180g Complete Walkthrough- Updated

[skeets]

180g BareBottom Adventure
This is the story of my 180g from start to continual progression. I will continually update this thread as I add livestock, or any new equipment and such. Eventually I will get a website for my tank, but for now this is it.

I want to first off start by saying MANY thanks to Mike O’Brien (mojoreef) for truly making this tank happen. He influenced this tank through the works and really helped me get on track and get the resources together to get this tank up and running. I also want to thank Innovative Aquarium Products for supplying me with a great tank and great customer service, and also thanks to Cory at Premium Aquatics for helping me out.
My warmest thanks are to my girlfriend Meghan for helping me out so much on something she really did not want to. You put in so many long hours with me and I love you sooo much! She gave up her whole spring break to help me out… and if it had only ended there.

WHY?
So this whole thing started from a perfectly good 120gallon. This 120g was my starter tank into Saltwater, and then into sps. Here is a picture of my 120g when it had some sps in it. This was a few months before I decided to start on the 180g.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/120g.jpg

During the planning of the 180g I ran into some DSB issues whether it was my fault or just the nature of the beast I do not know(and definitely don’t care to discuss in this thread heeh). I ended up draining the tank, and removing the sand. In my 120g I had all the pests imaginable. I had flatworms and eradicated them through Flatworm Exit which worked great and was completely safe to my reef. I had aiptasia like you wouldn’t believe and bubble algae. For this reason I decided to get rid of all my liverock and start completely fresh with this new tank. Every SPS I had was broken off its rock and rinsed before put into the new 180g. The zoos and ricordias and rock were given to a local reefer who was fully aware of the aiptasia and bubble algae. Once the rock was out of my tank I put in eggcrate shelves to keep my sps up near the metal halides. The last pest I had was red bugs on a few of my sps and while my corals were still in the 120g I decided to use Dustin’s method of using dog heartworm pills to eradicate them. This worked great, and after one treatment they hadn’t returned after two weeks, but I did it again just to make sure.

Here is a picture of my 120g after I drained the tank, took out the sand, and put the water and corals back in
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/2current.JPG

Here is a pic of the rock curing tub that sat in the house for nearly two months. Here in AZ it’s too hot out even in the spring to leave it out in the garage. It had very high flow, 120g of water and a large skimmer that helped along the curing process nicely. I didn’t actually get a foul smell in the house for more than the initial day I put the rock in.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/rocktub.jpg

[skeets]

INITIAL PLAN
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way onto the 180g! The tank always was planned to be 180g but went through a different phases of planning. The first initial phase I was going to go with a DSB again and run my tunze streams and two sea swirls in the front corners as my flow. The tank was also going to be a leemar glass tank. I happened to talk to Mike O’Brien about my plans and he said it looked great, except why the hell would I want to do that? We talked for several weeks, and I really bugged him calling like everyday and he finally talked me into going barebottom with a whole different philosophy on the tank. The tank was going to now utilize a motorized ball valve for dynamic flow, use a spray bar to keep detritus from collecting under the rock, have a big skimmer with lots of water movement to utilize lots of nutrient export, and be acrylic not a glass.

DESIGN
So now came the redesign phase. I needed to first figure out how the plumbing was going to work logistically, and figure out where I needed holes drilled, what dimensions to make the canopy and cabinet.

I use metal halide pendants and I wanted the canopy to have the appropriate cross beams to hang my pendants from. I do not like the look of Radiums by themselves, yet I wanted a little bit more of a crisp white than just a 10k bulb gave me. On my old tank I ran a 10k/20k/10k combo. On this tank I started by running 10k/20k/10k/20k with the bulbs staggered as to get them to blend as much as possible. Let me say that it worked OK. It didn’t work great, I thought once my canopy got enclosed the transition will be less noticeable and once my VHO’s are fully functional the actinics will help blend too.

Secondly on the cabinet I wanted the bottom to have a board to keep my sump and equipment off the floor, and thus I needed bracing to support the board on the bottom. Here are the drawings I gave my stand builder.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/Canopy2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/standbottom.JPG

My stand is made out of 1.5’’ thick steel square tubing. The stand was powder coated, and it stands 40’’ tall. I REALLY like the height. It makes it much more pleasant as the tank is at eye level, and having it built out of a metal frame allows for easy access to equipment.
My canopy is made out of 1’’ tubing and was only painted as I don’t worry about it rusting, because it doesn’t have a load on it. The canopy is only 17’’ tall and will house 4x 4’’ icecap variable speed fans (2 on each end) once my wood work is done.

Next was designing the tank and hole placement for John at innovative aquarium. Now this was a chore deciding where the holes needed to go. It was a lot of planning, and I still ended up messing up by a smidgen(.5’’)! It wasn’t a big deal, I just had to modify one of my elbows and make it shorter. So BEWARE there is a mess-up in the plan showing all 12 holes across the front.

There are three main flow systems in the tank. The first is a spraybar that is on a closed loop and pumped via a sequence 4300. The second is my return via a mag18 from my sump. The third system was my dynamic flow system and has 2 banks of 6 outputs. A motorized ball valve switches between each output to create some nice flow. My dynamic flow is pumped by a sequence 5800.

Here is the outputs measured out on my floor for the dynamic flow
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/12outputs.JPG

The mess-up is on the 7th hole from the left. It should have been at 38.25’’. Luckily this isn’t noticeable when you look in my tank, I can see it but that’s because I am looking for it. No one else has noticed it, even when I have pointed it out.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180front.JPG

The initial design for the spraybar was to come up through the bottom and just have the piping lay on the bottom. As I was piecing it out this didn’t work and I needed to make it a stand, which worked WAY better. It really suspends my rock up nicely(more on that later). I ended up using 1’’ tubing once in the tank for the spraybar.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180RockDown.JPG
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180topdown.JPG

I couldn’t decide where the inlets to my closed loops should be, So I sent a picture to John at Innovative and told him to decide and surprise me. He picked the 4 holes closest to the edges of the tank(2 to the left and 2 to the right). Thanks John those were GREAT spots. My concern was I wanted them easy to access, I didn’t mind seeing them. I was able to cover up the top ones with a rock that will be easy to move and the other two lower ones are visible, but don’t look bad. Here are the choices he had:
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180holes.JPG

FLOW CALCULATIONS
I have broken it down like this accounting for headloss:
1500gph return
3400gph spray rack
5200gph dynamic closed looop
2403gph tunzes(one on 100% other on 30% since they pulsate)

So I have 4,900gph static flow(27x turnover)
7,603gph dynamic flow(42x turnover)
For a total tank flow of 12,503(69x turnover)

[skeets]

TANK BUILD TIME
So the tank was ready to get built after a couple months of planning. John at Innovative Aquarium Products did a great job. He put together my tank, my sump, and two top off tanks for me. He also packed it up and shipped it all the way down to me in Arizona. I don’t have a picture of the packing, but it was superb. Looked like I had two coffins shipped to me! Here are the pictures John took of my tank in progress. He did an excellent job. Thanks John!

The tank was made out of ¾’’ acrylic, and the dimensions of the tank came out to be 72’’long x 24’’deep and 25.5’’ tall. The top bracing of the tank was made out of 1’’ thick acrylic. The perimeter bracing is about 2.5’’ wide and the center brace is 11’’
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanksides.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/overflowresivoire.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/coastocoast.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/roundedcorner.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanktop.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tankholes.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tankready.jpg

[skeets]

ADULT LEGO TIME
Everything had finally arrived to my house. The tank, stand, canopy, plumbing pieces, and most the equipment. It was the beginning of my spring break, and time to start pieces this thing together.

