Lagoon Reef Build

[David Caplan]

Living in an apartment and being fairly limited on space, I have had to keep my systems very compact. Since I have re-arranged things and put some stuff into storage, I finally had room for a larger system. I had been looking around for a few weeks, and had trouble finding tanks that had the dimensions I was looking for to both fit comfortably in my apartment and for me to work in.

I decided to take a day off to go tank shopping around the GTA over my long weekend to see what I could find. Saturday, on my way to meet my dad who was joining me, I went to pick up a fish from a GTAaquaria member who was shutting down his quite new tank.


The tank was emptied out, cleaned, and moved into my apartment by night-time. Much less shopping than I was expecting.


Hardware:
Miracles 48"x18"x16" tall eurobraced
Glass sump, 33 gallon long
Return Pump: Eheim1262
Skimmer: Bubble magus curve 5 skimmer
Lights: Ecotech XR30 + XR15 on RMS-multi tank mount
Flow: Maxspect Gyre 130 and Ecotech MP10W
Heater: 2 200w
Reactor: 1x Phosban
Controller: Apex
LED Refugium Light

What's Left
Auto top off: ? ? Apex BOB?
1 more Phosban
XR15? XR30? (It may not need 2 XR30s, but not sure how an XR30 and XR15 will look together)

 

[TORX]

Sweet looking euro braced tank. This is an amazing set up. Love the Apex, just be patient with it. Not sure about titling this a peninsula tank as that normally comes out from the wall with the end against the wall.

BoB's are great, I DIY'ed one and love it.

 

[Strobe]

Nice tank, similar build quality to mine [emoji108]. Two xr30s would be best. I'm setting up two hydra 52's on my new build.

 

[David Caplan]

Sweet looking euro braced tank. This is an amazing set up. Love the Apex, just be patient with it. Not sure about titling this a peninsula tank as that normally comes out from the wall with the end against the wall.

BoB's are great, I DIY'ed one and love it.

Was trying to figure out what to call it. It was originally meant to be against the wall on that side, but I decided against it. I think Lagoon is more accurate, especially with what I am planning. I bought the BOB, so I will have to figure out how it works when I have some more time.

I decided to start with dry rock this time, and start everything fresh. I am drilling the rock with a diamond bit, gluing in nylon rods, and sealing the gaps with epoxy. I have some big plans, and hope I can hold everything in place. I taped off the tank size, and used the cardboard to show me how tall it was.


Some of the tools i'm using. Diamond points for the dremel, diamond blades for the saw, and a diamond hole bit for the drill. I took apart every piece of the plumbing, removed all thread sealant and plumber's putty, soaked it in double strength vinegar and thoroughly cleaned it all. I re-sealed all the plumbing with new sealant and putty.


While everything was being cleaned, I slowly filled the tank, mixed the saltwater and cut out the eggcrate for the bottom.

 

[TORX]

Holy crap. You are going to kill this build by the looks of it. I will be watching for sure.

 

[David Caplan]

Yesterday the tank was finally filled, and with the equipment having gone through some extremely intense cleaning, everything looks brand new. Tank is running, plumbing is dialed in.


I rinsed and added a layer of sand to fill in the egg-crate before my rocks go on top. Meanwhile, I have been working on my aquascaping plan and know how I would like to set it up. I drilled a couple rocks, glued in the nylon rod, and fitted on the epoxy.

While waiting for them to dry so I can continue, I visited Marsh @ FragBox. He went to Ecotech's HQ and had the staff call me to make sure I got the right track and setup for the multi-RMS mount. Already owning two tank mounts, I just bought a 48" track and the holders for the lights. I also picked up a Maxspect Gyre.


And now I am in the office at my desk wishing I was running around like a chicken with his head cut off working on the tank .

 

[TORX]

I see you have a fever and hear a slight cough. You may want to get home and rest before it gets worse.

 

[David Caplan]

Nice tank, similar build quality to mine [emoji108]. Two xr30s would be best. I'm setting up two hydra 52's on my new build.

Thanks! Is your tank as shallow as this one? An XR30 mounted on a rail with the standard lenses covers at least 24"-32"+, at least 24" of that spread has full coverage. On my 24" tank that is just a little more shallow than this one the XR15 is overkill, let alone the XR30. I have to run the XR30 at less than 15% intensity. I think I will be best off using the wide-angle lenses on either two XR15s on high intensity, or two XR30s on a lower intensity.

Holy crap. You are going to kill this build by the looks of it. I will be watching for sure.

Haha, I hope so. It is going to be a lot of fun.

