lastlight's 225 reef build
- Thread starter lastlight
- Start date
Mr. Brooks
MASVC Member
Hey man, your tank shaping up nicely.
I'm looking into T5 fixtures. How do you like yours? Where did you get it? What are the dimensions? Are the ballasts built in?
Keep up the good work!
I'm looking into T5 fixtures. How do you like yours? Where did you get it? What are the dimensions? Are the ballasts built in?
Keep up the good work!
That is some amazing rock - a unique formation!
Congratulations.
LL
Congratulations.
LL
lastlight
Premium Member
Thanks guys.
Sfiligoi Stealth was purchased through the now gone Aquarium Obsessed. I love the unit so far but haven't grown anything with it of course. The unit is roughly 59.5 x 20 x 3.
I'm bored waiting for my bacteria to get it on. Here's some quick and dirty pics:
Fuge with some rock and live rubble. My pods are growing in numbers. You can see my heaters and a bunch of rock tossed in the return area of the sump. Keeps the display nearly bubble free.
Skimmer right after I cleaned it. Already has a bit of stinky water in the cup. I'm excited to see what this thing can do with a bioload. Far left is my 20 gallon reservoir I empty to do water changes. Filter sock on my herbie is already pretty dirty.
I'm a nerd. So what!
FTS showing the 2 pieces of seed rock in the display. One on each shelf/tower.
Glow off the rocks makes the water appear cloudy but it's quite clear right now.
Left side of my water-change cabinet.
Hard to get a decent shot in the top ro/di reservoir. I extended a 90 out from my emergency overflow bulkhead and then glued my float valve to it. Osmolator pump in there too. It's neat working in my office (same room) and hearing that little pump kick on knowing it's taking care of my system.
Sfiligoi Stealth was purchased through the now gone Aquarium Obsessed. I love the unit so far but haven't grown anything with it of course. The unit is roughly 59.5 x 20 x 3.
I'm bored waiting for my bacteria to get it on. Here's some quick and dirty pics:
Fuge with some rock and live rubble. My pods are growing in numbers. You can see my heaters and a bunch of rock tossed in the return area of the sump. Keeps the display nearly bubble free.
Skimmer right after I cleaned it. Already has a bit of stinky water in the cup. I'm excited to see what this thing can do with a bioload. Far left is my 20 gallon reservoir I empty to do water changes. Filter sock on my herbie is already pretty dirty.
I'm a nerd. So what!
FTS showing the 2 pieces of seed rock in the display. One on each shelf/tower.
Glow off the rocks makes the water appear cloudy but it's quite clear right now.
Left side of my water-change cabinet.
Hard to get a decent shot in the top ro/di reservoir. I extended a 90 out from my emergency overflow bulkhead and then glued my float valve to it. Osmolator pump in there too. It's neat working in my office (same room) and hearing that little pump kick on knowing it's taking care of my system.
Reefer Brian
In Memoriam
Sick setup...I have been building a 225g also, it seriously takes a long time to get what you want(almost a year). I plan on using solar tubes and a few 80w T5 for Actinics. Just waiting for some house repairs to be finished. Keep up the good work...
:lolspin: I'm sure we can help get you started.
lastlight
Premium Member
So already I can't keep my hands out of the tank. I'm cursed like everyone else of course. The longer I look at my aquascape the more concerned I was.
1. not enough interesting places for small fish to swim or hide. Not enough rock on display.
2. Lots of nice shelves to place corals on but not enough smaller piles for coral, not enough caves and not enough cracks to swim through.
3. No depth as both towers viewed from the side basically lined up.
Here is the old FTS:
Two slightly different angles of the new FTS. Notice I rotated the entire middle tower so that from the front you see just how interesting it is. Originally I had the neat profile facing the end of the tank.
Old FTS viewed more from above:
This shows perfectly why I am happy I made the change. It's more dynamic, interesting and the swim-through cave on the right end is pretty cool.
Few more random looks:
1. not enough interesting places for small fish to swim or hide. Not enough rock on display.
2. Lots of nice shelves to place corals on but not enough smaller piles for coral, not enough caves and not enough cracks to swim through.
