Kyle's 120 Tech Build

pdfb55 · #1 11/05/2007, 02:30 PM

Welcome to my build thread! I'm so excited to finally get to start a build thread. In the planning of my new 120 I've read so many build threads trying to get ideas.

First a little background: I'm 16 years old and a sophmore. I've been into reefs for about 2 1/2 years now with a 92g corner before this one. No livestock was able to salvaged from the 92 because it caught fire in July. I was about to go crazy with no reef for these past months but finally i've got my 120 ready to get started.

The tank is a 120 Oceanic Tech tank with cherry trim. I went with the cherry stand also. For those not familiar with the Tech series the front panel is starphire glass. They used to have the front and sides starphire but now its just the front. I would have liked -to have all 3 sides starphire but i can only see two anyway with where its placed.

Equipment:

-I'm using my old sump from the 92 (it was in the fish room and was not affected my the fire)

-Also from the old tank is my skimmer, and ASM G3 with meshwheel mod. I'm hoping this can handle the tank, if not i will be upgrading to something better.

now on to the new equipment...

-GEO Ca reactor with 10lb tank and Pinpoint monitor
-two Vortech powerheads (the new wireless ones)
-Eheim 1260 return
-two 250 watt heaters
-Top off Unit (forgot the brand)
-Solaris I-series LED lights (48 inch)

The Plan:
The tank is going to be SPS dominated. I think the turnover i calculated is somewhere around 50 or 60x per hour so that should work well for SPS. I've got a starboard bottom in there already. I have 75lbs of Marco in a vat in the garage. I am going for an open aquascape on this tank with plenty of room for coral growth and swimming room. Fish wise I'm not quite sure yet but i do know I'd like to have a pair of gold striped maroons, longnose hawkfish, a tang of some kind, maybe a small young trigger for a while, and possibly some anthias but for now i have no clue as to a final stocking list.

Thats all i can think of for now so on to some pics
heres a pic from the fire:

tank with all the overflow parts in it

side view, you can see the starphire front glass

marco rocks in the garage

rock again, sorry you can't see much

tank how it looks right now filling up with RODI water

equipment ready to go except the skimmer is working on the rock right now

kinda blurry but the vortech drivers

Ok thats all i have for now, i'll try to keep updating pics as i go along.

seagirl · #2 11/05/2007, 02:38 PM

looks great. sorry about the fire, do you know what caused it? You have some very good equipment to work with. the front panel is very nice.

pdfb55 · #3 11/05/2007, 03:14 PM

they weren't sure but the light wiring looked suspicious they said. I bought the lights because they were cheap from some no name website. I don't even know if they are still around anymore. Luckily we had one of those fire alarms that call the fire department so they got there fast.

Joe · #4 11/05/2007, 06:30 PM

Hey, that looks just like mine...I'm in the process of filling my tank w/ water also.

Have fun.....

Joe

pdfb55 · #5 11/05/2007, 07:50 PM

Ya with RO/DI filling takes a while. Do you have a thread? I'd like to see what your doing with yours, maybe get some ideas.

Joe · #6 11/05/2007, 07:54 PM

It's on my signature line.....Click the red house at the top of my post.

Joe

pdfb55 · #7 11/05/2007, 08:01 PM

oh i just saw your signature. Gonna have to check that out

mg426 · #8 11/05/2007, 08:38 PM

Looks sweet to me, Best of luck to you.

pdfb55 · #9 11/06/2007, 05:19 PM

I just did some aquascaping and i have something i like. I'm not the best at aquascaping but i think i did a decent job and it looks like something I pictured. Now i gotta find something to do with the left over rock. I started up the Vortechs and I gotta say they are awesome! They hum a little bit more than I would like but the wireless controling and amazing amount of flow really make up for it. Im really excited for these lights to come in now. They said early november hopefully it will be soon!

purebullet417 · #10 11/06/2007, 05:50 PM

hey im 16 and a sophmore but how did u get enough money for a 120gal tech tank. i only had enough for the 45 cube lol

HPD Turbo · #11 11/06/2007, 06:35 PM

Congrats on the upgrading!!
That yellow tang survive the fire?
Good look

pdfb55 · #12 11/06/2007, 08:26 PM

Quote:

hey im 16 and a sophmore but how did u get enough money for a 120gal tech tank. i only had enough for the 45 cube lol

I had a feeling this question was coming, haha. Well i dont know if I said it earlier but i've been into reefs for a while. I got the 92 as a b-day present when i was 12 (it was fresh at the time). Since then just about every dime of money i make went into it. When i turned the stuff into insurance it was for replacement costs so i pretty much took the money i got for the tank equipment and all the livestock and put it into the tank and equipment for this tank. So for the most part I have no money right now. So either i'm going to have to get a job or its gonna take a while to add livestock.

