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Bluemoon's 80g Rimless - Swimming in the shallows.


Bluemoon

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Well, In a spate of ambition. It's finally time to start documenting this build, and so I can delete some pictures off my phone!

Here we go.

Background:

This will be the 3rd iteration of "my grand"(- iose) reef that this livestock will be going through, and we've become quite the lagooners. Before the current makeshift home they were in this tank:

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And then this tank

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And will eventually be going in this tank:

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Where everyone is currently:b891d3fcdf85c2d4047d1c8009fe3e70.jpg

The following few posts will document the progress from the stand build to where we are today with the rocks. Keep posted, and please remind me to keep posting!

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Awesome. I'm really liking these wide shallow tanks, the tall narrow ones are proving to be very difficult to scape for me. Coral just don't like to grow upward under high light, and sufficiently lighting these shallower ones is much easier.

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I've heard legendary stories of the Bluemoon build thread but I always thought it to be a myth! Look what I have stumbled across today! It's like finding a lost tomb in the middle of a rain forest!

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

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I've heard legendary stories of the Bluemoon build thread but I always thought it to be a myth! Look what I have stumbled across today! It's like finding a lost tomb in the middle of a rain forest!

Be careful Indiana!

IJ_rockroll-cropped.gif

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Awesome. I'm really liking these wide shallow tanks, the tall narrow ones are proving to be very difficult to scape for me. Coral just don't like to grow upward under high light, and sufficiently lighting these shallower ones is much easier.

Completely agree. I think shallow tanks have a better chance of avoiding the shadowing issues of LEDs. The scape is going to minimalist for this build as well.

00363b92118d72c6b43f82633ffed362.jpg075d6ea724d6caf636ebb01fa34d793c.jpg

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Oooohhh I dig that shelf rockscape.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks peter! There will be a few pieces of live rock from the old tanks added as well when I begin transferring things over.

I'm also not completely set on the rock scape to the right.

Update:

The canopies been completed. I have to say this was one of the hardest to conceive - easiest to perform projects I've had related to reef keeping.

I knew I wanted the floating canopy look to hide my LET t5 retrofit kit , but was unsure how to accomplish a clean look.

After a lot of research(I.E copying awesome ideas from other reefers using this high-tech Gadget I think they call oogle), head scratching and literally laying awake pondering... I came up with this.

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The LEDs are mounted to medium duty brackets from Home Depot, with 3/4" aluminum c channel as extensions to get the Lights out over the tank. These c-channels also support the full width of the hood, which was a really pleasant realization as my biggest concern was potential sagging towards the front of the canopy.

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The LET retrokits will be screwed into small blocks that have been glued into the canopy, The canopy, with t5s attached, can be lifted off if necessary.

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Now after brushing the aluminum burrs off and feeling like a man. I think I may have hung the entire ensemble a bit too high. I wanted to maintain access to the entire tank, with the canopy in place, but I think I may have over done it by a few inches. Right now the LEDs are 12-13in from the rim of the tank, and will be almost 28-29in to sand bottom. Thoughts?

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  • 1 month later...

Long over due for an update. A lot has progressed with the tank!

 

My original plan was to use the old tank for the sump. The dimensions were perfect to maximize water volume under the tank.

 

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but after an undiscovered leak (not finding the source will haunt my OCD! ) and 2 weeks of failed attempts to repair by smothering weld-on 16 around the seams. I decided it was probably best just to scrap the old acrylic. Bit the bullet and ordered a trigger off brs.

 

 

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Looking back, it may have been a blessing in disguise. If something happens now, I can pull the sump out of the stand without draining the display.

 

I took advantage of the sumpless intermin to replace the Durso style plumbing with a herbie setup. After having silent tank before, i just couldn't stand dursos gurgling.

 

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After the a few weeks of slowly moving rocks over and using old water from the holding tank for water changes - it was time to make the move!

 

 

One last shot before the transfer.

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And we're off!

 

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And after a quick round of scaping

 

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 Sadly, my 3 year old pistol shrimp was no where to be found during the move, and his ywm goby pal made the leap of fate, and was found on the carpet Monday morning. Would have been the last guy I would pin for a jumper.

 

It's a bummer, but everything else is doing okay so far.

 

 Like some others on the boards, I am away from home for a few days at a time. So in this thread I'll also document the challenges of maintaining a tank remotely, and hopefully bask in the aww of sps growth every-time I return.

 

My view of the tank right now...

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Up next will be the stocking!

Over the next week I plan to move in the chromis that make it out of qt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Just catching up with your build. Wow! I love the dimensions and rockscape. Are the rock shelves glued to the overflow?


Hey Kim! Welcome aboard! The rocks are not actually attached to the overflow but instead are 2 separate pieces of shelf rock with a tonga branch glued in between.
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The left and right sections come apart and Can be lifted from the tank if needed.


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yeah, that scaping looks great.  Can't wait to see what you do with it.


Love the scape!


Thanks guys. Hopefully it'll be covered in corals soon. Planning for sps on all of the left structure and along the top of the right.




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Update:

 

The tank has its first round of fish stocked successfully!

 

 

Lesson learned about leaving the tank: forget about filter socks. I noticed over the past 2 weeks - the 3 days I'm gone is just too long for one filter sock to go, and I've ended up with an adverse water level in the sump because of it. So the plan moving forward will be to have socks on for 4 days, off for 3.

 

Eventually I may ditch them all together, but while everything continues to settle in I'd prefer to keep the sump clean.

 

 

 Up next will be the quarantining of a new pistol shrimp and goby pair. Hoping to find a nice yasha this time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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