The almost gave up..but glad i didn't 150g build thread

[fla_tony]

So i started a build thread probably a little over a month ago upgrading from my 75 to a 150 acrylic tank. Well the tank busted a seam (somewhere in moving it from where i leak tested it to the stand) and after consulting an acrylic expert and reading threads on rc for days I was not going to just try to glue the seam with some support pieces and come home to a wet floor and a total loss in live stock. I didn't want to have to worry about this tank lasting years and having a handicapped seam would make me worry about lasting months. I was going to give up and just sell everything cut my losses and just keep my solana. So i started posting stuff for sale when i ran across another 150 at a steal that i could utilize 99% of the equipment i had. After some discussion with the fiance and the yea we will have two 150g tanks but one will be outside. lol She agreed to the whole thing and thats how this tank came about.

Stats:
150g duel corner overflow (72"x19"x28") not the 24" wide i wanted but with the price i couldn't say no.
3x 250w icecap ballast 2x10k bulbs 1x20k (all soon to be 20K)
1x48" t5 actinic i have a ice cap t5 ballast, sockets and 2x 72" actinic bulbs i will be hooking up this month.
closed loop ran by a reef flo dart 3600gph with 6x outlets
euro reef 180 skimmer
mr aqua uv sterilizer
phosphate reactor (most likely running chemipure elite)
custom built ato system
BAREBOTTOM
125+- lbs of live rock

Current live stock:
1x yellow tang
1x bw occ clown
1x blue chromis (is there a trick to keeping these things from getting sucked into power heads lol)
1x HUGE blue linckia star

Current corals:
Misc mushrooms
button polyps
kenya trees that grow like weeds and i keep pulling out of the tank
just basic soft corals from my under lit t5 75g

Future livestock:
sailfin tang
Powder brown tang or blue hippo. (im back and forth on this one)
flame angel
school of anthias
maybe some more blue chromis if they stay alive. love the way they school.
(any other suggestions??)

Corals:
the tank is going to be sps dominant but its still going to be a mixed reef. I will be going down the 2 part dosing road. (works on my sps solana well)

No particular list yet just some
monti's
acro's
milli's

Aren't you guys glad i narrowed it down for you lol. When i see a piece i like i'll get it. Not really planning a coral list. Just buy something when i like it.

So im happy with the set up its very simple. Has been running great for two weeks. I know thats nothing but i'm satisfied so far. Its not the custom tank i had planned but i am very pleased with it. I was going to upgrade to mp 40s but with the set back its going to have to wait.

pics:
FTS

FTS

Equipment

Water movement

Lights and water movement

Side shot

(i know i have some cleaning to do those 10k's love to grow algae)

Linckia

Yellow tang and the linckia

better for size reference (he is way bigger than my whole hand)

Thank you everyone for having such inspiring reefs that helped me stick through it and stay in the hobby.

 

[L98-Z]

Looking good.

 

[Palting]

Looking good! Congrats on getting a new tank at a steal price! Looks like it's gonna be an SPS dominated tank with all that flow and lights.

GL on the linckia. Mine didn't last too long.

Just a suggestion. Why not replace those white PVC pipes inside the tank with gray or black pieces?

 

[fla_tony]

yea i was thinking of replacing with black, i had the pvc and fittings laying around so thats what i used.

I couldn't resist on that linckia with the size and colors of it. Im hoping it does good. Its beautiful.

Thanks guys!

Im thinking about re-aquascaping but im happy with it now and i know if i start moving stuff around it will be days until i get it where i like it then i'll say i should have never touched it lol.

 

[fla_tony]

A couple of updates:
i re-aquascaped, im happy with it
i added a blue hippo tang and a cleaner shrimp
I added a couple of pieces of sps from my nano.
The coraline is spreading like wildfire. Ive never had this much coraline growth this fast in a new tank. The tank has been set up for about 25 days. with 115 gallons of new water and the rest from my established 75.

After 10 days:

after 15 days:

This week:

FTS actinics with new scape:

 

[fla_tony]

New FTS:

added this sps frag (told is was a mille. im not sure an id would be awesome)

coraline growth 9 days since last post:

 

[fla_tony]

So after the loss of the first tank i was discouraged and a little stressed setting this tank up. Its been two months and i am very pleased with the results so far. Im seeing excellent coraline growth and everything is looking healthy. I have added some livestock including: Blonde naso tang, a pair of dispar anthias, a few milli frags (one purple with green polyps, one purple/green with purple polyps, and one green with pink polyps). I also added a browned out acro colony that im hoping to bring back. The Monti caps and digi's were out of a friends tank that were under florescent aquarium lighting after his big tear down for a few weeks.

I also added a Reef Keeper Lite, and set up my reactors with phosban in one and carbon in the other. I hooked up my Mp10es as well until i get my mp40s.

ok picture time!!!




The two montis starting to color up under actinics:

The monti's under full lighting:

The digi browned out:

The digi colored up:

The browned out acro colony (any id's?):

The newest milli (added a few hours ago):

The other new milli:

Another milli:

milli's:

 

[fla_tony]

The continued coraline growth:

The coraline growth that the BNT wanted to be in the pic:

The new Blonde Naso Tang:

New FTS:

Sorry about the picture quality they were all taken from a droid x. No dslr here yet. No adjustments in any of the pics either.

Thanks for looking all comments/criticism/help is welcome.

 

[geaux xman]

nice tank! i especially like the rockwork...