# 155 Bowfront... Aka "hole In The Wall"



## Ægir

So this is the start boys... over the past 4 months my dad and i have been building a house, long story short i talked him into a built in reef setup... he allowed a 6' long by 2' hole as it will be covered by the projection monitor (full 1080 hi def onto a 120" diag screen) which will be SICK when its all done! still trying to find a 6'long bow front either 24 or 30" tall.... no easy task

as of now i have my 55gal FOWLR setup behind, and when the new tank arrives it will prob become a quarantine tank, until then its got my 2 yellow tangs, a domino damsel and a tomato clown... i will go into this when i have more time
heres some pics:




























for now things are going great... the time spent finding a tank has let me research tons of things i would like to try... 
Anybody heard of ZeoVit? check it out and let me know what you think, as odds are this is the route i will head.

i will keep you updated as soon as i start the stand for the display tank!


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## huck

Nice tank, your new project is going to look sweet!


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## nismo driver

bowfront in wall?

hmmmmm

what type of coral do you intend to stock? what is it about zeo that you feel would be a fit for your setup?


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## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> bowfront in wall?
> 
> hmmmmm
> 
> what type of coral do you intend to stock? what is it about zeo that you feel would be a fit for your setup?


from the bowfronts at the local lfs (that they wont sell me for some reason, despite telling me they are loosing money and going under) the curve in the front will fit nicely inside my 2x6 wall, so the middle of the bow (widest point) will sit flush with the outside of the wall, the the narrow part on the sides (left and right) will be flush with the inside of the wall. after some trim i think it will look damn good. if i could only find one in 30" tall instead of 24... we will just have to wait and see

as for what i plan on otherwise: (feel free to make recommendations!) 
in the future mostly Sps dominated/ some lps, maybe softies and some zoas .. will be stocking all the sand and rock (some fish) and letting a good cycle happen, before i have the funds for lighting and the larger setbacks... plan on 2 400W, or 3 250w halides, and approx 8 2xODNO bulbs for anctics/purps
still researching how i am going to do a sump, either a 125 gal or 2 55 gal
Love the Aqua controller JR, prob but researching others 
still checking out skimmers as well.... so many choices
the main thing is i want this to be easy, automated and idiot proof so my parents can learn (dad is tech savvy anyways, plus he loves to scuba dive and the ocean in general... not really "work" for him) for when im not around...

other than that the entire room has 2 dedicated breakers at the panel, and dedicated water feed for an RO/di unit, and a drain in the wall to make water changes almost automated with the flip of a switch (2 different outlets are controlled by switches on the wall) pretty standard things

Why i like the zeo? the results... it seems so easy a caveman could do it and its an alternative to the same "bio ball and live rock" method that has been around forever. with a dosing pump, it can also be completely automated other than refilling the dosing bottles... Something i am still reading about, but love the concept

After helping maintain a few SW tanks, i dont really see anything becoming more complicated with the zeo method... after improved results, why not?

oh and i just built a new ODNO fixture for the 55 gal, its 4 40w bulbs 2x... twice the light as the old fixture and def helping things grow


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## nismo driver

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> bowfront in wall?
> 
> hmmmmm
> 
> what type of coral do you intend to stock? what is it about zeo that you feel would be a fit for your setup?


from the bowfronts at the local lfs (that they wont sell me for some reason, despite telling me they are loosing money and going under) the curve in the front will fit nicely inside my 2x6 wall, so the middle of the bow (widest point) will sit flush with the outside of the wall, the the narrow part on the sides (left and right) will be flush with the inside of the wall. after some trim i think it will look damn good. if i could only find one in 30" tall instead of 24... we will just have to wait and see

as for what i plan on otherwise: (feel free to make recommendations!) 
in the future mostly Sps dominated/ some lps, maybe softies and some zoas .. will be stocking all the sand and rock (some fish) and letting a good cycle happen, before i have the funds for lighting and the larger setbacks... plan on 2 400W, or 3 250w halides, and approx 8 2xODNO bulbs for anctics/purps
still researching how i am going to do a sump, either a 125 gal or 2 55 gal
Love the Aqua controller JR, prob but researching others 
still checking out skimmers as well.... so many choices
the main thing is i want this to be easy, automated and idiot proof so my parents can learn (dad is tech savvy anyways, plus he loves to scuba dive and the ocean in general... not really "work" for him) for when im not around...

