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SupraSaltyReefer: Advanced Acrylics 160G Peninsula - House of Tangs

SupraSaltyReefer said:
01/12/2025
Emptied the Advanced Acrylics 60G frag tank (48x24x12”) and started disassembling the plumbing and sump. Both are for sale still! Don't mind the messy garage, it's organized chaos lol
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@sfsuphysics, the next few pictures will answer your curiosity. Advertised width of the rack is 24” wide, but if you add the shelf bars it's actually 26” wide. Since the tank is 30” I needed to add a 30” wide board between the shelf and tank. I bought a 3/4" 4' x 8' plywood from Home Depot and cut it down to 71.5" x 30.5". Gave it a extra 0.5" space for any discrepancies in measurement. Then sanded for smooth edges and no splinters!
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I had to cut a notch out to make room for the internal overflow drain and return pipes. Terrible crooked cut but not bad for only using a circular saw.
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The DeWalt rack came with this wire grid for the shelving so a few squares had to be cut and removed to make space. Bought a $12 bolt cutter from Harbor Freight for the job.
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My rough calculations worked out and the holes for the pipes was not blocked by the shelf bars. Yayyy!
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Harbor Freight Anti-Fatigue roll mat is always my go to for leveling mats for all my aquariums. It's 72" x 24" x 5/16" for $11. I needed two to cover the 30" width.
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I usually screw it down as well so it doesn't move when I'm sliding the tank around on top.
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This was roughly at midnight and I was anxious to get the tank on the rack so I decided to move the tank onto the rack myself. Don't try this with a glass tank! lol. Took a lot of maneuvering back and forth but managed to not crack the tank wheww! I've been recording this build so I can post the tank build to my YouTube channel!
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Almost there! and before you ask, yes thats all reef stuff in those bins up top :p
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and she's in place! Hallelujah!!!
Tank hangs about 3" in the rear and 1" on the front. Since I have a Aquarium Engineering MBA according to my calculations I should not have any issues with weight distribution lol
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Nice set up! I would have been more worried about scratching the Supra than the tank.;)
 
01/15/2025 - Plumbing day

I hate plumbing the most since it takes so much time to plan. I usually draw out the design so I can make sure to order enough bulkheads, pvc pipes, fittings and valves. Ordered the 1" and 3/4" Red pvc pipes from Home Depot online since it was cheaper than BRS. Home Depot sells Formufit branded pvc pipes. For about $29 you get two 5ft pvc pipes for a total of 10ft and free shipping. BRS has the cheapest fittings and Spears valves I could find.
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Using unions probably wasn't needed since the pipes goes straight down into the sump, but wanted to plan for the future in case I needed them.
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I used Oatey Fusion pvc cement since it's a single step and no primer is needed. Drys clear too.
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I'll be using a Ecotech Vectra M2 and S2 for my return pumps. Forgot to order new Vectra M2 3/4" barb fitting so luckily I had a 1" to 3/4" adaptor and extra union in the spare parts bin. I usually use a silicone tube as well since I heard it reduces vibration in the sump. Shout out to @finalphaze987 for lending me his spare fitting just in case. Luckily I didn't need any.
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Ta-Daaa!!! Main plumbing is complete. Unions on all the 1" drains. Main drain has a Spears gate valve and will drain into the Red Sea Reefmat 1200. Both 3/4" returns has Cepex ball valves. Rear return is connected to the Vectra S2 and the front return is connected to the Vectra M2. UV is temporarily mounted, might relocated it later. I plan on using a MightyJet pump for it since I want a slow flow.
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01/16/2025 - Leak test time
I let the plumbing dry for 24hrs. Time to fill her up everything and pray!
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Loc-Line is kinda long so might shorten them a bit. Water flow is looking good and so far no leaks!!!
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Temporary Internal overflow pipes. Will need to reconfigure and tweak the pumps it so there is no gurgling noise.
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Reused my Red Sea 650P sump from my ELOS tank so I could have more water volume. No leaks in the pipes so I'm happy! :)
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Time to drain and add sand and rocks! To be continued....
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Last edited:
I love the white for BB, interested to see how it holds up over time. There was a Brazilian guy on R2R with some legendary tanks that used a white BB bottom, although he was meticulous about keeping it clean!
 
ReyDeFarts said:
What an amazing tank! Congrats on the upgrade. Looking forward to seeing it with some livestock in there. Glad you decided on sand too. I haven't actually tried a BB tank yet, but I can't get over the fact that I like the look of sand.
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Thank you! My ELOS is BB so decided to go with sand this time around.


