ChloroPhil
Member
Hello folks, how's it going? My name's Phil and I'm proud to proclaim that I'm a planted tank enthusiast with a strong interest in corals. I'm an aquatic plant biologist and biogeochemist by training. Over the years I've had passing affairs with nano reefs, but haven't really lived in one place long enough to establish a sizable long-term and large (for me) reef setup. Being a researcher and consultant isn't the most stable career in a bad economy. 
Times have changed and I now find myself in a position, both job and aquarium wise, which I never thought I'd be in. I'm now working in the aquatics industry as a scientist, and as part of my job I've been told to set up a reef tank. Terrible, isn't it? :lol2: This baby's going to be a Stony Only Mostly SPS tank. All softies, gorgs, and colonial polyps are going in the sump.
What follows is both a journal of my reef build and the progression of the aquarium room, aka Aquaman Cave, that it will be living in. These tanks are both personal aquarium as well as test tanks so I can try out different combinations of old and developing products to see how they perform. I know this is REEF Central, not Aquatic Plant Central, but my friends in the plant community wanted to see the reef progress too so I figured I'd share it all with you here too; with emphasis on the reef, of course.
Credit for this journal goes to cableguy over at The Planted Tank. He asked for it in my 300g planted display build thread, so here it is. Credit for the name goes to Michael over at Aquatic Plant Central for cleverly calling the room an (aqua)man cave. The room's a semi-finished but well wired basement on a slab. The poor floor is really old and uneven, but it's a slab and that's what counts the most.
Tank specs-
*48x24x12 60g former frag tank with a 2" hole dead center and 2x 1" holes 3" from either side wall. The two 1" are going to get plugged and the center hole will become the drain.
*150g stock tank sump/refugium/frag tank.
*48" 8x bulb AquaticLife T5HO or 2x 250w HQI with the T5 over the sump. I'm leaning toward the T5 over the DT for color options.
*2x VorTech MP40w (big, I know, but they were the best option available)
*PM Bullet 1 skimmer
*Algae Turf Scrubber
*Dosing will be 100% Brightwell Aquatics goods from the very start unless I need something we don't make.
*Random other hardware/reactors to be added at some point. I've got to do more rummaging around storage to see what other goodies we have that I can use.
My reef keeping philosopy-
1. High circulation but low turn over. Biology before technology. My intent is to have 4-5x turnover per hour to maximize dwell time in the sump for all the nifty biogeochemical things that go on there to have a lot of time to happen.
2. I feel an ATS and skimmer provide the widest range of organics and nutrient removal when combined. I prefer to skim dry and let macro algae handle the N and P.
3. 300 gal tanks are just too big for me. They cost too much to fill with rock, coral, and fish. So even though I have some available I'm going with the 60g for ease on my wallet. Plus, I prefer small fish and the dimensions are awesome!
4. Aquascaping is very important to me and I'm willing to make certain sacrifices or take certain risks to build a beautiful tank.
5. I prefer to keep larger numbers of smaller fish than smaller numbers of larger fish. The opposite is true of corals. I prefer a few large colonies to a tank full of frags. Those just look like junk yards to me. Any collectoritis I may get will be enabled by a frag/growout section in the sump.
6. This is still a hobby to me even though it's also my job, moreso than planted tanks. I always want to understand the science behind reef keeping as best as I can to give the best care to my animals. I could really care less what the species or trade/hobby name of a coral is. I get my technical geek on with plants and want something to enjoy looking at without having to know if it's a Purple Zinger Super Duke Nuke 'Em LE whatevertheheckitis. Keeping the parameters stable and putting the animals in locations in the tank where they'll do best then letting things be is the way for me.
The two 300s will be planted displays and the 220 will be my plant collecting/grow out tank.
I guess that's enough for now. On with the pictures!
Here's what the room looked like in the very beginning back in July. The two tanks were smack in the middle of the room on some old, but sturdy, handmade stands. This view is facing from the utility portion of the basement.
Look at all that usable space!
9:00 on the morning on Friday 8.23 after the crew came and moved the new stands, small tank and stand, and other big tank and stand (in a different pic). The tank on the left will be a reef and has had its stand switched to fit it better. The rest of the tanks will eventually be planted. The metal stands are 6" shorter than the wood ones. In addition, there's not support joist taking up space so there's quite a bit more room to get into the tanks.
The 220 on the wall opposite the utility room.
Evening of 8.23-
Old stand #1- Freshwater workbench and top-off barrel. The barrel's eventually going to be recessed into the stand and plumbing will be run along the ceiling to allow easy topping off with just the turning of a valve.
