So the 120 has been taken down. I learned one very important lesson through this tank- never put an aquarium somewhere you don’t have to see it every day, multiple times a day. I stuck my 120 on the second floor of my house in the guest bedroom, where I never went except for the tank, and cleaning the tank quickly became the only time I spent with the tank- which is no longer fun. I guess I could have learned that lesson from others tanks that I had seen fall into disrepair when tucked into the basement, but I only learn the hard way. So I decided to get rid of my zero maintenance discus tank :/ in my living room and replace it with the reef tank from upstairs. But it is easier and safer to set up a new tank and transfer the livestock than to move an existing tank, and if you are getting a new tank it might as well be bigger, so I now have a 180.
This plan also allows me to move back to a basement sump- not having to run between floors is nice, but having a space to make a mess and not have to clean up is better I’m keeping with the heavy automation and absolute silence theme, and am even adding a few toys! A lot of this is carry over from the 120, but I’ll list it anyway.
The rock work consists of three islands, the left 2 are connected by a bridge and are where most of my SPS and LPS are going. The right island is an anemone and paly/zoa island, or anything else I don’t want taking over the entire tank. This was a great way to get my anemones to stop killing my SPS, and if they kill some zoas, no biggie. It also allows me to have less flow in that area. I kept the caves more open this time, which really helps open up the scape.
Main Display: 180 gallon marineland with one of the corner overflows removed. Removing the overflow is really easy and improves the looks immensely. And with a herbie drain you really only need one.
Stand: I only need to keep a few electronics upstairs, so I chose to build a bookshelf a stand. I tried to keep it as light looking as possible, with as little wood as possible showing and just a minimalistic canopy that acts as a light shade. I’m pretty pleased with it, and it was easier to make than any other stand I have built.
Sump: 40 gallon breeder
Frag tank: 40 gallon breeder plumbed into the rest of the system. Someone pointed out some cheap metal stands by edsal available at any home improvement store that fit 40’s perfectly- they are a great option. Excuse the mess- some wire management is in order
Filtration: DIY Automatic mechanical filter in place of socks- similar to the Theiling Rollermat, but in my opinion better and only cost me $30 to make. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24311695#post24311695
Lighting: 3 250w MH and 8 bulb t5. Mix of blue plus, coral plus, and actintic. Replaced fans with low decibel pc fans, with all the protective metal grating cut away. Will be replacing magnetic ballasts with electronic any day now.
Skimmer: aquamaxx em-200 or coral box 700, but I’ll be looking for an upgrade. I really like to run my skimmer intake line outside, as it increases my pH significantly, so I will be doing that as soon as I get to it. As always I’ll be filtering that air to remove any possible contamination.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578829
Return Pump: Was an Iwaki MD-55RT, but I switched to the Jeboa DCS 12000 to save some power and it seems to be decent, although the flow rate is less than halve of what they claim. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2617888
Water Circulation: Tunze 6105 and 6205. These were way overpowered in a 120, but I can actually use them in a 180 without blowing the flesh off my LPS.
Dosing: Jeboa DP-4, dosing some vodka and vinegar and Randy’s recipe
Electronics: Battery backup done by an old UPS I hooked up to a deep cycle marine battery. The powerheads are connected directly to the battery, and my modem and router are the only things that run off my battery backup. Everything else goes through the Apex.
Other Equipment: BRS dual chamber running GFO and Carbon
Auto top off System: A float valve connected to my RODI, with a ball valve set so only ~4 gallons of water can drip in per day- this way if the float valve sticks, as unlikely as that is, I have lots of time to catch the problem. With the added conductivity probe this would be caught rather quickly anyway.
Heating: Two aqueon pro 250W heaters, 2 ehiem 250w heaters, 1 300w finnex, 1 200w marinland. My house is really cold.
Cooling: Evaporation- let’s hope this is enough with metal halides running during the summer. I have some 120mm pc fans mounted to the frag tank which I have never used.
Water changes: A holding barrel fills with RODI water that I then mix salt into (I’m currently using half Red Sea Pro and half red sea regular) and then pump to the FSW reservoir. Water changes are done automatically with shurflo diaphragm pump- this was a carry-over from when I had to pump water up 2 floors. It pumps about 3 gpm, which is a great gradual water change. The rising water in the sump trips a float switch that powers a small pump that pumps water to the drain or the quarantine tank. Siphon is broken by a simple tee in the line with a bit of hosing tied in a knot. The programmed water changes really help with getting on a consistent dosing level. If you do water changes every week or two, the variation in how much is changed and how often doesn’t allow the tank to settle.
Quarantine tank: 30 gallon with water changes done automatically from the DT. Filtration is a reefoctopus HOB bh-1000 skimmer. ATO is a float valve. Excess water drains from overflow to the basement drain.
Feeding: Currently 2 times per day via autofeeder- usually spectrum, but really whatever I have around. Cube of frozen food/ nori ~every other day. Fed into DIY feeding ring/ cube melter- just a tube zip tied to a magnet, but it keeps food out of my overflows. I have plenty of clear acrylic tubing if anyone wants to make one of these. In the VERY near future I will do all my feeding using only refrigerated foods! So keep an eye out for that DIY update.
Fish etc: Hippo tang, 4 yellow tangs, flame angel, leopard wrasse, pair of clowns, orchid dottyback, 3 anthias, blue damsel, 2 engineer gobies, coral banded shrimp, anemone, and various snails and hermits.
