Getting The 215 Up And Running

[princer7]

I picked up a 215 gallon tank this past weekend and wil be (hopefully) getting it all set up this weekend. I have been aquiring the parts for a while and when the right tank came around, I went for it. The tank is 72"x24"x29" reefready with dual returns. It will be heavy SPS. Here are the parts list:

Tank -

Lighting:
4 Coralvue 250w Halide Ballasts w/ Lumenbright Mini Reflectors
2 Reeflux 10,000k SE bulbs
2 Reeflux 12,000k SE bulbs
Icecap 660 ballast
4 36" T5 UVL Super Actinic bulbs w/ SLR Reflectors

Water Movement:
2 Tunze Stream 6101 pumps
Tunze Wavebox

Decor:
150lbs dry MarcoRock
160lbs Argonite Sand
+ up to 120lbs cured live rock from my current tank
+ up to 60lbs live sand from my current tank

In The Stand -

40x20x16 Sump
20 gallon Cryptic Fuge
MSX Extreme 250 Skimmer
MRC Dual Nano Calcium Reactor
5lb CO2 Canister
Milwaukee CO2 Regulator & Soliniod w/ Bubble Counter
GEO Kalkwasser Reactor
2 Aqualifter water pumps
PanWorld 150PS Pump
Two Little Fishes Phosban Reactor
Two Little Fishes Carbon Reactor
Coralife Turbo Twist 6x UV Sterilizer

Climate Control:
Current Prime Tower Chiller 1/3HP

Refugium / Frag Light:
Hamilton Reefstar 150w HQI Light

Control:

AquaController III
AquaSurf
Lunar Simulator
I/O Breakout Box (ATO & Flood Sensors)
PX 1000 Probe Expansion
2 pH probes
1 ORP probe
2 Direct Connect 8 power modules

 

[princer7]

Here is a really bad picture:

 

[princer7]

The tank is plummed!!! Still have to add the Kalk Reactor, Carbon & Phosban Reactors once the tank is ready to add corals & fish. Next will be sand and rock. It has taken longer than I hoped to get this far. The lights and Aquacontroller will be next as the tank fills with RO water & salted. Also, need to tidy up the power cords and add the chiller.



Pardon the distortion of the lens. I had the Fish Eye on the camera.

 

[princer7]

Made some progress on the tank this weekend....

Wired up 2 of the 4 halides. The other 2 will have to wait until the corals get moved from the small tank.

The RO water filled the tank, rocks sand and salt were also added....

The next step will be to clean up the wiring and finish out the equpment closet we picked up. It will house the electrical and controllers, chiller, as well as the RO reservoir....

 

[princer7]

It's been a slow week as far as working on the tank goes. Did pick up some new inhabitants that will make their way over when the tank is cycled. A really nice lobo brain coral, RBTA and golden dwarf moray eel. The eel is much bigger than the one I already had. They have been hiding so I look forward to seeing them interact (or not) during the next feeding.

With little done this week, I have thought more about lighting and stocking the tank.

I am waffling between 3 or 4 halides. I can fit 4 but not sure if that would be any improvement over just 3.

I would like to find a nice trio of flasher wrasse, group of banggai cardinalfish, and some blue green chromis. These would be added to the group of fish I have now - pair of picasso clownfish, group of pajama cardinalfish, purple firefish, and coral beauty... and now 2 dwarf moray eels.

Would stocking be ok? Any other suggestions? I'd like to stay away from a tank with huge fish.

 

[john90009]

Looks great! I cant wait till i grow up to start a big tank like yours. Keep up the good work.

 

[princer7]

Thanks John!

I picked up a network video camera for the web so the tank can be viewed from work. I'm hoping to put together a nice internet based console for the AC3 and video.

Axis 207W

 

[john90009]

Hah thats somthing new, Wish i had a camera to watch my tank while i worked.

 

[john90009]

When do you think the tank will be filled and the lights put in, I recently just purchased reeflux 12k bulbs however im going to be running them on the galaxy ballast but im still very interested as to what the 12k look like on your tank.

 

[princer7]

I'm still a few weeks out on the lights. Once I start to move the corals over, the lights will get transferred. Right now, they are 10,000k on the new tank. Eventually the bulbs will be staggered between the 10,000k and 12,000k.

 

[princer7]

Well, I am totally bummed.... Was hoping to see some decrease on the Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrate tests but the levels are all still high.

Ammonia may be on the way down reading between .5 and 1.0.
Nitrites are through the roof at 5.0
Nitrates are 40.

 

[princer7]

Did get the actinics mounted this weekend. They turned out pretty well. I'll post a picture soon.

IceCap 660 ballast with 4 36" UVL Super Actinic bulbs. The fixture is attached to an aluminum pole that runs the lenght of the tank.

 

[specialkb]

Very nice, going to be following this one tank looks alot like the 230 i'm going to be setting up in the next 6 months. keeep it up and good luck.

 

[princer7]

Woot! I've got diatoms!

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0.25
Nitrates 5 - 10

 

[specialkb]

NEED PICS!!!!!

 

[princer7]

Sorry about the bad links for the pictures. They should be working again.

Made some good progress on the tank this past holiday weekend. Added some vents for the chiller section of the cabinet. These are oak floor vents withouth the louvers 2 on each side and 3 in the back.

Also, started mounting the electronics with custom lenght cords so everything can get power from the cabinet.

Most of the programming for the AC3 has been done as well.

 

[princer7]

Well.... I'm scratching my head

Got the Aquacontroller hooked up and the temperature in the tank was 83 without the lights running. The house stays at 78. Decided to test the lights out overnight (only 1/2 are hooked up). They brought the tank up to almost 90 degrees.

Still have to plumb the chiller - this should eliminate the friction from having the main pump throttled down. Hope it is enough.

This is the first time I have delt with heat issues like this.