This first picture is of me and my little cousin before the work began. Yep that’s us both smiling, however I think we are smiling for different reasons. I am smiling because I think this tank is going to be awesome, and my little cousin is smiling because he thinks its funny how much I am going to work my butt off to get this thing running.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/smiling.jpg

This is about when that smile dropped off my face. Cutting all those damn small pieces of 1.5’’ tubing to put together my plumbing parts! I never want to do that again… I need to get a bigger pipe cutter lol.
In the background you can see two white boards. One is for my tank to sit on, and the other was for the bottom of my cabinet. They were painted with primer and then some behr paint to seal the wood. They are 3/4’’ board.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cuttingpipe.jpg

I didn’t take as many pictures of the plumbing progress as I should have. I was so frustrated and putting in so much time that I was a grouch. Here is the beginning of putting together my dynamic flow system. This thing was really hard to do! The way it is designed(thanks Mike, lol) each bank has to be put together perfectly, and at the same time which is not an easy task because the pvc glue dries so fast. Here is the first picture of it dry fitted on.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/dryfit.jpg

This next picture is of me gluing it together followed by the end result. It is hard to tell from the pictures I took, but each bulkhead has a slip fitting onto it that this bank of outputs has to fit onto. So I had to put each Tee or Elbow together one at a time and glue it and then quickly shove it in place and let the glue dry. Then I needed to take it off and move to the next piece until I had the entire bank of 5tees and 3 elbows done. Once this piece was done I had to glue all the slip fittings and inside of the tees and elbows REALLY fast, and get that bank of 6 outputs shoved on and banged into place. This was a pain in the butt. Did I do it right? Is it going to leak? You will see later!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/glueing.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bankdone.jpg

I didn’t end up documenting anymore of the plumbing. It was a long grueling process getting everything to work and fit. Flex PVC isn’t the easiest thing to work with, but it sure made this job a lot easier. It took me about 2 days to finish all my plumbing up.
The next step was to move it outside and get it hooked back up. Here is the end result in the driveway.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightfront.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightfrontclose.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightopdown.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightback.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightdone.jpg

[skeets]

FRESHWATER LEAK TEST
Since it was dark I called it a night and waited until the morning to do my freshwater leak test. Better outside than in the house right? I covered the tank up and went to bed. The next morning first thing I did was start to fill the tank up. That look on my face is a somber realization that I could be doing this entire plumbing gig over again if this thing leaks. I was so uptight that morning it wasn’t even funny!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fillup.jpg

The sump filling up
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumpfill.jpg

Woohoo, return turned on and some water movement. After I checked the tank for leaks and the plumbing for leaks I turned on my sequence4300 and sequence 5800.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/return.jpg

This is my custom MR-3 skimmer from myreefcreations. It now has dual injectors and works great. Produces lots of nice gunk. It is powered by a genx8500 pump.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/skimmer.jpg

So were there any leaks? Well I let the tank run for the entire day and I did have two leaks, however they weren’t a big deal. I had leaks at the nipples entering my pumps, so I just put new Teflon tape on them and tightened them down more and goodbye leaks. I was very happy that day that I didn’t have any hard plumbed leaks. All that hard work had paid off! So the next step was to get this thing drained and apart again so it could be moved into the house. Here it is taken apart that night
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/takedown.jpg

[skeets]

TIME FOR THE TANK TO GO INSIDE
So it was finally time to get the crew to move the tank into the house. This was really awkward because we needed to come in through the front door up several stairs and a few tight turns, into the house and down more stairs. What we ended up doing was taking two of the large folding tables and slowly transferring the tank from one to the other by sliding it on towels, worked out great.
Here is the moving crew… the guy on the left is my dad, next is me, my uncle, a crew member on our race car, and then his dad. Thanks guys!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/crewinside.jpg

Of course the floor isn’t close to being level, but I knew this before hand and planned it out. Here is one high tech item supporting this tank! SHIMS! But no wood shims for me because I slop water all over and that means they will swell up. No that’s right, I need my shims custom made by Tom Yancer Racecars, who is our chassis builder. The floor got measured and he milled these shims down to match the gap between the tile and the tank perfectly. Thanks Tom!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/shims.jpg

I also had to have the house re-wired for this tank… again! There is one 40amp wire running to this room for my metal halides. This is a normal wire on our regular breaker box. This is the aluminum strip on the wall. Then there is a 30amp wire that leads to the two black power strips. These strips go to a generator panel so if we loose power I can start up the generator and power everything I need to my tank(minus the halides). We are soon upgrading to a larger generator that will kick on automatically if the power goes out, right now I have my aquacontroller setup to call me and tell me if the power goes out. I am not finished with the electrical part, I am going to have all my items that are not hooked up by x-10s on a switch panel next to the tank so I can turn on and off stuff without having to unplug things and get behind the tank. That will happen soon.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/electrical.jpg

Just so everyone knows this tank totally ruined the living room. Goodbye to our 70’’ big screen TV and surrroundsound! The room was also a total mess for months, and still isn’t quite back to normal. Here is a picture of the trio of tanks in the living room. My 150g stock tank that was used to cure my liverock, my old 120g and the new 180. Wow that 180 isn’t much bigger… for all that work you should of gone 2 feet longer and a foot deeper… what a dummy!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/trio.jpg

[skeets]

FILL IT UP!
So with everything in place time to get this thing filled up. I had to fill this up slowly, I make my own RO/DI water. I had problems during this stage though. I got the tank about halfway full and ran into some issues and the water stood stagnant for a couple days. I then finished filling it up and let it run for a while. It was about a 2 week process. I poured my saltwater in, and let it run. UH OH MICROBUBBLES!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bubbles.jpg

I resolved this issue by taking my drain lines and putting two elbows on them, making a U shape so that the water came out and was directed to the top of the surface. This worked wonders!

The next problem was the water was milky and I had some bacterial slime! Was it due to airbubbles? Was it due to my salt? I checked my water parameters and everything checked out fine. It didn’t settle well with me, and I ended up draining the tank and starting over. This time I didn’t waste time and got the tank filled up ASAP and made sure the water was 0ppm on the tds meter in the tank. Time to pour in the salt AGAIN!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/salt1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/salt2.jpg


I got my salt in, and hooray its milky again. So this time I decided to take the advice of Mike and others here on the board and just put my rock in. The rock did cause the water to clear up after a couple days. Evidently there are particles in the salt that don’t dissolve, and with all the flow in the tank and nowhere for the particles to settle, it floated around. After a few days of the rock being put in it settled and has been good ever since.

Before I got the rock put in however, I ran into another holdup! My water temp was 84.7 without any lights on!!!!!!! After a couple days of testing I found out my sequence pumps gave off a total of 11degrees of heat between the two of them. WOWOWOW! I talked to sequence they said that would be normal on my little water volume. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a 1/3hp artica chiller. I like this thing… it is quiet…when its off! But seriously I think it is quieter than other products out there probably. It does a great job at holding my reef down at 80 where I want it. It is controlled by a 3digit medusa controller so that I can keep the temp flux down to .5degrees. The artica is nice because it is safe to do this with, it will cause premature wear on other chillers. The chiller is fed via a mag 12 that sits in he middle of my sump, and the outlet is in my last compartment where my return pump is. I keep my temp probes in the first compartment and the chiller doesn’t affect it or make any false readings. I like the medusa because it doesn’t get crappy VHO interference like the aquacontroller does. You think for 500 bucks they could get knock the price up 2 more dollars for a shielded temp probe cable.

[skeets]

ROCK TIME
Before I put my rock in I wanted to paint my spraybar with the purple pvc primer so it would blend in better. Now I will tell you about the spraybar design. This isn’t much of a spraybar now I guess; its more of a mini rack. My rock sits on this and is not touching the tank anywhere in the middle of my tank. My rock only touches in the front to hide the pvc rack. I have about 98% of the rack hidden by my rock. This rack/spraybar has worked great and I recommend it to everyone with a barebottom!

Here are the pics of the spraybar. I drilled ¼’’ holes at 45degree angles to the bottom to create constant flow and keep any detritus in the water column and pushed out from under the rockwork. The last pic is of the rack painted with the pvc primer. Looks better in the tank than white.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/spraybar1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/spraybar2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sprabar3.jpg

Putting the rock in I expected to be a pain since it was barebottom. I figured the rock wouldn’t sit on the bottom well, and it would be hard to stack. Well because of the rack I had made and the large pieces of rock I had it was quite easy! I had really big pieces of rock though to work with, and I couldn’t imagine having to stack a bunch of small pieces. I got lucky; I think and it worked out good. The pictures don’t show the good rock qualities, it is hard to show depth when it is just rock. I have some really nice overhangs and such. Here is a pic with the lights off.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/rockin.jpg

This rock is premo stuff. I had about 160lbs of show kaelini I used.

