Tell me what you think

[rrr757]

Let me know what you all think of my new tank, my freind is almost done building it.

Specs.
50+ gallon, half circle, custom acrylic tank
175 and 250 watt bulb/ballast/ CSL prism pendant housing with 2X36 watt PC
The canopy will house the prism pendant, on a support system to where it can be raised or lowered.

I have not decided whether to go with the 175 or the 250 watt since the height of this tank is only 18 inches, any suggestions would be great.

Tell me what you think of the tank...
thanks
RRR

[The Unit]

WOW....i like it...i would go with the 250 as u never know if your gona wont it to be bright after u do the 175.....also sps do better under the250 and its not that much more[$]....keep us posted

[rrr757]

Thanks Unit,

I plan to set it up in a year when i buy a bigger townhome. I think i will start off with the 250 and see how it goes from there.

RRR

[Dean812]

Really cool! Is that round!? Id go 250 by the way.

[jstlsn]

Very nice. Custom stuff always looks the best!

Definitely the 250s

Brad

[rrr757]

Well its kinda a half circle..

Dimensions as i can best describe it

width on the back is 36 inches
height is 17-18 inches
from the rear center of the tank to the front center of the tank it is 22 inches. not a perfect half circle, thats for sure

here is a side view of the tank itself

[Dean812]

Absolutly gorgeous! Very unique tank. once you get it up and running you ought to post pictures for the tank of the month contest. Youre starting out good.

[FireEater]

That is one great looking tank!

Keep us updated when you set it up.

Mark

[Kara]

incredible tank! :thumbsup: Your friend must be a master craftsman! That will be an amazing reeftank! I imagine the bow of the circular tank will go far to enhancing the visual size of the inhabitants, what a great effect!

BTW, go with the 250w. I have 175w and I'm probably going to upgrade to 250. The 175w just doesn't seem to be enough to support SPS. You can grow them directly under the 175w, but not with the growth rate and hardiness that higher wattage seems to bring.

[dc]

I don't know about the lights, but what a great looking tank!

[XxAngelzDustxX]

That's a really nice tank, now I want one :)

[rrr757]

Thanks for the great feedback so far, too bad its going to be over a year long when i start setting it up. Ok so i will go with the 250 watts, i think i will keep it around 9 inches above the top of the tank. What filtration do you all recommend on it, i am only used to smaller reef tanks, 10-30 gallon. All i ever have for those is either good quality LR and the larger tank a pm skimmer. But i dont know how to go about this one, i was thinking about getting a sump, at least for a holding spot for heater, etc. Let me know what you all think.

thanks
RRR

[DocHoliday]

NICE! :thumbsup:

Gotta love custom stuff

[rrr757]

Here are updated pictures of the stand and canopy

[rrr757]

another pic

[absolut]

What lights do you have on inside the tank in those pics.??
Did you already purchase your 250W MH's??

BTW, very nice setup....when I saw the first picture it was a little decieving, I thought the tank was huge until I saw a pic. of just the tank. Good work!

[joeychitwood]

Looks great! What lighting did you finally decide on?

[rrr757]

I got the setup from ebay, it was a csl prism pendant that came with both 175 and 250 watt ballast and bulb, so i put the 250watt in there right now, but i have not put the 2 32watt pc's in yet.

[rrr757]

Quick question if anyone can help answer, the height of the tank is 17 to 18 inches, the MH housing sits about 10 inches above the tank. Is that too high, i am just worried about the acrylic, because they said the safe zone would be about 6 inches above, and as you can see it seems like plenty of light with the 250watt in the pictures. Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
rrr757

[Fliger]

edit.

Beautiful tank!

[Lunchbucket]

that is AMAZING. how the heck did he do that SOOOOO well? also if you dont' mind saying how much :D

you should be fine at 10" above. put a fan blowing into the canopy too so then you can disapate the heat and not worry about the acrylic

MORE PICS MORE PICS

Lunchbucket

[ginntonic74]

Awesome tank. Thats what i call a major bow tank. How are you going to clean the glass?

[rrr757]

Thanks for the comments.

Ok, Lunchbucket
Costs:
Tank was custom made by acrylium for about 300 bucks
The wood and materials for the stand ran me about 110 bucks
The light ran me about 300 bucks on ebay

My co-worker is an awesome woodworker, he put in features to raise and lower the light, remove the canopy hassle free, the only problem is trying to figure out the filtration system i want in place for this tank.

ginntonic74:
I actually saw this tank that was a half circle, and he had material left over, so it had the height that i wanted, but yes bowed like crazy, but it will have awesome side views. I will clean it with an acrylic pad scrubber that i have now for my sea clear nano. just have to be gentle thats all.

Any ideas on filtration?

[Lunchbucket]

ONLY 300!!! NICE!! keep us updated

Lunchbucket

[rrr757]

Just to let you all know, i have finally started setting up the tank, there are more pictures in my gallery. Here are a couple.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380IMG_0020.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380IMG_0019.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380IMG_0021.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380IMG_0026.jpg

Another Thread on RC (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=795188)

Let me know what you think.

-rrr

[stevedola]

wow a 3 year hiatus---i dont believe i could wait 3 days :-)

[rrr757]

Tell me about it, the itch hurt every day, had to cover it so i would not look at it. But between a wedding, buying a house and moving, setting up the new house, the time has just finally arrived with some headaches of course, but worth it.

[rrr757]

Hey all, just wanted to let you know, i added about 22LBS of LR and 15 lbs of BR. Got some Cheato and rubble for the fuge. Skimmer is now up and running, and looking like its on its way. Let me know what you all think.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380entirefront1.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380front1.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380fuge.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380side1.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380side2.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10380skimmer.jpg

I only have to add the top-off, and adjust all the wiring, add some more LR and wait for the cycling is over before all the fun starts.

Thanks for following along

Mickey