suffolk.reef
New member
Good Day Reefers. Well I would say that I barley squeeze into this category but I am right at the requirements.
A little history of myself. I started reefing about 2 years ago with a BC29 and with the help of my local club members and LFS realized that for what my goals were and the type of corals display that I wanted to achieve with the tank I was going to have to modify that tank and upgrade the lighting. So after much debate I was searching craigslist one day found a complete 75 gallon system with everything included for 400.00. There was no way I could turn it down especially considering it was going to cost about that much to upgrade the lighting and skimmer on the BC. Last winter I began installing hardwood floors throughout the house and decided that if I was going to upgrade again that this would be the perfect time to do it seems how I had to move the tank anyways. I ran across a Marineland 150 DD (starfire, tank, stand and canopy) for 500.00. I was originally looking for something a bit larger but for that price and the fact that I LOVE the deep tanks I could not resist. So that is where the build begins.
While installing the floors and setting up the new tank I was blessed with no notice orders to the Horn of Africa (active duty Navy). I literally had 10 days to get the floors in, everything transferred over from the 75 to the 150 and somewhat balanced out before I deployed at the same time trying to make sure everything was stable for my wife to tend to the tank in my absence. Needless to say I had the basics need for the tank to survive. Below is the original list of items on the tank followed by the current set up.
Original set up:
Tank: 150DD Maineland Cube, stand and canopy. I build an additional stand/base that it sits on to raise the whole thing up another 6 inches. (I'm 6'4' and don't like bending over to look at the tank)
Ligting: A simple 10"x18" flat reflector with a Single ended 250 Hamilton 14K driven by a Ice Cap ballast and two makeshift 36" dual T-5 fixtures for actinic lighting.
Water Movement: (1) MP40, two Korilla 4's and a MAG 9.5 for the return pump.
Skimmer: Bubble Maggus BM180CS skimmer
Heater: Finnex Deluxe Titanium Heater controlled by Apex
Sump: A 30 gallon split into two sections for skimmer and return pump.
Reactors: Two, Two Little Fishies reactors for carbon and phosphate running ROX .8 BRS Carbon and Brightwell ExtraxPhos
ATO: DIY single switch ATO from top off water cans to sump.
There was only about 100 lbs of rock and a make shift frag rack to hold corals until my return home from deployment.
Original Canopy Design
More Original Design Pics to come (sorry I cant find them right now)
A little history of myself. I started reefing about 2 years ago with a BC29 and with the help of my local club members and LFS realized that for what my goals were and the type of corals display that I wanted to achieve with the tank I was going to have to modify that tank and upgrade the lighting. So after much debate I was searching craigslist one day found a complete 75 gallon system with everything included for 400.00. There was no way I could turn it down especially considering it was going to cost about that much to upgrade the lighting and skimmer on the BC. Last winter I began installing hardwood floors throughout the house and decided that if I was going to upgrade again that this would be the perfect time to do it seems how I had to move the tank anyways. I ran across a Marineland 150 DD (starfire, tank, stand and canopy) for 500.00. I was originally looking for something a bit larger but for that price and the fact that I LOVE the deep tanks I could not resist. So that is where the build begins.
While installing the floors and setting up the new tank I was blessed with no notice orders to the Horn of Africa (active duty Navy). I literally had 10 days to get the floors in, everything transferred over from the 75 to the 150 and somewhat balanced out before I deployed at the same time trying to make sure everything was stable for my wife to tend to the tank in my absence. Needless to say I had the basics need for the tank to survive. Below is the original list of items on the tank followed by the current set up.
Original set up:
Tank: 150DD Maineland Cube, stand and canopy. I build an additional stand/base that it sits on to raise the whole thing up another 6 inches. (I'm 6'4' and don't like bending over to look at the tank)
Ligting: A simple 10"x18" flat reflector with a Single ended 250 Hamilton 14K driven by a Ice Cap ballast and two makeshift 36" dual T-5 fixtures for actinic lighting.
Water Movement: (1) MP40, two Korilla 4's and a MAG 9.5 for the return pump.
Skimmer: Bubble Maggus BM180CS skimmer
Heater: Finnex Deluxe Titanium Heater controlled by Apex
Sump: A 30 gallon split into two sections for skimmer and return pump.
Reactors: Two, Two Little Fishies reactors for carbon and phosphate running ROX .8 BRS Carbon and Brightwell ExtraxPhos
ATO: DIY single switch ATO from top off water cans to sump.
There was only about 100 lbs of rock and a make shift frag rack to hold corals until my return home from deployment.
Original Canopy Design
More Original Design Pics to come (sorry I cant find them right now)
