Vankirk's 57 gal rimless reef saga

I thought I would finally start a thread to help me keep track of, and show the progress of my 57 gallon rimless reef tank.

But before I start, I would like to thank all of my fellow 3reefer’s who, directly or indirectly, helped to get me to where I am today.
THANK YOU!!! YOU GUYS AND GALS ROCK!!!

I started this tank July 10th 2010. I used 50lbs of new base rock and 25lbs of nuked rock from my first try at a saltwater, a 29 gallon “algae farm” tank haha. I kicked off the cycle with a bag filled with table shrimp and silversides for a week. Then a few weeks later, I transferred a couple fish and a few soft corals from the old tank.

Month 2 was a severe case of diatoms.

Then, for the next YEAR AND A HALF I fought GHA, Red cotton candy algae, bubble algae, and cyanobacteria. Sometimes I thought I had it licked, I’d buy some corals only to watch them die off one way or another. Some survived, most didn’t. I can’t tell you how close I came to giving up and selling everything.

At the beginning of 2012 I decided that I would give it one last shot before I gave up completely. I simplified my setup and made several changes all at once. I wouldn’t normally do that but I was desperate. Unfortunately I don’t know exactly what the fix or the combination of changes I made that eliminated the algae. Either way I'm gonna stick with what I have now because I’ve been algae free for 4 months!!!

I have been trying to keep sps corals, with limited success, over the past year. Since defeating the poor water quality issue I've FINALLY started to feel like I can have a tank that I can be proud of. So, 10 weeks ago I bought 16 sps frags at a local swap. So far they are ALL still alive and MOST are encrusting and holding their colors.

Here is a current picture of my tank. A list of equipment and some pictures from the past 2 years to come.

Thank you for your time.

 

nice aquascaping IMO Vankirk
that tank looks really bright and clean on the images

the experience accumulated, will prove very valuable to you and in fact to others who experience similar issues

Steve

 

Very pretty tank, congrats on sticking with it and succeeding.

I think we make things too difficult for ourselves and just need to do the simple things well.

 

absolutely gorgeous tank!

 

Rimless I love those, in my next lifetime congrats

 

Thanks everyone, I truly appreciate it.

Here's a list of what I use as of now.

57 gallon Oceanic Illuminata Rimless
Aquaticlife 36” T-5 234 watt fixture
Bulbs are 4-ATI Blue Plus, 1-fiji purple, 1-GE 6500k
Glass-holes 700 gph overflow kit
Reef Octopus NWB-110 4” skimmer
20 gallon long DIY sump
DIY stand
2- TLF phosban 150 reactors 1 carbon & 1 GFO
Danner mag 9.5 return pump
75 lbs rock
1-2”Of fine sand
1-hydor koralia 2
2-hydor evo 750
Via aqua titanium heater 300w
Reef keeper lite runs heater, cooling fan, and 2 small nano pumps in sump
Tunze 5017 ATO
Spectra pure 90gpd ro/di
Recently switched to red sea coral pro salt
Bulk reef supply GFO,and 3 part alk,calcium, mag
Test kits hanna digital checkers for alk and phosphate, salifert for calcium
I also use poly filter between the baffles in the sump to catch larger particles.
I'm sure there's more, just can't remember at the moment.

 

I found some pics I took during set-up. First time I drilled glass. Turned out to be easier than I thought. Loud though haha. Couple pics of the stand. I'm satisfied with stability, but I'm thinking of redoing the finish. And the last is one of the plumbing.

 

LOL, I felt the same when when I drilled my tank. I almost didn't need water to cool the bit I was sweating so hard.

 

Very nice, it looks really clean.

I have a very similar set up... 50 gallon (wish I went with your tank!), 2x TLF reactors for GFO and carbon, 6x T5 light, etc... I have had decent results with it too.

I really like the way you have your light hanged. The Aquatic Life T5 fixture is a lot better looking than my Tek light.