other than that the entire room has 2 dedicated breakers at the panel, and dedicated water feed for an RO/di unit, and a drain in the wall to make water changes almost automated with the flip of a switch (2 different outlets are controlled by switches on the wall) pretty standard things

Why i like the zeo? the results... it seems so easy a caveman could do it and its an alternative to the same "bio ball and live rock" method that has been around forever. with a dosing pump, it can also be completely automated other than refilling the dosing bottles... Something i am still reading about, but love the concept

After helping maintain a few SW tanks, i dont really see anything becoming more complicated with the zeo method... after improved results, why not?

oh and i just built a new ODNO fixture for the 55 gal, its 4 40w bulbs 2x... twice the light as the old fixture and def helping things grow
[/quote]

sounds like a you have been doing some planning.. word of advice bow fronts are great for fish only but stink for coral they distort everything and makes viewing the details of the coral annoying.

for a 6 footer go with three 250's and the vho or t-5ho suppliment. overdriving might increase the brightness of the bulb not the quality of the spectrum or the intensity. t-5ho bulbs are specifically designed to perform and deliver

i would hardly call Zeo "so easy a cave man can do it" plus the much higher costs you will have with all the dosing pumps and the reactor you will need for zeo.

who uses bio balls still on a reef tank?

although i wouldnt agree with your view of zeo or the more traditional methods at this pont i wish you good luck and keep us posted


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## nismo driver

i dont see a cave man figuring out what ll this does?









i definately see that zeo can produce some attractive results but it seems the appeal is more that you tank becomes a science experiment, reef tanks are damn expensive enough why add substaintiall to that cost?


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## Tonynlo

Looks nice so far. As for the comment on the bio balls... I was under the impression that bio balls were beneficial to a reef setup. My sump has 3 chambers to it. The first chamber is where the balls are, the second is a refugium and the third is where I keep my return pump. I also have my skimmer pump in the third chamber because there is no room in the first one due to the bio balls. What should a modern day sump look like? What type of media should go into a sump? I purchased this sump as a complete kit so I had just assumed that all pieces were needed.


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## Ægir

thanks nismo... good words of advice... i am kinda a science nerd, so the tech side of the Zeo thing seems easy to me... but either way i go, it will be a challenge i am looking forward to. in the picture you can see a bunch of kent marine jars and stuff that have nothing to do with the basic zeo "program"... i have read people only use 3 additives for the zeo daily, and the obvious ca alk etc suppliments (assuming you have no reactor and controller with co2) so really taking the time to add the others once a week with a water change, and having a dosing pump do the rest sounds not too bad. obviously you will have to constantly test and adjust the dosing pump...

thats why i said Bio balls AND live rock... guess it should have been bioballs AND/OR live rock but the appeal to me is its something new thats producing results... like LED lighting, especially for growing plants...

heres a thinker for you nismo... if this was your home and tank setup how would you do it?


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## Tonynlo

Looks nice so far. As for the comment on the bio balls... I was under the impression that bio balls were beneficial to a reef setup. My sump has 3 chambers to it. The first chamber is where the balls are, the second is a refugium and the third is where I keep my return pump. I also have my skimmer pump in the third chamber because there is no room in the first one due to the bio balls. What should a modern day sump look like? What type of media should go into a sump? I purchased this sump as a complete kit so I had just assumed that all pieces were needed.


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## Tonynlo

Looks nice so far. As for the comment on the bio balls... I was under the impression that bio balls were beneficial to a reef setup. My sump has 3 chambers to it. The first chamber is where the balls are, the second is a refugium and the third is where I keep my return pump. I also have my skimmer pump in the third chamber because there is no room in the first one due to the bio balls. What should a modern day sump look like? What type of media should go into a sump? I purchased this sump as a complete kit so I had just assumed that all pieces were needed.


