Starting a new tank thread....

[badazztealcobra]

If I end up with a tang it'll be one of the Ctenochaetus variety. I really like the Chevron and Two spot bristle tooth tomini's, but would also think about a Blue Eyed Kole...

Definitely wouldnt put an Acanthurus in there.

If I were going to put in a Zebramosa it would be a scopas. I would see some real aggression out of a purple as it got bigger, and possibly out of a yellow as well.

I really think Im going to be sticking with smaller slower fish in this tank. Im still undecided about my Anthias pair and my Male swallowtail..... My PBT died last week for some unknown reason, but my male swallowtail swims quite abit and the Male anthias can turn into a spaz when his woman ventures out too far for his tastes. Maybe he just needs a few more ladies ???

My Onyx pair, fridmani pseudochromis, midas blenny, green mandarin, and most likely the radiant wrasse will be going into the new tank, although the wrasse is large hes not a crazy swimmer.

Other than that Im thinking about adding a group of bangaii, maybe some other smaller peaceful fish.....

[saleenpwr88]

Is that your only complaint with the tank so far the silicone on the bottom??? Personally that wouldn't bother me at all unless I was going bare bottom. Seeing the rimless really makes me want one now and glasscages prices is about as high as I would go.

[badazztealcobra]

Yeah, thats really the only issue I see with it. Other than that the price really couldnt be beat. Even if the thing leaks when I test it, the price was only $25 more than the quotes I got on the glass and building it myself....

On a side note, the glass company finally got my glass done yesterday... I got the bubble trap built, and then I will be putting in the return baffle tonight.... Hoping to start filling it right before or right after Christmas...

[mcliffy2]

I really like this new setup. On the aquascape, I might suggest moving some rock to the sump, so that you can keep the back walls clear for scraping, give your fish more swimming room, and allow for better circulation in the tank. This will also free up space for more corals on the back side of the rocks (one of the pluses of having a tank that is 3 sides is having "surprise" corals that are only visible when you peek around to the sides of the tank).

[mcliffy2]

Also, if you want to cherry pick some corals for that tank from my setup, I've got some waiting for ya. A sunset monti, tyree flower petal, and if you've got QT a whole plethora of acros.

[coralfanatic1]

man i cant believe i missed out on this thread until now, excellent work. the tank looks amazing i love the choice of equipment, very nice, great job!.

[badazztealcobra]

I definitely need to come check out your setup.... I was going to see if anyone wanted to do some trading of some nicer corals, although Im sure you have everything I already have....

I changed around a few spots and angles of the aquascape and it should leave me plenty of room for scraping and cleaning. I'm going to look into one of those nicer frag racks for the back wall as well, and Im going to look into doing a few mag-frag plugs too... Its kinda nice ha ving this much open back wall.

I think my fuge is going to be getting some of the rock thats clean in my current fuge.... A few cups of that sand and some chaeto and I should have things up and going pretty fast.

Im going to run it for a few days to check for leaks, the watch for a cycle, then slowly move livestock and corals over. Im guessing I should have everything moved over around February.

I could try to move it all right away but Im worried about some of the higher end corals having issues with the new tank. So I figure Ill start with some of my zoas and LPS, then slowly work my way up to the "nicer" SPS....

[Montezuma]

Awesome build man. This is exactly like my tank, and I love it. Our equipment is almost similar. Check out my homepage.

I like that you went 36" instead of 24". Im having room issues under the tank ever since I installed the profilux and doser in there.

Also, are you painting the back? Mine hides my vortechs

[cet98]

any updates???.....

[badazztealcobra]

Nothing new to report yet.... I should be puttin in the water this week, Ive just been tied up with other stuff...

[bcrane]

Seeing that start date to the current date makes me feel good about the time I estimated to start/end my project.

On a side note, that tank is absolutely amazing, I cant wait to see the aftermath.

Bravo sir.

[badazztealcobra]

My builds always take forever... You shouldve seen my 180 build.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1273034


The one lesson I have learned from this hobby is that only the bad things happen fast... Take your time setting up the new tank and everything will follow. Youve been asking a TON of good questions here and itll pay off in the long run.

