New year......New tank

[Shooter7]

Hi. As many of you have probably seen from some of my posts on here, 2005 has not been a good year to my family. We have had multiple issues arise including my wife's health problems (including a surgery), the motor in her car fried necessitating replacement and car rental while that was being done, termites were found in our house, and then just a few weeks ago had to replace brakes, tie rods, brake cylinders and so on with her car too. A couple of times I have put my 120 (4x2x2) gal tank on the sale block, but it just never came together that I sold the thing. I purchased the 120 exactly one year ago and it has sat dry in my basement all that time. Over time, I have accumulated various equipment, started a couple of nano tanks (26 gal and 10 gal), and continued to learn. I started putting together the concept of compiling equipment I already had along with livestock from my 26 gal to save money. I had to learn plumbing on my own and wired a couple of GFCI outlets too. Many, many nights I only had enough free time to perhaps glue a single connection of pipes together. Progress was agonizingly slow. Finally, towards the end of November I realized I was getting close to this thing getting wet. By mid December I had the plumbing all together and started filling the thing up. I cranked it up and was very happy that I was able to tune my homemade dursos in so quickly. I added the reeferrock base rock I purchased awhile back, and today's pick up of the really nice rock from Kurt was the final piece to being ready to get it together. I got his rock into the tank, along with the rock from my 26 gal, and I'm very happy with the results. I have moved the corals I had up there, along with my little ocellaris clown and single chromis into the 120. I don't think the pictures I have of it do it justice, but here goes. There are many holes, nooks, and crannies that fish can get into and I'll look forward to stocking this thing over the upcoming months. I have a 29 gal QT that I will be utilizing religiously with newcomers. At any rate, here are some pics...I'll put some other stats towards the bottom.

Partially filled:



Completely filled and with reeferrocks - in this and the following pics, the lights don't look nearly this blue.



And today's final combo of reeferrocks, my rock, and Arsenal's rock:





And here's the back room:



Ok, for the stats on what's running this thing, as you can see in that last pic, my electrical is still pretty rough. I could use a controller or DJ panel or something, but haven't got that worked out yet. Nonetheless, the tank and its various powered parts has 2 dedicated circuits to it with GFCI outlets.

Lighting - I looked around trying to find something to use to save me some money by not having to buy bulbs and ballast for supplementation lighting. So, I decided to go with the relatively new Reeflux 250 watt 12K bulbs, being run on ARO electronic ballasts. Like I said, they are nowhere near as blue in person as they look in the pictures, but they do have a nice blue tint to them. And they've only been burned for about 20 hours or so. From others on here that have them, I understand that they get less blue over a few weeks time. I'm waiting to see when Sanjay will test them to see how their PAR stacks up.

Water movement - I have dual overflows with dursos in each going to a sump that normally has about 33 gallons in it and can hold about 15 more. Return pump is a Mag 12 that is tee'd off via spa-flex up to two loc line returns. In the tank I have two Seio 1500's, and pointing into the two piles of rocks from behind I have two MJ 900's to try and help with keeping stuff blown out from behind the rocks.

Protein Skimmer - Euroreef CS 6-2

I still need to get some things accomplished at some point. One thing that is somewhat pressing is an auto topoff. I did not have any real say in the dimensions of my sump when it was built, and while the refugium area is quite large, the intake and return areas are rather small. It is very noticeable when my water level starts going down. Only takes a gallon and a half or so of evap to be really noticeable. I'm not going to be able to go anywhere for more than a day or so until I get a topoff worked out. I also need to figure out how to conveniently take care of keeping my pH and alk up. Learning how to do larger water changes is sure to be entertaining as well.

I would like to thank many of you on here. In indirect ways I have learned very much from your successes, problems, experiments, and insight. I would like to specifically like to thank Griss for his early on assistance with me over a year ago with making some lighting decisions and purchases. I would also like to specifically thank Steve (jesterv) for coming all the way over here when he did and literally installing my new water heater for me when that went out. Saved me a chunk. More though, he has been a continuous source of positive reinforcement for months, checking in with me from time to time and seeing how things were going. I appreciate that very much.