MarcosD said:
Are you getting a lid?
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I'm mostly going to keep tangs so the 4" euro brace should be good enough, in the event they jump than YOLO! lol


derek_SR said:
I love the white for BB, interested to see how it holds up over time. There was a Brazilian guy on R2R with some legendary tanks that used a white BB bottom, although he was meticulous about keeping it clean!
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I've seen some amazing BB tanks with white bottoms on IG, but I know I'm lazy and not that meticulous so sand was the wiser choice for me. Will be a challenge enough to keep the back wall and white overflow free of alage and coralline. How's your acrylic tank holding up?
 
01/17/2025 - Dirty sand

Over the past few years I’ve collected buckets upon buckets of sand from my previous tanks. I never throw them out because it’s Caribsea Special Grade sand that I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on. I believe it’s perfectly fine to reuse “old” sand as long as you rinse it out really really really well. This sand has been sitting outside for years in the sun and rain. As you can see it’s really dirty and brown and stinks!
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Gotta love the Special Grade grain size.
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More stinky dirty sand.
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After about an hour and tons of water I ended up with five 5g buckets half full.
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Getting ready pour in the sand. I had an extra 20lb bag of CaribSea Ocean Direct sand. Grain size was very fine so I decided to add a thin layer on top and towards the front of the tank for visual appeal.
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Sand is in! Sand bed is pretty thin only about 1.5”-2”
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Old Tonga branch structure I got from a buddy. Has also been sitting outside in the elements as well. I did however bleach it for a few days and rinsed it off and let it dry.
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Time to get her wet! Using fresh new saltwater I mixed with Instant Ocean Purple lid buckets.
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Tank is full! Now just heating up the water to 76 degrees with a BRS 300w heater and a 250w Eheim Jaeger heater.
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Added a bottle of Brightwell Microbacter 7 for good measure. Surface agitation is good but still need to dial in the flow so the tank turn over is not so much. I’ll be moving over most of the rocks from my ELOS tank tomorrow. That should help with cycling the tank.
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Awesome! Stoked to see this up and running.

So is the "don't use old sand" philosophy from the old days of reefing? I don't fully understand why, if precautions are taken to ensure its clean. I'd go as far as a bleach soak, but is that truly necessary? If I was upgrading a tank that had sand, is all of that sand not excellent microbiology seeding material? Even if I rinsed it clean with fresh s/w, it seems to me it would be good to use. I understand that some sand beds can have a high anaerobic population, which could be rinsed out right?
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Thank you! My ELOS is BB so decided to go with sand this time around.



I'm mostly going to keep tangs so the 4" euro brace should be good enough, in the event they jump than YOLO! lol



I've seen some amazing BB tanks with white bottoms on IG, but I know I'm lazy and not that meticulous so sand was the wiser choice for me. Will be a challenge enough to keep the back wall and white overflow free of alage and coralline. How's your acrylic tank holding up?
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Sadly, scratched all to hell. And I’m very careful, and have only ever used the $400 mighty magnet with the acrylic attachments and dobie pads.

Even the nori magnet has left a ton of scratches over time. Tank is only 19 months old too.

Next tank will be glass…
 
derek_SR said:
Sadly, scratched all to hell. And I’m very careful, and have only ever used the $400 mighty magnet with the acrylic attachments and dobie pads.

Even the nori magnet has left a ton of scratches over time. Tank is only 19 months old too.

Next tank will be glass…
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Interesting. I’ve been scared to use any magnet stuff for the same reason. All my cleaning has been done with some generic white sponges that Tu recommended and so far no visible scratching I can see. But I don’t have any coralline to remove as of now so maybe the problem will come later on
 
MarcosD said:
Interesting. I’ve been scared to use any magnet stuff for the same reason. All my cleaning has been done with some generic white sponges that Tu recommended and so far no visible scratching I can see. But I don’t have any coralline to remove as of now so maybe the problem will come later on
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You’re just sticking your arm in the tank every time you clean? Or are you using it on like a stick or something?
 
ReyDeFarts said:
Awesome! Stoked to see this up and running.

