Eric's 100g tank build

[nualln]

Can you explain how the emergency overflow pipe works?

 

[lobsterotomy]

Extremely clean set up. "I like it a lot."

Where did you have your containers made?

Are you doing sps? What kind of rock you gonna start with?

Thanks - I wanted it nice and neat, as the innards of the stand of my nano was a veritable rat's nest.

I had them made by a local forum member - he does great work, and I'm really happy withe everything and I hope to have him build me a few other things, like an overflow cover and maybe another stand for my Profilux controller.

I'm going to be using LR that I've picked up from various reefers and friends over the last few months - some really nice big pieces that I'm hoping will create the scape I have in mind.

SPS will be the name of the game - unfortunately in the tank move, I lost 90% of my SPS, many of them small colonies I grew out from frags. I still have a few really nice pieces, but it's back to square one basically. As disappointed as I am to lose almost all my SPS, I'm kind of looking forward to starting over again.

Awesome setup. Might need to consult you with a few questions about some things

Thanks!

great work, love the stand and the layout of everything

I had a lot of time to plan - and a lot of planning I did. I'm glad almost everything worked out in the end though.

very nice

looking forward to seeing more of the build

Well, the build is almost done - when I get the rock in there that will be the last step. Then comes livestock!!

Nice update! Keep them coming!

Over the weekend I picked up 25' of RO/DI line, so now over the last day or so, I filled the tank up - no leaks, so it's onto testing out the plumbing systems, and making any necessary modifications.

Can you explain how the emergency overflow pipe works?

It's basically just an open tube the same diameter as the main siphon drain - so if the siphon drain ever becomes blocked, there's a backup exit for the water from the DT.

 

[arshad98]

Very clean!! I love it.

 

[lobsterotomy]

(2 ATI Blue+, 1 KZ FP and 1UVL Actinic White) - I think I'm going to change this combo to a 2 ATI B+, KZ FP and a Sfiligoi Actinic, and run it as the dawn/dusk lights.

I got it filled up, checked and fixed leaks in the plumbing, tested the heck out of the emergency overflow and siphon breaks, and started to break in my skimmer in the last few weeks.

Tonight I got my LR in (about 10 big pieces, around 60 - 70lbs total), and threw in the reef floor grade sand on top. I really like this sand over the oolithic stuff I had before in my nano.

I'm waiting for it to clear up (running filter floss), and then I'll switch to GFO (to absorb the phosphates put out by the sand), and then go live a few days after that. I can't wait to see the first fish swimming in all this space.

 

[lobsterotomy]

Front:

From the kitchen (left):

From the couch (right):

 

[Chrishew09]

awesome

 

[zmckenzie]

Just amazing! How long did it take for you to get it to look so good?

 

[lobsterotomy]

Thanks! It's actually the first scape I did, so about 1.5 hrs. The trick was that I had about 4 times the amount of rock I needed, so I got to pick and choose exactly what fit and was to my taste.

Once I filled around the rock with sand, I really liked the scape. It's pretty much what I was aiming for, there is plenty of space for SPS corals, and lots of nooks and spaces for fish to swim through/hide under, behind and inside the rock and had a nice balance to the tank, and the flow around it is good too.

Can't wait to start filling it up and bringing everything all systems (doser, controller) online. I have some frags (GSP, xenia) and a LPS colony (Duncan), and two snails that are happily cruising about now. Can't wait to see the SPS back in there and growing out.

 

[Chrisrush]

Looks nice. Can you get into the sump to get the return pump?

 

[lobsterotomy]

Yup - the ATB flowstar has a union on it, so it's easily removed. And I can reach all the way into the back so getting at the pump itself is no problem.

 

[dzfish17]

I just went through your build, very nice.

Dave

 

[southernfish]

I think it looks good. Very clean

 

[lobsterotomy]

I moved over most of the corals I had left from my disasterous tank move. Lost a whole bucket (literally) of SPS, so it's rebuilding time.

Just some random pics:

Duncan coral:

Montipora undata:

Montipora setosa:

The first pic is my ORA Red Planet frag under 2x24w T5HO:

Here's another in the tank (on the sandbed):

It's actually much more intense, but I'm having a hard time with the white balance on it.

A new maricultured colony with purple tips and greenish corallites:

I also picked up a thick aqua/blue branching acro. hopefully it grows nice and thick in my tank too.

Also, in QT right now I have three fish - a small sixline wrasse that I'll attempt to pair with my established sixline, a twinspot hogfish, and a beautiful purple tang.

Twinspot hogfish:

The purple tang came with some damage to a first spine, and a case of HLLE starting up, but after a week it cleared up completely!

Sorry for the dark fish pics - I didn't change the WB.

No FTS yet - nothing's been arranged yet, so no FTS. I'm working on a ricordea garden in one corner, and still contemlating positions for the few SPS colonies I still have.

I should be getting some more corals from friends this weekend, and another reefer I met the other week. I can't wait to start rebuilding!

 

[pwwfish]

Love the tank and really clean look of you sump area.

 

[4x2x2]

Very nice ! love the red planet frag

 

[Chrishew09]

Looking great, love it.
Love the stand too, do u have an pics of the stand with the doors on?

 

[lobsterotomy]

Love the tank and really clean look of you sump area.

Thanks. It's a lot tidier than in my nano - which had the same amount of equipment in a space about 1/5th of this stand.

Very nice ! love the red planet frag

Me too - the trip to my low-light 15g holding tank was good for it. Now when I move it around in the main tank, I'll b sure to keep it under low light to keep that nice dark green base. The newer growth area of the green is flourescent!

Looking great, love it.
Love the stand too, do u have an pics of the stand with the doors on?

Nope - I've been way to busy to put the panels on or stain them. Hopefully early March I'll have some time.

Just thought I'd throw up a pic of my 20g (16 x 16 x 21) nano in it's heyday. 95% of the corals in this shot didn't survive the transfer.

 

[96flstf]

Nice sump layout, any updates?

 

[ken123]

Great job! I'm big into DIY projects but dealing with a marine tank, the plumbing, electrical and all else is quite a chore.

What program did you use to layout your stand?

 

[lobsterotomy]

Nice sump layout, any updates?

Thanks! It's been working really well so far. I can make an easy 5g water change from the skimmer compartment without turning off the return or skimmer. The only modification I'd make in the future is to put the emergency drain to drain into the return pump compartment so that the new water goes right back up to the tank.

Great job! I'm big into DIY projects but dealing with a marine tank, the plumbing, electrical and all else is quite a chore.

What program did you use to layout your stand?

I used Google Sketch up. Takes a few minutes to learn the basics, but it's pretty easy to use.

It's been a while since I updated. Here's a FTS from March:

And another more recent one from August:

There's a bunch of "extra" colonies and frags here and there that I'm planning to get rid of. In the next few weeks when I have the time I'd like to rearrange a few of the colonies to get a better balance of shapes and colours. Hopefully the next update won't be as far apart