DIY Concrete Aquarium 5,000 gallon - Anderson Family Reef

[Bbaz123456]

It’s been a fun process and way more work than I anticipated. Super rewarding though as I complete each step! I’ll need 10 years time to want to do this again

Haha, 10 years was just about right for me. It's been several years since I've been on r2r. And just over 10 years since my last build...a 1500 gallon. That was exhausting and I really thought I was done after that. Guess what...here I am looking at your build and kicking around ideas for my next one. I have 2 more years of posts to read to get caught up on your build but so far very impressed with your extreme over-building (especially at the worst time in our lifetimes for buying materials... 2022 may have been a little worse. )
I look forward to checking out the rest of this and hopefully picking up some ideas before I start mine.
My 1 question as of now, how you feel about the acrylic panels so far?
I swore I'd never ever do another acrylic tank...my existing tank is an 8.5' acrylic octagon that's so scratched up, I hate it!
I'm coming back to reality and realizing that there's a reason nobody uses glass for monster tanks.

 

[dca22anderson]

Haha, 10 years was just about right for me. It's been several years since I've been on r2r. And just over 10 years since my last build...a 1500 gallon. That was exhausting and I really thought I was done after that. Guess what...here I am looking at your build and kicking around ideas for my next one. I have 2 more years of posts to read to get caught up on your build but so far very impressed with your extreme over-building (especially at the worst time in our lifetimes for buying materials... 2022 may have been a little worse. )
I look forward to checking out the rest of this and hopefully picking up some ideas before I start mine.
My 1 question as of now, how you feel about the acrylic panels so far?
I swore I'd never ever do another acrylic tank...my existing tank is an 8.5' acrylic octagon that's so scratched up, I hate it!
I'm coming back to reality and realizing that there's a reason nobody uses glass for monster tanks.

That’s awesome, glad you are back!!

the acrylic panels are good for many things. Only drawback in my humble opinion is the scratches… but even those can be buffed out so I’m still happy with my choice.

welcome along this crazy journey!!

 

[dca22anderson]

I was invited to speak about the build of our aquarium at the local reef club (Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society) last Thursday.

It was a lot of fun seeing many old reefing buddies and making some new ones!

My whole family came out to have a listen. Fun times!

 

[dca22anderson]

Frag tank full of frags from Sunnysidecorals.com… so stoked to get these into their homes in the show tank!

 

[dca22anderson]

Finally had a chance to dive the tank and move some SPS to their forever homes! Fingers crossed!

That was about a 50 minute dive and I got a ton of stuff moved into better spots!!

Still have all the frags in the frag tank to move too but that will have to be another day! LOL!

Placed a huge rock on the Hydro Wizard DIY mount to keep the front of it down when I crank it up to 50%… tank is flowing nicely again!!

 

[dca22anderson]

Quick photo dump after the dive…

 

[Fungusamongus]

That looks like sooo much fun. Gorgeous!

 

[dca22anderson]

Current bigs in the tank!!

 

[dca22anderson]

One of these beasts, I’m not naming any names, is snapping slimers

Like a bull in a China shop!!

 

[dca22anderson]

RR Rainbow Loom & Walt Disney with some palys in between

 

[dca22anderson]

Granulosa full lights, front and center

 

[dca22anderson]

Top rear corner (where I can reach and glue without diving)…

 

[dca22anderson]

5 sheets of Nori zip tied to a pipe. Morning feeding on the reef.

 

[dca22anderson]

Reefs getting crowded… love the blue on this Oregon tort… sorry, pictures are from 5’ away through some dirty viewing panels…

 

[dca22anderson]

Full lights tank update May…

 

[Dcal]

Looks awesome as always! Is the brevirostris the biggest in the tank currently?

 

[dca22anderson]

Looks awesome as always! Is the brevirostris the biggest in the tank currently?

I really have 5 bigs right now:

1 - Naso annulatus (white margin unicorn)
2 - Naso vlamingii (vlamingii)
3 - Acanthurus xanthopterus (yellowfin surgeonfish)
4 - Naso hexacanthus (sleek unicornfish)
5 - Naso brevirostris (spotted unicornfish)
6 - Orangespot rabbitfish

 

[bradreef]

Looking good!!

The 2 biggest of those fish couldn't even turn around in my 75 gallon. Those fish are huge in person and thick.

 

[dca22anderson]

Looking good!!

The 2 biggest of those fish couldn't even turn around in my 75 gallon. Those fish are huge in person and thick.

They are a lot bigger in person... Thanks for swinging by with your son Brad! You guys are awesome!!

 

[McPuff]

That brevirostris is going to be better and better as it grows. Very cool fish that the average person really could not/should not have. Looking forward to seeing more pics!