Ward's Reef (140G re-post)

[fessoclown]

I started this build thread just over a year ago in the general section. I have learned over the last year that I am mainly interested in SPS. My thread did not get much traffic and none of the traffic from the sps heads who's threads I lurk in here in THIS section.

I am reposting my build here in hopes of picking up some hitchers who's tanks I have been admiring.

I am having some serious trouble with my sps but I'll get to that after copy and pasting the build so far.

Here we go:

We just bought a house on Ward's Island, Toronto. My wife was on the waiting list for 20 years and finally her number came up. Ward's Island is a 10 minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto, most of the houses there are old cottages from 1920-1950's. Toronto Island is now a city park but there remain about 300 houses. The land is leased from the city(99 year lease) but we own the house.
Our house is a 1937 - 800 sqf cottage. How big of a tank can we squeeze in there?

Equipement list:

Tank:
Miracles 80x20x20 Rimless 3/4" Starfire. Herbie Drain System.

Return Pump:
Ehiem 1262

Filtration:
DIY 40 Breeder Sump

Skimmer:
Avast Marine CS1 recirculating skimmer with Swabbie kit

Media Reactors:
GEO's Reef UMC 420 x 2

1 for GFO and I haven't decided weather or not I will run bio-pellets in the other or occasionally just carbon.

Calcium Reactor:
GEO's Reef CR 612 with Reef Fanatic regulator

Controller:
Apex Jr. with PM1 and BOB

ATO:
Avast Marine ATO

Flow in the DT:
1x Maxspect Gyre 150
1x Gyre 130
1 x VorTech MP40wes


Heaters:
Blue Line titanium
1x 500 Watt
1x 250 Watt

Lights:
ATI 6x 80W
DIY actinic strip with 24 3W Stars


There was one suitable wall for a long tank but it had a built in cabinet, we are doing a reno on the place so the cabinet is coming out anyway.

My buddy Anthony made short work of the Cabinet.

My friend Ben cheerfully scrapes up 3 generations of flooring to get down to the original Douglas fur subfloor.

And here will be the final resting place of the new tank.

The tank will be made custom by Miracles, 80x20x20 rimless starfire... aprox 135 Gallons.

(We have already removed the light sconces and baseboard heater)

One of the drawbacks and at the same time one of the most awesome thing about being on the island is that there are no cars allowed. You can get a permit to bring a moving truck or construction material over but for this I had Miracles drop off the tank at the ferry dock and it was up to me and a buddy to transport it over.

Waiting for the Ferry

On the Ferry

[/QUOTE]

here's a pic of the stand.

That is my waterline coming out of the wall. Behind that wall is my wife's walk in closet, I have commandeered enough space for my RODI and a brute for SW mixing. I also have a drain line in the wall that goes through the floor under the house then out the side into the bush.

Here you can see the tank on the stand in the middle of chaos!

Customary kid in the tank photo before filling:

[/QUOTE]

 

[fessoclown]

So after several plumbing setbacks the tank is wet, the sump and skimmer are online and the salinity and temp are stable. I have'nt checked other parameters.

This is not the final aquascape, the right side is pretty much done though.

 

[fessoclown]

So, when I installed my return line I put a manifold off to the left of the for various reactors before the water returns up to the DT. Off to the right of the T I just installed a union valve in case I wanted to expand one day.... that day has come.
Here is the sump as it was, there was no fuge. Just a 40 Breeder with a filter sock trey, a large skimmer section and a return section.

Here is the T with the union valve for expansion:

I had a 29 Gallon tall tank laying around that I originally bought for a QT. This is my first time drilling a tank and let me say that the worst part about it is the anxiety leading up to the drill... it was so easy!

I didn't even have 1 mm to spare, in fact I had to raise my ATO reservoir on some plywood so it would clear the plastic trim of the 29G. I can't believe I managed to Tetris my calcium reactor and C02 tank but Bamm!!! I did it!!!

So you may have noticed that I drilled for the bulkhead pretty low in the tank. I did this so that I would have room to install an Algae Turf Scrubber. Rather than just filling the fuge with cheato I am going to give an ATS a try. I made it bigger than it needs to be and I am only lighting one side. It's just an extra tool in the box... If I don't like it I can always swap it out for a loc-line nozzle as it's on a union.

