cl2ysta1 and dew2loud1's 900g Starphire in the desert

cl2ysta1

cl2ysta1

New member
Well, some of you may remember this tank being sold on the forums here:

WOW 900g Starphire


The first time it came up for sale we didn't buy it as we were currently renting a duplex and hadn't yet found a house. It was definitely our dream tank, and the second time it came up for sale we had already closed on a house. We weren't passing up this deal a second time...


so.. It arrived today. This thread will be ongoing of the progress but it's going to be pretty boring in the beginning as we are planning on enclosing our carport around it, and also repouring the concrete foundation to be safe. Some things I can tell you we are planning on doing are lumenbright reflectors along with the skylight tubes. Utah has a TON of natural sunlight year long, and it would be a waste not to use it.

Stocklist is going to look like this. I know this because these are the fish we currently have between our 220 cube, 120, and 72 bowfront. We will probably add a ton more anthias however eventually.

6 flame anthias
5 hutchii anthias
2 pink skunk clowns
2 percula clownfish
temenicki
lubbocks
yellow fin
solar
exquisite
2 pink margins
mystery
labouti
2 cleaners
hippo
scribbled rabbitfish
blue eye
achillies
dussumier
2 mandarins
2 bar gobies
2 flame hawks


orange shoulder
purple
2 occelaris

2 clarki
2 gold stripe maroons
2 percs

pink spot shrimp goby
2 gold stripe maroons
yellow belly hippo
scribbled rabbit
purple tang
2 bangaiis
cleaner wrasse
purple firefish

blonde naso
hippo tang
orange spot rabbitfish
sailfin
pink spot shrimp goby
sunrise dottyback
firefish
2 percs


I'd really like to do a barebottom as we have one now in our 220 cube and we have no water quality issues EVER. Even with the over the top feeding that goes on. We will also be building a 1500 gallon lagoon downstairs for a "sump." Filtration will be courtesy of a Volcano skimmer =) which is in the works.

Well thats all I have for now :) Now you have to wait for updates!!!

*pictures of the unloading*

900gtank001.jpg

900gtank002.jpg

900gtank003.jpg

900gtank004.jpg

900gtank005.jpg
 
haha. there are 20 buckets on the other side you cant see. thats just what i used to climb up in the semi. however we will need many more!
 
thats an impressive fish list!! i am so jealous of that tank. maybe one day soon ill have a larger tank too::::day dreams::: can we see a pic of the skimmer :)
 
The skimmer is not even made yet. Spazz on the boards here makes the Volcano skimmers. I promise pictures will be up as soon as we get it however we are not expecting it for quite some time.
 
subscribed, this is gonna be fun to watch come together, can we get a ballpark of what this is gonna cost once complete?
 
You RC guys are in for a real treat - ALL of Crystals tanks are awesome!

This one will just be GIANT awesome! (or awesome times 10, or awesome squared...you get the point)

And Crsytal, please save some salt mix for the rest of the state - and don't use Lake Powell as your own personal "top off reservior", OK? ;)

Congrats :celeb3: - and I can't wait to see it up and running!
 
honestly we're hoping to keep this reef on a budget. Rock will be Lace rock. I don't like dealing with hitchikers and nuisance algae. We will be consolidating all of our tanks into it eventually so wont need anymore corals. We might do a starboard bottom with glued sand to it for a more natural look.

I'm guessinga ballpark not including the enclosing of the carport and the concrete pour.... to be about... 4,000-5,000 ? Of course I'm sure we'll go over. I don't mind posting prices of things as we get them. We however are lucky to have quite a bit of equiptment for this bad boy already.
 
Thanks bob. We really can't wait, and since we already have a bunch of soon to be giant fish this couldn't of come along at a better time.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12908404#post12908404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cl2ysta1
honestly we're hoping to keep this reef on a budget. Rock will be Lace rock. I don't like dealing with hitchikers and nuisance algae. We will be consolidating all of our tanks into it eventually so wont need anymore corals. We might do a starboard bottom with glued sand to it for a more natural look.

I'm guessinga ballpark not including the enclosing of the carport and the concrete pour.... to be about... 4,000-5,000 ? Of course I'm sure we'll go over. I don't mind posting prices of things as we get them. We however are lucky to have quite a bit of equiptment for this bad boy already.
Click to expand...


