s and 2 Maxijet 400s. The two koralias will be in the front top corners facing each other and the maxijets will be in the back corners facing each other. While one big is on the smaller on on the opposite side will also be on. They will switch about every hour.
Skimmer
I will be using a HOB remora C for the skimmer in this tank.
Fish
I do currently have a fish list going, but as I never seem to stick to them I will post the fish as they arrive.
I don't think I've left anything out, but if you have and your interested please just ask. Pictures will be posted as things progress, but as of now there is nothing to take pictures of
