Tnt's 154 G SPS reef build

[tntneon]

Hi Sahin ,

-I will put some more LR in + the LR that is still in the nano , in total it will be something of +/-25 kg LR .
Also i want to put in a overhang of reefceramic.
-Also i try to put in LR from as much fish stores as possible , to have maximum biodiversity.
For the overhang i have to travel 150 miles to reefcorner and this LFS has his vacation now , so i'll have to wait some more to have the overhang...


greetingzz tntneon

 

[Tareq]

Hi Tank and stand looks great.
Would you mind giving the thickness of the granite stone.

Thanks

 

[tntneon]

Hi Tareq ,

-The thickness is 5 cm ( 2 ") in the middle and 8 cm (3") the corner pieces , the stone is actrually gleud togheter , It weigths about 140 kg !
If i would do it again i would go for 3 cm (1 1/4") in the middle and 5 cm for the corner pieces , to save weight ( ...my back...) and money


greetingzz tntneon

 

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,

-I would post some pictures of my tank , as it's looking very good now , but i still don't have an premium membership and don't have enough picture space here :deadhorse1: .
I already transfered about 80 % of corals to the 154G , added about an additional 15 kg of LR in .
I had some bryopsis algea on the bottom of the tank , scrapped it off and its all gone.

Sahin , i'm loving the Hybid lighing , very nice colors very vivid and stil more then enuogh shimmering going on .
SPS colors are more awesome then with LED's alone , full PE .
Calcium and Alk demand is quickly rising , proof of growing corals ....
The first two weeks i didn't noticed any drop in ALK or Calcium , but now it is increasing steady .


hopefully the issue of becoming an premium member is solved quickly so that i can prove it with pictures ....

greetingzz tntneon

 

[reeftanknewbie]

Great....I can't wait to see it all setup.

 

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,

-I know it's been a while , and it's true ...
But i had some PC and modem problems lately and not much time to spend on it too.
I still don't have a premium account but i though i post some pictures as an attachement , not the same quality , but still better then none
-Tank is doing fine , i have good growth on my acro corals , about 1 cm on the purple acro :eek2: in 1 month !
As for algea , only on the back wall some diatoms , but nothing scary luckly.
All parameters are in check , i tweeked the dosing pump so that Ca and Alk stay in check.
The only thing i still have to do is hook the 3 channel on to dose some additional top-off water ( 1 to 1.5 l/day) , but i have no silicone hose anymore , so this is something for tommorow or the day after that.


greetingzz tntneon

 

[reeftanknewbie]

tank is looking great and sounds like your getting some good growth from your acros. what do you dose for alk and Ca?

 

[tntneon]

Thx reeftanknewbie ,

I'm dosing seachem Calcium (6 gr/l) that also contains Mg and some strontium chloride in ratio , i dose about 750 ml/day of this solution.

As for Alk I'm using salifert PH/KH buffer powder , i make a solution of about 8 ml /l (measured with included beaker) and dose about 750 ml/day of this solution.

This makes it possible to keep Alk at 9.5 ° dkh and Ca about 400 mg/l.
The first two weeks i didn't notice a drop in alk or Ca , but after those initial two weeks it's upping fast !

-I also begin to notice some serious mysis and amphipod action behind the DIY rockwall , they use the eggcrate base as little houses /appartments :lmao: .


greetingzz tntneon

 

[CRJ]

Nice build!!!

 

[tntneon]

Thx CRJ ,

-One thing though i would change if i would do it again , i would not use massive oak panels anymore.
The door at the sump side , bends like hell due to moist air on the inside , i already reinforced the inside of the panel with an stainless steel square tube (5/8") , to prevent it from bending into a surfing board :spin3:

-The rest of the tank set-up i'm very happy with .


greetingzz tntneon

 

[tntneon]

hi reefers ,

-I thought i post a picture of my skimmer (BK 200 supermarine) in action as i didn't post any before it was running .
I'm very pleased of the constant foam production and low noise it makes .

