My120gal reef has begun.. Pics

[SahuaritaMike]

After finding a great deal on craigslist for the tank, I am on my way to building my reef. 120 is drilled for a closed loop. I own a wrought Iron shop and the stand is almost done, I think you guys will like what I have done. I rusted the steel frame and it is going to be clearcoated, the doors will be wood with a redish stain and have magnets to hold them on instead of hinges. I should have pics of the stand soon. My new lights arrived today as well hope you all like. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Oh yeah THanks to Rob at Southwest Saltwater for the foam and the drilling of the holes he did an excellant job.

how I bought the tank

Now with a foam back

My new lights

Can anyone id the coral in the middle and the zoas? on the bottom right.

Thanks for looking.

Michael

 

[bpd964]

Looks good so far..Keep us posted with lots of pics.... good luck!

 

[fishaholic911]

Looking great!!!!!!!!!!! Keep us posted.

 

[owsi]

If you can, wait a few days before water so you can touch up the foam. Mine shrunk on the sides, Get rock against it so it doesn't seperate and try to float up. Looks great.

 

[Satori]

Congrats! your hole placement in the bottom is similar to how I did my 180. I chickened out on the foam though.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

Thanks for all the responses.

Fishaholic and BPD-HAHA I will probably be posting too many pics.

Owsi-how long did yours take to actually cure and stop shrinking?

MSM-Thats funny I was the complete opposite I was gung ho about the foam and contimplating on closing up the closed loop holes or keep em.

Micheal

 

[Satori]

Keep the holes! I wish I had taken a better picture, but you can kind of see how I split them each 2 ways with lockline. I just put the rock around them.

 

[owsi]

I set up with fresh and RO for about 3 days, then salted and started noticing the shrink. It is greater on bottom, so my guess is it is somewhat pressure related. It did seperate in places from glass but when my light gets in and I move my rock I should be able to get it back.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

What if I siliconed the bottom all the way accross, do you think that would help keep in place and since I am going to have sand it will cover it up?

 

[owsi]

I think the rocks will hold it but this is new territory for me. Never owned a foamed tank before. The FRAG Forum had a thread going the other day about the foam coming loose, I think they tried Aqua-Mend.

 

[SWSaltwater]

The cheaper foams will come loose, and I would do silicon over aquamend if it does. The shrink on my tank happend 2 weeks after it had water. Yours has a black background and you probably wont notice or mind the shrink if it happens. Its only about a half inch.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

Oh yeah I forgot I had a black background before the foam.

 

[lovelylinda]

What are the dimensions of the tank, Mike? Looks shorter and deeper than mine.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

The tank is a 48"x24"x24". Yeah I liked it because it had more depth.

Here are some pics of the new stand.

Michael

 

[Satori]

I love that stand! The rusted steel is cool too.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

Thanks my house is really southwestern and I fugured noone does the metal because of the rust so I beat the saltwater to it and rusted it first.

Michael

 

[cerreta]

That does look good Mike.

A lot of the foam separation issue is technique with application. My first attempt with it cuased separation from the back wall. The second time I sprayed the foam with a tighter pattern being certain that the foam stuck to the glass and it worked better. There was no separation at all.

If the foam is loosley sprayed it tends to stick to itself rather than the glass/ acrylic. Once water goes in, it will tend to run behind the foam and push it further from the back wall.

If you have air pockets, you should be able to poke a hole in the foam and squirt some black silicone in there. That should do the trick and the black color should not be noticable.

I think that coral is the alien eye favia, but the picture is too blurry for proper ID.

Got another shot of it?

 

[McCrary]

I love the rusted look of the metal, very cool.

 

[SahuaritaMike]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Scott I will try to take a better picture tomorrow with a better camera.

Michael

 

[owsi]

Nicely done on the stand, I like the inset.