I think I may have to upgrade my Eheim 1262 as my return pump. I think I will be able to manage with the 1262 and just turn my siphon down but I have a feeling that will bring me down to about 3-4x turnaround which isnt too bad but it's a little slow... That's one of the great things about running a Herbie or BA, you can adjust the siphon rate to match the return volume!
Now I also have to figure out how I am going to light the ATS. I am going to go single sided for now and use what I have laying around which is a couple of Home depot clip on reflector lights (I am sure I have another one up in the attic) with CFL bulbs.

EDIT: Because the tank is currently fallow I am not currently running the turf scrubber.

 

[fessoclown]

I picked up a 6x80W ATI Sunpower... bye bye Radions! I sold 2 of them and easily paid for the ATI plus the first round of bulbs. This leaves me with a Radion that I am thinking of using on my ATS....lol!

I picked up the fixture and bought the last 4 60" bulbs from NAFB and got some used bulbs from a friend to try out different colours.
I am currently running

Back
Blue+
Purple +
Blue +
Coral +
Blue +
True Actinic
Front

The overall colour is a little purple but I kind of like it


Here is the 6 bulb in it's blinding glory (actually not that blinding, my camera sux, it is very bright in the tank) I am only running full blast for 3 hours a day this week, 4 next)

Here is just the True Actinic and Purple +
I will be moving the P+ into a 4 bulb slot and replacing it with a B+

I have added an Actinic LED strip a la ReefBright for some shimmer and POP. I find them to be a bit spendy, not dimmable and I would like some UV Violet mixed in so I built DIY strip. 24x3W ought to do the job very nicely for around $125

Also,
I also Finally got around to putting doors on my stand. The little one is 8.5 months now and will be able to cross the room any day now... she no longer stays where we leave her...

I can't believe I waited this long to get this done, it looks so much better! I just need to trim the top now... the pink styro is not the look were are looking for...
No too shabby if I do say so me self!

 

[smtank]

Boy that is some passion for the hobby right there!!!!

Very cool and nice, nice build.

The new lighting is the bomb.

 

[fessoclown]

Update time

Update time

I spend so much time reading other people's journals that I completely neglect my own.
My new years resolution was to keep my journal up to date so here we are!
(BTW New Year's for me is April Fools Day:frog

The tank is making a turn around in terms of colour of the corals. I finally have some nutrients in the tank. My fish stocking list is about 3/4 done... it's been a long and frustrating process re-populating the fish... So many fish didn't make it through QT... it can be quite disheartening at times...
My stock list so far is:
In The DT:
1x Leopard Wrasses(Macropharyngodon Ornatus)
1x Line Spot Wrasse
1 x Carpenter's Wrasse
1x Bangaii Cardinal
5x Lyretail Anthai
1x Red Fin Japanese Waspfish
1x Green Mandarin
2x Green Chromis
1x Midas Blenny
1x Powder Brown Tang
1x Purple Firefish

In The Macro Display Fuge
1x Eye spot Blenny
1x Dragonfaced Pipefish
1x Scooter Blenny

In QT
1x Borb Anthais (Fat Bastid)
1x Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse
1x Social Fairy Wrasse?
3x Carberryi anthias

I started using the Aquaforest system about 5 weeks ago. I use their Pro-biotic Salt and do a weekly 10-20 Gallon waterchange. The salt is awesome! It dissolves crystal clear in a matter on minutes and doesn't leave any residue at all. The price is right too. $99/bucket shipped to my door ( living on Toronto Island this is a big deal!)

My AF dosing scheme is as follows... I dose:
6 drops of Pro-Bio S - daily
6 drops Coral A - every other day
6 drops Coral B - every Day
6 Drops Coral E - every day
6 Drops Coral V - every other day
I also dose 10 ml of vinegar for now as NP-Pro is not available on Amazon.ca and I refuse to pay almost 3 times the price for a bottle from Salty Supply or some other US distributor. NP-Pro is their Carbon source for feeding their bacteria and vinegar seems to be working just fine.

April 2016 FTS

Some other pictures. I can't seem to take any good ones with the iphone... any tips would be nice!

]

There you go, a big photobomb!

 

[plyle02]

Very Nice Build!
I love the way your tank is heading, hope all is well!
Going to enjoy watching this one get mature, best of luck with AF!
Cheers

 

[purplereef]

I love your aquascape!

 

[sahin]

Very nice. :beer:

 

[oldreefer76]

Very Nice

 

[tank41]

Wow sweet build. love the way you have your rock work laid out.

 

[reefmutt]

looking good, Ward!
love the scape!