450 Gallon Peninsula Display

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14501007#post14501007 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hummermaniac88
Solid frame!

Yeah, I think I overbuilt the frame. I didn't want to take any chances and I figured wood is cheap.

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14472522#post14472522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester
Nice idea, although the one I used in the past used to get jammed pretty regularly.

Thanks for the jinx; I had my first Hydor jam this week. Not a big deal and it was extremely easy to fix.

 

[tbar]

Great thread Just went through it all today. Awesome tank! Love the room dividers I thought you should of gone BB from the start. I had my 125 drilled at the end so it could be a 3 sided display. Probably won't happen in this house we are in. I have an open hole in the wall between the kitchen and den that is about 6' by 33" and 45" from the floor. That is where I was originally going to go but the wife had second thoughts at the end. So it's against a wall, what could of been.

 

[Dudester]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14513348#post14513348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
Thanks for the jinx; I had my first Hydor jam this week. Not a big deal and it was extremely easy to fix.

Whoops :sad1: :wave:

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14520286#post14520286 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tbar
Great thread Just went through it all today. Awesome tank! Love the room dividers I thought you should of gone BB from the start. I had my 125 drilled at the end so it could be a 3 sided display. Probably won't happen in this house we are in. I have an open hole in the wall between the kitchen and den that is about 6' by 33" and 45" from the floor. That is where I was originally going to go but the wife had second thoughts at the end. So it's against a wall, what could of been.

Thank You. I was not a big fan of BB until I tried it for myself. I am still amazed how much junk I vacuum out of my display on a weekly basis. That alone makes me love BB but I do miss the look of sand.

My wife was the one who convinced me to go peninsula, I wanted the tank to be in the wall.

 

[jwiz63]

WOW! is all I can say. Just read through this awesome thread from the beginning and as many have said.....AWESOME job!

I am new to the whole reef thing and am dreaming of a basement based fish room so you have definitely inspired me!

A few questions if you don't mind. How is the noise from the gravity drain? One of my main reasons for wanting things in the basement is to get a quieter tank environment in my living room.

Once you went bb did you get rid of the blenny's you were concerned about? I started my tank with coral gravel and have wondered if I need to switch to sand. Now you have me wondering about BB. I like the gobies / blennies / jaw fish, but already am getting tired of the dirt in my gravel and your experience doesn't make it sound like sand is much better.

Did you loose any inverts to the triggers? They are beautiful! I have always loved niger triggers but figured they were out due to inverts. Would love to have an alternative.

I apologize for the long post, but this is a truly wonderful thread and you inspired me. Thanks again and best wishes for continued success and happiness!

 

[t kish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14472797#post14472797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
I have a lot more problems when I need to work on the loc-line. It is not easy to disconnect/connect loc-line when you arms are fully extended in a tank.

Absolutely gorgious Aquarium thanks for sharring.

I am sure you already know that Loc-Line sells special pliers for connecting the sections together.

Tim K

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14599345#post14599345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jwiz63
WOW! is all I can say. Just read through this awesome thread from the beginning and as many have said.....AWESOME job!

I am new to the whole reef thing and am dreaming of a basement based fish room so you have definitely inspired me!

A few questions if you don't mind. How is the noise from the gravity drain? One of my main reasons for wanting things in the basement is to get a quieter tank environment in my living room.

Once you went bb did you get rid of the blenny's you were concerned about? I started my tank with coral gravel and have wondered if I need to switch to sand. Now you have me wondering about BB. I like the gobies / blennies / jaw fish, but already am getting tired of the dirt in my gravel and your experience doesn't make it sound like sand is much better.

Did you loose any inverts to the triggers? They are beautiful! I have always loved niger triggers but figured they were out due to inverts. Would love to have an alternative.

I apologize for the long post, but this is a truly wonderful thread and you inspired me. Thanks again and best wishes for continued success and happiness!

Thanks for the compliments; I still have a long way to go.