[bcrane]

One quote stuck out in "The New Marine Aquarium" when I was reading...."The resourceful hobbyist can always find ways to cut costs, ferret out bargains, or otherwise achieve fine results by investing time rather than cash"

From being on this site for the short time I have, not only have I saved an ungodly amount of money, but an immeasurable amount of knowledge

Your post reminded me of another quote in that book "Nothing good ever happens fast in a marine tank"

Great minds think alike =P You should write a book!

[badazztealcobra]

Well things have been going slow, but I put water in it and just fired it up tonight... so far everything looks good, Im going to give it two days running like this and if all is well I will be adding salt on Sunday...





I think Im going to be swapping out one of my Actinic White for another Blue+ soon too, but the color looks better in person since these were taken with my phone.......

[spoofer]

looks good, ya it seems a bit pink'ish in color? i'm still messing with my bulb combo too (i have a 8x54w ATI too)

[badazztealcobra]

I think alot of it is because the pictures are from my phone....

I just threw the P&S camera on a charger, so Ill get some more pictures up later that hopefully have a better representation of the color....

[badazztealcobra]

Man, those pictures are WAY off.....

Here's the pictures with the P&S camera... the color is pretty close here... I changec my mind about adding anymore Blue+ bulbs after looking at it again and taking new pictures....

[N3gative Cr33p]

Originally Posted by badazztealcobra

Man, these glass cages tanks are heavy as hell.

Yeah, your tank was deceptively heavier than it looked. For sure.

Pictures look good so far, Doug... we drove past your street last night and you can definitely tell that you have an aquarium up and running in that spare room of yours.

P.S. - I have some devil's hand that you can have for your new tank. Free of charge, of course.

[badazztealcobra]

Originally Posted by N3gative Cr33p

P.S. - I have some devil's hand that you can have for your new tank. Free of charge, of course.

Not a chance.... I still say we try to ditch it and see if Rosie notices.

I told Ryan (the guy that bought your Nano) that you should have a frag of those zoas that he liked soon, I just need to come over with the fragging supplies.

[N3gative Cr33p]

Originally Posted by badazztealcobra

I just need to come over with the fragging supplies.

No doubt... I've been meaning to borrow your kit from you for like the past week now.

[badazztealcobra]

Well, I know its going to take awhile, but as they say, nothing good in this hobby happens fast.... Im going to be slowly moving corals over to the new tank, Im averaging two per day, but might slow down when it comes to the higher end SPS.... I should be done with the transfer by the end of February, then it's going to be mass sale of the old system....

I got the Alpha 170 online and kicking as well....


Sump with T5 lighting (I'm going to change out the actinic for another 10k, but until I get the new light itll do...


Angled shot with flash:


Straight on shot:


Im going to be ordering another 6055 this week for the other side of the tank, and am also going to be having a cover made for the overflow.... Then I'm going to look into putting my 180 on all manual timers and putting the Profilux onto this tank....

[nanonubey]

What skimmer to you have on your 180? Will it be for sale? BTW nice setup!

[badazztealcobra]

Its a MSX250, extended cup, modded sicces, etc........ I modded them like crazy (3 layers 7210 mesh, machined pump, new shafts, shorter front bushing, P-S.com reducer, etc) before you were able to get all these new PW's for them.

If I were going to keep running it I might consider changing to the WM red's, but I get GREAT numbers and nasty skimmate with my meshwheels as well....

It will be for sale once I'm done moving stuff over. Keep an eye open for a large FS thread around the end of February when I hope to have everything transferred over.

Here it is with the standard cup:


First day of the extended cup:


Yummy:



The skimmer is a beast, its just way too much for the new setup, and wouldve taken too much room in the sump.

[gdwats]

Glad to see you upped your sump from 30L to something a little bigger.

[badazztealcobra]

Yeah, I dont know what was going through my mind at the time. I think its because we used a 30L under the sister in laws tank because her's is a standard 90g, so an 18" wide sump wouldnt fit....