180g reef tank

[SaltSolutions1]

Hi everyone,

My boss decided to put a reef tank in his office. I am doing the setup and the maintenance. It is now cycling. Here are some pics:

The tank was purchased used off of craigslist for $900.00

This included the stand, a canopy that was built by the previous owner, a wet/dry filter, 300 lbs. of live rock, crushed coral substrate, and all the plumbing.

It was filthy and a complete mess. I cleaned everything with water, vinegar and elbow grease.

Then, I stained the stand to match my boss's office furniture. He gave the canopy to me as it had some older T-5's and CF's.

He replaced that with fixture with a 72" HID / T5 HO Light Fixture.

He also replaced the wet/dry with a sump/fuge rated for up to 200g. (nice upgrade)

We vacuumed out the crushed coral substrate and replaced it with live sand (200lbs) or about 2".

More pictures to come.

 

[ERICinFL]

Very nice, can't wait to see it with livestock!

 

[strout]

LOL, Make sure you buy corals that you like, so that you can frag them for your tank, just a thought.

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Strout, that is exactly what I am doing.

Great idea!

Any suggestions on stock? He wants corals and reef fish. The best and most expensive of everything.

 

[strout]

Some Purple Monster frags might look nice. lol

 

[avaneaton2000]

Salt how about some nice ORA frags and some nice bright acan and prism favia colonies?

These are my favorite ORA's right now:
Blue Voodoo Stag
Borealis

Definitely Purple Monster

a group of Bartlett's Anthias would be nice. gem tang($3k)? Candy Basslet ($900)?

I would have set it up as a peninsula since it is not drilled but that is just my personal preference.

 

[ERICinFL]

Find some of the most expensive and beautiful corals out there and say it to him like this, "So boss, there are a few corals that would look stunning in your tank, but they're kinda pricey. I don't know if you'd want to come off the cash for em' though, so never mind". When he replies, " Well, how much are we talking"? You reply, " No no, these corals are for people with exquisite taste. Not that you don't have good taste, but they might be a little more high brow, than you want to come off". To which he'll say, "I'll take two of each". Of course you'll need to keep one of each in your tank, just in case something happens to his.

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15600192#post15600192 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ERICinFL
Find some of the most expensive and beautiful corals out there and say it to him like this, "So boss, there are a few corals that would look stunning in your tank, but they're kinda pricey. I don't know if you'd want to come off the cash for em' though, so never mind". When he replies, " Well, how much are we talking"? You reply, " No no, these corals are for people with exquisite taste. Not that you don't have good taste, but they might be a little more high brow, than you want to come off". To which he'll say, "I'll take two of each". Of course you'll need to keep one of each in your tank, just in case something happens to his.

I like the way you think!

Looking forward to seeing the tank after you get it set up. Sounds like the boss has good taste and knows a little about salt water aquariums...

LL

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Hi everyone......Thank you for all of your input. Please keep it coming as my boss plans on putting at least 10,000 bucks into this setup.

Here are some more pics. I just did the aqua-scape today.

This is a picture of some algae growth (all part of the cycle)

Here is the caluerpa I just added to the refugium along with some live sand and live rock.

Aqua-scape with the first of the livestock - 5 emerald crabs and 24 hermits

Aqua-scape 2 with the livestock as well

 

[SaltSolutions1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15599292#post15599292 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by avaneaton2000
Salt how about some nice ORA frags and some nice bright acan and prism favia colonies?

These are my favorite ORA's right now:
Blue Voodoo Stag
Borealis

Definitely Purple Monster

a group of Bartlett's Anthias would be nice. gem tang($3k)? Candy Basslet ($900)?

I would have set it up as a peninsula since it is not drilled but that is just my personal preference.

The tank is drilled.

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Hello everyone and thanks for staying with me on this setup. It has been a lot of fun thus far.

The tank has finally cycled. No traces of ammonia. And we have nitrates. I added some more livestock.

20 snails
3 dartfish
1 Blunt-Spined Brittle Star
2 coral banded shrimp

Total Livestock so far: (September 9, 2009)

3 dartfish
1 Blunt-Spined Brittle Star
2 coral banded shrimp
24 blue-legged hermit crabs
20 snails
4 emerald crabs

Here are some pictures from over the past week or 2:

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Here are some more pictures:

 

[SaltSolutions1]

My boss just decided to buy a reef package online without asking me about compatibility:

He added to the above livestock:

25 turbo snails
20 scarlet hermit
5 peppermint shrimp
2 serpent stars
2 brittle stars
2 cleaner clams
10 blue hermits
10 emerald crabs
2 sally lightfoot crabs
3 porcellan crabs
3 lettuce nubibranches
2 groups of 10 nassarius snails

Is this a war waiting to happen or what?

I am worried about compatibility issues between everything I have in there with all of this being added.

Thanks

 

[SaltSolutions1]

New Update with pictures:

Recently added over the past couple weeks:

Purple Tang
Magnificent Foxface
2 black perculas
2 white perculas

Coral:
RBTA
Elegance Coral
2 Blastomussa Coral
Frogspawn
Long tentacle plate coral
2 short tentacle plate corals
flowerpot coral
Oulophyllia Coral
Open Brain Coral - Green
Doughnut Coral
2 Acan Lord Corals
Hammer Coral
2 Blastomussa Corals
Open Brain Orange Indo Select

 

[SaltSolutions1]

More pictures:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15673311#post15673311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SaltSolutions1
Here are some more pictures:

So, which one's you, and which is the boss?

 

[SaltSolutions1]

LOL

those are my two boys, Brandon and Alex, 6 & 7 years old. They love reef tanks

 

[JStraz4991]

It will look really good once you put more coral in it