I don’t consider my gravity drains completely quiet but it does make less noise than my Dart pump and my Vortechs. The main reason I wanted everything in the basement was to have less mess during water changes and more flexibility with setting everything up.

My engineer (convict) gobies have been doing fine but I am sure they would prefer to have the sand back. My jawfish pair died before I removed the sand and none of my wrasses ever touched the sand so I figured, why should I continue with this aggravation.

I can’t be sure of what took out my cleaner shrimp but I am willing to bet that it was my flame hawkfish. I also lose some hermit crabs to the convict gobies but nothing major.

The longer the post the better. I love talking fish.

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14600082#post14600082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by t kish
Absolutely gorgious Aquarium thanks for sharring.

I am sure you already know that Loc-Line sells special pliers for connecting the sections together.

Tim K

Thank you and yes I am aware of the pliers and I have a pair. It is still hard with the pliers while working in the tank but I usually have more problems when trying to separate them.

 

[mcrist]

Thanks seti007

I can’t image breaking down a large system, I would be going spastic.

All my fish are fat and healthy. I feed an entire sheet of nori every day plus I feed other vegetable matter in their daily feeding. I am surprised how much the carnivore fish eat all the green I put in my tank.

I need to improve my photo skills because I need to show everyone the colors on my mystery wrasse. They just pop but the camera doesn’t show its beauty.

 

[mcrist]

I finished redoing a lot of my plumbing this past weekend. I decided to add two Penductors to my return pump but I was concerned about the back siphon that it would create if I lost power. I do not trust check valves so my only option is to get a larger sump. The sump was only 100 gallons so I wanted to upgrade it to 150 gallons. With me changing this I also decided that I would remove the refugium. I wanted to simplify things plus I was concerned about the sand in my refugium. Now that I added the two Penductors I estimate my total water movement in my tank to be 23,862 GPH. That should give me about a 48x turnover, not bad

4 Vortechs = 12,000
1 Tunze = 3,434
1 Dart = 2,428
1 Iwaki with Penductors = 6,000

 

[wycombes]

The tank is great! Those crosshatch triggers are my dream fish, very nice color. Your Naso looks like a pretty big tang.

 

[usefulidiot213]

I love your tank. I dream of having your tank in my house... I don't know what that says about me.. That I dream about a reef tank, when most men my age would dream about women and money...

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14728274#post14728274 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wycombes
The tank is great! Those crosshatch triggers are my dream fish, very nice color. Your Naso looks like a pretty big tang.

They are one of my favorites too. I went nuts when I saw them at my LFS.

My naso has a lot of growing to do yet. I am still hoping that he is a he and not a she.

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14786714#post14786714 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by usefulidiot213
I love your tank. I dream of having your tank in my house... I don't know what that says about me.. That I dream about a reef tank, when most men my age would dream about women and money...

I have no comments about your dreams

but thanks for the compliment.

 

[mcrist]

I replaced my light fixture two weeks ago after a lot of research on which technology and brand to go with. I went back and forth on a T5 only or a metal halide combo unit. I really liked some of the benefits of switching to only T5’s and I loved the ATI Powermodule but I wanted a 6 foot light and they don’t make one. I was also concerned about the light spread and I just couldn’t give up the shimmer. So I went with…

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

What are the details of the new fixture?

What were you replacing?

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14961175#post14961175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jeremy Blaze
What are the details of the new fixture?

What were you replacing?

My new light is a Giesemann Spectra 3x250 watt metal halide and 4x80 watt T5 fixture. It replaced a Coralife 3x250 metal halide and 2x96 watt compact fluorescent fixture. The old light is for sale on this thread if anyone is interested.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1625421&highlight=allentown

 

[mgers21]

awesome build! Love your acrylic "coffin"

 

[tbar]

Holy illumination Batman! That is sweet. Will be interesting to see how the corals react with the new lights in the months ahead.