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## Ægir

Tonynlo said:


> Looks nice so far. As for the comment on the bio balls... I was under the impression that bio balls were beneficial to a reef setup. My sump has 3 chambers to it. The first chamber is where the balls are, the second is a refugium and the third is where I keep my return pump. I also have my skimmer pump in the third chamber because there is no room in the first one due to the bio balls. What should a modern day sump look like? What type of media should go into a sump? I purchased this sump as a complete kit so I had just assumed that all pieces were needed.


bio balls can become a "nitrate" bomb... i guess they can capture things and it slowly rots and causes imbalances in the water... personally i have them in my sump, with a fine prefilter, and i am slowly replacing them with live rock rubble, or coral rubble.... NEVER TAKE THEM ALL OUT AT ONCE and just replace them, start at the bottom and add rock rubble, removing say 10 balls a day or something... i dont understand how rock cant capture shiz too but... i just do what the research with best results tells me... as for the skimmer, thats fine, i just have mine return to the other side of the baffle, or chamber, to avoid bubbles in my tank from the return pump...


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## nismo driver

bio balls preent less of an issue of things being trapped but more of the type of bacteria that they harevest, bio balls have oxygen rich bacteria that breaks down nitrites and amonia but lack the anerobic bacteria in a deep sand bed or from live rock. ultimately the bacteria on the bio balls is also present performing teh same function on the surface of the live rock deep with in the pores of the rock and depths of teh sand or the low oxygen regions that the anerobic bacteria thrieves and breaks the nitrates down into gasses.

you first chamber if better off just collecting water from the tank and running it through the skimmer to remove as much nutrients and protiens as it can before they even get a chance to be broken down by the bacteria.

this hole topic really has alot to do with the ZEO method (or prodibio, ultralith, vodka/vinigar/sugar dosing ect) the primary principal is to cultivate bacteria strains through adding them to the tank and providing them with food, the zeolith and reactor is the evironment and breeding ground for the bacteria, like a biological version or using GFO and Carbon. the bacteria also doubles as a food source for the corals. the zeo system isso efficient at removing nutrients that you are creating and environemtn that would actually starve the corals which is why it becomes necessary to constant replenish nutrients with the highly specialized nutrient sources the system includes, like amino acids, sponge feast or what ever its called ect ect. so your constantly stripping the good stuff and bad stuff out ofthe water and replenishing it with good stuff.


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## nismo driver

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> heres a thinker for you nismo... if this was your home and tank setup how would you do it?


not too different then you plan. this is if i had an entire room to setup behind the tank

three 300w halides with lumeric reflectors (or similar efficient reflector)
t-5 actinic supplimental lighting
not sure what skimmer specificaly but definately a very large skimmer 
55 gallon or larger seperate fuge 
40 gallon breeder frag/grow out tank
100 gallon or larger equipment sump 
calcium reactor
lime water top off resivoir
atleast 2 return pumps rated for atleast 10x the tank volume minimum 
additional power heads in tank plus possibly a wavebox
heaters
chiller
cured marco live rockfor a bulk of the rock with some well maintened live rock that has been fully cooked cured and removed of all aptais and hydriods. 
3 or 4 inch sand bed 
fairly light fish load and mostly sps and lps very little soft corals.

that just high level. but a large system is expensive enough i wouldnt mess with any of the zeo type systems, the biggest factor in the sucess of any tank is stability and the more total system volume the better


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## Puff

id watch the bowfront skunkbud. i have a bowfront nano and it CAN distort the display. from some angles i want to scream and break it.lol

i think a flat front tank that is fully flush with the wall would look sick in there! also, build in some metal halide pendants and you're good to go!

i love built in tanks. my parents are remodelling their house and im trying to get them to build one into the wall in between the living room and dining room.


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## nismo driver

Puff said:


> id watch the bowfront skunkbud. i have a bowfront nano and it CAN distort the display. from some angles i want to scream and break it.lol
> 
> i think a flat front tank that is fully flush with the wall would look sick in there! also, build in some metal halide pendants and you're good to go!
> 
> i love built in tanks. my parents are remodelling their house and im trying to get them to build one into the wall in between the living room and dining room.


good luck

i know when/if i get married when we are looking for a place one of my primary factors will be how i can leverage a fish room or in wall setup.


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## Puff

we have an awesome place for it. but i wont be home enough to look after it. so 99% it falls through.lol


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## notaverage

Get on with it...lets see that hole in the wall filled!

Ha, good stuff man, it looks like your heading in the right direction!
Nismo and Puff got ya taken care of.


