Welcome to the Man Cave.

[phobos2deimos]

We finally got sick of the townhouse (and our neighbors) and moved down the street into a house with a separate garage. Finally, the Man Cave is upgraded. With that, my reef tank gets and upgrade!

I was drooling over the 240 package that Jon posted and finally got the chance to pick it up. Definitely got the hook up!
I've always liked big tanks (my last was 275), and I've always gone acrylic. I decided to go with glass this time to avoid scratches.
Long time readers of my crap will notice I went with a stand this time around!

Moving a 8' long glass box sucks.

I'm planning on doing softies/LPS with a nem or two, big fuge, and tons of macros. Current inhabitants are a 5" Hippo Tang, 4" Lavender Tang, 2" Cherub Angel. All awesomely healthy and hardly stressed during the move.

I plan on running a Gen X 40 for my return pump (maybe too much?) and four K3s across the top of the tank for flow. The K3s will be connected to a UPS for backup. Considering K3s draw about 6 watts, that should get them through a long day.
Two heaters, one 1000 watt titanium (again, thanks Jon) and a 300 watt titanium. This is my first time using titanium heaters and I really, really like them. I've broken a lot of heaters. :lol:
I want to install a RKL at some point to monitor temp, ph, and a few other things.

On to the pictures!

The Cave:

The Tank:

Rockwork will flow from a cliff on the left, down to blending in to the sandbed at the middle. The right side will stay open water.

The view from my desk (I put a reef by my desk so I can reef while I game.):

Behind the tank. Tons of shelves and plenty of working room for the plumbing:

Lights are 8x54w T5 retro with Hamilton ballasts and Icecap endcaps, no individual reflectors. I will probably install Icecap reflectors when I have $200 to blow on shiny metal. Lamps are currently 6xactinic, 2x10,000K. I'd like to put in a couple of dense clusters of cheap LEDs to create a minor spotlight effect and a major shimmer effect. I'm open to ideas here.

Sump/fuge. Not much of a sump since I do not run reactors or skimmers. Just a couple of heaters. The sump will be 98% refugium with a variety of macros and LR rubble. I think I'll run a Gen-X 40 as the return pump, not sure if that is overboard or not. I haven't finished (or even begun!) plumbing:

Two things to polish off the Man Cave:

1) Dog.

2) CROSSBOWS!

Let me know what you think, I'm always open to ideas.
I think I'll have to volunteer to host one of the SDMAS meets one of these days!

 

[phobos2deimos]

Alright, alright! Updates!

I had the last ten days off from work so I could sit around a lot and play COD4.
I managed to get some reefing in, too.

Just got done making heater and probe holders. Pretty cheap project.

I also got around to finishing the plumbing for my sump/fuge. Parts cost was about $60. I went with a Herbie overflow and plumbed the return over the back. My tank is about two feet from the wall and that has made things a LOT easier.
My sump has no baffles, just a sort of separated section for the return pump intake.
I don't run a skimmer or any sorts of reactors so my sump is 95% fuge.
I will have a ton of LR rubble, a standard sandbed, and lots of macro algae. I haven't decided my stance on a DSB or remote DSB.

Both drains from the Herbie.


Rubber straps to support the main drain.


Main Drain location. 90 is to direct flow to keep from destroying the sand bed. Now with new "Vertical Water" feature!


Emergency drain in action. Several inches above the waterline so I can hear the problem.


Thirty or forty new plumbing connections, and no leaks! WOOOO!
I only used one piece of the original plumbing. The 90 on the main drain bulkhead. Guess what happened? LEAK.
I'd like to fix it without replacing the 90 and without using silicone. Till then, I have a strip of cloth to guide the leaked water down to the sump. Pretty convenient location for a leak, I suppose.


Ropelight all the away around the inside of the stand. Pretty helpful and outta the way.


Temporary "power center." I plan on putting a rack mount system about 20u high.

 

[phobos2deimos]

The tank had 8x54 T5 mounted at the top of the canopy when I bought it.
Pretty sweet, but I like to be uber efficient when I can. I mounted the T5s to some scrap wood and dropped them down to near water level, kind of like a pendant fixture within the canopy.



Additional bonus is that I have a shelf for all my food within the canopy!

I plan on replacing this with plastic coated chain. Right now it's knotted up Coax cable

 

[phobos2deimos]

Anthony grabbed me some snails from a big deal down in Chula Vista. ~150 snails for ten bucks. They are very much like Nassarius snails but smaller. Same anatomy and behavior.


Large frag of hot pink zoos from AquaSD. My favorite coral at the moment, I never seem to find nice pinks at a good deal. These were about $6 from their auctions last week.


Another frag of palys from AquaSD. My birthday present from the girlfriend.


Another frag... "Yellow Deaths," I believe. Another gift.


My currently favorite fish. Gold Rim Tang that I got in a trade for my lavender tang. I wanted to keep the lavender but after I set up the tank he started beating up on my hippo. This guy is great, loves the camera.


Another shot including the big Cabbage Coral that Brady gave me along with a bunch of LR and other stuff (thanks again dude!).

 

[phobos2deimos]

Plans for this week:
-Remove all sand from tank. DONE
-redo aquascape to build up towards lights. Use foam and eggcrate for base. foam will be way too buoyant. Going with a good deal on 150 pounds of base rock. Probably make a PVC or acrylic false base to raise it - whichever is cheaper.
-create sandbox out of acrylic for cove in center.
-Create faux sandbed, two inches wide by one inch high. Creates sandbed look for barebottom tank.
-Rebuild T5 actinic "fixtures."
-Replace coax cable with plastic coated chain.

 

[phobos2deimos]

Changed my mind again. I think I'm worse the Sean maus42.

I think I'm gonna put the 2x 250w MH setup for sale and go with just one 250w 14k on a track with the intention of replacing it with a DIY LED pendant down the road.
I'll put the T5s on better reflectors and do four 10000k and four actinic.

The foam base won't work as a LR substitute in the quantities I want - too buoyant. Hopefully have something else worked out soon.

I've been thinking (uh oh) and I'm tossing around the idea of going sumpless again.
All that's in there is a fuge, two heaters, and a few probes.
Considering the macro grove I want in the display, the fuge is probably not going to be necessary. I think I may toss everything in the overflow compartment and put a small pump in there to circulate. Kind of like a giant Solana.
May turn the two drains into a quick n easy hard plumbed water change system.

Thought about going closed loop with no powerheads in the tank, but I'm going to need something like a hammerhead to get the flow I want.
300 watts 24/7 is not something I like so that's not happening.

I'm not really sure where my camera is but I'll try to get those pics soon!!!

 

[keegoaz]

:fun2: