drjuice28
New member
Well, I began reefing in 2005 with a 24g nanocube. I learned the basics, and had a really great small tank going. (It's on here somewhere, Drjuice's 24G mega-modded nanocube I think) Just like most of you out there, I ran into a full tank with the desire to put a bunch more in! I'd been thinking about an upgrade for some time, but never had the excuse for my wife to let me invest in it.
Then tragedy, or good fortune depending upon how you look at it, struck. My sump cracked, leaking several gallons of water into my sump room before I could stop it. The process of building a new one, stirring the sand bed within, etc, threw my small tank into a crash. The result was pretty tough to handle, lost more than 80% of my coral specimens.
Being my first major setback, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. Instead, I used it as a springboard to begin tank upgrade discussions. With Christmas 2007 rolling around, all I asked for was a permission slip to start looking for a major upgrade. Somehow, the wife gave in, and the search began.
I knew that I wanted a 2nd hand setup to save some startup cash, and I really wanted to go 24" deep, either 150, 180, or 210. I scoured RC, local forums, craigslist and ebay for almost a month (Just not that much for sale in January!) before I found something that I thought would work. An RC member in Iowa (6-7 hours away) was selling a drained setup with oak stand and full Hamilton Halide setup for a price that I couldn't refuse. Two weeks later, I had a rental airline transport van and was on my way to pick it up.
Here's what I went to get (keep in mind that I planned on refinishing the entire thing!)
Can you believe how dirty the tank itself is?! But what fun is a tank build without some good old elbow grease? That light fixture is a hamilton 3x400 or 250x2 + 400 MH setup (he had both dual ballasts included, along with 2x80W t-5. The stand looked like solid construction, later confirmed, but without the nice trim/molding that I planned on adding myself.
Then tragedy, or good fortune depending upon how you look at it, struck. My sump cracked, leaking several gallons of water into my sump room before I could stop it. The process of building a new one, stirring the sand bed within, etc, threw my small tank into a crash. The result was pretty tough to handle, lost more than 80% of my coral specimens.
Being my first major setback, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. Instead, I used it as a springboard to begin tank upgrade discussions. With Christmas 2007 rolling around, all I asked for was a permission slip to start looking for a major upgrade. Somehow, the wife gave in, and the search began.
I knew that I wanted a 2nd hand setup to save some startup cash, and I really wanted to go 24" deep, either 150, 180, or 210. I scoured RC, local forums, craigslist and ebay for almost a month (Just not that much for sale in January!) before I found something that I thought would work. An RC member in Iowa (6-7 hours away) was selling a drained setup with oak stand and full Hamilton Halide setup for a price that I couldn't refuse. Two weeks later, I had a rental airline transport van and was on my way to pick it up.
Here's what I went to get (keep in mind that I planned on refinishing the entire thing!)
Can you believe how dirty the tank itself is?! But what fun is a tank build without some good old elbow grease? That light fixture is a hamilton 3x400 or 250x2 + 400 MH setup (he had both dual ballasts included, along with 2x80W t-5. The stand looked like solid construction, later confirmed, but without the nice trim/molding that I planned on adding myself.