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## jasert39

i too would not deal with the bowfront...just get a 180 with corner overflows.

if it were me I would go with 3x250's, t5 supplemental lighting if you want, and the biggest sump/refugium that I could get away with.

looks like you are off the a great start..good luck.


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## Ægir

Wow guys, thanks for all your input... Looks like nismo and i are _almost_ on the same page... Like i said earlier, the odds of me actually getting a bow front in my home town are slim so... who knows? i completely see what you are talking about with the bow distorting things... never really thought everybody was against them so hardcore









the good news is: At the moment i am in the wonderful Denver Colorado, i had the honor of talking to a gentleman about my age who started a custom aquarium installation business 10 years ago from his home, basically its blowing up, and he cant even keep up with the demand. After talking for almost 6 hours over a case of beer, i have found my hookups for glass tanks by the wholesale truckload, along with TONS of cool pointers he gave... i know i cant advertise fish, but i dont know about custom install people... so if anybody is interested i would send a link to his website via pm to keep the mods happy

THANKS AGAIN


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## nismo driver

i dont think this would be taking business away from any current vendor, as long as you arent spamming his link all over the site i dont see any problem in posting a link, i will just check with the other mods and see how they feel but generelly there is no harm in something of that nature, its when you pushing them in every post and its directly competeing with the vendors that pay to support the site that we encouter a conflict of interest.


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## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> i dont think this would be taking business away from any current vendor, as long as you arent spamming his link all over the site i dont see any problem in posting a link, i will just check with the other mods and see how they feel but generelly there is no harm in something of that nature, its when you pushing them in every post and its directly competeing with the vendors that pay to support the site that we encouter a conflict of interest.


thats what i figured... never hurts to play it safe. as of now his site is down, so i will check around and post it upon conformation that it is working, and that the mods are "down wit it"


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## Ægir

OMG so... i came upon the best deal of the century! The only salt carrying LFS in town went under, and desperately needed help clearing out the store... so i told them i would be willing to spend a few days draining tanks in return for dibs on a few things... and heres what i just unloaded into my garage:

155gal bow front tank from AGA, corner overflows with 2x2" drains (one each overflow) 
125 gal sump tank, older, but thick glass, actually heavier than the bow...
3x 175W MH light setup, with ONE DIGITAL BALLAST for all 3 Mogul sockets, seperate cords and switches for each light, the hoods, and some bulbs

3 boxes of salt that retail for 65$ each, 50$ total
2 Volitan lions 8" retail for $79 each, 40$ for the pair (went to a friends tank)
4 mag9, and 2 mag 12 pumps
2 2500 GPH return pumps, that i will be replacing with an 8000gph pump
OVER 150lbs live rock, mostly tonga and Figi mixed, but some other also+ 
another 100lbs or so rubble for my sump (typically 6$ perlb)
all the live sand i could ever need, taken around 300lbs so far (typically 1.50$ a lb)

And heres the most amazing part... not including the lions and the salt as it was a seperate cash deal i am paying *900$* and 2 days of my time for all of it! Bowfront, sump, pumps, rock, sand, light setup ..... *everything*









So now, it begins... the bummer deal is my hole in the wall is about 1" on the short side, so we get to cut all that shiz out tomorrow, drop the sump tank in and start on the stand for the bowfront

i am saying 3 days till water, cause otherwise these buckets of sand and rock will start to smell... already transfered as much rock as i can into my sump, and tank... plus 2 rubbermaid bins all with heaters and pumps... the scary thing is theres still a 300gal stock tank 6" deep with rock i have to pick up tomorrow for 3$ per lb









Total i will have around 300 gals with the sump, display and fuge... possibly just short

*I need some help with:*

a skimmer, looking at a used ASM G5 with dual sedra 9000 pumps? its a great deal so...

and some bulb recommendations... should i go 12 or 14K? 
and do you think i should setup any antic supplementation?

ANY INPUT WOULD BE APPRECIATED

now time to scrape the old flaking paint off the bowfront, and prepare for a new coat...

Once the tank is running, with a skimmer, and all my fish transfered i am looking into an Aquacontroller JR and a calcium reactor... so if you know anything regarding either let me know


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## welsher7

for a skimmer I would look in the octopus extreme 300 or octopus pro 250 or 300. the extreme isn't out yet but has a but a very nice price tag, and the pro is a great line. Both of these skimmers will out perform the asm. To get the asm to even some what compete you have to do some mods.


