Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[jestersix]

Getting caught up, and I noticed you commented several page back on the additional plasma fixtures over the mangroves appearing a bit more blue compared to the one over the tank. I am currently running two of the Stray Light fixtures (Beta units) over my 150gallon build. One of the lights is a bit blue at 100% while the other does not have the same blue. From what I have gathered, this is a production occurrence in the bulbs - I think once that can be consistently produced the plasmas will be much more popular.

I like the color rendition of the plasmas (as you have stated - very much a personal preference) and so far we are seeing very nice growth after six months. I am looking forward to seeing your mangroove wall once it has grown in!

Your tank is progressing wonderfully - can't wait to see some pictures now that all the fish have moved in and the lights are uniform!

 

[nineball]

Wow Peter your house is beautiful at the holidays! My wife would be in awe. How do you store all that holiday gear during the year? I give my wife grief for the 5 storage bins she keeps in the garage.

Thanks very much Tony. The storage space was easy, all I had to do was remember the 1200 sq ft room above the garage I had forgotten about and taaadaaa. I now have enough space for at least three of the four seasonal requirements.

Peter

PS. I am however looking for more storage space for the fish stuff!!

 

[TonyV]

Haha.

Please tell me you hire a professional decorator during the holidays to get all this stuff setup. I can barely get motivated to decorate a single tree and I see atleast 3 in your house.

You missed a santa hat on the T-rex in your tank. That would be a nice touch.

 

[Kipps]

Peter and gang

I am so damn jelous of lucky few that have seen the build in person :mixed:

Do you plan to have visitor days when we can fly in to visit?

I have been following from the beggining and as a 10 year owner of a 200g FOWLR, I am now set on upgrading to a reef tank.

A bleesed Christmas to you all :celeb1:- I am looking forward to following this amazing thread next year.

Rodd

 

[mr.wilson]

I am currently running two of the Stray Light fixtures (Beta units) over my 150gallon build.

Are you dimming the fixtures to get more blue? We have the same ones from Stray Light but haven't hooked then up to the controller for dimming yet. It looks like some bulbs may need less dimming than others.

Other than longer bulb life, and the ability to dim, do you see any benefits to plasma lighting over MHL?

 

[northernreefer0]

Hey Peter.....The tank is looking awesome. I would love to see that beauty in person:dance:

I'm a freak when it comes to Christmas lights. Your house looks amazing. I have been running a musical light show at my place for the past 2 years using Light O Rama computers. I would love to have your house as a pallet for Christmas lights.:fun4: Maybe you should give it a shot next year.

 

[Scej12]

Thanks Sheldon, Hopefully I wil have another update on the fish room soon as the rest of the long delayed equipment is supposed to arrive in the next couple of days. You will get your chance to see the tank in person soon!!!

Peter

Beauty.... Just let me know when you're ready for another show & tell, and I-be-dere... Or if you; Shawn & team want to just sit in front of the tank/fish room and contemplate - I'm down for that as well. I personally am a big back-end geek in that I like to peel through what's under the hood of a great system...!

Have a wonderful holiday, and I wish you the best of successes in the new year with this spectacular project (and anything else you choose to dabble in of course).

Cheers,

SJ

 

[medicreefer]

Peter,

I first came accross this thread a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe I hadn't spotted it before. From the moment I opened the first page of the thread I was completely drawn in, just like a good book. It took me the last 2 weeks of reading during any spare time I've had to finally catch up (with several side trips to follow up on all the great links and wealth of information provided in this thread). The thread actually grew by a couple of hundred posts while I was playing catch-up!

The way you have taken the entire Reef Central community and made them a part of this build is just fantastic, and the fact that you take time to consider what each member has to offer in your quest to improve not only your own build but reefing practices in general is absolutely inspiring.

I'm a shiftworker on a public servant's salary so my "dream tank" that I'm currently researching and slowly building is a mere 120 gallons. In the mean time I have but a 20 gallon nano reef to keep me satisfied until my 120 is up and running. I have to say that not once have I ever felt out of place reading about your build. I think it's a testament to your open approach and quest for best practices that everyone can learn from your build no matter what their resources are.

Thanks to you, Mr. Wilson, Drago, everyone else on your team, and everyone who has contributed to this thread! I'm am learning tons and I'm sure I will have questions for all of you as time goes on.

Now it's time for me to tackle Chingchai's thread as I only read the first page and have been holding off until I got all caught up with this one.

Regards,

Corey

 

[ransomed4ever]

Without doing exhausting math I think it is approx 100 gal. It would definitely be undersized without the 180 gal sump and the 4 sq feet of surface for the miracle mud and mangrove hydroponic wall unit. The skimmer holds about 45 gal (I think). We are also going to add a custom food production unit that will also be plumbed into the system. Knowing what I have learned from Mr. Wilson I think both he and I would have designed a larger refugium from the outset but we also both agree that with so much various activity going on with the processing of the water column that we will wait and see if we want to make any further adjustments.

Peter

Thanks Peter. Its definaltely bigger than it looks then. I'm really interested in how well the mangroves do at nutrient export. I've heard pros and cons of them, but most people aren't using near as many of them as you either.

