The Austrian Drop Off Tank

[FloformAustria]

Hey Friends!

I thought I should show you guys what I was building in my livingroom in the last view months!!

my old tank with the mangroves showed me the problem of keeping mangroves in a tank. The Roots were everywhere in the tank...

here some pictures:




so in fear of the roots breaking my tank I had to rethink what I want from my tank and what new and good ideas I could relize with the space I have.
so i came up with that:


a lot of planing went into that tank and after 2 months of drawing in CAD and Sketchup the rendering above is the result

so now the challenging part was to find the right tank builder and for the stand.
but the glas wasn´t that much of a problem and the stand was made by a metallworking shop of a friend of mine



so now I had to figure out how I could keep the sand from fallling down over the edge all the time.
so I ordered two packs of dead live rock and I started to build a barrier out of small rocks glued on some plexiglas with silicon

the finished drop off:


so after I did all the plumbing it was time to tear down the old tank with the stand and everything and move the new one in its place!

=> part 2

[FloformAustria]

part 2





so here the running tank:








so now lets talk technic
Display Tank:
shallow reef: 100 x 70 x 35cm
Drop Off: 55 x 70 x 75cm
Lighting: ATI Hybrid 3x 75W LED with 4x 54W T5
Flow: 2x Vortech MP10W; 1x Vortech MP10W QD
CORAL BOX D500 DC SKIMMER
JEBAO DC12000 RETURN PUMP

so that´s that for now...

hope you guys like it!

Let me know what you think!!

Flo

[Wesus]

Cool tank. I love it !
Could you please draw water flow in the tank?

[FloformAustria]

thx!!

hard to draw... i can show you some pictures:




hope thats what you wanted?

Cheers

[Wesus]

Thanks, now I see it

[tom obrecht]

I love builds like this! Can't wait for more updates and photos! Well done!!

[FloformAustria]

thanks Tom!!

happy you like it!

[yellowRubi]

This looks amazing! Great job!

[RingingEars]

Wow. Well done.
This is one of neater tanks I've seen in a long time.

[bitwise]

Very cool. Right next to the couch too!

[FloformAustria]

Good Morning Guys!

thanks!

next to the couch is one very important thing for me. I want the tank to stand in the room I / we use the most!

Cheers,
Flo

[jstuver]

This is amazing! Very cool design!

[d-man]

Looks amazing. Nice work

[A_CoupleClowns]

Awesome work! Nice acan collection in there too.

[tidus10]

thats awesome, what is the overall gallons of the tank?

How do you like the return pump and skimmer?

[cFloor]

I really liked your old setup and the new one looks great! Will be following along. Excellent work

[FloformAustria]

Hey guys!

thanks for the kind words!
@A_CoupleClowns:
thanks! i really love them!

@tidus10
thanks!
around 140gal, a little too small for this forums, but don´t tell anyone!
I really like the skimmer and the returnpump! working perfectly and very quiet! like the features of the DC Pumps

@cFloor:
thanks!

Will post new pictures as soon as something changes.
now it´s just brown everywhere with the color spots of the acans!


Cheer,
Flo

[tidus10]

That's still a big tank man. Congrats on the build.

[FloformAustria]

thanks!!

yeah, I haven´t realized it completly ...xD



now I´m waiting for the cabinetmaker to send my the price for the his work.

[tom obrecht]

After rereading the earlier posts I found it interesting your root growth of the mangroves. I had a 180 with a single mangrove on one end. I loved the look of Julian's small reef from years back with the mangrove growing out the top so I tried it my self. Thing did well and was amazed when the tank was torn down a few years later. In a 6' tank the roots had covered at least 4' of that length weaving through sand and rock to the point where I had to cut the rock apart. I can see why mangroves make excellent erosion control and sanctuaries for small fish.

Keep the pictures and details coming!

[FloformAustria]

jeah Tom! I really loved mine, the look was great, but it did cover a lot of area in shaddow and I was afraid it could break the glas.

but the other reason I took the old tank down was that it was leaking in the sump. the old stand was wet and my hardwood floor wasn´t taking it very well. the old stand had a lot of problems and I´m happy now.
more open, cleaner look and everything easy to reach!

Flo

[tidus10]

What is the point in the mini tank there, is that a QT tank, or just a fuge? Ive been tempted to make something like this.. is that plumbed in line with the main tank? worth having?

[FloformAustria]

the mini tank is for alge as refugium

hope it helps me to control my water parameters....

[tidus10]

How Do you have that plumbed in line? Does your overflow go directly through there and just in one side and out the other?

[FloformAustria]

the over flow doesn´t directly go into there... the main pump powers it and it then goes back to the skimmer, right side in left side out!