3. No depth as both towers viewed from the side basically lined up.
Here is the old FTS:
Two slightly different angles of the new FTS. Notice I rotated the entire middle tower so that from the front you see just how interesting it is. Originally I had the neat profile facing the end of the tank.
Old FTS viewed more from above:
This shows perfectly why I am happy I made the change. It's more dynamic, interesting and the swim-through cave on the right end is pretty cool.
Few more random looks:
lastlight
Premium Member
Besides changing my rockwork I also did my first water change. It was easy. Flipped a switch and turned a couple valves. Hardest part was waiting for the small Eheim to top the 24 gallons back into the stand from my office. I didn't mix my new water with a heater. The awesome part about the way I have the water change tank circulating pretty slowly in the system is that the Ranco detected no temperature change at all as the slightly cooler water worked it's way in.
Ammonia still reads less than 0.25. Water prior to messing with my rock was very clear. Skimmate keeps getting darker. I drain about 2 inches from my cup each day. My ball of chaeto is about 6 times it's initial size. Pods are really growing in numbers and a film of algae is forming in the fuge.
As for flow...well my sand in both the front and back will not stay put. For now I have dialed the power of each 6100 to minimum and replaced the 24V jumper in the 6101 with the 15V. All pumps are running much slower and my 7095 is only ramping from 30-40%. It's still got good circulation for now and I will adjust as time goes on.
I also hack-sawed out the old fuge drain and put a proper T fitting rather than an elbow on the bulkhead. Let's me get a bit more flow through the bulkhead and skim the fuge rather than have the bulkhead fully submerged. Cutting pipe in that stand took me over an hour. 2 cuts and careful placement of garbage bags to keep pvc shred out of the water. The new plumbing is much quieter. No more splashes can be heard with the doors shut. It's all motor whir now (Dart).
Ammonia still reads less than 0.25. Water prior to messing with my rock was very clear. Skimmate keeps getting darker. I drain about 2 inches from my cup each day. My ball of chaeto is about 6 times it's initial size. Pods are really growing in numbers and a film of algae is forming in the fuge.
As for flow...well my sand in both the front and back will not stay put. For now I have dialed the power of each 6100 to minimum and replaced the 24V jumper in the 6101 with the 15V. All pumps are running much slower and my 7095 is only ramping from 30-40%. It's still got good circulation for now and I will adjust as time goes on.
I also hack-sawed out the old fuge drain and put a proper T fitting rather than an elbow on the bulkhead. Let's me get a bit more flow through the bulkhead and skim the fuge rather than have the bulkhead fully submerged. Cutting pipe in that stand took me over an hour. 2 cuts and careful placement of garbage bags to keep pvc shred out of the water. The new plumbing is much quieter. No more splashes can be heard with the doors shut. It's all motor whir now (Dart).
jollyballs
New member
nice setup
cjcoopertag
New member
Everything looks awesome. Where did you purchase your actuators to lift your lights?
lastlight
Premium Member
Thanks guys.
Thanks I'm sure I'll have my hands in there soon enough and I will try opening up the sand there a little. Those rocks are helping me keep the sand in place tho. Wondering when the sand will magically become heavier!
I scored/scratched the plywood up really well with knife/screwdriver and then used the regular cement you get at the hardware store to wall mount heavy tile.
Thanks! http://www.firgelliautomations.com/
Right now I'm just using the crud in the dead rock to kick things into gear. My ammonia test kit never seemed to change so I ran out and bought a nitrite kit and have a reading on that. When it hits zero I'll add a single fish I think and see how that goes for a few weeks.
Thanks I'm sure I'll have my hands in there soon enough and I will try opening up the sand there a little. Those rocks are helping me keep the sand in place tho. Wondering when the sand will magically become heavier!
I scored/scratched the plywood up really well with knife/screwdriver and then used the regular cement you get at the hardware store to wall mount heavy tile.
Thanks! http://www.firgelliautomations.com/
Right now I'm just using the crud in the dead rock to kick things into gear. My ammonia test kit never seemed to change so I ran out and bought a nitrite kit and have a reading on that. When it hits zero I'll add a single fish I think and see how that goes for a few weeks.
The new rockscape looks better then the previous, I really like it this way.
