Thinking of taking the plunge into reef keeping

[fermentedhiker]

I've been tossing the idea around for awhile now. It would be awhile before I get to it, as I'm in the process of setting up two 40B and 4 20L freshwater tanks in my fishroom/office. This would be my only tank outside of the fishroom. I've never kept a marine tank before. But I've always enjoyed reading up on what people are doing for reef setups.

I'm in the process of remodeling my kitchen and have been thinking about integrating a tank into the kitchen island. The island would be a standard 48" set of base cabinets and countertop. The back of the island would be the beginning of the tank stand. The tank itself would have its bottom even with the countertop and thus be viewable from both directions, kind of like window I guess.

The layout would have the live rock piled centrally so it would be a different side of the reef depending on which side of the tank you are on. None of the rock would rest against the front or back glass.

In order to give me room to run plumbing on either side of the display tank, since nothing could go on the front or back I was leaning towards a 65gallon tank with a length of 36" The base would contain as large of a sump as I can fit and would house the skimmer, heaters and return pump. I'm thinking of hiding the refugium above the display tank in what look like a set of shallow cabinets(like you see above refrigerators) which would have a real set of matching cabinets facing the other way above the island counter. I have two soon to be spare 10gallon tanks and was leaning towards using one of them as a refugium and the other possibly as a cryptic zone. Both would gravity drain through an overflow into the display tank.

Lighting would either be T5HO or LED or a combo, still need to do a lot of research.

I haven't reached the stage of figuring out how and how much to generate additional flow. Powerheads are the obvious choice, but I would like to keep as much of the support stuff out of the display tank as possible.

For stocking I haven't made any real decisions at this point. A lot will depend on what will reasonably fit in this tank and be compatible both with each other and the reef life.

I like the idea of a clownfish pair(not sure what species stays the smallest, but I would lean towards that because of the tanks modest size)
I also like the idea of a blenny pistol shrimp pair as I think that is a fascinating relationship to be able to observe in the aquarium
After that hmmm I like mandarin fish(although I hear they are tricky to get to eat), hawkfish, and I would love some variety of dwarf angelfish(although I've read that they aren't really reef "safe" and will potentially eat/damage corals). As I said nothing definite yet and I'm open to advice on what and how many fish this system could healthfully support.

At this point I have no specific must haves on the coral and other reef organisms, lots of reading ahead

Any thoughts on how feasible this sounds? Also do you have any suggested reading material, as I may be going in for shoulder surgery soon and will have a lot of time on my hands.

Thanks
Adam

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Plans sound pretty good, on the right foot with a 65g since you want both sides to be displayable you want as much room as possible for aquascaping to leave enough open space on both sides, 18" should give you enough space to have corals on the substrate on both sides.

Some extra circulation pumps will be necessary returns wont give enough output for most corals, certainly not for any SPS or other high flow coral.

Dwarf angels are hit or miss if they'll nibble on coral's, a couple types are less likely but no guarantee's. Mandarin is doable in a 65g with a fuge, you'll want to introduce copepods once the system is cycled and preferably wait awhile before adding the mandarin. Percula's and Oscelaris are the smaller commonly available clowns.

 

[fermentedhiker]

Thanks for the reply.

I figured I would need additional circulation. I just wasn't crazy about the looks of several powerheads in full view. I considered a couple of ideas but I'm not sure if they would work(or I should say work well enough). The first was to make dump trays(similar to what you see in some algae scrubbers) and have the output of the fuge and the cryptic zone tanks empty into it. As it filled to the tipping point it would flip and send a surge through the tank. Sizing would be an issue as if it was too big it might make a wave that would slosh right over the opposing side of the tank. Also making it small enough not to splash over might mean it's too small to generate a useful amount of surge.

The other idea was to use an oversized siphon drain into the sump, and run a second return pump and plumb it to nozzles specifically placed to create flow.

Lots of things to think about.

 

[Coel03]

Something I'm toying with for my power heads is actually burying them in live rock. Like buying a larger than needed piece and hollowing it out to place over the power head. That way you can have a chunk of rock in the corner thats actually for a purpose with out sacrificing aesthetics.


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[TL1000RSquid]

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewi..._campaign=mdcsegooglebase2&utm_content=TZ1251

 

[mudskipper10]

updates?

 

[mudskipper10]

soory about my last post didnt see you posted this week

 

[SubRosa]

I need to have two cups of coffee before I reply to posts!

 

[fermentedhiker]

updates?

No need to apologize. Although there won't really be any updates on this thread exactly. This is more of a brainstorming post to have people point out what I'm not thinking of, or a better idea than I have considered etc.... It will be sometime next year before I'm in a position to start this, but I will certainly start a dedicated build thread when I do.

I'm currently absorbed in hand digging out my dirt basement to prepare for pouring a concrete floor........less mud and moisture will be a nice thing. After that it's finishing my six new FW tanks(2 40b and 4 20l) that i'm setting up in my office/fishroom. One 40b(which I should probably start a build thread for will be a community tank with some dwarf cichlids and gobies, the other will be either a dedicated Otter Point Jake breeding trio, 1 20l is going to be a hillstream setup for stiphondon, the 2nd a hillstream setup for greenside darters, the 3rd a setup for some betta coccina, and the 4th is undecided at this point, but I'd like something that will eat the culls from my other tanks and be interesting in it's own right.

By spring I should be well on my way with those and be able to turn my attention to redoing the kitchen including this display tank.

And now I hear the guinea keets begging to be fed

I'm still looking for any ideas/suggestions anyone has.

Thanks

Adam

 

[SubRosa]

Since you have a basement put the sump and everything there. It will be so much nicer having that stuff on a nice open shelf, rather than tucked underneath a cabinet when it comes time to work on it. You'll have to go a bit bigger on the return pump, but the trade off in ease of maintenance and noise reduction is a good one. For your added circulation consider closed loop systems. Drill the tank for a couple of inlets and plumb the returns over the top. Much less visible in the tank, and unlike with the return pump you won't lose much flow if you locate the pumps in the basement since the inlet and outlet are both submerged. You lose a bit from the added length of pipe, but none because of head height. And again, all the noise and heat are far away from the tank.