T.C.'s 144 Half Cylinder Reef

[tmc1313]

Hi everyone, I've been keeping a thread on my local forum and thought I would also share my build here as well. My aquarium is an Oceanic 144 half cylinder. It came RR, but I cut out the overflows for more space and to plumb my closed loop. It has been set up for a year now, but I've only had coral in it since last October (so 9 months). It is SPS dominant and things have been progressing slowly, but nicely. I started with much more rock than I currently have which you will see in the photos coming up. Thanks for looking:

144 Oceanic Half Cylinder

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31


Pumps for Closed Loop

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31


Closed Loop all plumbed in

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31


Skimmer and RO/DI

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31

Calcium Reactor

By tmc13 at 2012-03-02

 

[tmc1313]

Chiller (I'll be running Hamilton Technologies Cebu Sun fixture) two 400 watt radiums, supplemented with 4 T5 actinic's

By tmc13 at 2011-05-31


July 2011

By tmc13 at 2011-06-02


January 2012

By tmc13 at 2012-01-20


April 2012

By tmc13 at 2012-04-09

By tmc13 at 2012-04-09

July 2012

By tmc13 at 2012-07-09

By tmc13 at 2012-07-09

By tmc13 at 2012-07-09

Some other angles of left and right islands

By tmc13 at 2012-07-09

By tmc13 at 2012-07-09

 

[jdm1114]

very nice

 

[premilove]

looks awesome. get some tangs!

 

[sahin]

Very nice tank. I like the design of the tank!

 

[tmc1313]

Thanks for the compliments. Yes, I am planning on getting a couple of show fish for it, just not sure what I want to go with yet. The tank is on the larger side, but not that large where I feel I can fit some of the bigger tangs. What do you guys think, I'm open to opinions. I do like the convict tangs (like Leonardo has), or maybe an Achilles or Powder Blue?

 

[bmullikin1]

very nice, kind of liked your 1st aquascape, was it too unstable.

 

[tmc1313]

very nice, kind of liked your 1st aquascape, was it too unstable.

Hi thanks, it wasn't that it was too unstable, but that the rock that bridged the two islands was very big and I thought it blocked a lot of usable light. I think now I'm getting better spread of light throughout the whole tank.

 

[REEF SMAC]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing those pics.

Great job with the closed loop.
I'm wondering how that skimmer is plumbed in. Do you have a sump on this tank?
Just wondering how that works if you eliminated the overflows.
Did you drill the back glass and run the overflows that way?

 

[tmc1313]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing those pics.

Great job with the closed loop.
I'm wondering how that skimmer is plumbed in. Do you have a sump on this tank?
Just wondering how that works if you eliminated the overflows.
Did you drill the back glass and run the overflows that way?

Yes, you have it right. I cut out the overflows and drilled holes up in the top corners. These drain down (gravity fed) into a basement sump where all the rest of the equipment is. The only thing plumbed under the cabinent is the closed loop.

 

[jroovers]

Very nice indeed, love the scaping.

 

[tmc1313]

My house and tank have weathered yet another October storm here on the East Coast and it's time for my 3 month update and exactly 1 year in with coral in the tank.

Things that have happened in the last 3 months:
Not too much really. I did switch form a calcium reactor back to dosing pumps, so I had some alkalinity swings for a couple of weeks. This was enough to cause some of my SPS to get STN. I lost three small colonies and I was able to frag and remount some of the others. Things have stabilized and the new frags are starting to re-encrust on their plugs. Funny thing is, it only happened to the acros, nothing else.
I've also added some LPS in the lower portion of the tank. These include a couple of acans, aussie purple tip frogspawn, and an aussie purple hammer. All are doing really well. So, on with the updated pics:

October 2012

Left Island

Right Island

Random angle shots

 

[celamb89]

Looks nice! do u have some more pics of the closed loop! the tank looks very clean!

 

[tmc1313]

Looks nice! do u have some more pics of the closed loop! the tank looks very clean!

Hi and thanks, I don't have any other pics of the closed loop, but the only thing you don't see are the SeaSwirls at the top of the tank (one on each side).

 

[Arkayology]

Normally I do not like the bow-front or cylinder tanks but I must say that you pulled it off. This tank is dope.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

Very nice, thanks for sharing!

 

[sparky45]

Wow beautiful tank. Nice sized clam you have there

 

[Reef264]

Magnificent tank, Bravo.

-Ray

 

[tmc1313]

Normally I do not like the bow-front or cylinder tanks but I must say that you pulled it off. This tank is dope.

Thanks, this is the first bowed tank I've had. It has it's challenges, but I'm happy with it. I wish it was not so deep.

Wow beautiful tank. Nice sized clam you have there

Thanks, it's grown so much in the last year. It started at 2" and in a year it's now about 5".

Magnificent tank, Bravo.

-Ray

Thank you

Very nice, thanks for sharing!

Thank you and thanks for looking:fun4:

 

[tmc1313]

Time for another 3 month update. So, some things have changed as you will see. After debating back and forth, I decided to put back the shelf rock that bridged the two islands. I'm not sure I like it better, but it does allow me the room to add a few extra pieces of coral. Everything is doing well and growing slowly, but nicely. I have added a couple more pieces in the lower parts of the reef. These include a yellow fiji leather and a duncan coral. Up on top of the reef I added and acropora formosa and acropora nobilis. I have also moved a few pieces around here and there to acommodate for the big shelf rock I put back in.

Some screw up I've made: Well luckily not too many, but I did overdose my Mg "AGAIN":headwalls: (by adding too much at once). The end result is some coral lose color, (especially my LPS). I know it's from bringing my Mg up too fast because this is the second time I've done it with the same result. It doesn't kill anything, but it takes a heck of a long time to get color back (around 3 months). I also have a Spongodes that's not doing to well up on the top over to the right (next to the blue stag). Not sure what the problem is, maybe too much light that high up. Seems to have some tissue recession, but it's definitely not from nudi's. Now I am going to concentrate on adding more fish. So the next time I update you will see some new additions for sure. So here are some updated pics: Thanks for looking

February 2013