Oceanic Half Circle 76G
- Thread starter markaren
- Start date
thanks! i appreciate the kind words. it's definitely come a long way, and the earlier photos in this thread are proof of that ha ha. for lighting, i'm currently using the Photon 32 model from Reefbreeders:
https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-32/
Here are the DIY legs I added via that snapping style Velcro.. hokey, but works:
stay in touch, looking forward to your build.
Great news. Purchased the tank!
Right when I walked in to this random guys house (from craigs list) I knew this tank was coming home with me lol. I talked him down to $625 (to pay for gas for the trip), but still felt like I got a steal. The deal was for tank, stand, hood, custom sump, all plumbing and return pump. The sump turned out way better than I thought it was going to be. I have a skimmer and powerheads so no need for those. Luckily he had the entire system still up and running with 100+ lbs of live rock so I got to see what it looked like in action. It was beautiful and like I said, no way I was walking out of that house without it lol.
Now the planning starts...
Ryan, I have a few questions for you:
What in the world does your cleaning/maintenance plan look like? It seems you've had this for a long time but yet the tank itself is ridiculously clean. The glass, the plastic overflow and every thing else is spotless...
What GPH rating is your return pump? He gave me his but it seems pretty old and when he had the whole system running before the tear down, it was literally the only thing making noise on the system. I'm thinking with a new pump and appropriate placement it will literally be a silent set-up.
What kind of star fish is that? Haven't really even considered them because I heard most aren't reef-safe.
Lastly, have you ever thought about painting the metallic parts of the stand/hood black?
Right when I walked in to this random guys house (from craigs list) I knew this tank was coming home with me lol. I talked him down to $625 (to pay for gas for the trip), but still felt like I got a steal. The deal was for tank, stand, hood, custom sump, all plumbing and return pump. The sump turned out way better than I thought it was going to be. I have a skimmer and powerheads so no need for those. Luckily he had the entire system still up and running with 100+ lbs of live rock so I got to see what it looked like in action. It was beautiful and like I said, no way I was walking out of that house without it lol.
Now the planning starts...
Ryan, I have a few questions for you:
What in the world does your cleaning/maintenance plan look like? It seems you've had this for a long time but yet the tank itself is ridiculously clean. The glass, the plastic overflow and every thing else is spotless...
What GPH rating is your return pump? He gave me his but it seems pretty old and when he had the whole system running before the tear down, it was literally the only thing making noise on the system. I'm thinking with a new pump and appropriate placement it will literally be a silent set-up.
What kind of star fish is that? Haven't really even considered them because I heard most aren't reef-safe.
Lastly, have you ever thought about painting the metallic parts of the stand/hood black?
glad to hear you scored the tank! $625 is a great deal, i would happily pay a lot more for everything you got.
maintenance - about 1-2 hours per week. i change 10-15% of the water via siphoning the sandbed into 5 gallon buckets (you'll probably need a step stool unless you're 7 feet tall). i also clean the glass, fill up my ATO, and empty the skimmer cup. i clean the skimmer cup with a toothbrush and usually give the interior of the skimmer's neck a good scrubbing too. once or twice a year i'll completely remove the skimmer and clean it out with vinegar, same for the powerheads if they're starting to get gnarly looking.
for the return pump i originally had a mag-drive 9.5, which worked fine, but for some reason i decided to try an eheim, so that's what i've been running for the last couple of years. it's the 1262 which is rated for 900 GPH. my mag is currently serving as a backup in case the eheim ever burns out, but from my research that's not a likely scenario.
the starfish is listed as a "common starfish" (Echinaster sentus) from kp aquatics. check them out kpaquatics.com, they use to be called sea life inc. it's a couple in the florida keys who does all of the collecting and shipping themselves, no middle man. it's the only hardy and reef safe species of starfish i've had that doesn't die within a month and has that classic starfish look (similar to fromias and linckias). i recently posted another thread on here about this starfish, you should look that one up, lots of people seem to have great luck with these guys although you may want to wait until your system is fairly aged... in general, starfish like established tanks.
hope this helps!
oops, i must've accidentally deleted the folder they were in on my server. i've readded them so if you refresh they should be appearing again.
Newreeflady
New member
What a read! Wow, Ryan, your tank has come a long way, seriously gorgeous setup! I'm looking at one of these in that stainless trim today to see if it's a good way to re-enter the hobby. Currently have no reefs, been moving to and fro, finished up my degree... gosh in the last 7 years I've lived in 7 homes! But we just bought a place so, yeah, reefing on the brain.
Keep up the awesome work, guys, and keep the half circle thread alive. I'm going to be starting slowish, too, but I will keep coming back here for inspiration and probably won't do a build thread (lack of organizational skills) just post up some updates here to add to this great thread keeping the half-circles together. Cheers!
Keep up the awesome work, guys, and keep the half circle thread alive. I'm going to be starting slowish, too, but I will keep coming back here for inspiration and probably won't do a build thread (lack of organizational skills) just post up some updates here to add to this great thread keeping the half-circles together. Cheers!
markaren
New member
It is coming up on 7 years since I set her up. I have learned as mentioned that the back panel particle board indeed swelled. I hate the idea of taking her down again to repair the base but it will probably have to be done.
The tank has hosted many lives and deaths, known guests and surprise guests from live rock. It has been drained once to remove all rock and half of the sand. Rock was cleaned in vinegar and water and then rinsed and sun dried. I left one rock in the shallow water that hosts a sponge from the Gulf of Mexico live rock that she started with. Now as I write my last clown died of old age. I have no live corals on any rocks since the rock cleaning to get rid of pests like bristle worms and such. I miss the feather dusters.
The 25 year old Eheim pump still strong, the Tunze 5017 has worked flawless since new, the RadionXR30W still lights up on it own cycles,the Super Reef Octopus XP-2000SSS works like a dream.
The two MP40's disintegrated into rust a few years ago and I ordered two new MP40W QD
The tank has hosted many lives and deaths, known guests and surprise guests from live rock. It has been drained once to remove all rock and half of the sand. Rock was cleaned in vinegar and water and then rinsed and sun dried. I left one rock in the shallow water that hosts a sponge from the Gulf of Mexico live rock that she started with. Now as I write my last clown died of old age. I have no live corals on any rocks since the rock cleaning to get rid of pests like bristle worms and such. I miss the feather dusters.
The 25 year old Eheim pump still strong, the Tunze 5017 has worked flawless since new, the RadionXR30W still lights up on it own cycles,the Super Reef Octopus XP-2000SSS works like a dream.
The two MP40's disintegrated into rust a few years ago and I ordered two new MP40W QD
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Nice to see this thread revived.
How many years did you get out of the MP40's? Seems like a short lifespan given the price tag.
Unfortunately to prepare for a future move, I sold my complete setup mid-2015. I made a killing selling it to a doctors office, but miss it dearly.
I'm sure at some point in the future when my situation changes I'll get another tank (hopefully a 76g or 144g half circle if I can find one!). For now I'm not in a position to be able to give it the TLC it would need.
Also, when I moved my hosting server last year I noticed all of the tank photos I previously posted were broken in the process... I've just bumped those over so the pics above are working again.
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