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## Ægir

Thanks Man, i will look into it!

Started the install about an hour ago... will get some pics up soon!!


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## Ægir

Alright... as of right now the sump is in, with about 300lbs of live rock with two mag drive pumps to turn the water over, so the rock is safe for a few days. Painted the back and sides of the bowfront blue, and will be placing it in the wall tomorrow... then PLUMBING!!!

the stand is built for the display and instead of having the bow front recessed in the wall, with the outermost point flush with wall, we decided to have the entire bowed front panel "float" with the left and right sides flush with the wall... We used a giant glue lam 2x12 to support the front with no legs under the viewing side... 2x6 are on 12" centers in the wall, and under the tank and 4x4s for the legs... in my opinion its overbuilt but... cant hurt

Heres a 45 second clip of the front, the room behind and the sump, basically todays work



The only problem i am facing at the moment is the tank is only drilled for drains, no returns, which would require me to run my returns over the back of the tank... calling for prices on drilling returns and a closed loop system before we carry it downstairs, just incase they wont come onsite to drill it... and the other pain in the ass is the tank cant be flipped onto its front to drill it

until tomorrow









Ps.. wheres Nismo and the other salties at? would love some feedback


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## redbellyjx ©

wow, that set up is going to look killer!


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## Ægir

redbellyjx © said:


> wow, that set up is going to look killer!


Thanks man! 
still looking for input on skimmers, bulbs, and opinions on having the tank drilled if anybody has any?


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## nismo driver

i wouldnt even bother drill for returns, you can plumb in the retruns from the top that can be just as effective if not more the the limitations of the returns from the back wall and with minimal visible plumbing although not drilling would eliminate the closed loop. for the cost of drilling a sequence pump and all the rest you could put in more effecient power head system and have more flexibility with were the flow is comming from with the option to move it when ever.


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## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> i wouldnt even bother drill for returns, you can plumb in the retruns from the top that can be just as effective if not more the the limitations of the returns from the back wall and with minimal visible plumbing although not drilling would eliminate the closed loop. for the cost of drilling a sequence pump and all the rest you could put in more effecient power head system and have more flexibility with were the flow is comming from with the option to move it when ever.


Yeah.. the tank was plumbed for returns over the back edge... thing i hate about that is unless i stack my rock to almost the top of the water, its hard to keep plumbing from visibility in the display.. my plan at the moment is to feed around 6 returns (3 top, 3 mid tank) with an 8000gph pump from the sump, with ball valves on each return i can adjust the flow accrodingly... nothing is set in stone yet
but between that, a few mag drives, and a wavemaker system of some sorts (looking at 4 mj1200s with mods and a controller) i think i will have enough adjustment to dial things to my liking

Also got the lights hung, and mounted a shelf for the ballast, now to just set the tank in the hole... pics up later


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## welsher7

I agree with nismo, a nice powerhead setup would be far more flexible then a CL. A good tunze or vortech setup would be great. Also 8,000gph is far to much. you should only have about 6-7x turnover through your sump. Any more and your skimmer won't perform like it should. So you would want around 1000gph through your sump. The rest of your water movement should be done soley in your tank. I would just run two returns on the surface, powerheads can be used to provide midtank water movement. MJ1200 with mods are good but don't always do well with controllers. MJs aren't made to be repeatedly stopped and started. I would look into a Tunze 7095 multicontroller with a couple 6100s or 6101s. Or you could look into the vortech pumps. Both of these brands are not cheap, but will out perform any other powerheads you could use. They use less watts and move water in broader stream. Also Tunzes are staple in the reefing community. Thier products and customer service are great. I love my Tunzes. I don't have any first expierence with the vortech line but have heard great things about them.