I am able to see the entire bottom of my tank, even under the rockwork because of how I got the rock placed in there. So I can see if my spray rack is working… and well it works GREAT! No detritus is building up in there, it gets pushed out to the front in one corner for easy vacuum access. Here is some views of how I can see the entire bottom. It is hard to tell but on the first pic I can literally see down the entire length of the tank. It was just too hard to get the camera to take a pic of it.
(NOTE: I have to bend down and really look… all this piping etc isn’t noticeable just looking at the tank normal)
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock3.jpg

Here are two side shots of the tank with two 400w radiums on it. The 250w 10ks were still on my 120g keeping my sps alive. I have since moved them over though. Man that rock looks white and ugly.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/light11.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/light22.jpg

[skeets]

LIVESTOCK TIME
So finally now that everything is stable and running good its time to test out this water by ordering 200 bucks worth of a cleanup crew. I made 3 orders. The first order was for worms, pods, small reproducing snails, etc from inland aquatics. The other two orders were from dr foster and smith. One order from etropicals the other from liveaquria. Get this… by ordering from the two different places I got 20 more snails and saved 35 bucks even though they are owned by the same company. Shipping was free on both orders. Here is what I ended up getting
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/boxes.jpg

Astrea Snails
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/astrea.jpg

Cerith(liveaquaria) and Turbo Snails
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/turboandcerith.jpg

Cerith(etropicals) and Trochus snails. It is interesting to note that the etropical and liveaquaria snails are different. I wanted a lil diversity. The black ones are from liveaquaria and the white ones are from etropicals(even though their sites show different pictures)
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/trochusandcerith.jpg

Peppermint Shrimp. I ordered 4 and got 5!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/peppermint.jpg

Emerald Crabs. I love to watch crabs
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/crabs.jpg

Margarita snails. I forgot to take a pic of them in their bag so here they are once released. See the crab?
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/margaritas.jpg

Cleaner shrimp. I ordered 3 of these guys, I love them. And after all this hard work I think I deserve a little pampering right? My shrimp thought so too!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cleaners.jpg

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cleaning.jpg

[skeets]

OLD LIVESTOCK
So after adding all the new livestock and seeing how they did, which was terrific, it was time to tear down the 120g and move everything over. Now that was a project! Meghan and I started at 2pm and went to bed at 330am when we finally got my livestock moved over. As I had mentioned before I was careful not to bring any aiptasia over to the new tank. I also didn’t transfer over any snails or anything that could possibly have it as a hitchhiker. Lets hope it doesn’t live on sps tissue!
No pictures of the move but it was a long grueling day. Thanks again to my baby for helping me on this one!

So did everything do good on the transfer? To be honest… no! My corals have had a hard time adjusting to the light. Most corals have acclimated and are fine now. My piece that got hit the worst was my samoensis colony. In my 120g it was in a spot that the bottom wasn’t receiving much light. I ended up placing this on the bottom of the tank thinking it would be fine because it was much higher in the other tank. Well was I wrong! The light reflects off the acrylic and the white board that the tank rests on so it got a lot of light. Here is a before picture in my old tank.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensisbefore.jpg

Here is a picture of it now. It is not getting worse, and it is definitely getting better. As long as no algae or anything grows on the branches I wont break them off. The white stuff on the bottom of the colony is epoxy to cover up any chance of aiptasias being under there since it hadn’t encrusted all the way. (As of 8 months later the colony is doing awsome)
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensisbleach.jpg

[skeets]

STARTING EQUIPMENT
So now ill go over some of the equipment and setup.
My flow consists of:
Sequence 4300 for the sprayrack,
5800 for the dynamic flow with a 1.5’’ Hayward ball valve.
I am using a mag18 as my return.
My skimmer is a myreefcreations skimmer with special dimensions, measuring out to 30’’. It has dual becket injectors and works well. It is powered by a genx8500 pump that sits in the first compartment of my sump.

My sequence 4300 and 5800 are sitting on a carpeted board to reduce any noise vibrations. Works good, my 4300 is a little loud because of the backpressure it has from the plumbing design, which was inevitable. You can see on my pumps that I used a double union ball valve. These babies are sweet! However a 1.5’’ one will set you back 25 bucks a piece lol. They are so easy to turn as compared to the cheap white ones, and they are compact with the ball valve and unions being in one piece.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pumps.jpg

Here is a pic of everything fitting nicely in the stand. I did a LOT of planning on this… I made sure that it would be easy to get the skimmer in and it would clear once I had a stand made to suspend it up out of the water some. I also made sure that all the equipment I wanted would fit under there.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/insidestand.jpg

Here is a picture of one of the holes going to my sprayrack. I have to holes drilled in the bottom of the tank. I needed to cut a big enough hole in my wood to allow me to get my hands in there to tighten down the bulkhead. I used all sch 80 bulkheads on my tank. You can also see how the wood was painted and sealed.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bottomhole.jpg

Here is my CA reactor and topoff setup. My CA reactor is a myreefcreations cr2. It has worked pretty good, and I am running a 5lb co2 bottle which is being upgraded to a 10lb bottle next time I need to fill it up. I run ARM media in my reactor. The reactor has a external mag2 and also is pumped by a mag 3.5 that sits in the sump.
My topoff tank is a 12g tank, and currently I am evaporated like 2 to 3 gallons a day without any fans. I am using a tunze top-off system that has worked great.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/careactor.jpg

The tunze system is kinda like a float valve. It uses an optical eye however to know when it needs to fill the tank. This is sitting in the last compartment of my sump. The float switch you see is a emergency item incase water gets left on and floods. It really is useless up there, if that much freshwater got in there it would be a mess. I could put it on another rail and lower it if I was truly worried about it.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/opticaleye.jpg

[skeets]

Here is my 1/3hp artica chiller. Like I said before this thing is quite… when its off(its off in the pic). It is noisy, but I think its probably quieter than any other thing out there. It also looks nice too. I am unsure of where its permanent home will be so that’s why I have the extra tubing currently. It is pumped by a mag12
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/chiller.jpg

Here are my luxury items for this tank. My aquacontroller and my 3digit medusa controller. My medusa controls my chiller and turns it on at 80.5 and off at 80degrees. I like to keep a tighter degree range than the 2degree that comes with the chiller.
My aquacontroller controls my lighting and allows me to check PH and temperature swings etc. The temp is off from my medusa because there is no point in changing it. The aquacontroller gets horrible interference from the VHOs when they are on, and truly sucks as a temperature controller, so I just use it as a reference to see temp swings over the day. I do have it setup however if the tank gets 81 degrees to shut off my MH just incase.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/controllers.jpg

This is what my lighting looks like (I changed my lighting setup from what is here. See below on changed equipment). I have two 250w DE AB 10k bulbs powered by a dual PFO 250w HQI ballast. I am also running two 400w 20k Radiums powered by a dual PFO 400w HQI ballast. My lighting goes 10k/20k/10k/20k. It does an alright job of blending. I also have 2x 160w VHO actinic bulbs that are powered by a icecap 660. I had to send the ballast back to get a dimmer modification made to become compatible with my solar dimmer 750 that I bought. Eventually that will work.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lightsetup.jpg

Here is my drain lines from the tank into the sump. I wanted to keep down on the evap in the cabinet so I had the first compartment in my sump made into a box, with water flowing under the first baffle that extends to the top of the sump. I also had a lid made, and drilled 3 holes in it. Two holes were for my drainlines and the other hole was for my skimmer pump hose and electrical cord. This is turning out to work great, it keeps down on 99% of the saltspray and evap etc that I had in my old tank.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/drainlines.jpg

Here are some pictures of the detritus that has accumulated in my sump. I have been blowing off my rockwork daily to try to get all the detritus out. So far the detritus is collecting in my sump in the first compartment(where my skimmer pump is… grrrr), and my middle compartment where I have some extra liverock placed. This liverock helps cut down on any skimmer bubbles that might try and make it to my return pump
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/detritus1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/detritus2.jpg

I am not running a refugium for critters or macroalgae. I do however have a separate 10g bug tank with large populations of different pods and worms. It is actually a really cool tank, I love watching all these little guys running around. Also it is cool to see the worms crawl out of the sand and stuff when I feed. It has a aquaclear mini filter on it, a ebojagger heater, and a LOA 65w light.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bugtank.jpg

[skeets]

UPDATED FROM HERE

CHANGED EQUIPMENT
The following are things that I changed over the 8 months the tank has been setup.