Old stand #2- Saltwater workbench and quarantine tank stand. Another 50 gallon barrel will be recessed into this one for salt mixing.
Another view of SW workbench-
Times have changed and I now find myself in a position, both job and aquarium wise, which I never thought I'd be in. I'm now working in the aquatics industry as a scientist, and as part of my job I've been told to set up a reef tank. Terrible, isn't it? :lol2: This baby's going to be a Stony Only Mostly SPS tank. All softies, gorgs, and colonial polyps are going in the sump.What follows is both a journal of my reef build and the progression of the aquarium room, aka Aquaman Cave, that it will be living in. These tanks are both personal aquarium as well as test tanks so I can try out different combinations of old and developing products to see how they perform. I know this is REEF Central, not Aquatic Plant Central, but my friends in the plant community wanted to see the reef progress too so I figured I'd share it all with you here too; with emphasis on the reef, of course.
Credit for this journal goes to cableguy over at The Planted Tank. He asked for it in my 300g planted display build thread, so here it is. Credit for the name goes to Michael over at Aquatic Plant Central for cleverly calling the room an (aqua)man cave. The room's a semi-finished but well wired basement on a slab. The poor floor is really old and uneven, but it's a slab and that's what counts the most.
Tank specs-
*48x24x12 60g former frag tank with a 2" hole dead center and 2x 1" holes 3" from either side wall. The two 1" are going to get plugged and the center hole will become the drain.
*150g stock tank sump/refugium/frag tank.
*48" 8x bulb AquaticLife T5HO or 2x 250w HQI with the T5 over the sump. I'm leaning toward the T5 over the DT for color options.
*2x VorTech MP40w (big, I know, but they were the best option available)
*PM Bullet 1 skimmer
*Algae Turf Scrubber
*Dosing will be 100% Brightwell Aquatics goods from the very start unless I need something we don't make.
*Random other hardware/reactors to be added at some point. I've got to do more rummaging around storage to see what other goodies we have that I can use.
My reef keeping philosopy-
1. High circulation but low turn over. Biology before technology. My intent is to have 4-5x turnover per hour to maximize dwell time in the sump for all the nifty biogeochemical things that go on there to have a lot of time to happen.
2. I feel an ATS and skimmer provide the widest range of organics and nutrient removal when combined. I prefer to skim dry and let macro algae handle the N and P.
3. 300 gal tanks are just too big for me. They cost too much to fill with rock, coral, and fish. So even though I have some available I'm going with the 60g for ease on my wallet. Plus, I prefer small fish and the dimensions are awesome!
4. Aquascaping is very important to me and I'm willing to make certain sacrifices or take certain risks to build a beautiful tank.
5. I prefer to keep larger numbers of smaller fish than smaller numbers of larger fish. The opposite is true of corals. I prefer a few large colonies to a tank full of frags. Those just look like junk yards to me. Any collectoritis I may get will be enabled by a frag/growout section in the sump.
6. This is still a hobby to me even though it's also my job, moreso than planted tanks. I always want to understand the science behind reef keeping as best as I can to give the best care to my animals. I could really care less what the species or trade/hobby name of a coral is. I get my technical geek on with plants and want something to enjoy looking at without having to know if it's a Purple Zinger Super Duke Nuke 'Em LE whatevertheheckitis. Keeping the parameters stable and putting the animals in locations in the tank where they'll do best then letting things be is the way for me.
The two 300s will be planted displays and the 220 will be my plant collecting/grow out tank.
I guess that's enough for now. On with the pictures!
Here's what the room looked like in the very beginning back in July. The two tanks were smack in the middle of the room on some old, but sturdy, handmade stands. This view is facing from the utility portion of the basement.
Look at all that usable space!
9:00 on the morning on Friday 8.23 after the crew came and moved the new stands, small tank and stand, and other big tank and stand (in a different pic). The tank on the left will be a reef and has had its stand switched to fit it better. The rest of the tanks will eventually be planted. The metal stands are 6" shorter than the wood ones. In addition, there's not support joist taking up space so there's quite a bit more room to get into the tanks.
The 220 on the wall opposite the utility room.
Evening of 8.23-
Old stand #1- Freshwater workbench and top-off barrel. The barrel's eventually going to be recessed into the stand and plumbing will be run along the ceiling to allow easy topping off with just the turning of a valve.
Old stand #2- Saltwater workbench and quarantine tank stand. Another 50 gallon barrel will be recessed into this one for salt mixing.
Another view of SW workbench-
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I agree; long, wide, and shallow relative to length is much nicer than long, thin, and tall. The larger area opens up so many aquascaping possibilities.
