Frictionless' 87g rimless tank

[Frictionless]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for stopping by.

After months and months of procrastination, I have finally put together my fish tank in my home.
https://ibb.co/dpvxTk

About 6 months ago I purchased a custom sized 48*30*14 rimless starphire tank from Miracles. I chose them because my brother in law bought one from them and the build quality on it was amazing!
I had them drill 3 1" holes in the bottom for my return and down pipes inside the overflow which is about 15*5.
This tank sat in my house for a few months, as well as my 75g sump because my girlfriend told me I was not allowed to set it up until we put wainscotting in the room(s) this tank was going... Which took me some time to do
After my father and I finished the wainscotting and painting I got down to designing and constructing my stand. This was the first time I had actually done something like this (my first reef tank I bought the stand from a store) so this took me a pretty long time. I had a hard time figuring out how to make the stand fit both tanks with the same length but not make it too awkward.
https://ibb.co/nv86M5

[Frictionless]

I built the stand out of 2x4 and 2x6 with a few pieces of 3/4" wood and a sheet of exterior side paneling my father used on his garage. The stand is 56*31*36 with 1 piece of 3/4" wood added on top and bottom. I probably could have built it a little deeper but the area it is in would be too restricting if I did. But I am happy with how it looks.
https://ibb.co/iXHoZQ
https://ibb.co/jczD15
I painted the whole thing in white kitchen and bathroom mold resistant paint, cut out a small section for the plumbing tubes to go through and placed a thin piece of foam on top for the tank to rest on.

I purchased almost all of my parts from Reefsupplies located in Quebec, Canada. Was going to use BRS but with the conversion to USD and the possible extra charges I chose not to. The people at reefsupplies were amazing! I got my orders usually 3 days after ordering it. Twice the next day!

[Frictionless]

The pieces of equipment I went with were the Reef Octopus 150 INT, Spectrapure 90 gpd RO/DI, SICCE Syncra 4.0, JBJ ATO, Eheim 300W heater, and the Kessil AP 700.
When I plumbed the tank I started out only going to have a very basic setup. 2 1" PVC pipes as the drains and a 3/4" flex tube running from the return pump up towards the display. Then when my brother in law came over to see it he brought up hard plumbing it and adding in a few off shoots to run some other equipment I was going to add into the sump like my carbon and GFO canisters. I went with hard plumbing the return fully except for a 4" piece of flew tube coming off the return pump. I ran the plumbing straight up from the pump to a 90 degree elbow which went horizontally under the inside of the stand to 2 T valves for my GFS and carbon. I used 2 unions so I would be able to take it apart easily. The pvc then went into another T valve that led to the bulkhead and into the tank. After a few leak tests and breaking the plumbing apart numerous times I finally got it all sealed and attached.


I purchased my 50lbs of their Marco rock from reefsupplies and 80lb of sand from my LFS.

[Frictionless]

I purchased my 50lbs of their Marco rock from reefsupplies and 80lb of sand from my LFS.


I totally forgot about getting my RODI started because I was so excited about how things were going; and with my light arriving the next day I decided to drive back and forth to my LFS for water... It only took me 4 trips but I guess it was better than wasting all my own water and most likely the new RODI filters making all that water.

Fedex came super early the next day to drop off my Kessil, which came in a small box. Considering I grabbed the light and 2 mounting arms I was a little worried about whether or not everything was in there... but quickly opening the box up I saw all 3 pieces inside.

[Frictionless]

The light looked amazing and the mounting arms were finished in a sleek flat black coating. Putting it all together was simple aside from sliding the power cord from the light through the mounting arm to the power supply. This took some effort but was successful and we had power.




So far I am trying to play around with the light programming and trying to quiet down the plumbing a bit.
I have not put siding on the 3 sides of the tank, I have not decided how I want to finish it. I have a rough idea but have not found the items to make it happen.

[Frictionless]

I am not sure why pictures are not showing up, will try to add them later

[Frictionless]

[James404]

To get the pictures to show, just copy the BB Code link from your hosting site, not the direct.

Looks good so far, following along.

[fcmatt]

Why did you go with the dimensions of your tank? Prefer a top down view? 14 inches is so short for me. 20 inches is better :-)

[Frictionless]

Originally Posted by fcmatt

Why did you go with the dimensions of your tank? Prefer a top down view? 14 inches is so short for me. 20 inches is better :-)

I wanted a shallow tank that I didnt have to put my whole arm into to do any sort of work. With my 55g tank I had to put my whole arm into it to grab something from the sand bed. Also the chair I am using to sit in to look at my tank is high enough that I can look straight into the side of my tank perfectly.

[Frictionless]

Lets see if this works....
My overflow setup


Plumbing


Rocks and Sand


Water

[Frictionless]

So I have made a few small changes to my tank. I couldnt stand how loud the drains were being so I switched their jobs. Originally the right one was the main and the other being the emergency. However I was unable to have them wide open without the main constantly sucking air and making tons of air bubbles and burping noises. Being right next to my bedroom this was a no go. Switching the two worked and adding a small piece of tubing in one of the corners of the overflow made for a almost silent tank. If I had walls on my stand I dont think I would hear a thing, though my protien skimmer has not been turned on yet...

Just did a nitrate test and its reading around 1.5-2ppm, its been there for a few days now. Cant seem to find my ammonia or nitrite kit but they are probably too high anyways.

Yesterday my girlfriend and I went to a local barn board store I picked up on pieces of wood for the front of my stand. Always wanted it to be the face of the stand but was unable to think of a way to make a single door that was easy to take off and light. Found on another thread and amazing idea of how to do this I will add the link in. We painted the back of the wood in the same kitchen bathroom paint as the stand and currently waiting for it to dry.

We also purchased some floating shelves that we are going to put up on the wall near the tank to hold some of my fish stuff.

Thanks to all that have clicked on this thread

[Frictionless]

Found the link to his thread. Was an amazing idea of how to do this.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2642743

[James404]

Looks great so far, how long have you been cycling now? Looking forward to what you do with the stand. I think I saw the same thread with the easy to remove doors you are referring to.

[Frictionless]

Its been cycling for about 2 weeks so far

[Frictionless]

Lets see if this works. Figured out how to change my pictures down to size...

[Frictionless]

Tank is coming along somewhat well so far.

[Frictionless]

So currently I have a lot of green hair algae on my rocks. I think it was brought on by the new water / lights / using seed formula to start the tank going as well as the bag my clownfish and rbbta were transported in leaked while tempering them to the new tank water.

I bought a few Hanna checkers and so far everything is reading low. My alk is also very low. It should be coming back up in the next couple of days with the new bottles of B-Ionic i received today.

[Munster49]

Love the last aquascape