[Papa Doug]

As seen in the previous thread, I sold my small tank and have been without for sometime. I was waiting until we sold the house & moved, but that may never happen, so I figured its time to order another tank. If it requires moving, then so be it.

I wanted to go larger, but not to big as to make it a hassle again. I still have all my equipment from my 225, so filtration was not a concern. I was thinking of 120 but liked the extra 6in. of width, making it a 150. After looking at my stand from the 225, I decided to make use of what I had.

Sooo, I made it 27in. W. the same as the stand. I wanted to stick to 24in. H this time. My stand is 6ft. but I never wanted to go back that long. I was planning on running my pair of 400w pendants, so instead of 4ft. I figured they would cover an extra 1ft. so made it 5ft. L. Total volume 170gals. I figure thats just about the right size. Not to big, not to small.

I wont build this one into the wall in case I move. It will sit in the fishroom, in the same place as my 225, but face in instead. Heck I was always sitting in there anyways.

It will have two corner 1 1/4in. overflows. Sump will be my 55g Rubbermaid, but the flow will not be to much, with the sump being for tank water level regulation and top-off only,{kalk water}. It will be filtered by both my modified MR3 skimmer and my ATS. However both will run direct from the tank, sitting on both ends of the tank. {you can do things like this in a fishroom}.

Still debating on the lighting. may run anything from a pair of 400w Radiums, to heaven knows what. The reef will be built from what rock I have left, {I sold lots of it}, so it wont have the usual amount of rock or rock wall type. Likely just a couple of boomies. It will have heavy flow from my pair of Tunze stream pumps.

Because of the flow, I would like to keep it bare bottom or "starboard", but I really dont think I can part with my wrasses,s. I have a yellow & leopard wrasse, that both require sand for sleeping. My leopard has been with me a couple years now and eats from & swims through my fingers. Not to worried about the mandarin, as he eats darn near everything I feed the tank and is nice & fat. I may try to put some sand near the back somehow, but still have it easily accessible for cleaning or replacing.

There will be no corals in this tank that cant handle high water current. I tired of trying to find places to keep low flow corals in a high flow type reef.

Just painting the fishroom now and placing the stand. Likely pick up the tank next week. Pics to come soon.

[zhenya]

Hi Doug,

Good luck with the new begining and I sure hope you'll take lots of pictures of the proccess and share with us.
I'll be especially interested on how you'll hook up your skimmer and the ATS.

[Poseidon]

Hey Doug... Sounds like a great compromise on space. I gave up worrying about a move so I say get what you want and deal with it later!!

[Papa Doug]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

I gave up worrying about a move so I say get what you want and deal with it later!!

Sorta my line of thinking also.

[Papa Doug]

Now I just need something to put in there.

[Reefland]

I sure look forward to the day we can do an in-wall setup.

[Papa Doug]

Originally Posted by Reefland

I sure look forward to the day we can do an in-wall setup.

Yes, its nice to hide the junk, without it being under a stand.


Hey Mike, notice I took your advice to heart. Put the tank in the wall, instead of just sitting in the fishroom. Worry about a move if and when it happens.

[Poseidon]

Looks great Doug... I love beiong able to service the tank from behind and have a designated viewing spot...

Plus my fish room gets awful warm, I wouldn't want to have to sit in there to view my tank.

[Papa Doug]

Things are progressing fine. Moved the corals and rock into the new tank, and the few fish I have. Running my 400 over the center, while I wire up the new Icecap 175w ballasts. They will drive a pair of 175w Ushio bulbs in Sunlight Supply pendants with Reef Optix reflectors.

[Papa Doug]

Forgive the 12K lighting and things hanging in the tank. Still a work in progress but wanted to get the rock, corals & fish into some space. I can tell you the fish appreciate it, esp. the ham of a copperband.

I tried to keep the rock work open enough for the streams to keep the detritus in suspension. You can see the scrubber dump chute on the right side and the skimmer intake in the left back.

[zhenya]

It looks great already,Doug. I love the color in your last pictures

[Poseidon]

Looking great!!! I am jealous of the Copperband! I need one and can't for the life of me find a good one. Got one for FREE from a LFS, but it was a RESCUE effort, the poor fish was way too thin and the LFS could not get him to eat. I have an Aiptasia problem right now, so I thought he might come around... He DIDN'T... As a matter of fact I think the acclimation process killed him. I took a good 2-2.5 hour drip too!! oh well nothing ventured nothing gained...

[Papa Doug]

I found this one in the store that makes my tank. It was living in his clam tank and eating frozen mysis and plankton. To busy eating fanworms in mine so far to notice anything else.

[SueT]

I love how open the tank looks with the way you arranged the rock. Looks great!!! Great looking copperband too. Mine is the same way. Got it when it was about the size of a quarter and now is the prima donna of the tank. This fish has now been with me for over 3.5 years.

Can't wait to see more pics of the tank Doug...

[kevinpo]

Hi Doug,
Looking good!
Something you might try for your wrasses. Put sand in a plastic bowl and place it behind the rocks. They usually sleep in it. It also makes it very easy to catch them if you have to. Wait until they go to bed then remove the bowl

Regards,
Kevin

[Papa Doug]

Originally Posted by zhenya

It looks great already,Doug. I love the color in your last pictures

Yea, looks pretty Gene, but I dont think the corals will grow much in that light. Maybe 3 of them over the 5ft.

[Papa Doug]

Thanks Sue. Lots of room for the corals to grow, when ever that will be. My copperband was a little larger but was living in his clam tank for some time. She seems to be eating well so far but ignores most foods except some of the plankton. I tried some bloodworms yesterday. She ignored them, but my fat mandarin made a pig out of himself. Guess once she decimates the fanworms and few apitasia I have.

Kevin, I decided to get give the wrasses a better home. My leopard now happily lives in my friends 180g, with a sandbed. The sad part is the yellow jumed out of the tub on the last night before being moved to the large tank. All the different tanks he,s lived in and the 55g tub for several months and then the last night . Little beggar could not make one more night.

[Papa Doug]

Now thats better light. I think my 175w/Icecap/Reef Optix combo,s are brighter than my tank was with two 400w Radiums. Certainly more than the single 400w 12K above.

Its a very nice light. I,m also running two normal output actinics. May switch to vho actinics. Will see.

Starting to get a few of my sps corals and frags back now. Going to take awile for these guys to grow up.

[zhenya]

Looks great,Doug. I love the colors and am sure your corals will do just fine.

You might be surprized how fast those frags will grow...

[Papa Doug]

Behind the scenes.

First is the full rear of the tank in the fishroom.
Second is the right side, with the scrubber and service wall.
Third is the skimmer on the left side.
Fourth is the reactor sitting on the right side again.

The 55g sump is hooked up on the right side but not being used for now. Both overflows are capped. The skimmer pump draws from the center of the tank and dumps back into the left overflow.

The scrubber pump is in the right overflow, which is also where the reactor feed pump is and the effluent dumps. This runs the effluent through the scrubber before the tank.