New 150 Gallon Custom A.G.E. Frag Tank Build

[nuxx]

Peter, this is an incredible build! How are the Kessils working for you? Very excited to see this one progress!

Thanks

Kessils are doing great in the display tank

Went the cheap route on this tank...

Doing:
1 - Current Marine Orbit 48-60" LED for coral that don't need as much light...
1 - Cheap Chinese LEDs 48-60" LED with 3 watt drivers for SPS.

The Current Marine have a nice built in ramp timer.
The Cheap Chinese LEDs have a remote and can dim, etc... but default to off when you turn them off, meaning that a timer will only turn off the lights. I'll have to power them on with the remote in the morning. Not the end of the world, but annoying with how used to automation I've become...

I used a lux meter on my phone to see the difference 3" under each light. Sorry I don't want to figure out the conversion to par.

Current Marine (100% 3"): 8,000-12,000 lux
Cheap Chinese LED (100% 3"): 35,000-52,000 lux
Kessil A360WE (80% 10"): 50,000-80,000 lux

I think the Cheap Chinese LEDs will do just fine at 12-16" for SPS

 

[nuxx]

Still filling it up

I keep turning it off every time we leave the house or go to bed...

The water is almost up to the overflow now

You can see the disco ball effect of the CCL fixture, but I think it'll be much less with the black racks and coral in there...

 

[nuxx]

Tank's full and now water's "flowing" into the sump

 

[pelphrey]

Finally getting there! Those wave makers are really pushing some water!

 

[nuxx]

Just added the salt and have everything mixing in the tank.

Haven't really messed with the drains yet so pretty noisy...




Have the RW-15s just set to Else mode on their lowest speed right now, but still seeing good water movement...

 

[nuxx]

Finally getting there! Those wave makers are really pushing some water!

Thanks

 

[TrevorHenry]

In my opinion you should sturdy up the extensions of the LEDs that hold them over the tank, they tend to sag down after a bit and end up just floating in your water!

 

[nuxx]

In my opinion you should sturdy up the extensions of the LEDs that hold them over the tank, they tend to sag down after a bit and end up just floating in your water!

Suggestions on how to do that?

 

[TrevorHenry]

I could suggest perhaps a 1x1 across both sides perhaps zip tied on. I can't really come up with anything that really fits it directly to it

 

[Marcoss]

Following along. Started a similar tank but it's in a trough so it's certainly not pretty like yours.

 

[nuxx]

I could suggest perhaps a 1x1 across both sides perhaps zip tied on. I can't really come up with anything that really fits it directly to it

Might see if I can re-enforce them and also raise them a bit. Need to stroll through Home Depot and see what I could use to do this.

Following along. Started a similar tank but it's in a trough so it's certainly not pretty like yours.

Thanks, really don't think mine is that pretty

 

[nuxx]

Added two large pieces of rock that have been sitting in my sump for around 18 months and two dirty filter pads from the DT. Also have the 8x8x4" MarinePure block in there.

Also added two bottles of BioSpira.

Hopefully the cycle goes well and fast

Also put in the ATO and 29 gallon ATO storage tank. Sorry pic from IP cam...

 

[scubadan206]

You should not have a cycle if you use media from your display as well as two bottles of bio-spira. That's what it's for after all.
You should start adding livestock now to keep the bacteria supplied with food.[ammonia] Within reason of course, just something hardy.

Daniel. :wildone:

 

[scubadan206]

That looks like a well lit area. Are you going to skin the sump area to keep algae growth down?

 

[nuxx]

Picked up a bunch of frags from our visit to LA

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

 

[nuxx]

Got our first coral in the tank

Picked up the following:
- Seasons Greetings Montipora
- Australian Strawberry Shortcake
- Green Birdsnest (Made a second frag from breaking in shipping)
- BamBam Zoa
- Mini Splatter Hammer
- Rainbow Hammer
- Red Mint Blasto
- Hollywood Stunner Echinopora
- Red Monti Cap
- Reverse Superman Monti
- Pereseid Cyphastrea
- Pachyseris
- Bright Green Favia
- Bright Red Setosa
- Gold Frogspawn / Hammer Hybrid
- Two different colored Meteor Shower Cyphastrea
- Two random Acros

 

[nuxx]

Raised up the lights a little bit...

For the 3 watt cheap Chinese lights, I used a 2x4 cut to 4" long.
For the Current Orbit Marine I used a 2x2 cut to 3.5" long.

I then used Krylon Fusion to paint the wood black.

Drilled three holes at the top of each block to attach the legs of each fixture with black zip ties.

I then painted some metal tabs and screwed them into the bottom of the blocks to keep them from sliding off and into the tank.

Here are some pictures:

 

[NeverlosT]

very cool! Keep up the updates, man I would love to have a frag tank like that! How will you keep up with CA/ALK? A CA reactor or dosing? Will you do lots of SPS or mostly LPS?

Great start!

 

[nuxx]

Will be doing mostly SPS I think. Just want rare LPS like the Rainbow Hammer, Hammer-Frogspawn Hybrid and Splatter Hammer. Will buy LPS like deep true Orange hammers if they come up.

Have access to too many SPS colonies to not go that route...

Planning on dosing. Bought a Jebao 4 head doser, just haven't set it up yet. ALK was low, so just using Reef Builder right now. Raised it up from 5.7 to 6.72 in a week.

 

[mr9iron]

Very cool frag tank. I can't wait to see this grow.