Matthew's 65g Skyward Reef

[Corallus]

You have about 10 minutes to save this build. I am about to glue this herbie style.

You could actually not glue the pipes into the bulkheads, and save the unions for something else. Wish I would have done that on my first plumbing job, makes it waaaay easier to clean out the overflow if you need to.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Playing with my rocks as i wait for critiques

 

[grizfyrfyter]

Plan for coral growth, long term. What corals do you want to keep? Build your rocks to suit those corals needs.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

You could actually not glue the pipes into the bulkheads, and save the unions for something else. Wish I would have done that on my first plumbing job, makes it waaaay easier to clean out the overflow if you need to.

This is a great idea. I don't know what lead me to the union idea.

 

[ridgebackreefer]

Playing with my rocks as i wait for critiques
View attachment 37841

What kind of look are you going for?
There’s a few different categories (or at least this is how I think of it):
1) The Miniature Landscape - appearance like a large reef shrunken down. Achieved by creating depth of field ie taller & larger elements in back with smaller shorter elements in front. Macro (back) > micro (front)
2) The Window - appearance like looking through a window underwater. Achieved by using relatively larger & similarly sized elements throughout the tank but important keep variety in shape of elements
3) The Abstract - appearance like whatever the hell you want. Would you find this look in nature? No. Do you get to play god and make your own rules? Yes! Achieved by breaking reality.

What you have going right now seems too uniform at least from your picture. I would introduce more variation in height of the structures from an aesthetic standpoint. From a reefing standpoint, more slope in structures would be nice for added coral real estate.

 

[Srt4eric]

You have about 10 minutes to save this build. I am about to glue this herbie style.

Ditch the unions and don't glue the pipes on that side.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

What kind of look are you going for?
There’s a few different categories (or at least this is how I think of it):
1) The Miniature Landscape - appearance like a large reef shrunken down. Achieved by creating depth of field ie taller & larger elements in back with smaller shorter elements in front. Macro (back) > micro (front)
2) The Window - appearance like looking through a window underwater. Achieved by using relatively larger & similarly sized elements throughout the tank but important keep variety in shape of elements
3) The Abstract - appearance like whatever the hell you want. Would you find this look in nature? No. Do you get to play god and make your own rules? Yes! Achieved by breaking reality.

What you have going right now seems too uniform at least from your picture. I would introduce more variation in height of the structures from an aesthetic standpoint. From a reefing standpoint, more slope in structures would be nice for added coral real estate.

You hit the nail on the head with this post. I really like the depth of field. Ill keep playing with it. Tbe aquarium is like 24 inches deep. Its becoming a challenge to get some height.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Ditch the unions and don't glue the pipes on that side.

Thank you for seconding this. Ill remove the unions.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Vinyl on, plumbing done, need to customize and cut sump lid. Still trying to figure out rockwork.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Filling the tank up. Onlu used 40 lbs of fiji pink. Netted about 1 inch bed on a 36x18in square. Special thanks to @Qwiv for the friz quickstart. Never used it to cycle. We'll see how it goes. Starting to try and source my female blue star wrasse.

 

[Qwiv]

Nice rock work. Finally happy how it turned out?

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Nice rock work. Finally happy how it turned out?

Very happy. Dialed in the siphon. A little disappointed how loud the hum is. From the Sicce 3.0 pumps. I may turn one off, but I like the flow and redundancy. Hmmm

 

[Qwiv]

Did you get the DC 3.0 or the regular one?

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Did you get the DC 3.0 or the regular one?

Running two regular ones. I may have to switch. I'm going to try some noise dampening foam insulation to the sump as well.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Cycling has begun. Should i do 4 month lights off?

 

[Qwiv]

thats probably overkill. Off until you can add fish, super low month after first fish, start ramping up lights after that and watch the tank and back off if you need to. I just had to back off my lights a tad. You can stock your low light corals at the top for a while while you ramp, and move them down while you up the lights. Just don’t add corals that need the full power lights for a while.

what style tank you shooting for?

 

[H2OPlayar]

Lots of modern reefers are saying add coral and lights right away. This could be something simple like a toadstool leather, but that will help with nutrient uptake and gives you something neat to look at.

 

[richiev]

Lots of modern reefers are saying add coral and lights right away. This could be something simple like a toadstool leather, but that will help with nutrient uptake and gives you something neat to look at.

Following onto this, and setting myself up for flaming, if you're familiar with reef tanks there's even some logic to doing things like anemones early. Put them in, let them walk around until they find a spot, and then lay out coral versus putting them in, letting them sting the shit out of your coral as they move around, and then deal with the aftermath.

Obviously not new reefer appropriate, but if you're familiar with keeping a tank it's not completely insane to add some types of coral early. Based on my experience trying it after getting back in, I'd advise avoiding sps though. Not because of the mythical "must keep the tank up 7.421 months before SPS" logic, but because I think it's difficult to keep reasonable nutrient levels until you have a fish load. Unless you just do nitrate and phosphate dosing I guess.

 

[Matthew Meyer]

Tank cycling fast since I added cycle products on 5/17. (Day 5)

Products used (given to me by @Qwiv ):
- friz turbo 9000??
- carb sea live sand x2 bags
- friz zyme 460
- Algae barn nitrocycle
- Tears from my neglected imaginary girlfriend.


Parameters today:
Ammonia 0.5
pH 7.8
Nitrite 0.5

 

[jhuynh]

im old school. take your time and go slow with lots of patience. since you are cycling with dead rock, id suggest you let the tank run its course and wait at least 45 days for a more stable biological system before you start doing anything with it. gives you time to think about your fish and coral goals / survivability reasons. you still need some type of powerheads for some water movement and of course a heater if you havent done so.