55 gallon build- teddyzaper

ok, so here i go, i dont know why i havent done this, i guess i havent been bored enough lol, anyways, its almost 12 and i got nothing better to do......

this will be my progress of my new 50 gallon acrylic tank.

i plan on documenting this process with as many pictures as possible to get whats in my mind out. so withought further adoue, heres the tank!

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ok so lets start with the rock structure:
on the left side there will be a large rock wall, that slopes foward, that will then pull off to a sky bridge. that will then go to a big plateau on the right side of the tank. behind the rock wall there will be egg crate, to creat a small cave for the fish to call thier home. providing a place to hide completly out of view will actualy make the fish feel more comfortable to come out and explore the rest of the tank for you to view, because they know if they sense danger they can just go and hide in thier hole.

here is a quick sketch up that i made. the first one is a 2d layout of the rock and the next one is with the stand and everything. i couldnt add the sky bridge in 3d because, well half im lazy, but its really hard to draw floating pieces.
P.S. i took them with my camera because i dont want to instal a screen capture like hypercam
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Fish:
for this tank i plan to keep it reef safe with predatory fish. this means i will have to be very selective with my fish. i really did take a lot of reaserching and studying to get the fish with the best chance of not only survival but prosparity. ive decided to go very minimal, but i still want bigger sized fish because i like the feeling of big fish and i feel that i become more attached to them and they recognize me more. the whole tank will be developed around the needs of these fish so keep that in mind when viewing the rest of this thread.

so heres my fish list with pictures of coure
one snowflake eel.
i chose this fish, from a few reasons, my dad had one before i was born and both my parents were in love with it, ive always wanted eels, in freshwater and now saltwater, and its one of the only eels that would fit comfortably in my sized aquarium.
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one fu man chu lionfish.
ive always been awestruck by the beauty of lionfish, i remember being a little boy (3 yrs old) and going to the london aquarium and watching them for at least 30 min. i chose the fu man chu because the color paterns are stunning, and i dont want to be afraid of getting poisoned. these lionfish are less agressive and wont flare its fins at me, rather it will most lively run away. these are also rock dwelling fish so the rock structure will be greatly caves and other structures.
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one clown frogfish
i chose this fish, because it will add GREAT color to my tank. they dont really move, but i find them very interesting creatures, and was always amused by the deep sea anglerfish in finding nemo (my favorit movie). even though it doesnt look the same, i feel a connection because they are in the same family.
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i chose these fish because they are all very calm fish and will not disturb the peace that i am trying to achieve. i dont want a school of fish running back and forth, because i want people to have to look at my tank a long time to find the small beautys, which will hopefully be hidden but in view, which is what my rock structure will hopefuly achieve.

inverts:
with my stocking list, all the fish will eat any invert in the tank, so all im keeping is an anemone, maybe a clam and a starfish. im still looking into a clean up crew (CUC), but im thinking just red legged and blue legged hermit crabs, some large turbo snails and maybe some astrea snails, but again i dont think they will last forever because all my fish will eat them if they get the chance.

corals:
this will be the most dificult part of this tank, there are just soooooo many corals to chose from it took me forever to chose. on the left side, where the rock wall is, will be the SPS section. there will be birdsnest, acropa, montiporas, and probably some acans.
on the bridge section, i will have mushrooms then on the sides there will be montiporas hanging off towards the front. on the flat section, there will probably be my small frags, and softies/LPS. on the small rock in the middle i will have a "valley" of green star polyps (gsp). i got the insperation from all the intersting designs and rockwork on reef central (not promoting or demoting this sight), a lot of users on there cement their rocks together to create what used to be imposible rock structures. this is how i will create my bridge.

equiptment:
so for all you people that like this kinda stuff ill post it up. i will be using either an octopus skimmer (http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-PS160-Protein-Skimmer-p/43013.htm)
OR a SWC cone skimmer (http://saltwaterconnection.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=115)

i will have either, 500 watts of MH. 150 watt MH, and a T-5 108 watt. or a 150 watt MH with 108 watts of PC.

i will make my own sump out of a 20 gallon long. i will post a short post on how to make it when i start.

there will also be a plumbed in 7.5 gallon tank, that will have a mantis shrimp and be my SPS paradise.




please tag along for this awsome build! i love doing these buids and get really into it. i start taking pics of everything at right it all down in detail, so there will be how to plumb an overflow, how to make a sump, how to make a stand and many more cool DIY projects to come, so stick around and find out!!!!

WOAH BABY! you got yourself a heck of a plan buddy! jeeeeez, that is the most in depth, well thought out planning Ive seen to any at home tank! Just awesome!

Gotta question for ya, since you sound well read on SW.... As little as I know, doesnt the corals raise PH too high for the fish you've chosen? Or was that all in the planning?? Is there SW fish that are not suppose to be housed with corals??

Keep us updated on the progress!

coral will not raise the PH unless its dead. the whole point of saltwater is to keep the PH around 8.0-8.5, the salt will naturaly raise it along with the calcium in the water when it reacts to the salt.

the only way a fish is "not reed safe" is when it will eat the corals. many fish eat corals, triggers, butterfly, groupers, and many many more. thanks for posting!

so today, i will start the stnad.ill post a how to here and in the DIY section for other referances because its not just a saltwater stand gotta go ask the neighbors if i can borrow thier power tools lol

Hey, just cruising around the site and wondering how your tank is coming along!

too bad he is no longer with us lol

lol @ too bad..

Well okay, sounds like its a good thing. I wont ask why!