Good luck with this, but not to burst your bubble, but there will be no such thing as this tank on a budget. I thought that I had enough equipment for my 400 upgrade from a 200 gallon. It seems reasonable, however month after month after month it was $500 dollars, $800 dollars, $600 here there and everywhere. A tank this size will be expensive to keep up and maintain.

Using Sola tubes should significantly reduce your electical expenses, however you may want to try sola tubes with T5's for coloration.

www.solatubes.com

Energy efficient pumps will help you move water in that beast, but whether you choose Vortec or Tunze, you are looking at 3K in equipment to do it right. Good thing you won't have to buy any fish!

How do you plan on adding all of those tangs?

How do you plan aquascaping and adding live rock?
Good luck.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12909707#post12909707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SERVO
Good luck with this, but not to burst your bubble, but there will be no such thing as this tank on a budget. I thought that I had enough equipment for my 400 upgrade from a 200 gallon. It seems reasonable, however month after month after month it was $500 dollars, $800 dollars, $600 here there and everywhere. A tank this size will be expensive to keep up and maintain.

Good luck.
Click to expand...


I totally agree with SERVO... You always want better stuff for your new tank and ended up with $$$$ spent. I thought i had everything for the upgrade....:rolleyes:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12909707#post12909707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SERVO
Good luck with this, but not to burst your bubble, but there will be no such thing as this tank on a budget. I thought that I had enough equipment for my 400 upgrade from a 200 gallon. It seems reasonable, however month after month after month it was $500 dollars, $800 dollars, $600 here there and everywhere. A tank this size will be expensive to keep up and maintain.

Using Sola tubes should significantly reduce your electical expenses, however you may want to try sola tubes with T5's for coloration.

www.solatubes.com

Energy efficient pumps will help you move water in that beast, but whether you choose Vortec or Tunze, you are looking at 3K in equipment to do it right. Good thing you won't have to buy any fish!

How do you plan on adding all of those tangs?

How do you plan aquascaping and adding live rock?
Good luck.
Click to expand...

We are going to be doing the T5's for color.

As for the tangs we're just going to plan on adding them all at once. Luckily enough. All of these tangs are all big puppy dogs, and I've never had an issue adding another tang to the mix. My achilles however did try to kill a clownfish pair once, but didnt bother my juvi dussimier tang when added. Even though he had been established for a long time. Sailfins are generally agressive but the one I have is also a pushover. I actually just added a Tennenti tang to her tank the other day she didnt even look at him twice. THe only issue I think I might have is my Orange Shoulder tang, but he isn't fish killing agressive. Just likes to flare a lot.

as for aquascaping. The general plan is to use lace rock that comes here from Utah. You can pick it up for .50 cents a lb. we have it in our cube and love it. It comes in long shelfs and some other neat configurations. Since this tank is three sided viewing i'd like to keep all the rock in the middle and do a lot of open swimming room for the fish. with caves and over hangs. To keep the rock in place we are going to do the hole drilling with supports. Since most of the rock we will be adding is not live we should be able to aquascape pretty easy. We will be using the rock out of our other tanks in addition, and will have to work that in.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12909989#post12909989 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jar*Head
I totally agree with SERVO... You always want better stuff for your new tank and ended up with $$$$ spent. I thought i had everything for the upgrade....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

we definetly dont have everything for the upgrade, and it's always hard to give a ballpark range for what its going to cost. Kinda just threw a number out there. There are a number of things we need that arent paid for yet like.

the solar tubes
stand
skimmer *in the works*
we have a return pump, but are going to need some more pumps for the closed loops
Plus as mentionbefore. Tunzes or vortechs for water movement
skinning of the stand and canopy. we'd like to do something on a pully system and can completely be raised off of the tank for access.


and i'm sure a million other things!!!
 
Are you planning on Metal stand or wood stand? What type of protein skimmer are you planning to use? Solar tube is really nice addition. What type of pump or pumps are you planning for the CL? I highly recommend the Tunze Master electronic due to low electricity usage, low - no heat transfer, high head pressure etc...
I also recommend Tunze stream for circulation (6205 or 6305) the new stream design with smaller compact design, come with magnet holder for 1" thickness.... Let me know what pulley system are you planning to use because i plan to do the same :D
 
i dont know if you got a chance to see Todds 900 before you left. he has a hammerhead as the return and you could surf in there with the water movement!! it does a great job, i am sure he will be adding a CL or 2 but not sure.
 
wow.. that is an incredible tank... I would go metal on the stand...
There is no way I would trust 7200# not including the weight of the rock to a wood stand.
 
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