So is the "don't use old sand" philosophy from the old days of reefing? I don't fully understand why, if precautions are taken to ensure its clean. I'd go as far as a bleach soak, but is that truly necessary? If I was upgrading a tank that had sand, is all of that sand not excellent microbiology seeding material? Even if I rinsed it clean with fresh s/w, it seems to me it would be good to use. I understand that some sand beds can have a high anaerobic population, which could be rinsed out right?
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I would still start with fresh sand. Every tank has reached a different balance and what was good in your old tank might not be in your new tank. Saving money upfront might cost more later. Cleaning the sand thoroughly could be a compromise, but how do you know you got everything out? Sand does not cost so much compared to other things.
 
derek_SR said:
Sadly, scratched all to hell. And I’m very careful, and have only ever used the $400 mighty magnet with the acrylic attachments and dobie pads.

Even the nori magnet has left a ton of scratches over time. Tank is only 19 months old too.

Next tank will be glass…
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Mine got also too many scratches. I blame the urchins. Since I got the expensive Mighty Magnet, there were more. Not sure if this is worth the money tbh.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Mine got also too many scratches. I blame the urchins. Since I got the expensive Mighty Magnet, there were more. Not sure if this is worth the money tbh.
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I haven’t seen urchins do any damage, or do you think the scratches are from the chunks of rock and shell they are carrying around? I guess this is possible but my scratches are all very obviously from swiping motions. The magnet has its risk but the mighty magnet is the only option that doesn’t scratch by default (ALL scraper types will scratch, regardless of the product claims, including the tunze. And the “soft” padding on the popular Flipper brand also scratches, FYI to all).

I think most of the scratching comes from bits of corralline and other debris getting trapped between the magnet and the glass, it doesn’t take much to scratch at all. This problem exists when using a dobie/magic eraser by hand also, though. These methods don’t actually work against corralline, they work well enough just to remove tiny little bits.

I haven’t even tried cleaning corralline specifically yet - I’m sure that’s going to be absolute carnage. As a result, no matter how diligent I am with cleaning, corralline is slowly taking over in the corners and edges.

MarcosD said:
Oh I just stick my arm in
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Oh man, I could not do that every day. I do the entire tank by hand once a week or so with a dobie and it’s a massive chore. I have to use the magnet every day or else the tougher algae builds up - increasing the likelihood of scratching in the future. The problem is cleaning every day also causes scratching.

The whole process just feels like a losing battle that’s a lot of work and a constant source of stress and anxiety. In a lower light tank that didn’t require so much glass cleaning it might not be so bad, but it’s way too much of an issue for an SPS tank, in my case.
 
derek_SR said:
I haven’t seen urchins do any damage, or do you think the scratches are from the chunks of rock and shell they are carrying around? I guess this is possible but my scratches are all very obviously from swiping motions. The magnet has its risk but the mighty magnet is the only option that doesn’t scratch by default (ALL scraper types will scratch, regardless of the product claims, including the tunze. And the “soft” padding on the popular Flipper brand also scratches, FYI to all).

I think most of the scratching comes from bits of corralline and other debris getting trapped between the magnet and the glass, it doesn’t take much to scratch at all. This problem exists when using a dobie/magic eraser by hand also, though. These methods don’t actually work against corralline, they work well enough just to remove tiny little bits.

I haven’t even tried cleaning corralline specifically yet - I’m sure that’s going to be absolute carnage. As a result, no matter how diligent I am with cleaning, corralline is slowly taking over in the corners and edges.



Oh man, I could not do that every day. I do the entire tank by hand once a week or so with a dobie and it’s a massive chore. I have to use the magnet every day or else the tougher algae builds up - increasing the likelihood of scratching in the future. The problem is cleaning every day also causes scratching.

The whole process just feels like a losing battle that’s a lot of work and a constant source of stress and anxiety. In a lower light tank that didn’t require so much glass cleaning it might not be so bad, but it’s way too much of an issue for an SPS tank, in my case.
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Is that issue enough to make you wish you went with glass instead? If you got another tank in the future would go still go with acrylic?
 
derek_SR said:
Oh man, I could not do that every day. I do the entire tank by hand once a week or so with a dobie and it’s a massive chore. I have to use the magnet every day or else the tougher algae builds up - increasing the likelihood of scratching in the future. The problem is cleaning every day also causes scratching.

The whole process just feels like a losing battle that’s a lot of work and a constant source of stress and anxiety. In a lower light tank that didn’t require so much glass cleaning it might not be so bad, but it’s way too much of an issue for an SPS tank, in my case.
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Oh maybe that’s why I haven’t really seen an issue. My tank is mainly zoas and LPS so not running any crazy PAR. I also don’t need to clean my panels daily. I usually do like once a week sometimes I’ll go a little longer if I’m lazy lol
 
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