LIGHTING
I could never get the 4 bulb 10k/20k/10k/20k combo to look right, it never blended properly. I am now running 3x 250w DE 10K AB bulbs, and 2x 400w Radiums all run by PFO HQI ballasts. I did not like how 4 bulbs looked over the tank, and now with 5 bulbs it blends excellent. I run my bulbs in the following order-10k/20k/10k/20k/10k. The metal canopy has the same dimensions as before where my lights are placed, with one bulb added in the middle. I am running 2x 6’ vho actinics.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/newlightsetup.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/topdowncabinet.jpg

GENERATOR
The automatic backup generated has been installed. It is awesome, whenever the power goes out the generator automatically kicks on and switches everything over. It has been used several times already, with about 30mins being the longest use. It runs on natural gas.

PHOSPHATE REACTOR
I have had my Deltec FR509 reactor and 5L of rowaphos now for about 3 months. I ordered a good merck test-kit to test my phosphates. I have yet to install the rowaphos reactor, primarily because I am lazy. However my phosphates are reading 0 on the merck kit. This means my system is working real well, and I have been doing very good at keeping my nutrients in check. I have very little algae growth. I suspect if I hooked up the rowaphos reactor my algae will probably completely disappear.
It was in my intention to start this system from day one with RP, but that did not happen.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/deltec.jpg

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fulltank2.jpg

[skeets]

MAINTINENCE SCHEDULE
Detritus Cleanup
I get detritus accumulating in one spot in my display tank(a back corner, and very easy to get too… only large chunks accumulate here), and the finer stuff accumulated in my sump. I siphon out the detritus in my display about every 2 or 3 weeks, because we are talking a pile about the size of a quarter. Most of the detritus in my sump had been in my drain compartment which WAS sealed off and a real pain to get into because I had to shut the returns down, disassemble the drains, pull the cover off, and then I could clean it. So a lot of detritus would accumulate in there and it was hard to get to.
I took care of that problem! I cut about a 5’’ hole in the top of my drain compartment lid. This will allow me to get my hand in there weekly to siphon.
I tried just siphoning for a couple months, however I wanted to remove the detritus easier. I now am running 25micron filter bags on my drain lines. I change these every other day, and then I was them in the washing machine. After about 10-15 washes I throw them out and get a new pair. They are less than $2 bucks from www.filterbag.com so this is a really cheap way to keep my water very clean. It also kills all microbubbles.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumphole1.jpg

I am covering the hole with a piece of acrylic. The point of this compartment is to keep down on evap in the sump area.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumphole2.jpg

Skimmer
My skimmer does pull out a lot of gunk. This picture is from 4days. However I have noticed once the skimmer gets to this level of gunk, it slows down and wont seem to produce a whole lot more. I can never get the skimmer to pour a lot of gunk down into that tub and into my waste collector. I have never really figured out how to get this thing dialed in. It wont consistently skim wet like I want it.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/gunk.jpg

Salt
I have used about 240gallons of oceanic salt for water changes, so I am in the process of changing over. I have not had any negative effects, and its too hard to say if ive had positive or not. Everything is normal.

Parameters
I am keeping my alk around 9dkh and my calcium around 420. This has lead to some great growth in the tank. Because of my setup and aggressiveness at nutrient export, I have undetectable phosphate(with a merck kit), ammonia, nitrate, nitrite. The tank is extremely healthy.

CABINETS
Here is what the initial design of the cabinets were.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180g.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180gside.jpg

Since my tank sits so far away from the wall, there was a lot of extra design that had to go into making the cabinets work. I needed there to be a hidden door so I could access the back of the tank easily. Here is a pic of the 26’’ gap behind the tank.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/backspace.jpg

It is also important that the cabinets do not take up excessive “working” space and do not hinder the accessibility to the tank for maintenance and such.

[skeets]

FINISHING TOUCHES!!
Finally for what everyone has been waiting for. Complete pics with CABINETS!
I still need to decorate the shelves, and there is some crown molding going around the top to finish it off.

Here is my entire setup at 8months.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fullcabinet.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/frontreflection.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/threequarterfull.jpg

The cabinet maker matched the metal tubing of my stand and canopy to give me maximum access room. There are even small doors on the sides for access.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fullcabinetopendoors.jpg

The canopy has doors on the side, and installed in the doors are 2x 4’’ icecap variable speed fans. This works great, and I am able to open the doors up with no fan problems, since the fans are mounted right to the door.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fans1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fans2.jpg

The left cabinet has a TV and all our entertainment electronics in it. I have the shelves to make this left side match the right side. When I move, there will not be a TV in this cabinet.

The right cabinet houses aquarium supplies, electronics, and chiller. The chiller is the reason why all the cabinets have speaker cloth on them, so that they would match the chiller side which needed the speaker cloth to allow the chiller to get good airflow. I was afraid that the chiller may not get enough airflow, or it would be too hard for the air to escape out, but the chiller works just as good as when it was out in the open. It is much quieter in the cabinet too.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/rightbottom.jpg

In the left part of the right cabinet I have all my electronics mounted on a rack for easy access. I have a sheet of paper that lets me know what switch is what.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/2electrical.jpg

As I stated before, I needed to be able to access the back of the tank easily, and I needed a hidden door. Here is what we came up with for this. Everyone who sees the tank asks, “how do you get back there if you need to?” Guess that means the “hidden” part of the door works.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/hiddendoor.jpg

The cabinets are awesome. Lots of detail went into this to make it a full wall unit, and look as if it extends all the way back to the wall. Everything is cherry wood.
My cabinet maker is Marvin Pace, owner of Cabinet and Trim Masters here in Arizona. He did an excellent job, and put lots of work into every detail. This was a complete custom job, and was a team effort on design between Marvin and I.
If you would like to reach him, his contact info is:
Cabinet & Trim Masters,LLC
19019 N. 45th Circle
Glendale, AZ 85308
623-587-9068
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cabinetdetail.jpg

[skeets]

LIVESTOCK
Fish
I plan to have probably about 7 fish total in this tank once I can decide what else I want. I want to get very peaceful fish on the more rare/exotic side.
Currently the fish I have are:
Pyro- Flamehawk(with me for 2 years)
Grouch- Royal Gramma(with me for 2 years)
Tommy- Tomini Tang
Belle- Female Bellus Angel

Inverts
I still have 2 cleaner shrimp that I only see once lights are out, and I have my 5 peppermint shrimp still which all live in a huge cave one of my rocks has. I see their antennae out during the day, and them during the night.

I have a Sumatran Speckled Sunburst Linkia that has been with me since the beginning of July. I named her Speckles, and she has been doing GREAT. One very interesting thing is that she has dropped one of her arms, which I see on a regular basis cruising around the tank. The leg has doubled in size and Speckles and completely re-grown her leg.
I have 2 brittle stars that have been with me both now for two years.

At least once a month my trochus and margarita snails spawn. My whole tank turns milky white for hours. I have had several new snails thanks to the spawning events. It is awesome that I am actually having these guys reproduce on a consistent basis in my tank.

I found a baby urchin of some kind that came in as a hitchhiker from my rock. He hangs out in the same place during the day, and cruises around at night. I have no idea what he is, but as of now he does no harm. We will see as he gets bigger.

Coral
This tank is a predominant SPS tank, housing both acroporas and montiporas. I also have numerous different zoanthinds on the bottom of my tank, along with a couple very nice yuma ricordias. I am keeping the zoanthids on separate rocks on the bottom of my tank to prevent them reaching my main structure. I don’t want anything on my main structure except SPS.

