New Reef, any comments/criticisms?

[Meisen]

Here is my new 120 RR setup. Alot of it is already done but I wondered if anyone would care to comment on the look of it, aquascaping etc. I should have posted before I got this far becasue I am sure someone will point out some obvious mistake(s) I made.

New Tank:

Left Stanchion:

Middle:

Right Side with Bridge!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=66692

Right Side stanchion:

 

[Meisen]

Just a couple of notes before y'all dig in.....

Just a couple of notes before y'all dig in.....

-the powerheads wont be visible once they are setup and running. I plan to zip-tie them down behind the major structures to make sure that there will be sufficent flow down low. They are going to run off of a wavemaster pro at full blast (there are 8 maxi 1200s in there).

-the return isnt hearty enough so eventually I am going to add a second Mag 7

-there are three major live rock "stanchions". Each one is a length of 1 1/4" PVC tied to a 5" square starboard-type cutting block piece. The PVC was drilled out and UV resistant zip-ties were used to fix drilled live rock pieces to them. So far the two stanchions on the left are not tied togetjer, leaving a gap in between the two.

-I expect the PVC and zip ties to quickly encrust with coraline however parts that dont (due to excessive light, not enough flow etc...)I will try to cover with encrusting corals

-there will be some more live rock attached here and there where you can see major amounts of PVC pipe (especially the bridge area).

 

[Meisen]

more details

more details

Here are the detailed specs for anyone interested:

Tank is going to be a medium light very mixed reef with some sps on top of the crests, zoanthids and lps down below.

setup with RO/DI Instant Ocean Salt 11/1/04
120 G RR tank, dual overflows
~200# fully cured fiji and carribean live rock (I cured it myself so it really is cured)
350 lbs southdown, 20 lbs seed live sand
30 gallon sump w/live rock and mag 7 return
Aqua C 150 skimmer
carbon bag in sump

Parameters so far (I cant tell if there is a mini cycle coming or what so I am just holding off as far as stocking goes).

ammonia: und
nitrite: und
nitrate: trace (below .1 ppm)
phos: und
pH: 8.4
calc: 380
alk: 10.5 dKH
salinity: 1.028 (hydrometer...I know, I know)
temp: 81 degrees


Livestock:

Just what was stuck to the live rock including:

10 hermit crabs of dubious ancestry
2 bumblebee snails
1 brittle star
1 cerith snail
1 nerite snail
2 small atlantic urchins
4 small colonies of zoanthids

 

[Ritten]

I like it. I don't like to see powerheads, I'm glad your going to hide them. Just make sure you can get to them if they need service. You will be amazed how fast that PVC will enrust with coraline. Have fun.

 

[mjoering]

Wow, that is nice! Did you just glue the pieces together? Or maybe PVC and zip-ties? Are you going to fill in some of the bottom with rock, mushrooms? Looks great, I am thinking of redoing my tank like that, but man it looks like a lot of work.

 

[Meisen]

Thanks for the comments guys! Yeah I went the PVC and zip-tie route (its described in more detail above). I will work on getting a few pics of that fun process up . A lot of work short term but hopefully it will yield a headache-free reef (as in no rock slides, lots of vertical surface area to glue frags onto, cool stratification of fishes and inverts etc). I think it took me 4 hours to crank out the three stanchions but I was working in overdrive mode to minimize the liverocks time out of the water. I was so tired afterwards that I just sunk them in the tank wherever there was space until the next day!

I think I am going to leave most of the sand space open. For some reason, it just appeals to me. Maybe its just that I came from a 70 gallon high (a 55 with 4 extra inches on top). By the end of it, there wasnt a square inch of open space anywhere!!! There will probably be mushrooms in the back area (under the bridge) and low down on some of the lr which is going to hopefully look cool.

 

[Meisen]

^

 

[Salt'n'Lime]

I like it. Good aquascaping... You have a good canvas to work with.... now get to painting it!

 

[marinelife]

My only problem would be how easy are the powerheads to get to, if one stops working how easy can it be replaced. Why not use a few tunze stream pumps in there rock hiding thing

 

[Meisen]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I think the powerhead accessibility issue is valid. Basically, I was thinking of inverting them or putting them horizontal so that the baskets are easier to grab for a wash. There is a fair amount of space back there, at least 4" behind the are of the reef structures where I am going to mount the powerheads. I felt this was a real luxury coming from a 13" wide tank but worth it. Having powerheads and the current they produce back there was really important since that was mostly dead water space in my old tank.

I would love a couple of tunzes and they are actually in the long range plan. 400.00 bucks for a pair of them and controller though is just way too much for me right now. I am reeling from just replacing the PC bulbs lol.

 

[Meisen]

more pics will be posted tomorrow.

 

[Poseidon007]

sweet

 

[Dubbin1]

more pics will be posted tomorrow.

This time put the IMG tags on the pictures so we can be lazy and not have to click a link

 

[eidillitih]

I like the bridge idea. keep us posted

 

[Meisen]

Added two peppermint shrimp and a green star polyp to the tank, pics of the more nearly complete aquascaping and stanchion building process to come.

 

[Meisen]

updated pics!

updated pics!

Here is the tank after adding some more rock and positioning the powerheads:

I will have another one up once the dust settles.

 

[Meisen]

that was fast....now heres a clear one!

that was fast....now heres a clear one!

Just kidding but wanted to give people a sense of how quickly a tank can settle out once there is sufficent flow in it.

This one was taken about 12 hours later with all the powerheads cranking.

 

[Meisen]

Stanchions

Stanchions

I had a few people email me about how I made the stanchions (there are three of them in there....two on the left side and one on the right. Here are a couple of pics of the process:

 

[Meisen]

here are some more shots of the stanchions in process:

This is just a 1" pvc pipe, drilled all around and a piece of cutting board for the anchor (ikea's version of starboard)

I used 2 zip ties to attach the pipe to the board

I recommend a masonry drill bit for drilling out live rock. It is less likely to crack the rock (though that is going to happen on some rocks no matter what) and it seems to last longer than a regular drill bit used for this purpose. I usually make quite a few holes when I am doing this so that I can attach it however it seems to work once its in place. This is especially handy if you assemble any part of the stands in the tank (as I did with the bridge part)!
If you are better at thinking in 3-D than me, you might be able to drill just once.

 

[Meisen]

more

more

Now just zip-tie live rock pieces on wherever you want them. I try to put heavier pieces at the bottom and smaller ones on top, working my way around and upwards from the base. Balancing is pretty key especially if you want the stanchions to stand alone (the one on the left of my tank does but the other two are tied together by a bridge).

This is just a small stanchion I made to illustrate. Normally, you want the tie so that it isnt facing outside though sometimes there isnt anything you can do (as with some crumbly live rock pieces).