Alan's 180g Reef

[alanmorehead]

Photos coming soon with a summary of my tank...

 

[jbob]

cant wait

 

[malawiman]

sounds awsome alan i might have to make a thread of my own. btw do we get to see the fuge/frag and all the cool toys too?

 

[alanmorehead]

Tank summary (~400g total)

180g Display tank:
SPS dominated with zoas/palys on the bottom half. A few LPS pieces, a rock of rics, a cabbage leather, and an 8" green toadstool.

50g frag tank:
Has some SPS frags/colonies and a few other zoas and rocks that I pulled out of my display. A small sailfin tang in there

100g sump:
Holds my Euroreef RS250 skimmer and I put zoa/palys frags in there to free up some room from the frag tank. Plumbed to a Reeflo Dart for return

100g refugium:
Dedicated to chaeto growth and is pretty full. Just started harvesting recently.

Other specs:
- 6x60" Icecap T5s on the display
- 4x48" Icecap T5s on the frag tank (have swapped between MH and T5)
- 250w MH on my refugium
- Reeflo Dart return pump (feeds display and calcium reactor)
- BRS carbon run in media bag (in strong flow)
- A pair of Hydor Koralia 4s in the display and frag tank
- Euroreef RS 250 skimmer
- GEO 618 calcium reactor
- Shallow (1-2") sandbed

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

Prepped and cleaned

Masked off

Navy blue Krylon Fusion paint

Waterproofing, primer

 

[alanmorehead]

Waterproofing, paint (Deep Blue)

Yep, it's blue alright

Background paint is done

Another shot of the background color

Combo shot

 

[alanmorehead]

RO/DI Unit:

Above tank framing:

Threaded cap that I used for a pivot on the light rack. I also used a threaded coupler on the light rack's bar to lock this in place.

Light rack. This is made up of metal conduit and 1/2" CPVC fittings

Discharge splitter. Four 3/4" ball-valved, barbed fittings + an extra 3/4" plugged bushing for expansion/additions.

Display side, actinics only:

Fish room side, actinics only:

This is when the lamps are first warming up (crisp, white light)

 

[alanmorehead]

This is after the lamps are warmed up. (More bluish in color)

Sump w/ baffles installed: (Missing the middle baffle where the marker line is)

Here is the Ocean Direct Caribbean live sand from Caribsea that I am using. This is the finest grained sand I have used so far.

Actinics running and mixing salt in the tank:

After adding 120 lbs. of sand and 20-25 lbs of live rock (I think this is 2 side MH and no actinic)

Return pump, main ball valve, and refugium ball valve:

Discharge divider w/ 2 lines hooked up:

Main return line from fish room side. I used two unions instead of flexible tubing. I looked around for large flexible tubing and adapters, but decided that the dual union valve would work just as well, if not better. The other two tubes are just temporary return lines from the megaflow chamber.

Full tank shot from display side:

Mounted ballasts and light rack:

 

[alanmorehead]

All lights running w/ light rack lifted:

Full center shot:

 

[alanmorehead]

Left angle:

Right angle:

Fish room:

Back of tank:

Crab/snail pile:

Skimmer - 1 day of skimmate (Seems to be doing it's job):

 

[alanmorehead]

- Kole Tang (Bad pic - Hiding a lot)

 

[alanmorehead]

- Dispar Anthias

- Lawnmower blenny

Here are some close up pics of mushrooms in my tank:

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[alanmorehead]

 

[vincejo28]

Very nice! Impressive! Have you finished off the room yet? What are your plans for the front of the tank?