Quote:

HPD Turbo Congrats on the upgrading!!
That yellow tang survive the fire?
Good look

Yes he did make it, along with a longnose hawkfish, watchman goby, coral beauty, green chromis, and some inverts. I knew it would be a few months and i didn't have a sufficient setup to keep them around until now. So my older brother knows the owner of an LFS around here and i made a quick run up there with all of them and gave the fish to them. They acutally didn't sell them, they took them home and put them in their 250g reef.

pdfb55 · #13 11/06/2007, 08:42 PM

Heres some pics:

surface tension (bad pic but these things really push some water)

'scape

aquascaping (a little blurry and yellow)

another pic of aquascaping

purebullet417 · #14 11/06/2007, 11:03 PM

i have a job and still couldn't afford that lol. love the scape btw

pdfb55 · #15 11/08/2007, 04:23 PM

Quote:

i have a job and still couldn't afford that lol. love the scape btw

Thanks, those marco rocks are really easy to work with. I've been very happy with their rocks

Rickyrooz1 · #16 11/19/2007, 08:55 PM

Nice tank.

uncleant · #17 11/19/2007, 09:14 PM

nice tank. im also 16 and i have a 125 gal reef with a 55 gal sump/fudge. All my friends think im crazy but im in love with it. I can sit there for hours just looking at the tank. Im sorry to hear about the fire. I cant wait to see some pics of this new tank.

mg426 · #18 11/19/2007, 09:19 PM

Nice progress.

Ratpack · #19 11/20/2007, 03:10 PM

Nice set up. This is the same tank I am looking to go with in the near future.

czerbe · #20 11/20/2007, 10:56 PM

tank is awsome if you don't mind how much for it and the stand

dc_909 · #21 11/20/2007, 11:49 PM

Nice

Any pics of your sump?

pdfb55 · #22 11/21/2007, 08:52 PM

Quote:

uncleant nice tank. im also 16 and i have a 125 gal reef with a 55 gal sump/fudge. All my friends think im crazy but im in love with it. I can sit there for hours just looking at the tank. Im sorry to hear about the fire. I cant wait to see some pics of this new tank.

yeah man my friends think im crazy too. I've got two of them into it but they dont like it like I do. The three of us started up an aquarium club at school though. 60 people are in it, they all want to see what its like so hopefully i'll know a few more highschoolers who keep reefs.

Quote:

czerbe tank is awsome if you don't mind how much for it and the stand

I bought it from a real expensive LFS by us but it was 1200 for the tank and 800 for the stand. You could probably do much better. I got a quote from a store in Charleston just to compare the two and it was about 250 cheaper for both of them. Its a great tank though, i would reccomend it to anyone.

Quote:

Nice

Any pics of your sump?

Yeah man i acutally made a sump and it cracked b/c i'm an idiot and wedged the baffles in too tight. So i just got lazy and went out and bought a sump. I'll try and get some pics up tonight or tommorow.

Tank update:
My lights came today, they are awesome! I also introduced a maroon clown yesterday. Hes a little guy so I had to turn down the vortechs b/c i was worried about him getting sucked in.

uncleant · #23 11/21/2007, 09:01 PM

wow a reef club in school thats so cool. cant wait to see the pics of the lights.

pdfb55 · #24 11/21/2007, 09:17 PM

here is some pictures. sorry for my horrible photo skills. I have a nice camera but i dont know how to use it.

here it goes

solaris

i dont understand the 2 green lights on each square

solaris screen. i have it on military time, celcius, and southern hemisphere just for fun

refugium with chaeto

sump side view

underneath stand

horrible pic. little gold stripe maroon, about half inch. gonna get him a little girlfriend next.

tank with lights

uncleant · #25 11/21/2007, 09:22 PM

wow lookin good i like the lights.