28 Gallon Deep Blue Rimless SPS Reef

[childress5tyler]

Hello!

After ~3 years off from the hobby I have had an itching to get back in and start a new reef tank. I wanted to start this thread to organize my thoughts and to track my progress throughout the life of this reef. Now through May I will be organizing the startup and planning out the structure, etc. I will not be putting water into the tank until May because this is my anticipated move month, so I'd rather not start it up and have to tear it back down 5 months later. As mentioned in the title, the aquarium will be a 28 gallon Deep Blue rimless aquarium with a focus on SPS coral. My tentative plan is to have the following:
-6 acropora colonies (Considering: Red Planet Acro, Strawberry Shortcake Acro, PC Rainbow Acro, and MANY more; need to brush up on the new acro names out there)
-3 millepora colonies (Undecided, need to familiarize myself with the different milleporas out there)
-3 encrusting montipora colonies (Considering: JF Aquaman Monti, Rainbow Monti, and Sunset Monti)
-2 plating montipora colonies (Considering: Sunburst Monti Cap and a Grafted Monti Cap)
-4 undecided colonies (potentially a stag, pocillopora, bird’s nest, stylopora, etc).
Aside from the SPS coral, I would like for the showpiece of the reef to be a nice 4-5" maxima clam. Regarding fish, currently I only plan to add two designer clowns (possibly onyx clowns). Below is a list of the equipment that I have either decided on or am debating:

- Light: AI Prime Hydra 26 HD
- Sump: ICECAP 15
- Skimmer: Reef Octopus 110SSS
- Return Pump: SICHE 1.5
- Powerhead: 1x MP10 Vortech Pump
- Salt: Undecided (Considering RSCP, but am afraid of the high alkalinity, looking into other options)
- ATO: Tunze Nano Osmolator
- Dosing: Auto Dosing B-Ionic Ca/kH/Mag and Phytoplankton (Undecided on dosing pump, not wanting to spend an insane amount on one)

I'm wanting my tank to be fairly clean and simple; not a ton of rock, but just enough to allow the coral to grow and cover, but also giving enough free space for them to grow. I've considered purchasing the dry, man-made rock and curing it in a friend’s tank over the next few months or spending the extra money to buy live, cured rock. I’ve also been doing a lot of browsing regarding bare-bottom tanks. Given the fact that I plan to have ~18 4-6” colonies in such a small tank, I plan to utilize every square inch that I possibly can (growing colonies on the walls, bottom glass, and overflow). I’ve not completely decided on this decision yet however I’ve seen a lot of cool reefs out there that are persuading me to lean that way. Additionally, with no sand I’ll be able to maximize flow without causing debris to fly around.

These are my thoughts regarding the reef so far, please feel free to comment on any suggestions, questions, or comments that you may have. I'm looking forward to this build and hope you get some enjoyment by following along.

[childress5tyler]

Tank has been ordered and the custom stand is underway!

[childress5tyler]

A few changes to note and just a few thoughts on the process:

-I've decided that I'll be running the Quiet One 220 (~590 gph) instead of the Sicce 1.5. The QO2200 offers more GPH and has a controllable dial to set the most appropriate water flow. The part of my return pump chamber will be split between this pump and a man-made macro algae collection box made out of egg crate. I've always been a big fan of the PAR 38 5k bulbs for macroalgae, so this is what I'll probably run in opposite time schedule to the AI Hydra 26.

-The stand will be coming unfinished so between now and May I will have to decided on a color an paint it. Thinking black or white, however my fiancee tossed out the idea of an aqua blue, so this should be interesting...

-My biggest debate right now is on which rock to use; dry or live. I have the time between now and May to cycle the rock OR I could just pay the extra money to get good live rock to seed the tank. However I'm still leaning towards the no sand, bare-bottom tank in order to allow colonies to grow and cover the bare spots.

-I know that this is still months away, but I keep going back and forth between only doing two onyx clowns OR doing two onyx clowns, one shark fin naoko wrasse, and one of the following: mandarin goby or three bartlett anthias. A small school of anthias would be very cool, but a total of 6 fish in a tank this small (though heavily skimmed) may be too much.

Again, feel free to comment, give suggestions, or ask questions!

Tyler

[childress5tyler]

I may be deviating from my initial skimmer plans. An opportunity to purchase a CAD Light PLS-100 skimmer has presented itself and I think that this may be the better move in the end considering the footprint and diameter size. This will also allow more room if I decide to add another reactor in the future; zeovite or carbon/gfo.

[childress5tyler]

Paid for the tank, stand, sump, and skimmer yesterday. Currently have the stand and sump - Will be painting and priming the stand this week. Going with white!

[dcom]

Hoping to see more updates!

[childress5tyler]

Originally Posted by dcom

Hoping to see more updates!

You bet! Here is where we stand now:

-This will be a slow build between now and June, so I'm slowly accumulating all of the equipment that is needed for this reef. I have currently bought the stand, tank, sump, skimmer, MP10 and pump. Next step is to buy the AI Hydra 26HD and the mount for this.

-I am modifying the sump to accommodate my reef's needs. The sump is broken into 4 chambers: intake chamber with a filter sock, skimmer chamber, return pump chamber, and an ATO water chamber. I am going to drill an opening between the pump chamber and the ATO water chamber and use the previous ATO water chamber as my new pump chamber, and my previous pump chamber as a refugium. This will allow me to maximize to space and allow me to get a little more biological space. I'll probably do a 2" sand bed with some rock rubble in this section.

Just as a little review of the ICECAP 15 sump, this thing is so well built. It is sleek and offers so many options for nano reefs - I'm really happy that I've chosen this sump.

As previously noted, I'll be going bare bottom with the intention of growing SPS on my bottom glass, side walls, and back wall. I'm a little up in the air on what aquascape I want to go for; I've considered pillars, arches, etc. but I cannot decide on which area I want to go with. Thankfully I have until June to decide

Please feel free to respond with any questions or comments. I pretty much have everything planned out (up to this point). Love to hear your thoughts!

[childress5tyler]

I'm pairing the back of my glass black and have having a few issues getting the paint to stay towards the bottom rim. As you can see in the photo, the paint naturally gravitates away from the bottom, despite how thick layer it on.

I'm thinking that I should let it dry and then scrape off the bottom 3" and clean it again with rubbing alcohol and repainting. Any thoughts? Is a roller or brush better - I've been using a brush.

[childress5tyler]

Also, just a minor update:

A friend of mine is drilling my sump currently. This will allow me to use the ATO chamber as a return pump chamber, and the return pump chamber as a fuge. More photos to come on this.

Also, I ordered the Jabeo DP4 and the mounting bracket. I've got it placed fairly high in the stand so it is out of the way. Looking forward to seeing what this can do!

[childress5tyler]

A little weekend update:

-The sump is drilled and partially plumbed. I need to buy new bulk heads since the BH supplied by Deep Blue are cheap quality. After I buy new bulk heads, I'll finish plumbing the PVC pipes.
-I finished painting the back and bottom glass.

[childress5tyler]

Trying to minimize the wires as early as possible!

[demeyer2]

Looking good! Excited for more updates. Are you going to use a controller?

[Zoahoarder]

Wow looks good so far. Following along

[childress5tyler]

Originally Posted by demeyer2

Looking good! Excited for more updates. Are you going to use a controller?

Possibly. I may use the Apex Jr. I'll see how things go! Do you use one?

[childress5tyler]

Originally Posted by Zoahoarder

Wow looks good so far. Following along

Thank you! I appreciate it