300g SPS Dominated Reef!

[Reefer525XL]

Hello everyone!

Below you will be able to mind some information about my current tank. The tank has been running for almost 2 years now so this thread will quickly be up to date.

Tank:GlassCages 300 wide (96"x30"x25")

Overflow: Coast to Coast Beananimal

Lighting: 6x Ocean Rives T247 w/ 8x ATI T5's (Blue+, Coral+ & Purple+)

Flow: 4x Jebao RW15's

Return Pumps: 2x Jebao DC12000

Skimmer: Regal 300int

Reactors: BRS Deluxe Carbon & Geo618 CaRx w/ Masterflex Pump & CarbonDoser Regulator.

Controller: Classic Apex w/ several modules & EB8's

Sump: Oceanic 130g wide 72"x24"x18" DIY (Socks -> Skimmer -> Fuge -> Return)

Fuge Light: MarsHydro 300 Grow Light

Stand & Canopy: DIY

Maintenance: Change filter socks every two days, clean glass every few days & 45 gallon water change every week on Sundays.

YouTube video of the tank recorded on 10/14/2016: https://youtu.be/VQldJHppwCY

I will post pictures below showing the build stages and ending with the most recent FTS.

Any question feel free to ask!


8/14/2014 - Tank completed @ GlassCages

9/21/2014 - Stand construction

9/23/2014 - Marco Rock shipment arrived! 300lbs of Marco Key Largo Dry Rock and 240lbs of Coarse dry sand.

10/4/2014 - Began working on the Canopy

10/12/2014 - Finished all the trim work on the stand and canopy.

10/14/2014 - Installed the Coast to Coast overflow box

11/16/2014 - Stand & Canopy finished (Paint & Sealant)

11/29/2014 - Rock scape and most of the plumbing done

 

[Reefer525XL]

11/30/2014 - Filling the tank with RO/DI water

12/21/2014 - Lights installed and tank beginning to cycle, at this point the tank was only lit by T247 led's.

01/02/2015 - Doors installed on Stand & Canopy

Fast forward a few months

04/09/2015 - FTS

Around June/July the tank sort of crashed and lost a lot of corals, I was bummed out and almost took the tank down because along with the life of the corals & fish a lot of money had been lost. I decided to take a step back and look a things differently. Made some changes to my current maintenance routine (currently was is outline in the first post). Eventually got everything back on track and began adding corals in October of 2015.

10/08/2015 - Order from WWC 2015 Fragtoberfest Live Sale arrived!

12/22/2015 - Re-did the light rack to accommodate by 6x LED fixtures and the new 8x T5 bulbs. Had to build two separate light racks. Each rack holds 3x LED fixtures and 4x 48" T5 bulbs.

 

[Reefer525XL]

01/13/2016 - A few shots of the corals under the new lighting setup!

 

[Reefer525XL]

02/23/2016 - Somewhat of a FTS

05/12/2016 - SPS booming in the tank!

 

[Reefer525XL]

06/27/2016 - FTS & Coral close ups.

 

[Reefer525XL]

10/07/2016 -

 

[Reefer525XL]

10/12/2016 - Most up to date picture of two of my sps colonies that started from 1" frags a year ago. (Picture taken under Royal Blues LED's)

 

[Digitalelectric]

well can't a guy have one night free of envy?

 

[ericp351]

Awesome. Wish I had the room. (The money wouldn't hurt either)

 

[Raintree]

Wow, beautiful tank. I like your stand, wish i had carpentry skills like that

 

[2wheelsonly]

Where do you buy your frags? Most online places are junk...I wish my local reef stores would stock more than green birdsnest corals and half dead hammer corals.

 

[rq786]

I like u username
not sure if such a think exists in this hobby

 

[mpsteve]

Very nice coral selection

 

[DasCamel]

Very nice! Setting a high bar, love it! I just picked up a tank same size, if it passes all the tests joining you soon. Subscribed, keep posting!

 

[Ranchhand02]

What wood did you make the stand out of? I enjoy woodworking also and I have built aquarium stands before. I need to build one for my 28 gallon nano cube.

 

[Reefer525XL]

well can't a guy have one night free of envy?

hahaha! Sorry

Awesome. Wish I had the room. (The money wouldn't hurt either)

do what I did, don't buy everything at once. Split it in stages and it lets the wallet recuperate.

Wow, beautiful tank. I like your stand, wish i had carpentry skills like that

Thanks! Its not as hard as some people think, with the right tools it can be done.

Where do you buy your frags? Most online places are junk...I wish my local reef stores would stock more than green birdsnest corals and half dead hammer corals.

I don't buy anything local, there is nothing worth buying at my LFS with the exception of 1 or 2 frags a year. Of course this is just based on my taste in corals, other hobbyist buy at the LFS all the time. As for your question, I buy from WWC, Jason Fox, Two Guy Corals and many venders that frequent the popular FB group pages.

I like u username
not sure if such a think exists in this hobby

I don't know what I was thinking when I picked that user name :hmm4:

Very nice coral selection

Thank you Steve

Very nice! Setting a high bar, love it! I just picked up a tank same size, if it passes all the tests joining you soon. Subscribed, keep posting!

I love the size of this tank. If were doing it again I would just go 3ft wide instead of 30" thats about the only thing I would change.

What wood did you make the stand out of? I enjoy woodworking also and I have built aquarium stands before. I need to build one for my 28 gallon nano cube.

The frame is made out of 2by4" and 2by6" for the front and back top runners since I wanted big openings and only used 1 center support.

Here you can see the frame

I then covered the entire stand in pine, below you see the pine skin being put together.

 

[Reefer525XL]

Here is a size comparison of the skimmer that I used for this tank. Its a Regal 300int.

*Water bottle for reference*

and this is what I took out of the skimmer cup today. It had been cleaned 2 weeks prior to day.

1300ml

 

[mpsteve]

Affordable did you get my pm?

 

[Reefer525XL]

Affordable did you get my pm?

I did, I was in the middle of replying when my browser decided it would be a good idea to crash! :facepalm:

 

[moondoggy4]

Wow very nice Love your tank. You got some mad wood working skills. I am going to check out Two Guys Coral I think they are semi local to me.