 

[Ken_Baird]

Nineball

Thank you very much for inviting our small club to your house to see "œour" tank. As you have said many times over you are new to saltwater, but you are simply like all of us you have the reef bug and with a tank the size of yours it would be impossible to not live and breath saltwater!

Your thread and openness to share your tank with all, shows your commitment to the hobby. I say this as if your tank was only a show piece, a possession that "œmy money paid for" you most likely wouldn't be inviting perfect strangers over to your house. Instead your a true reefer sharing your tank with the excitement we all have when showing our accomplishments, admitting to our mistakes and asking questions to learn and move ahead to the ultimate goal we all have to achieve the beauty of a living reef in our home.

I have a few pictures that I took and have reviewed them to see what picture I should post and the best I could come up with to share was the most important piece of this build (hope you don't mind) but this is what I would like to share with this community, meet Peter! :wave:

In my line of work I have for years talked and corresponded with many people from many parts of the world and it is always different when corresponding with a person when you can put a face to the name.

Is it me or does it seam Peter was interviewing possible fish room girls, If I was you the ladder would have been out in a flash!! :bounce1:

As for your team Mr Wilson, Bros Grimm & Chago the same applys it was nice to meet the team and shoot the s##t about the tank (I hope I can say that!) I look forward to being invited back in the future to see the progress you make with the tank.

I would like to extend an open invitation to you, for any of our club meets as I now feel you are a part of our club. :beer::beer:

Ken

 

[nineball]

Haha.

Please tell me you hire a professional decorator during the holidays to get all this stuff setup. I can barely get motivated to decorate a single tree and I see atleast 3 in your house.

You missed a santa hat on the T-rex in your tank. That would be a nice touch.

Nope, no profesionals here but I like the T-Rex hat idea............

Peter

 

[nineball]

Peter and gang

I am so damn jelous of lucky few that have seen the build in person :mixed:

Do you plan to have visitor days when we can fly in to visit?

I have been following from the beggining and as a 10 year owner of a 200g FOWLR, I am now set on upgrading to a reef tank.

A bleesed Christmas to you all :celeb1:- I am looking forward to following this amazing thread next year.

Rodd

Rodd, if you know you are going to be in this neck of the woods then the invitation is there with a bit of notice. Until then, the thread will hopefully provide enough info and progress to keep us all hooked to this community. Thanks for the continuing support.

Peter

 

[nineball]

Thanks Peter. Its definaltely bigger than it looks then. I'm really interested in how well the mangroves do at nutrient export. I've heard pros and cons of them, but most people aren't using near as many of them as you either.

I should point out that the expectation is that at a minimum we get a more attractive aesthetic with healthy oxygen in the fish room. Nutrient export is still regarded by the majority as highly suspect as to its effectiveness. With Mr. Wilson's unique hydroponic design, we will be able to measure the impact by putting the system on line and off to measure the difference. We will be documenting our experience in the thread and looking for advice to improve the effectivness of this system if possible with your help.

Peter

 

[szymek]

thanks for sharing the pics of the house. Your house is absolutely beautiful - and looks a lot better in person as well . My favourite picture is with Molly on the couch - I always had a soft spot for dogs.

I'm still in amazement after seeing your tank in person. I think my colleagues at work are getting tired of listening about this huge reef setup that I got to see.

I'm really looking forward to another tank tour for our club to see the progress.

Daniel
West GTA Marine Society - Shameless plug for our club

 

[nineball]

thanks for sharing the pics of the house. Your house is absolutely beautiful - and looks a lot better in person as well . My favourite picture is with Molly on the couch - I always had a soft spot for dogs.

I'm still in amazement after seeing your tank in person. I think my colleagues at work are getting tired of listening about this huge reef setup that I got to see.

I'm really looking forward to another tank tour for our club to see the progress.

Daniel
West GTA Marine Society - Shameless plug for our club

Daniel you are waaay too kind. The best part of this hobby is the sharing and your enthusiasm is great for the ego. Thanks and I do look forward to the update................next time!

Peter

 

[SeasonedReefer]

My question is why didn't you go bigger? I mean it's not like you dont have the room.

 

[medicreefer]

My question is why didn't you go bigger? I mean it's not like you dont have the room.

I'm sure Peter will correct me if I'm wrong, but if my memory is correct, I believe he considered it. Way back at the beginning of this thread he mentioned that he wanted a larger size but that the tank would have been over-sized on the delivery truck and would have required a police escort all the way from Las Vegas to Oakville.

 

[Chago09]

My question is why didn't you go bigger? I mean it's not like you dont have the room.

ya Peter why did you cheap out with only 24', 1350 gallons of the most high tech set up in reef central histroy LOL Ohh ya and you only have 3 sets of Mars Bars, a horse trough as a sump, a refugium the size of most peoples tanks and 2 mangrove walls LOL GOD Peter!!!!! I'm unsubscribing to this thread!!


I wish we all shared your same enthusiasm for this hobby, what the hell I have more room in my house lets get a bigger tank LOL I bet a lot of people have room for bigger tanks but don't for other reasons :thumbsup:

 

[Fishman77]

Peter the tank looks great. Do you have a video of the tank?

Sal

 

[Dwerbs]

WOW huge thread. no way to read through everything. Which page would be a good page with some pictures of the set up?