Cola's 263 Gallon SPS Build in Tampa

[Ward1]

Looks great. Any fish stores worth taking the ride over there for?

 

[fsugmoney]

sick....can't wait to see it up and running....love the stand

 

[mcola78]

Ward 1 - I'm still relatively new here (actually moved to Tampa from Orlando). If you are in Orlando and you have seen WWC, then it is pretty easy to get spoiled. But I would recommend two stores here that are close to each other and great for corals and fish.

Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff (FAOIS)
105 Fairfield St Oldsmar
(813)891-4291
M-F: 11am - 6pm
Sat: 10am - 6pm
Sun: Closed
WWW.IchthyThings.com

Coral Corral
www.thecoralcorral.com
13510 Prestige Pl # 2
Tampa, FL 33635-9619
(813) 855-3888

 

[mcola78]

I decided I didn't like the look of the rock that I had built so I broke it into smaller pieces and re-designed the landscape. Here's my thoughts...let me know what you think.

Front:

From Left Side:

Left Side "Bridge". I want to add some sps here to close off the rest of the bridge and have it setup so the fish can swim under a roof of sps.

Top Down:

I cemented the bases of all of the rocks to stone pavers so that they could stand alone in the aquarium. This will allow me to clean the gravel without the worry of the rockwork collapsing.

 

[mcola78]

The open area in the front left side and the right will be seeded with Live Rock to help start the Bacteria/Coraline Algae Process.

 

[mikeanddanielle]

Lolls like a great start. Will be keeping an eye on your progress

 

[mcola78]

Lolls like a great start. Will be keeping an eye on your progress

Thanks Mike and Danielle. I can't wait to get this baby up-and-running!

Here's the fill of the tank. My ROI Unit can fill 100 gallons a day so looks like I should have this baby filled in two and a half days ! ! !

This will just help to remind my how patient one needs to be in this hobby :spin2:

Here's the hose running the length of the house from the laundry room (far left corner) to the tank (right corner)

 

[mcola78]

Sump:
The sump was custom made. It is 36 x 24 by 16H. It consists of one main chamber to house the Protein Skimmer and three side chambers (one for inflow w/ sock, one for return w/ Eheim Pumps, and one for Refugium.

 

[Ward1]

Ward 1 - I'm still relatively new here (actually moved to Tampa from Orlando). If you are in Orlando and you have seen WWC, then it is pretty easy to get spoiled. But I would recommend two stores here that are close to each other and great for corals and fish.

Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff (FAOIS)
105 Fairfield St Oldsmar
(813)891-4291
M-F: 11am - 6pm
Sat: 10am - 6pm
Sun: Closed
WWW.IchthyThings.com

Coral Corral
www.thecoralcorral.com
13510 Prestige Pl # 2
Tampa, FL 33635-9619
(813) 855-3888

Cool. Thanks

 

[Brian-1977]

That is going to look amazing when complete.

 

[john90009]

dang id copy what brian said, the fish are gonna be super happy in there.

 

[mcola78]

That is going to look amazing when complete.

Thanks Brian. I can't wait for this thing to cycle already.

 

[mcola78]

dang id copy what brian said, the fish are gonna be super happy in there.

Thanks John!

 

[mcola78]

Overflow:

I plumbed the overflow drain out of PVC and the return out of flexible PVC tubing. I am thinking of removing the final lower lip on the drain to have a standard inverted "u" shape.

The U piece came with the cap already at top that I drilled a hole in to aid in a quiet flow.

 

[hubing0917]

nice system

 

[mcola78]

Thanks Hubing

Here are some quick shots of under the tank (Sorry for the blurry shots. I need to get better at my photography).

Left side electronics with Neptune Controller JR and DC8, Vortech MP40 controllers and one Battery Backup

Two Dosing Containers attached to Aqua Medic Doser (Water Top-Off Container is 16 x 12 x 16 and Ca Container is 12 x 12 x 16)

Refugium and Hurricone Protein Skimmer

 

[mcola78]

And finally added the livestock...

8 Blue/Green Reef Chromis
2 Azure Damsels
1 Royal Gramma (Camera Shy)

40 Mexican Turbo Snails
40 Nassarius Snails
150 Blue-Leg Hermits
25 Scarlett Hermits
10 Electric Blue Hermits
5 Emerald Crabs
5 Atlantic Cucumbers

I am still really bad at taking macro's of the fish...they move too fast. The rocks stay still so here are some snapshots of the tank filled...ENJOY ! ! !

Full Tank and Stand

Full Tank Shot (Straight On)

Full Tank Shot (Zoom)

Full Tank Shot (From Right Front Side)

Full Tank Shot (From Left Front Side)

 

[mcola78]

Right Side Front

Middle Front

Left Side

Left Side (Looking through overhangs that run back length of the tank)

 

[Ziggy953]

Beautiful job! I love the craftsmanship of your stand!

 

[Lt.Shineysides]

nice looking set up! the tank looks really nice. i love stand and canopy, they look really nice. keep us posted!