I should've had a thread long ago since the tank is 2+ years, but here goes.
Started in 2007 with buying a used 180 gallon tank with the basic equipment. The main work I put in (with help from the old man) was refinishing the stand and canopy, upgrading the lighting to 3x 250W MH w/ LumenMax Elite reflectors and recently completing a 20 gallon frag tanks for DBTC, trades and as a temporary holding place for new additions. I hate having to stick frags in the tank when there isn't an ideal spot for them because they fall off the rock, get lost or simply I just put them in the sand and the sand gets 'littered' with homeless frags. Ok, I digress. The problem with the frag tank is microbubbles and algae growth. I've got some ideas to solve those problems but for now they exist.
The main thing I'm most proud of is the Aquascaping. I fancy myself as an architect when it comes to aquascaping so I did reasearch on making pillars out of rocks and chose to drill holes in rocks (which isn't easy) and make PVC rod pillars for them to be stacked on. After a lot of playing with various rocks and configurations I came up with a 5 pillar system and that's the foundation for the aquascaping. I still tinker with the rocks here and there though. Much thanks to BAR, especially Jeremey, for all the help and advice on dealing with common problems that seem to inflict every reefer at some point.
Equipment for Display tank:
3x 250W MH, Icecap Ballast. current bulbs are 2x 14K hamilton, 12K Reeflux
2x 180W VHO actinic
ATB Small Cone Skimmer
2 Vortechs
Eheim 1262 return
40 gallon sump, 25 gallons full
25 gallon refugium
2 Reefkeepers
Litermeter III for dosing Calcium, Alk & top off
Air, Water, Ice RO/ DI.
Frag tank:
175W MH, XM 10K bulb
2x 24W T5 ATI Blue + bulbs
tank shots: I only have a simple powercompact, so the pics aren't the best. :
original pillars in 2007. I soon got rid of the table rock since it looked too fake for SW.
2 years later:
tank shot left:
tank shot right:
Bottom right:
Goniopora shelf:
SPS shelf:
my fav. coral, tri-color favia ?
blue zoas, purple mushrooms & 2 flatworms :-[
Started in 2007 with buying a used 180 gallon tank with the basic equipment. The main work I put in (with help from the old man) was refinishing the stand and canopy, upgrading the lighting to 3x 250W MH w/ LumenMax Elite reflectors and recently completing a 20 gallon frag tanks for DBTC, trades and as a temporary holding place for new additions. I hate having to stick frags in the tank when there isn't an ideal spot for them because they fall off the rock, get lost or simply I just put them in the sand and the sand gets 'littered' with homeless frags. Ok, I digress. The problem with the frag tank is microbubbles and algae growth. I've got some ideas to solve those problems but for now they exist.
The main thing I'm most proud of is the Aquascaping. I fancy myself as an architect when it comes to aquascaping so I did reasearch on making pillars out of rocks and chose to drill holes in rocks (which isn't easy) and make PVC rod pillars for them to be stacked on. After a lot of playing with various rocks and configurations I came up with a 5 pillar system and that's the foundation for the aquascaping. I still tinker with the rocks here and there though. Much thanks to BAR, especially Jeremey, for all the help and advice on dealing with common problems that seem to inflict every reefer at some point.
Equipment for Display tank:
3x 250W MH, Icecap Ballast. current bulbs are 2x 14K hamilton, 12K Reeflux
2x 180W VHO actinic
ATB Small Cone Skimmer
2 Vortechs
Eheim 1262 return
40 gallon sump, 25 gallons full
25 gallon refugium
2 Reefkeepers
Litermeter III for dosing Calcium, Alk & top off
Air, Water, Ice RO/ DI.
Frag tank:
175W MH, XM 10K bulb
2x 24W T5 ATI Blue + bulbs
tank shots: I only have a simple powercompact, so the pics aren't the best. :
original pillars in 2007. I soon got rid of the table rock since it looked too fake for SW.
2 years later:
tank shot left:
tank shot right:
Bottom right:
Goniopora shelf:
SPS shelf:
my fav. coral, tri-color favia ?
blue zoas, purple mushrooms & 2 flatworms :-[