Corals: Too many to list anymore
Future: One more fish I think- I don’t want to crowd the tank or make it look small, but I would love to finally succeed with a copper band or maybe (probably too big) a majestic angel. Auto bypass on the RODI. Automatic refrigerated fish food feeder. Skimmer intake outside. I may also add a Kalk reactor to the system, we shall see. And as always, more corals!
This plan also allows me to move back to a basement sump- not having to run between floors is nice, but having a space to make a mess and not have to clean up is better I’m keeping with the heavy automation and absolute silence theme, and am even adding a few toys! A lot of this is carry over from the 120, but I’ll list it anyway.
The rock work consists of three islands, the left 2 are connected by a bridge and are where most of my SPS and LPS are going. The right island is an anemone and paly/zoa island, or anything else I don’t want taking over the entire tank. This was a great way to get my anemones to stop killing my SPS, and if they kill some zoas, no biggie. It also allows me to have less flow in that area. I kept the caves more open this time, which really helps open up the scape.
Main Display: 180 gallon marineland with one of the corner overflows removed. Removing the overflow is really easy and improves the looks immensely. And with a herbie drain you really only need one.
Stand: I only need to keep a few electronics upstairs, so I chose to build a bookshelf a stand. I tried to keep it as light looking as possible, with as little wood as possible showing and just a minimalistic canopy that acts as a light shade. I’m pretty pleased with it, and it was easier to make than any other stand I have built.
Sump: 40 gallon breeder
Frag tank: 40 gallon breeder plumbed into the rest of the system. Someone pointed out some cheap metal stands by edsal available at any home improvement store that fit 40’s perfectly- they are a great option. Excuse the mess- some wire management is in order
Filtration: DIY Automatic mechanical filter in place of socks- similar to the Theiling Rollermat, but in my opinion better and only cost me $30 to make. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24311695#post24311695
Lighting: 3 250w MH and 8 bulb t5. Mix of blue plus, coral plus, and actintic. Replaced fans with low decibel pc fans, with all the protective metal grating cut away. Will be replacing magnetic ballasts with electronic any day now.
Skimmer: aquamaxx em-200 or coral box 700, but I’ll be looking for an upgrade. I really like to run my skimmer intake line outside, as it increases my pH significantly, so I will be doing that as soon as I get to it. As always I’ll be filtering that air to remove any possible contamination.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578829
Return Pump: Was an Iwaki MD-55RT, but I switched to the Jeboa DCS 12000 to save some power and it seems to be decent, although the flow rate is less than halve of what they claim. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2617888
Water Circulation: Tunze 6105 and 6205. These were way overpowered in a 120, but I can actually use them in a 180 without blowing the flesh off my LPS.
Dosing: Jeboa DP-4, dosing some vodka and vinegar and Randy’s recipe
Electronics: Battery backup done by an old UPS I hooked up to a deep cycle marine battery. The powerheads are connected directly to the battery, and my modem and router are the only things that run off my battery backup. Everything else goes through the Apex.
Other Equipment: BRS dual chamber running GFO and Carbon
Auto top off System: A float valve connected to my RODI, with a ball valve set so only ~4 gallons of water can drip in per day- this way if the float valve sticks, as unlikely as that is, I have lots of time to catch the problem. With the added conductivity probe this would be caught rather quickly anyway.
Heating: Two aqueon pro 250W heaters, 2 ehiem 250w heaters, 1 300w finnex, 1 200w marinland. My house is really cold.
Cooling: Evaporation- let’s hope this is enough with metal halides running during the summer. I have some 120mm pc fans mounted to the frag tank which I have never used.
Water changes: A holding barrel fills with RODI water that I then mix salt into (I’m currently using half Red Sea Pro and half red sea regular) and then pump to the FSW reservoir. Water changes are done automatically with shurflo diaphragm pump- this was a carry-over from when I had to pump water up 2 floors. It pumps about 3 gpm, which is a great gradual water change. The rising water in the sump trips a float switch that powers a small pump that pumps water to the drain or the quarantine tank. Siphon is broken by a simple tee in the line with a bit of hosing tied in a knot. The programmed water changes really help with getting on a consistent dosing level. If you do water changes every week or two, the variation in how much is changed and how often doesn’t allow the tank to settle.
Quarantine tank: 30 gallon with water changes done automatically from the DT. Filtration is a reefoctopus HOB bh-1000 skimmer. ATO is a float valve. Excess water drains from overflow to the basement drain.
Feeding: Currently 2 times per day via autofeeder- usually spectrum, but really whatever I have around. Cube of frozen food/ nori ~every other day. Fed into DIY feeding ring/ cube melter- just a tube zip tied to a magnet, but it keeps food out of my overflows. I have plenty of clear acrylic tubing if anyone wants to make one of these. In the VERY near future I will do all my feeding using only refrigerated foods! So keep an eye out for that DIY update.
Fish etc: Hippo tang, 4 yellow tangs, flame angel, leopard wrasse, pair of clowns, orchid dottyback, 3 anthias, blue damsel, 2 engineer gobies, coral banded shrimp, anemone, and various snails and hermits.
Corals: Too many to list anymore
Future: One more fish I think- I don’t want to crowd the tank or make it look small, but I would love to finally succeed with a copper band or maybe (probably too big) a majestic angel. Auto bypass on the RODI. Automatic refrigerated fish food feeder. Skimmer intake outside. I may also add a Kalk reactor to the system, we shall see. And as always, more corals!
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