[skeets]

LIVESTOCK PICS
Here are pictures of a few things in my tank. Hope you guys enjoy the eye candy.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pyro1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/abroatonides4.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/acuelus1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/redyuma1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/acuelustop1.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/blueyongei.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/calitort1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pbirdnest1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/calitorttop1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensistop1.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nodosa.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/elias4.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/jaquelinae1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenpurplezoa1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanorangezoa.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/purplesilvermonti.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/belle4.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/jaquelinae2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tenuis2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/microphthalma2.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greengreyzoa.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/scroll2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/danae5.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/goldcenterzoa.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tommy2.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/northstar.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/2baliechinata1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/oregontort2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/purplegreendigi.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pyro3.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/kirstyae.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/orangepurplecap.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pinkyellowtable.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pmiliclose1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sunburstzoa.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/redblue.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pmilitop.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/porites1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/purpleringzoa.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensisclose1.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fijirock.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/gramma1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/purplepinkcap1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/colortopdown.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/orangeyuma.jpg

[skeets]

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pulchra1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/stylophora.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenbluezoa.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/suharsonoi.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/speckles1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/speckles2.jpg

[hammerhead]

very nice that was a good chunk of change to put that together.

[skeets]

Thats all for now
Hope you guys like

[1diverdown]

DR,

this has got to be one of, if not the best, posts on RC now. what a fantastic amount of info and top quality pix you've assembled. totally over the top. congrats, and keep us posted on your reef's progress.

Doug

[mikeo1210]

Damn.. nice setup. That's a whole lot of lighting over a 180. What made you decide on so much and how long have you been running it? awesome job.

[lex0219]

holy crap ausome tank and great job you can tell u put a lot of thought and sweat into that tank

[outdoorandmore]

Where did you get that tang?

[Ryan M]

What an awesome setup! Geat Job! What kind of tang is that?

[skeets]

Originally posted by outdoorandmore
Where did you get that tang?

I got my tomini tang at a LFS here, but they are around different vendors on the internet.
I got my bellus angel from themarinecenter.com and they are by far the best fish vendor online. You pay more, but it is worth it. They literally sent her in like 4gallons of water.

[skeets]

Originally posted by mikeo1210
Damn.. nice setup. That's a whole lot of lighting over a 180. What made you decide on so much and how long have you been running it? awesome job.

I have so much lighting because I wanted a 10k/20k mix. I needed to run 400w 20ks, because 250's just wouldnt cut it.
I have had my new lighting setup(5 bulbs instead of 4) up for a couple months now.


I have a PAR meter to check my parameters with, and I literally get 200PAR when I turn the meter over to read reflection off the bottom of the tank.
My lowest light coral recieves like 280PAR and some of my higher lit corals are getting 900-1000 PAR.
So yea, I got a whole lotta light... definitely overkill but I love the color and the growth rates so its worth it in my opinion.

[skeets]

Originally posted by 1diverdown
DR,

this has got to be one of, if not the best, posts on RC now. what a fantastic amount of info and top quality pix you've assembled. totally over the top. congrats, and keep us posted on your reef's progress.

Doug
Thanks Doug, that really means a lot comming from you. I appreciate it, hope your tank is coming along =)

[masson]

That is one ehlla awsome tank !! Great job

[saurus]

WHHOOOAAAA!!!!! NIIICCEEE

[turbohb]

Wow............I dont know what to say..god dam..I really like your set, you did a very nice job.So what does the mustang in the backgound ther run in the 1/4 if you don't mind me asking?
thanks

[Lights Are Bright]

Very nice tank skeets! Do you have to siphon up detritus from the tank, or does it all go to the sump?

[jimmy n]

Skeets,

Extremely nice setup with very high quality equipment. The lighting, while nearly excessive, looks outstanding. The water clarity is remarkable and the corals are coloring up nicely.

Unfortunately, your pictures of the cabinets and such did not load for me. I saw the build up to the finishing touches.

Very impressed.

Nice work

Jim

[jimmy n]

Skeets,

Extremely nice setup with very high quality equipment. The lighting, while nearly excessive, looks outstanding. The water clarity is remarkable and the corals are coloring up nicely.

Unfortunately, your pictures of the cabinets and such did not load for me. I saw the build up to the finishing touches.

Very impressed.

Nice work

Jim

[ksarauer]

Very nice setupo, the tank looks awesome! Way to go Skeets!

Kevin

[Mai]

skeets
What did you get from Inland Aquatics? Was it the refugium flora and fauns packages?

[dphins]

Great job skeets! Very nice install.

[skeets]

Originally posted by jimmy n
Skeets,
Unfortunately, your pictures of the cabinets and such did not load for me. I saw the build up to the finishing touches.

Very impressed.

Nice work

Jim

Did you get the broken link boxes, or did it just not load because it took too long? If you didnt get to see the rest, you are missing a lot....
There is like 30+mb of pictures so...

[skeets]

Originally posted by Mai
skeets
What did you get from Inland Aquatics? Was it the refugium flora and fauns packages?

I got one of the packages, and then added more worms, and pods to it. I got the normal package and not the "refugium" package.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Lights Are Bright
Very nice tank skeets! Do you have to siphon up detritus from the tank, or does it all go to the sump?

I wrote a section about this.
I have to siphon like a quarter sized pile of detritus out every 2-3 weeks in my display. Nothing gets trapped in my sump anymore because of the filter bags.
Every week or so I blow the rocks off and my filter bags collect anything that was on the rock.

My tank is devoid of detritus, the flow patern is set up perfectly.

[skeets]

Originally posted by turbohb
Wow............I dont know what to say..god dam..I really like your set, you did a very nice job.So what does the mustang in the backgound ther run in the 1/4 if you don't mind me asking?
thanks

We are going to be running 8.40's come march when our new motor is finished.
Here is a website for our car... Bott Motorsports (www.bottmotorsports.com)

[clamlvr]

i am speechless :eek1:

[birdman204]

Sweet, I especially like the overflow.

[ReefWraith]

The cabinetry turned out great Skeets! Very nice to finally see those pics you've been promising! :) Aaaahh... what a great feeling when everything finally comes together eh?

Reef On!

[JayS]

Love the look with the cabinetry, also like all the flow!

[mikeo1210]

Originally posted by skeets
I have so much lighting because I wanted a 10k/20k mix. I needed to run 400w 20ks, because 250's just wouldnt cut it.
I have had my new lighting setup(5 bulbs instead of 4) up for a couple months now.

I have a PAR meter to check my parameters with, and I literally get 200PAR when I turn the meter over to read reflection off the bottom of the tank.
My lowest light coral recieves like 280PAR and some of my higher lit corals are getting 900-1000 PAR.
So yea, I got a whole lotta light... definitely overkill but I love the color and the growth rates so its worth it in my opinion.

All of that probably costs about the same as running my couple 250s here in California. lol.

Couple more ?s if I could (getting great ideas here)..

Does that spray bar pump run 24/7? It could theoretically just be used every couple/few days if you wanted I imagine.

Also curious, have you compared the par between the 250 DE and the 400 SE at the same depth? I know they're diff. temps but wondered what you got.

Lastly,Did you hire a cabinet maker or do all that yourself?

[kaspm]

Very nice setup, you have made me think a lot more about my setup and i hope mine looks as goods as yours
Jason

[skeets]

Originally posted by mikeo1210
All of that probably costs about the same as running my couple 250s here in California. lol.

Couple more ?s if I could (getting great ideas here)..

Does that spray bar pump run 24/7? It could theoretically just be used every couple/few days if you wanted I imagine.

Also curious, have you compared the par between the 250 DE and the 400 SE at the same depth? I know they're diff. temps but wondered what you got.

Lastly,Did you hire a cabinet maker or do all that yourself?

The spray bar pump is on 24/7. I choose to have it on at all times because I want to keep everything shoved out from below. I have turned it off in the past and when I do detritus gets trapped down there. When I turn it back on, it blows it all out but thats not what I want.
I want the detritus always in suspension so it can get removed from the tank. Turning the pump off, even for a day and letting it settle goes against the tank philosophy.

I have tested the differences between the 400w SE Radium and 250w DE AB 10k.
It is not what I would call a scientific test... but they both gave me around the same PAR at the bottom of my tank. However the AB bulbs have much more PAR higher in the tank.
Therefore the AB intensity drops off much quicker in depth than the Radium. The AB provides more PAR overall than the Radium.

I did not do the cabinets myself, the info is in the thread about it.

[skeets]

Originally posted by ReefWraith
The cabinetry turned out great Skeets! Very nice to finally see those pics you've been promising! :) Aaaahh... what a great feeling when everything finally comes together eh?

