GUnit's Mixed Material 60g

[gunit]

So I figure this might be a bit early, but I wanted to start my build thread for this tank as I'm finally at the stage where I'll be ordering up the stand and piecing together this tank.

My plan is to have a 50g display tank with a sump hidden in the cabinet below. My plan is to have this be a mixed reef and as low maintenance/automated as possible since I travel enough where I don't want to worry if I have to leave it be for a week or so.

The space I'm planning it fitting is about a 36" long x 15" deep area in my office and want to try to get this to be as silent as possible since it'll also be close to the main hallway in my apartment so I don't want the tank noise to take over.

I'm currently having a 36"x15"x22" tank being built via Matt at Aqua Exotic. It'll have 3 pre-drilled holes in the center of the tank. Hopefully I'll be getting that in the next couple weeks so I'm trying to nail down my stand and sump designs.

Here is what I'm thinking for the stand

I wanted the shelves off to the right so a) the tank fits in a bit more with the room and doesn't take over since the office is kinda small b) I figure I might be able to use one of the shelves to house a QT tank when I need it c) its a compromise with my GF so there is still some "functional" use to at least some of the space the tank is taking up

Anyway I'm curious what people think about the stand idea and my sump design I posted over in DIY.

 

[rygh]

You might regret having those shelves there.
Aesthetically, it looks a bit lopsided. Smaller shelves on both sides?
But really:
First, you will run out of room really fast under the tank.
Second, you will end up putting ugly test kits, chemicals, etc, on those shelves, which are
better stashed inside out of sight.

 

[neuro]

can't agree more with @rygh

you want to maximize the sump space. you never know how much room you're going to need.
you can always buy a standing cabinet to hide your supplies.

i underestimated myself, and should have doubled my original design's sump space.

 

[gunit]

I can't believe that it has been 4 months since I first posted about this build. After awhile waiting on the tank; then the stand; and finally for me to have time, I finally got the tank mostly setup!

Tank on stand and all plumbed.

Tank wet with my LR that I was curing cycling in a trash can while I waited on the tank to be ready.

I'm still working on getting the canopy dialed for lights. That's about a week or so off but given I still want to make sure that my tank is cycled, aquascaped and a few other loose ends I'm not too worried.

I'll probably move my Bangaii from my Nuvo 16 over first. Does anyone have experience with them and wrasses? I'll probably end up going pretty wrasse heavy in this tank and want to make sure I add things in the right order.

 

[650-IS350]

reefsafe wrasse won't pay them attention from my previous experience

 

[rygh]

I have several Wrasse and Bangaii. No issues.

One thing though : If you plan to end up Wrasse heavy, don't bother with shrimp or other small inverts.

 

[gunit]

And it is officially up and running. Got the canopy on, let it do its diatom bloom and made sure things were stable before adding my Clownfish pair. Also pulled a few new frags out of my QT as it tear it down and re-setup it for my upcoming wrasse purchases.

Here is a FTS (sorry about the bad phone quality)

And a bit further out so people can get a sense for the stand too.

My clowns hanging out in their corner...

 

[650-IS350]

nice dragons breath macro