Another Canadian Reef! 600 gallon Penninsula!
- Thread starter Cougarman
- Start date
Thanks msr224. neat idea. I will probably do that.
Hello Everyone. Sorry I've had trouble finding time to post lately. There has been much progress on the tank. The cabinetry is done, the tank has been plumbed and the tank has been filled. It was quite stressful filling the tank, but there were no leaks and the support structure held up. I had nightmares of the tank crashing through the floor and the house coming down around it.
I had to wait a few days for the cabinets to be cut and installed, so I filled the tank half way. Good news was there were no leaks!. Once I was sure the tank was sealed I added the substrate. Traditionally I always used the sugar fine sand, but I'm tired having to constantly blow it off my corals with a power head. I decided on a mixture of particle sizes/crushed coral. She substrate is 2-3 inches in general. Just enough in case I want to stock some burrowing livestock.
The guys came to do the cabinetry. No major problems, They had to re-cut a couple of the doors, but the end result was quite awesome. I went with a modern style, very sleek, dark grey. While having a 3 foot tall stand makes it difficult to reach in and out of the tank, the esthetic benefit makes up for it. The lower cabinets are tall enough for me to crawl in and out, and I can fit just about anything under the tank. There is also just enough room under the upper cabinet doors to place my 6 foot ladder and have the doors clear it on opening.
I broke down and bought 4 vortech mp60s. I always felt they were too expensive for a powerhead, but since I'm going all out on this tank, I might as well on the water flow aspect. I placed two in each dry box. I positioned them in the lower 2/3, and then I placed my two Tunze wave boxes in the upper third. The wave boxes create a nice standing wave, while the mp60s give me a nice broad stream. The flow is a barrel roll pattern. The water flows across the lower 1/2 of the tank, and then back across the top to the overflow. I'm impressed at how powerful the mp60s are. I have them running at 1/2 power right now. I have a vortech profilux controller for them. I just have to figure out how to set it up. I'd like to have the controller vary the flow throughout the day to create some randomness. I can also couple them with the wave boxes to create a larger wave.
When I moved into the house the previous owners left me lots of floor tiles, but no hardwood floor pieces. As such we decided to plumb the drains through the wall and down to the basement. Lukas removed one of the tiles and ran the 2 inch pvc pipes down to the sump. The return is powered by a Mag 24 with flexi-hose that attaches to a pvc manifold that I made to direct water across the back of the tank and down towards the MP60s. I have the water directed straight down along the inside of the waveboxes. The mp60s will then force it into the barrel role across the bottom of the tank.
The actual tank progress is further along, but I'll stop here until I get new pics of the up do date stuff. I'm going to take some pics with my expensive camera instead of my iphone 3g. I'll upload those soon. Here are some photos of the last few days.
Cabinetry day
I had to wait a few days for the cabinets to be cut and installed, so I filled the tank half way. Good news was there were no leaks!. Once I was sure the tank was sealed I added the substrate. Traditionally I always used the sugar fine sand, but I'm tired having to constantly blow it off my corals with a power head. I decided on a mixture of particle sizes/crushed coral. She substrate is 2-3 inches in general. Just enough in case I want to stock some burrowing livestock.
The guys came to do the cabinetry. No major problems, They had to re-cut a couple of the doors, but the end result was quite awesome. I went with a modern style, very sleek, dark grey. While having a 3 foot tall stand makes it difficult to reach in and out of the tank, the esthetic benefit makes up for it. The lower cabinets are tall enough for me to crawl in and out, and I can fit just about anything under the tank. There is also just enough room under the upper cabinet doors to place my 6 foot ladder and have the doors clear it on opening.
I broke down and bought 4 vortech mp60s. I always felt they were too expensive for a powerhead, but since I'm going all out on this tank, I might as well on the water flow aspect. I placed two in each dry box. I positioned them in the lower 2/3, and then I placed my two Tunze wave boxes in the upper third. The wave boxes create a nice standing wave, while the mp60s give me a nice broad stream. The flow is a barrel roll pattern. The water flows across the lower 1/2 of the tank, and then back across the top to the overflow. I'm impressed at how powerful the mp60s are. I have them running at 1/2 power right now. I have a vortech profilux controller for them. I just have to figure out how to set it up. I'd like to have the controller vary the flow throughout the day to create some randomness. I can also couple them with the wave boxes to create a larger wave.
When I moved into the house the previous owners left me lots of floor tiles, but no hardwood floor pieces. As such we decided to plumb the drains through the wall and down to the basement. Lukas removed one of the tiles and ran the 2 inch pvc pipes down to the sump. The return is powered by a Mag 24 with flexi-hose that attaches to a pvc manifold that I made to direct water across the back of the tank and down towards the MP60s. I have the water directed straight down along the inside of the waveboxes. The mp60s will then force it into the barrel role across the bottom of the tank.
The actual tank progress is further along, but I'll stop here until I get new pics of the up do date stuff. I'm going to take some pics with my expensive camera instead of my iphone 3g. I'll upload those soon. Here are some photos of the last few days.
Cabinetry day
fishbro25
New member
Fieroguy19
New member
Tank looks great. I can't wait to see the MP60s in action. I am hoping that someday I will be able to build a penninsula style tank so I will be following along.
launchnukes
New member
Looks great!
So to continue on the progress of the tank. I've had my sump system running for a couple months now with all the fish and coral in it. Adding in the display tank will be like doing a large water change. I decided the time had come to complete the circuit and turn on the return pump. The mag 24 creates a nice trickle over the overflow and no water splash into the sump. The whole system is amazingly quiet. The noisiest aspect is the humming of the mag 24.
After letting it run a couple days, I added some live rock, coral frags and my fish.
So I brought my expensive camera home from work. I'm certainly no skilled photographer, but here are some pics of the tank and livestock in their new home. I can hardly wait for the tank to mature and the corals to fill in the open spaces.
The plumbing and air duct
After letting it run a couple days, I added some live rock, coral frags and my fish.
So I brought my expensive camera home from work. I'm certainly no skilled photographer, but here are some pics of the tank and livestock in their new home. I can hardly wait for the tank to mature and the corals to fill in the open spaces.
The plumbing and air duct
Last edited:
redneckgearhead
Active member
Looks amazing!
Thanks Everyone. The pics don't do it justice. It's truly a dream tank.
^+1
The LEDS are Orpheks. I've been very happy with them.
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