I see you have a fever and hear a slight cough. You may want to get home and rest before it gets worse.

I used up my one-time yesterday . Maybe I can run it back tomorrow.

 

[Strobe]

Looking good, following along

 

[Strobe]

My tank is 24" tall , two xr15s would be fine but for full coverage I'm sure a lot of people would agree that two xr30s would be a better choice. They do have an expensive price tag though.. You should consider AI's Mabey two hydra 26's would be a good option

 

[David Caplan]

Thanks, I have the Radions already and a will be trying out the combinations when I have more done with the tank. I wish I had gone with a different company for the lights, as I have been very disappointed with both the Reeflink and their software. Their support has also been very poor.

 

[Kevin Tran]

Did you said radion software and their support are poor?

 

[David Caplan]

While the customizability of the lights is incredible, their software is buggy. My lights frequently go offline and all I can do is wait for the software to correct itself. I also have a Reeflink, which frequently looses connection. It also has no remote restart feature or virtual access, so when there is a power outage or an internet outage often the Reeflink needs to be manually reset. Another example is their mobile software that is very poorly programmed, defaulting the main screen to only a single tank when you have multiples. I still have yet to figure out how to turn on Feed Mode on my phone for my 2nd tank, as that feature is only acccessible from the home menu as far as I can tell. I also have the ecotech battery backup, although it has yet to be plugged in. I discovered immediately that putting devices on their battery backup meant that when the device was turned off on the Apex, the battery backup would kick in, and support told me there was no way around this.

 

[EricTMah]

How did I miss this?

Nice build! Keep them pictures coming

 

[heath]

holy molly, what a beautiful set up,, keep the pictures coming..

 

[David Caplan]

How did I miss this?

Nice build! Keep them pictures coming

holy molly, what a beautiful set up,, keep the pictures coming..

Thanks guys! I am running around so much, unfortunately all I've got are phone pictures so far.

The rock work is taking quite a while. Any piece that I attempted to epoxy without first drilling and inserting a nylon rod, broke off. This was true even for rocks that had little/no weight on them.

I have the two base rocks finished and the epoxy is set. Tonight I will put them in the tank and finish off my extension. Then I will drain the tank below the rock level, rod/epoxy on my extension, and the entire aquascape will end up being a single solid piece.


Meanwhile, I have installed the reactor, rinsed the sand and started working on the lights. When I asked Ecotech about the appropriate lighting for my tank, they suggested one XR15 closer to the overflow, and an XR30 on the other side, with wide-angle lenses. As the tank is so shallow, even with this combo I am going to have to watch the intensity.

I am unsure of what to do with the 2nd chamber in the sump. I was thinking either a refugium or a propogation area with some ornamental macro and mangroves. Also having trouble figuring out the water level for the skimmer. I am sure I either don't have the tank full enough, or the skimmer needs to be taken off the platform. Probably the former, but I will find out when I put one of those base rocks in.

May be a little hard to see, but the chamber on the right has a marking that says Good, the chamber in the middle has 3 markings and both the top and bottom say Bad. I am not sure what one refers to the water level with the return on or off.

 

[heath]

is the skimmer a bubble magus ? I have the curve 7, love it... google it and it will tell you, mine works best in 7 to 8" of water..once you get it twicked in they are a beast...
I marked my tank/sump with masking tape so that I know where the water should be, high and low levels and works great...I am sure that you will get it figured out pretty quick..
If you add a light I would put mangroves in the empty chamber or do a refurgium..

 

[David Caplan]

Yep, its a Curve 5. I have the manual as well, I am just trying to replicate how I saw the plumbing/sump running at it's previous owners house. He was a plumber and seemed very meticulous. He ran the skimmer in the 2nd chamber on top of an acrylic stand he made, so I am thinking the water level in the sump is the issue, rather than removing the acrylic stand.

I have a wonderful set of refugium lights, so I am definately doing some sort of algae in there. Either mangroves/dragons breath/frag rack or a big clump of caulerpa/cheato. I also need to figure out how hard the water pulls into the return pump chamber, and what to use to stop the algae from passing through.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah most skimmers like to be in 6-9" of water. Every skimmer is different tho. My SRO3000 works best in 6"of water.

 

[David Caplan]

Finally finished my base rock and got it in the tank. The low-hanging bridge is ready, and I drained the tank allowing the rock to dry to finish the rock work.


I had to makeshift a compartment to keep the refugium well separated from the pump. It is a F shaped eggcrate held together by nylon zip ties, with filter floss inside the gap of the F. I hope that makes sense to someone besides me. I will have to find a more permanent solution if I want to keep algae in that compartment.