My new 215g TBS tank

[Yogre]

Just wanted to share with y'all a few pictures of my new TBS setup. The tank has been up and running about 3 weeks now, and Part 1 went in 2 weeks ago.

Before I get too far along, I just wanted to say what a pleasure it's been working with Richard. It's obvious he cares a lot about your success, and he really wants you to have a "disaster-free"
experience! Richard spent a LOT of time with me working out shipping options, not an easy task since I don't live close to any major airports. It paid off, I received 10 boxes of live rock and sand, a total of 612 pounds of stuff, all in good order!

Well, on to the tank! The first picture is getting started...10 boxes is a LOT of live rock and sand!

I haven't tried to aquascape anything yet, I really just tried to arrange all the rocks so there were no dead spots in the water flow. The water cleared overnight, and the next morning the sump had several small pistol shrimp in it, it's amazing how loud they are even at 1/4" long. Here's a view of the engine room...Lifereef sump and skimmer, Blue Line return pump, and the blue jugs to the left are RO/DI water for the auto top-off.

The last picture is the tank with the metal halide lighting on...I'm running the actinics 5 hours a day right now, and the MH lights for just an hour. I haven't decided yet what my final photoperiod setup will be.

Hitchhikers? Yup, got a number. Lots of snails, pistol shrimp (which I never see out), a tiger stripe goby who I haven't seen recently, and some gorilla crabs. I trapped one, and tried to catch another today with my grippy tool, but he was too fast for me. At least one mantis shrimp, what a unique animal. If he's not too hard on the cleanup crew, I'm gonna let him be, he's really neat to watch. The number of filter feeders is amazing, I wish now I had taken more marine bio in college to help me identify them all!

Ammonia has never gotten above 0.25ppm since I started, and has been at zero for several days now. I'm really looking forward to Part 2!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Wolverine1]

What a tank yogre! Looks great!

I have had my 1st package for the about the same time, albeit on only a 20gal scale and Richard has been great (I live in the middle of CO and 3hrs+ from major airports) and am still impressed with the professionalism and care he has given.

Keep us posted and look forward to new picts!

 

[AuroraDrvr]

Loving the liquid inspiration in the first picture.

Looks good so far. I am sure you will be impressed with part 2.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14256181#post14256181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AuroraDrvr
Loving the liquid inspiration in the first picture.

With 10 boxes to unload and unpack he was probably very thirsty. Now be honest....how many of you guys had similar "inspiration" when you were working on your tank? C'mon fess up!

Your tank is very nice! I'm curious about your engineroom. How long did it take you to design it?

 

[Wolverine1]

Its not so much the inspiration during but the promise afterwards...

 

[shadowbearwv]

How is the tank handling sitting on the carpet? I'm desperately trying to find a space for my new 75g and the most perfect place would be right beside my 20g.

I'm just worried about leveling problems on the carpet.

Did you put anything perminent under the tank for water spills?

And I'm very jealous would love a 215g tank.

Looks like a great start!

SB

 

[Yogre]

Thanks all, for the kind words! Yes, I did need some liquid inspiration after horsing 612 pounds of stuff into the house! At least it was down the stairs, not up!

Divemonster: I dithered literally for weeks on what type of sump, skimmer, and return pump I wanted to use. Once the tank was in the house, it took me a week of moving the sump/pump combo around to settle on where it is now. I wanted to leave room for at least a small refugium. After spending quite a bit of time in RC's Reef Chemistry forum, and reading a number of Dr. Holmes-Farley's articles, I knew I wanted to be able to dose kalkwasser in the future. So, the top-off was a full day. Drawing up and installing the electrical system was another full day. So all told, probably the better part of two weeks. Very hard for me, I'm not by nature a super patient person.

Shadowbear: The tank is actually sitting on the carpet which is on a concrete slab, it's in my basement. When we finished our basement, we knew we wanted a good-sized tank at that spot, so I checked the concrete with a bubble level before the carpet went in. The tank is several inches out from the wall to keep the back of the stand off the tack strip. The tank is perfectly level left-to-right, and back-to-front the bubble in the level barely touches one hash mark. I figure it's close enough not to unduly strain the tank seams. There's nothing to protect from spills, and I think that may become a problem...I'm using a splash mat from Drs. Foster & Smith right now for routine tank work, until I can figure out something better.

Richard and I are trying to work out when we can get Part 2 shipped (I travel a lot), I'll have more pics soon! Thanks again for reading!

 

[kilroy217]

Hey Yogre, did you ever get part 2 of your shipment? Have any more pictures?

 

[Yogre]

Just put up a new post!