Reef On!

Definitely nice to have everything finished off. The cabinets arent done justice in the pictures... they look awsome in person. I didnt envision this setup being as nice as it turned out honestly.
I can thank it to patience, and sitting on ideas before rushing to impliment them.

[AJtheReefer]

Wow. World Class Setup!

[Mickey]

WOW.................I'm speechless. Everything looks great and shows all the effort you put into it.

Mickey

[Tri916]

I have to tip my hat off to you SKEETS. Everything has been well documented for information and ideas, not to say everything about it is awsome. Its threads like these that give people like me different avenues to think about.

[fishsoldseprtly]

Skeets, NICE! I get all tingly lookin at the set-up...LOL!! give it up to you man!

[skeets]

Thanks for all the compliments guys.
If there are any questions that dont have answers in the thread just let me know, and ill try to answer them.

[Detritivore]

i have a few questions about your previous 120. you said you used 10k/20k/10k. how well did that blend? did it cause any heat issues? did you have a closed loop on it? what would you have changed if you did your 120 all over again? Sorry for all the questions, i just HAVE to know :D
AWESOME tank by the way :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[skeets]

Originally posted by jonah310
i have a few questions about your previous 120. you said you used 10k/20k/10k. how well did that blend? did it cause any heat issues? did you have a closed loop on it? what would you have changed if you did your 120 all over again? Sorry for all the questions, i just HAVE to know :D
AWESOME tank by the way :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

The 10k/20k combo on my 120g blended well, except maybe 5-6'' on each side looked yellower because th 20k didnt reach the full 2' on each side.
I didnt have any heat issues on my 120g, I didnt even need a chiller.

Yea I had a closed loop on my 120g, it was drilled through the bottom and I had 4 locline outputs that went through my rockwork.

I would have have changed everything if I did my 120g over... I would do it exactly like this 180g only scaled down =D. I wouldnt change a thing about my 180g.

[Detritivore]

how many fans did you have on your 120?

[skeets]

Originally posted by jonah310
how many fans did you have on your 120?

Two in the canopy, and one like 8-10'' clipon fan on the sump.

[Detritivore]

thanks skeets. your tank turned out REALLY nicely

[DtheDude]

wow, simply amazing...you look so young, how can you pay for such a setup? Very very impressive, great job Skeets.

[Fliger]

I shall bow, the next time I see you. :thumbsup:

That is sweet, the nicest set-up in town. As Doug mentioned, maybe the best post(s) on RC ... ever. Great documentation.

Wanting .... frags .... soon ....

[Wade2185]

WOW! :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

That is one of the nicest setups I have ever seen! Congratulations!

Can you give me a little more information about your generator backup? What brand is it? Where did you get it, etc.?

[Detritivore]

hey skeets, if you dont mind me asking, what did you do with the 120 setup?

[CamBarr]

wow verry nice.
very clean setup looks great.
cam barr

[Detritivore]

o one more question skeets, (i promise this is the last one...mayber not :D )

how often does the ball valve switch between the outputs?

[MiddletonMark]

:thumbsup:

Thanks for further inspiration, just a gorgeous setup, tank, livestock, photos. Great post, stunning tank.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Wade2185
WOW! :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

That is one of the nicest setups I have ever seen! Congratulations!

Can you give me a little more information about your generator backup? What brand is it? Where did you get it, etc.?

It is a gurdian 15kw 100amp generator. You can see some different models here. (http://www.generac.com) I believe the place that it was bought at was Arizona Stand-by Power.

[skeets]

Originally posted by jonah310
hey skeets, if you dont mind me asking, what did you do with the 120 setup?

I sold the tank, stand, canopy, sump, fuge to someone locally. I kept some of the other stuff and used it on this tank(IE lights, tunzes, etc)

Originally posted by jonah310
o one more question skeets, (i promise this is the last one...mayber not :D )

how often does the ball valve switch between the outputs?

Right now I have the ball valve to switch every 3 minutes. You can set it to like 7 seconds or hours if you want to. However the ball valve is rated for like 2million switches and then you need to replace part of it. I personally like 3 or 4 minutes, but I know other people that do like 10 minutes.

[djangoboots]

what are you feeding your bellus, how is she doing? i just ordered a female from marine center too. yours looks great.

[Jenfur427]

Wow!

I love posts like these!

[2004jeepoutlander]

some one nominate him for totm

[2004jeepoutlander]

some one nominate him for totm

[2004jeepoutlander]

some one nominate him for totm

[2004jeepoutlander]

sorry about the triplle post!

[skeets]

Food
Even with food I am a spaz.
I feed a home made blend of food to my tank. I will go to one of our health stores and purchase fresh seafood that has not been frozen and thawed already. I usually get shrimp, scallops, and some kind of fish like snapper. I then take this food and throw it in a blender and mix it up into fish bite size pieces(NO MUSH). By making the bite size pieces for the fish, I am making all kinds of smaller pieces that will feed my coral etc when I feed my fish.
Once I have blended up the food, I will put in a bowl and I mix some pre-made fish food in it(IE bloodworms, VIP, plankton, etc). I then stir in some selcon and let it sit for a while.
I then pour it into baggies and lay them flat in the freezer to make them real skinny, and easy to break chunks.
I really like this food combination, but food can be made in many ways. I personally would stay away from feeding mush, because I feel it just pollutes the tank. Also think hard about what you really need in your food… because you don’t want to just pollute your tank with unnecessary things.

Here is what my food looks like when it is done. Ive used some of this, I fill the bag up completely to spread it out and make it thin
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/food.jpg

Feeding
This part is almost more important than what your feeding. You should feed in this manner, no matter what frozen food you have.

SOAK THAT FOOD!
That’s right, when you thaw out your food, let it soak in water for a while and break it up. The reason you want to let it soak is so that you can allow the phosphates to soak out into the water. Then rinse your food out(I use a brine or rotifer net)

If you properly soak your food, you will be eliminating a potentially large source of phosphates in your tank.

Water
I use home-made RO/DI water, as everyone should.
I am using the oceanus unit from aquatic reef systems. I run about a 1 to 4 waste water ratio, however I use a 75gpd RO membrane instead of a 100gpd for a better rejection rate.
I purchase my DI resin in bulk to save on cost at www.resindepot.com Comes out to be like $ dollars a refill instead of $20.
I am very regular on changing out my filters, I feel it is very important.

[skeets]

Originally posted by djangoboots
what are you feeding your bellus, how is she doing? i just ordered a female from marine center too. yours looks great.

My bellus is doing excellent! She was shy the first couple hours, peeking out from the rocks. But by the second day she was scarfing food down! I was so excited to see her eat on her second day, because they can be hard to acclimate sometimes.
She does great in the tank and eats my food like a pig.

The marine center will do you good. The first bellus that I was going to be sent was not doing too well in their QT, so they had me wait for another one. Great service!

[davebell24]

Could you tell me what type of material is the filter bag made of?

[skeets]

Originally posted by davebell24
Could you tell me what type of material is the filter bag made of?

I use PONG (polypropylene felt)

[ccc]

You nailed it. That lighting combo looks great to me.

Shane

[davebell24]

thanks for the info

[BAJA272]

Skeets:

Exceptional tank!!!!

Jeff

[ahman]

Gorgeous tank skeets! Question I know you're busy answering al you're new fan mail with this thread but if you can I was wondering how much electricity are you spending on all this equipment especially the lights and chiller? I know you said you wouldn't change a thing but what about the 400 watt De pendants from pfo you think that would give it an even brighter look?

[Detritivore]

how does it look without the actinics? could you post a pic?

[skeets]

Originally posted by ahman
Gorgeous tank skeets! Question I know you're busy answering al you're new fan mail with this thread but if you can I was wondering how much electricity are you spending on all this equipment especially the lights and chiller? I know you said you wouldn't change a thing but what about the 400 watt De pendants from pfo you think that would give it an even brighter look?

I am not honestly sure what the monthly costs are on the tank for electricity. I would guess like 50-80 bucks.

My tank is insanely bright, and there is no need to go with 400w DE's. It would give it a brighter look, but I wouldnt want it any brighter. I have 1550watts of MH over a 6'L and 2'T tank.