So, that's it...I've graduated up into the bigger leagues and hopefully I'll be able to swing it, as all I really want is a nice tank to view and enjoy, with healthy and happy livestock. Thanks for the help so far. I'll be following up with more questions later.

[Shooter7]

Sorry about that one pic being so big and messing with the size of the post.

[trottman]

where did you get your 120?? i like the size of it.

[Shooter7]

Believe it or not, I picked it up in Ohio while visiting my inlaws, as no one around here came close to the price they had on it. However, recently I got a price quote from Marine Solutions for a reef ready for less than I paid for mine a year ago, so I'd tell you to try there if you're thinking about it.

[Arsenal11]

is this more what it looks live dave

[Shooter7]

Yeah, much better....how'd you do that. LOL

[Slide_Ice]

Hey dave

[Arsenal11]

good photo program

[Slide_Ice]

Hey Dave

DOE!!!! Wrong button...

Congrats on the wet tank, Looks like you are off and running!!!!



Looking forward to more pics !!!!!!!

Todd

[sirreal63]

Dave I am so glad you stuck it out, it looks great and will only get better with time. :-)

[Arsenal11]

how about a artist rendering of your tank

[Shooter7]

Thanks Todd.

Yeah, you had me confused for a moment there. I was gonna go like,

"Hey Todd! "

[Shooter7]

Thanks sirreal!

Kurt, pretty cool!

[kentrob11]

Nice! Now get you a few fast growing stags (bali slimer, micropthalma, thin branching teal stag) to grow into the water column and it'll be sweet!

[Shooter7]

yeah kent, that's what I was hoping, that I'd be able to do that. I didn't want to load up too much or too high with rock. Wanted to leave some (hopefully) coral growth room and fish swimming room. btw, that orange monti cap I bought from you last summer has tripled in size under PC's in my small tank.

[ramtheory]

Dude I'm happy for ya. You are going to love having a tank that big. Hope everything goes good for you, your family and your tank this year.

Dennis

[ramtheory]

Do you have foam/insulation under your sump would be a good idea to do so with acrylic? especially setting on the floor like that. I have some if you need a piece. Just let me know how big.

[Shooter7]

One thing I can't seem to make my mind up on is my future fish population. Some fish I like:

Sailfin or Desjardini tang - I realize these guys get pretty big, but was talking to Velko at AT the other day and he was telling me most he saw didn't grow that big in captivity, so I dunno.

Blue chin/jaw/throat trigger - I know the typical concerns with triggers and shrimp/snails.

Anthias - I like lyretails and bartlett's. Not sure about them yet though. Really like their looks though.

Some of the wrasses are cool too.

I think I'm going to get a diamond goby to work on the sandbed some. I realize I have to wait a bit before I get one of them.

Not sure just what else to think about. I'm somewhat limited because of the shorter tank. Not real interested in the proverbial yellow tang, nor the the chevron or kole tangs much either.

Any other suggestions?

[Shooter7]

Do you have foam/insulation under your sump would be a good idea to do so with acrylic? especially setting on the floor like that. I have some if you need a piece. Just let me know how big.

Ok, you got me here....why do I need that?

[ramtheory]

for one if you do not have a perfectly flat surface you can put stress on the seams, and second you probably want some insulation between your sump and the floor.

[Arsenal11]

no, built in chiller

[ramtheory]

Originally posted by ARSENAL11
no, built in chiller

I don't think you did either matter a fact. Just a safety feature I would say so no one can say I told you so because I will.

Once again looks good Dave hope you have a good year and that goes for everyone else.

[astrea]

Congrats on the new setup. Looking good!

[Letmegrow]

Looking good.

What are the two cords in the middle of the tank going to the substrate ?

[Shooter7]

Those are going to the MJ 900's down behind the rock. The rock is pretty open underneath. I tried to keep it kind of hollow for hiding places and didn't put any sand back in there to keep it more open too.