-Also cleaning is fairly simple as the neck is very wide (4") it is for me easy to clean it out with a reeftowel by hand , i only have to take the lit off and dial down the foam height w/o unscrewing the whole cup.
After the cleaning operation i dial the foamheight easely back to the previous foam level , i have marked the adjustment tube and holder to do this easy.
-Yesterday i cleaned the cup and the picture is of this evening , i don't have skimlevel in my cup because the cup drains into a skimbucket.
I produce about 0.4 L / day of dark brown skimate and when cleaning cup(every 4 to 5 days) there's alot of black sludge on the inside of the neck (i guess about 60 to 80 ml) .
So in terms of pulling gunck out off ther water it is a real beast !!!
Worth every penny or in my case every euro

greetingzz tntneon

 

[cdrewferd]

Very nice build. How is the DSB in the overflow doing?

 

[tntneon]

hi cdrewferd ,

it's holding up nicely , no sandstorming and just a little bit of red/brown cyano /diatoms like i'm experiencing on the backwall .
Nothing serious , nutrients are very in check NO3 =0.2 ppm and PO4 undetectable (salifert) , better then i expected.

-Now everything from nano is moved into the 154g , i'm gonna wait a month or two before i will introducing some new livestock.
Its sometimes hard to resist to buy new livestock , as i saw a nice honeybee yellow acro at the LFS and a nice copperband fish :bounce1: :hammer:

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Noto]

DunQwell, beautiful setup. Tank and coral look great. I really like the stand you built. Did u have any problums keeping it square and level? Thanks agin
Noto

 

[Noto]

DunQwell, beautiful setup. Tank and coral look great. I really like the stand you built. Did u have any problums keeping it square and level? Thanks agin
Noto

 

[TauReef]

I really like the wood that you used for your stand. The rock wall is a nice touch as well. It is going to look very nice once those corals you mounted grow into colonies. Good work!

 

[tntneon]

DunQwell, beautiful setup. Tank and coral look great. I really like the stand you built. Did u have any problums keeping it square and level? Thanks agin
Noto

Thx alot noto ,

first i cheked if the dinnigroom floor was square to begin with , lukely it was
The the stand itself was a bit harder , as we fitted the square tubes we only spotwelded the stand and while fitting we constant measured and re-measured the stand until it was square within a 1 mm margin.
After we (my father and i) where happy about the measurements , i welded the heads first then inner opposite corners (see begin thread) and then the rest of the welds , to minimize flexing or bending of the steel.
It helped alot that i and my father have both metalwelding experience in the past (my father over 40 years)

I really like the wood that you used for your stand. The rock wall is a nice touch as well. It is going to look very nice once those corals you mounted grow into colonies. Good work!

Thx Taureef ,

I wanted to use natural materials that are found within a 200 mile radius , the oak and granite are , the steel isn't i think .
But i wouldn't use real oak anymore as it tends to bend , it would be better to use oak fineer (laminate) panel .
It is only at the sump side that it bend though , and i fixed it as mentioned a few posts back.


greetingzz tntneon

 

[tntneon]

hi reefers ,

a quick update :

-Tank is doing well , nitrates=0.2 and phos=0 and no algea.
This is why i dropped the refugium idea for now , why make things complecated ?
-I do have about 20 pounds of LR in the sump where sponges and other benthic creatures live on
-I know fuges have alot of good critters , but the egg crate i used for the backwall houses alot of them as fish can't reach them there , realy love the eggcrate stuff!!
BTW the first specs of coraline algea are growing onto the backwall and bottom glass :dance:

-The only thing i have to do something at is a crab that is nipping on my bleu tipped acro , the other acro's he/she won't touch luckely.
In my nano i had the same problem , crab nipping on the bleu tipped , it must be an tasty acro or something like that
I trying to figure out some sort of crab trap , all sugestions are welcome !

-This friday i'm gonna buy me a school (6 to 8) of bleu chromises , hopefully tank is cycled enough to handle the extra bioload.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[sahin]

Hello my friend. How is your tank doing? No updates from you in months. :eek2:

That means a big update is due with lots of coral photos. :beer:

 

[tntneon]

Hi Sahin ,

Shame on me , that i didn't update the thread. :deadhorse:
Will try to update asap , it's been very bussy again times for me.
In this time i experienced wet feet 2 times , one time due to power failure and the other time it was my fault due to setting my skimmer to wet (lossing 33 l water in my living room over night !!
You can imaging how much my wife liked that :hmm3:
But still my tank is doing great.
TRy to post pictures one of these nights...

greetingzz tntneon