[skeets]

Originally posted by jonah310
how does it look without the actinics? could you post a pic?
The tank visually looks no different with the actinics on or off. The only difference is that a few corals polyps flourescent a little bit more with actinics. However its negligible IMO.
Because of the 10k/20k combo and the ammount of intensity my MH have, the actinics dont do much to the overall apperance.

[andro]

Originally posted by skeets
Food
I purchase my DI resin in bulk to save on cost at www.resindepot.com Comes out to be like $ dollars a refill instead of $20.
I am very regular on changing out my filters, I feel it is very important.

I do the same, the resin is great and is a fraction of the cost when you look at the refill cost, for me it was a no brainer.

-Ian

[ahman]

skeets is there any specific reason why you decided to go with acrylic rather than say starfire glass just wondering.

[skeets]

Originally posted by ahman
skeets is there any specific reason why you decided to go with acrylic rather than say starfire glass just wondering.
There sure were specific reasons abd they are in the post.
The main reason was the swiss cheese back panel.

[juthunter]

Hey skeets, im going to have a 240 made and i was wondering how you liked the adjustable nozzles on the surface and if you would suggest them throughout the tank. I was also wondering what kind of nozzle and where you got them from. Thanks! Only difference will be my tank will be DSB i think, i believe if theres sand in the ocean, then their must be sand in a saltwater tank. But i like your BB design and the fundamentals behind it. Thanks!

[skeets]

Originally posted by juthunter
Hey skeets, im going to have a 240 made and i was wondering how you liked the adjustable nozzles on the surface and if you would suggest them throughout the tank. I was also wondering what kind of nozzle and where you got them from. Thanks! Only difference will be my tank will be DSB i think, i believe if theres sand in the ocean, then their must be sand in a saltwater tank. But i like your BB design and the fundamentals behind it. Thanks!

By adjustable nozzles, do you mean my loc-line? It is just regular loc-line. You can take pieces off to make them shorter, add pieces to make them longer, and bend them all around.
I love my dynamic flow output and I dont know that I would recomend it throughout the tank. It all depends on the specific tank setup. Since you are going with a DSB system, I dont know how my design would work. I would have a perpetual sand cloud.

Originally posted by juthunter
i believe if theres sand in the ocean, then their must be sand in a saltwater tank.
I only agree with this in one way. If there is some of everything in the ocean, there must be some of everything in your tank. And we all know that this is not possible. :cool:

[EdHunter]

Thanks skeets :smokin:

[Stubing]

I just stumbled onto this thread. Wow! I guess a setup like that means tons of questions from everyone! You seem to have all the same interests as me - obviously reef keeping but the drag car too. Weird.

*saving this thread for inspiration - Thanks!

[qwuintus]

finally, ive been wondering about this thread...
freaking awesome tank skeets, i cant wait to see it when the sps corals are sticking out the tank. love the lighting too- perfect.

only thing is that tv.. i woulndt know whether or not to keep an eye on the show, or the tank.. unless it had some nice ladies :P

[wpbfishguy]

can you tell me which resin you buy from resindepot and do you empty out the resin in your old manufacturers cartridge and replace it with new resin beads or do you need to buy a specific reusable/refillable cartridge.
Tank looks great and you gave me alot of ideas.

[chrisd4421]

Awesome tank.....inspiring...

Can you give some more info on the spay bar?

How high does it sit from the bottom of the tank?
how many holes are drilled and is there any pattern?
What type of Flow does it provide?


thnaks!!!
Chris

[JazzMan]

Excellent Job on your tank.

I have some questions on your expirience with an acrylic tank.

I am in the market for an acrylic tank and am wondering how you like yours? Are they really that hard to clean? Has yours scratched very easily?

[Reef Addict II]

nice set-up and enjoyed the pic progress :)

Do you like the barebottom look instead of a sand bed or DSB?

I have purchased a existing 180g system and I am just now constructing the fish room/stand/etc(hope to be able to go get the system in 4 weeks).

He has a DSB now and I am deciding between a 1" SB just for looks are a bare bottom.

Thanks

Steve

[skeets]

Originally posted by wpbfishguy
can you tell me which resin you buy from resindepot and do you empty out the resin in your old manufacturers cartridge and replace it with new resin beads or do you need to buy a specific reusable/refillable cartridge.
Tank looks great and you gave me alot of ideas.

To be honest I dont remember what type I bought. If you call them and tell them what its for they will get you the right stuff. I had a refillable cartridge already that came with my unit. You will need to get a refillable cartridge if you dont have one already. They are like 4-6 bucks.

[skeets]

Originally posted by chrisd4421
Awesome tank.....inspiring...

Can you give some more info on the spay bar?

How high does it sit from the bottom of the tank?
how many holes are drilled and is there any pattern?
What type of Flow does it provide?


thnaks!!!
Chris

Anything I can say about it I have said about it in the thread bud.
It sits up like 3 inches.

[skeets]

Originally posted by JazzMan
Excellent Job on your tank.

I have some questions on your expirience with an acrylic tank.

I am in the market for an acrylic tank and am wondering how you like yours? Are they really that hard to clean? Has yours scratched very easily?

Acrylic scratches real easy. You can buff it out though, so its not a big deal. But you definitely have to be extra careful with acrylic.
Even with the scratches and such I would take acrylic over glass again. I like it a lot more than glass.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Reef Addict II
nice set-up and enjoyed the pic progress :)

Do you like the barebottom look instead of a sand bed or DSB?

I have purchased a existing 180g system and I am just now constructing the fish room/stand/etc(hope to be able to go get the system in 4 weeks).

He has a DSB now and I am deciding between a 1" SB just for looks are a bare bottom.

Thanks

Steve
The barebottom look grows on you. Especially once corraline starts growing and such. I like the way a DSB looks better probably... but my tank looks better as a barebottom. I would say either go DSB or BB. Dont go with a shallowbed unless you are a glutton for work and punishment.

[Reef Addict II]

Thanks for the info :)

I probably will go with a barebottom. I have 2 Tunze 6100's with the controller and I want to be able to dial them up alot if I want and I didnt want the sand flying around.

I still have 3 weeks to decide :)

Steve

[conda]

Originally posted by skeets
I would say either go DSB or BB. Dont go with a shallowbed unless you are a glutton for work and punishment.

May I ask what the problems of a shallow bed would be?

BTW, nice tank and great work. Very Impressive.

[brentp]

Conda,

A BB tank allows you to get detritus off the bottom and into your skimmer. A DSB will process the detritus until it fills up. A shallow sand bed does neither well.

Brent

[skippysmind]

one of the best i have seen, excellent !!!!!!

[cscr212]

any updated pictures?

[Garsavior]

WOW, sweet setup and awesome walk-thru!! I've been beginning to think about also going barebottom but not sure yet. I wonder what your electricity bill is each month, lol?

[CPT. MURPHY]

very nice! :)

[jeasley]

Could you explain why you did your overflows that way? I have heard that rear drilled tanks produce more noise. I am very new to all this and i love the look of the overflows a lot! Just want to understnd the reasoning behind the choice.

[Clown-lover]

Quite possibly the best looking, and well thought out tank I have seen! Truly amazing.

[drewdegenhardt]

any updates?

[MdM31]

WOW

[owskkibibles]

daaaaannnggg nice tank!

[kabboord]

Dude, that original post was longer than my thesis.
You should get like an honory masters or phd from somewhere.

[kabboord]

Dude, that original post was longer than my thesis.
You should get like an honory masters or phd from somewhere.

[tankslave]

Skeets, how does that motorized ball valve work for ya? Does it come with some sort of control device? just wondering exactly how you control it...

[aaronlovesshel]

Congrats,

That is easily one of the best thought out tanks out there. The attention to detail, patience, proffesional approach is outstanding. Definitely an inspiration. Best to you, I look forward to seeing some updates in the future.

Looking at the cars on your website gives insight about where you get your approach when it comes to planning, attention to detail, clean lines etc.. Congrats to you both.

Aaron

[TheCoralReef731]

wow, great tank. I really like the whole setup that you have. This is definately one of the best tanks I've ever seen. Could you post a pic of the secret passage to the back of your tank? (Ah, but that will make it not a secret)

[sramoo]

Excellent tank! I would definitely do quite a few of the things that you did if I had an unlimited budget like you do.

