220 Marineland mixed reef tank

[ericdm]

hello everyone i am a reborn reefer i started out with a 38 gallon eclipse reef tank that i had up and running for about a year and a half when i was about 16. Needless to say at 16 i had more important things on my mind than keeping up with my fish tank lol. Well i am now 24 and recently purchased a house with my fiance (wife to be 8-31-12) and decided it was time to get back into the hobby so i bought a 165 gallon DAS aquarium had it set up and cycled for about 3 months then woke up one morning to find a gyser of water commin from the front two panes of glass needless to say i freaked out and quickly moved my fish to my dads empty 75 gallon tank.

At this point i was very discouraged after all the hard work and planning that i had done to set this tank up and have this happen i though about selling my brand new equipment and calling it quits.

But that didnt happen i went to my local fish store and had them order me a brand new Marineland 220 72x24x30 with dual overflows and a Marineland oak stand to match in black i got what i though was a good price on it at 1100??? The tank came and i finally got it home and set it up and man it was huge so i quickly began the plumbing and making of ro/di to fill the beast along with making a custom open concept canopy for it needless to say i am 2.5 months in on this tank and things are looking great have some algae on the sand bed for now nitrates and phosphates are both zero so im contributing it to being a fairly new tank. I will continue to post updates of my mixed reef and any and all recommendations or thoughts will be welcome i get much information from this site and would love some imput or feedback.

Lighting: 60" 6x80 ATI t5 4xBlue plus 2x Aqua blue special
Filtration: 40 gallon breeder sump with 200 micron filter sock
Skimmer: Aquac EV 180 overdriven with a Mag 9.5
Return pump: Mag 18 also using a acon 1250 and korilla 750 for circulation
Heater: 2x 250 watt one in each overflow

 

[K-ROK]

Looks nice! Got a great start there. Looking forward to seeing lots of corals in there! I just had my 150gal. leak so I know how it feels to spend a day frantically moving fish and corals. Glad you rebounded and are back at it.

 

[ericdm]

I have about 65 lbs of dry rock and roughly 130 lbs of fiji live rock with a large piece of toga there is also 200 l bs of fiji pink live sand in the tank

Current stock list :
1x maroon clown 2-3"
1x black and white damsel 1.5"
1x hippo tang 2"
1xflame angel 2"
1x hovers wrasse 3"
1x naso tang 6"
1x watchman goby
1x orange dot goby
2x cleaner shrimp
25-30 turbo snails
20 astera snails
25 naussera snails

Corals"
1x frogspawn 1.5"
1x hammer coral 5 heads 5"
1x neon green finger leather 2"
1x kenya tree leather 3"
1x toadstool leather 2"
1x blue mushroom rock5"
1x red and greens striped mushroom rock 3"
1x 5 headed trumpet coral 2"
1x pink and green eye zoanthid 6" rock covered

 

[sea of cortez]

I also had (still have stored in my shop) a DAS tank about the same size. Has beautiful and well built stand. Had it almost 2 years when the silicone seam decided the water should be on my floor instead of the tank. I lost some high dollar beeding pairs of Africans.

The paper work that came with the tank says it has a life time guarantee, with no contact info. With some help from the store I puchased from I emailed them but with no reply.

Needless to say I am not impressed with DAS Aquariums.

One of these days I plan to tear it apart ans rebuild it.

Good luck with your new prodject.

 

[adam87]

Lookin good. I have the same 220 Marineland, I loved it untill leaked all over floor.

 

[ericdm]

well lets hope this one wont leak like yours did at this point id forsure have to wave the white flag but its got a full 20 yr warranty for replacing the tank and damage done to the house i had to fill out paperwork for the warrant at the store when i bought it where did yours leak from and how long was it up before it leaked now you got me worried

 

[geaux xman]

Looking good. G'luck with the build.

 

[adam87]

well lets hope this one wont leak like yours did at this point id forsure have to wave the white flag but its got a full 20 yr warranty for replacing the tank and damage done to the house i had to fill out paperwork for the warrant at the store when i bought it where did yours leak from and how long was it up before it leaked now you got me worried

I got the tank when it was on sale for $600. The tank was up for last then a year(about 6 months). It does not have a warranty, because I drilled it. I wish I got the RR one. It had a bad bottom seal. But thank god that I did not lose a fish or coral when moving them out of the tank. I still thinking about what to do, reseal it or get a new custom made acrylic tank from Nano Sea Creations.

 

[ericdm]

wow sorry to hear that about your tank i just had that happen to my 165 gallon and know the frusteration

 

[ericdm]

here are some updated pictures of the tank just turned 4 months right middle and left tank pictures along with a picture of my branching hammer coral

 

[ericdm]

Here is a quick picture of my leather coral which has grown about .75" in the month since i have had it. Also you can see my 8 headed hammer coral and a small spagattie leather next to it

 

[NghiKillerBee]

Have a great wedding day dude!

 

[ericdm]

thank you just did some last minute cleaning on the tank now off to get hitched

 

[Michigan Mike]

Congrats, today is the day! Oh ya!lol

 

[ericdm]

so i have had my 220 up for just about 5 months now coral growth has been pretty good in my opinion. I have been battling some cyno on the sand bed not on any rocks and not too bad ive been vaccuming it out and doing water changes ive reduced the lighting ive added flow and it keeps comming back its been about a month of fighting with it. I have come to the conclusion that i am probably under skimming my tank.

I bouth my aquac ev 180 which is over driven by a mag 9.5 for my 160 that sprang a leak and when i upgraded to a 220 i think i am a little under sized for my tank. I have it set to skim pretty wet and it pulls a good amount out but i feel im leaving a lot of excess nutrients in the water. All i have is 200 lbs of live sand and about 200 lbs of live rock a filter sock which is cleaned every 3 days and my skimmer.

I just ordered a nextreef mr1 media reactor and plan to run phosban on the bottom and a small amount of carbon on top packed between two filters so it does not tumble. I am doing both in the same reactor due to limited space in cabinate. i am hoping that this new setup will help me keep my water in much higher quality and in the long run allow me to have a much more sucessful reef tank. I plan to swap out carbon every two weeks and phosban once a month and to start i plan on using half the amount called for so that i dont shock the system.

Any help thoughts suggestions would be appreciated first time using a reactor i have always used the berlin method of rock sand and skimmer with current.

Thank you