[TapeWorm]

Originally posted by skeets

Right now I have the ball valve to switch every 3 minutes. You can set it to like 7 seconds or hours if you want to. However the ball valve is rated for like 2million switches and then you need to replace part of it. I personally like 3 or 4 minutes, but I know other people that do like 10 minutes.

Nice tank skeets,

What kind of MBV is it? It doesnt look like the normal OM that people use.

Thanks.

[tankslave]

Originally posted by tankslave
Skeets, how does that motorized ball valve work for ya? Does it come with some sort of control device? just wondering exactly how you control it...

anyone know where you get those, and how you cotrol them? I assume that you need to get some sort of cotrol device in addition to the MBV...

[Morgandy]

This is unbelievable to me...you ABSOLUTELY should publish a book using this journal information..so many of us could've truly benefitted at start-up. It is an inspiration...I'm impressed to no end!!

[skamin]

Great set-up! Where did you purchase most of your equipment?

[TheyCallMeFishy]

Wow, very nice thread. I like how you threw everything out there, so that bums like me couldn't interrupt and ask dumb questions during your progress.

[Micki]

Wow, incredible! Would love to see some updated info and pics!

[melev]

This is a great thread! I love Page One the most. :D

[Superorb]

tank looks awesome. wish i was born into that family first for the motorsports, than the fishies :)

[toddlaco]

tag

[ReeferMonkey]

Originally posted by toddlaco
tag

There is a "subscribe to this thread" button at the bottom of the page so that you dont' have to "tag" the thread, which sends everyone else subscribed an email, so we come back here to check out a post that says "tag."

Just FYI :)

[Freeskier98]

A tank like this deserves a good ol bump.

Nicely Done.

[NexDog]

Nice. Wish I had the balls to go BB.

[Roll221]

skeets,

Are you still around?

Ed
owner of your old 120.

[clkwrk]

So any updates or is this a TMIA

[melev]

Skeets hasn't posted since 3/24/05. Someone should send him a PM or email to see if all is well.

[clkwrk]

I do believe his tank was tanken down since I know a few that have some of his corals . Was just hoping to get a response if his email settings are set to notify him of a new post.

[Fliger]

Skeets is doing well, his tank is now a FOWLR. He's busy chasing girls and driving fast cars. ;-)

[clkwrk]

good to hear all that hard work is still working and doing its job as a fowlr tank at least.

[jacmyoung]

I seem to see this often, many large tank build-outs ended in a premature death or close to that. I think some of them bit more than they can or care to swallow in the end.

Which makes the ones that lasted even more enviable.

[melev]

Yep, Weatherson and Steveweast and a few others take the cake. :thumbsup:

I'm just tenacious. :lol:

[skeets]

Originally posted by jacmyoung
I seem to see this often, many large tank build-outs ended in a premature death or close to that. I think some of them bit more than they can or care to swallow in the end.

Which makes the ones that lasted even more enviable.

That is a pretty rude and disrespectful comment considering you dont know me, or anything about me. Its pretty rude and disrespectful considering the fact that you have never saw my tank with coral, or as a fish only.

Sometimes peoples lives change in ways that dont allow them to keep up with commitments they have, so they need to change those commitments and downscale to something that their life will allow. My tank never died, and never got close. I sold all my coral, because my life changed in a way that did not allow me to keep my tank in the tip-top condition that I wanted to. So I acted as a smart person and sold what I knew I could not take care of anymore in the future.
Watch where you poke your fingers, lay blame, and assume. Take a hint in what the first three letters are used to spell assume.

[TJcop]

Well said, Skeets!
I think it's great you took the responsible route and sold your corals to people that could take care of them. I'm also glad that you didn't give up on the hobby! In time, I'm sure you'll have another (probably larger) tank full of corals.
Best of luck, and don't let those comments discourage you! :)

[Roll221]

Skeets, I have to defend 'jacmyoungs" comment. It has been over six months since you have posted on this marvelous thread (that you started) so folks are going to wonder. Maybe, but this is just a suggestion, you should have closed this thread by letting the hundreds of us that were following it know your situation previous now. Hope all is well with you and if you look at my gallery you can see your old 120 has been put to really good use!! Best tank I have ever owned.

Take Care,
Ed

[tsquad]

I think jacmyoungs was just trying to say that most large tank threads he see die off, and the tank is no more, and he's glad to see that yours isn't one of the most. I think you're included in the "more enviable" class. That said, your tank is AWESOME! :lol: Any updated shots? All the old ones aren't showing up for me, but I remember them.

[clkwrk]

Skeets - Calling him the first 3 letters in assume is rude also and not tollerated here at RC. That would be a personal attack.

BTW- glad the tank is stilll running ..................


Here at Reef Central, we believe that dialogs between participants should be conducted in a friendly and helpful manner. If you disagree with a posting, please express yourself in a way that is conducive to further constructive dialog. Conversely, when you post on any given subject, you must be willing to accept constructive criticism without posting a hostile or inflammatory response. Personal attacks of any kind will not be tolerated. Please let’s work to insure that Reef Central remains a friendly and flame free site where everyone, especially newcomers, can feel free to post questions without fear of being unfairly criticized. Thank you for your cooperation.

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by tsquad
I think jacmyoungs was just trying to say that most large tank threads he see die off, and the tank is no more, and he's glad to see that yours isn't one of the most. I think you're included in the "more enviable" class. That said, your tank is AWESOME! :lol: Any updated shots? All the old ones aren't showing up for me, but I remember them.

Thank you for the kind defense.

I must admit I was a little annoyed after reading through all the posts here only not able to see a single photo of his tank, reef or FO. While I did not literally include his tank in the "dead" category. I was still trying to get him to come out to show me something.

I guess I was only partially successful. He did come out but I still do not have the opportunity to see his tank everyone was so envious of.

I myself two years ago invested upwards $10k and countless time to build an in-wall tank and fish room, only to sell most of the livestock before my planned reefscape could be completed, because we bought a new home and had to sell the old one where the tank was built. While the buyer of the house insisted she wanted the tank, we knew it was impossible for an average home owner to keep it up. Taking down the tank, dismentle the fish room and repatch the wall was the hardest thing I had to do in order to sell the house.

We maybe more in common than you think skeets:)

[tsquad]

Well there are pics, I think a server somewhere is down..:(

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by tsquad
Well there are pics, I think a sever somewhere is down..:(

Well then I must apologize skeets. I thought you were teasing us by removing all the photos. Still hoping to see them.

[skeets]

I did not take the pictures down, I am not sure what happened as I dont host them myself. I will look into it to get it back up.... I put a lot of time and effort into making this thread and plan to keep it up for others to learn from, even if I am no longer reefing at the level I was a year ago.

[SERVO]

Skeets tanks is truly awesome and inspirational! Can't wait to see the pictures again!

Skeets; take some updated shots post them on a photobucket acount! Its free.

www.photobucket.com

:D

[skeets]

Pictures are back up!

This setup is now FOR SALE. I am moving, and it cant come with unfortunately. Livestock is already gone, however all equipment is for sale. I will not break it down, unless the tank, stand, cabinets go first.

I am not opposed to selling to out of state people, however I will not ship, you must come pick it up. I live in the Phoenix, AZ.
Please only inquire if you are able and willing to spend several thousand, lol.
Thanks guys.... I guess Ill just have to go bigger to try to top this one eh?

[NexDog]

Originally posted by skeets
Thanks guys.... I guess Ill just have to go bigger to try to top this one eh?
Just keep a tank up and fully stocked for more than 3 months and you'll top this one. ;):D:bum:

:p runs away :p

[melev]

:lol:

There must be something in the water lately. Hop was going to sell, you want to sell, others have sold already. What's happening? What did I miss? ;)

[Dudester]

I'm at 3 months and have NO INTENTION of selling. I just hope that whatever bug is out there infecting reef-keepers stays out of Texas!

[skeets]

Just to set the record straight since some like to start rumors...lol... The tank was setup for over a year =D

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

Update?

[clkwrk]

:lol: Tank was sold a long time ago bud ;)

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

Dang, never met him but he is a friend of a friend and was hoping to see his tank. Oh well