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## Ægir




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## Ægir

welsher7 said:


> I agree with nismo, a nice powerhead setup would be far more flexible then a CL. A good tunze or vortech setup would be great. Also 8,000gph is far to much. you should only have about 6-7x turnover through your sump. Any more and your skimmer won't perform like it should. So you would want around 1000gph through your sump. The rest of your water movement should be done soley in your tank. I would just run two returns on the surface, powerheads can be used to provide midtank water movement. MJ1200 with mods are good but don't always do well with controllers. MJs aren't made to be repeatedly stopped and started. I would look into a Tunze 7095 multicontroller with a couple 6100s or 6101s. Or you could look into the vortech pumps. Both of these brands are not cheap, but will out perform any other powerheads you could use. They use less watts and move water in broader stream. Also Tunzes are staple in the reefing community. Thier products and customer service are great. I love my Tunzes. I don't have any first expierence with the vortech line but have heard great things about them.


Yeah, well i wasnt planning on having all 8000gph go through the filtration and skimmer section of the sump, it would shortcut and just dump between the bubble traps before the return pump compartment... i also did some reading on the MJ power heads and found the same info regarding a wavemaker, or using a controller... also discovered some other options for wavemakers but still kinda trying to get some ideas before i start plumbing or buy anything serious


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## Grosse Gurke

Coming along nicely....it is going to look sweet when it is done!


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## AKSkirmish

Gonna be a beautiful setup 420....Makeing very nice progress...


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## Ægir

Grosse Gurke said:


> Gonna be a beautiful setup 420....Makeing very nice progress...


Thanks Guys... just sitting down with a pencil and paper to figure out how i am gunna plumb this bad boy up, i will post a diagram with some ideas to see what you guys think, and if you have any advice...


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## AKSkirmish

Look forward to seeing the design you come up with....


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## Ægir

Quick vid Guys... added the sand cause it was starting to smell like the tide went out in my basment, some water from the sump, and a small filter on a mag pump.



Heres the plumbing diagram:









Basically, i will be combining the 2" drains (green) into one pipe, and then splitting them into 2 again after they pass through the stand, i could just make 2 holes and have one overflow go one place and another to the skimmer compartment, but i decided to save space and cut down on holes drilled in my stand... also keeping to one side will give me more room for the returns
most of you who just joined this topic are prob confused as to why i would even need to seperate the drains in the first place, well i am planning on using a 8000gph pump (black) as my main source of feeding the system (5 separate returns (red)+ a chiller, calcium reactor, and one spare), thats obviously far to much turnover for the skimmer and sump to deal with and cuts down on contact time with the media... so the plan is to bypass over 1/2 of the sump, and the skimmer and just dump most of the water back into a bubble box, near the return pump allowing some contact with small rubble, and carbon media, will also place a valve on this line for adjustment if necessary... if i don't run a chiller and reactor for a while this will mainly cut down the load on the pump
For the returns i decided i will just order bulkheads, and drill the overflow boxes as opposed to drilling the tank itself, nobody in my area can guarantee they wont break it, and thats not good enough for me... i plan on 2 per overflow, and i can just hang the center return over the back

I have a few pumps to feed the refuge, so thats not a prob... planning on using my spare 55 gal

*tomorrow i am ordering:*
New bulbs! Ushio 14K 
The return pump, and a spare
6stage RO/DI unit with ATO

Need to find a SKIMMER!

and starting plumbing..


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## Trillion

thats gonna be nice dude keep us posted

at first i thought u was crazt but you know your stuff outside and hopefully inside the tank too

good luck!!!


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## Ægir

Trillion said:


> thats gonna be nice dude keep us posted
> 
> at first i thought u was crazt but you know your stuff outside and hopefully inside the tank too
> 
> good luck!!!


Thanks man... i may be crazy but i am _Typically not_ stupid, thats where you get yourself in trouble


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

I thought my little 20 gallon with a damsel was awesome imagine that thing when its finished holyyy sh*t.


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## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> I thought my little 20 gallon with a damsel was awesome imagine that thing when its finished holyyy sh*t.


Thanks man! I "appreciate the kind words" as AK would say









I am honestly beside myself with this whole thing... i don't think it has quite settled in that a long time dream of mine is coming true









Update: got all the plumbing parts today, and will start gluing the manifold and whatnot together after work

Ordered my RO unit, bulbs, and return pump(s)
still deciding between skimmers... anybody know or have experience with the ATI 250 Bubble Master?

Also ordering the "eco aqualizer" for a test drive... pretty cool shiz (if you want you can google it)


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## welsher7

The eco equalizer is a huge scam it does nothing. It is just a bunch of pvc glued together. The tank is looking good. The ATI bubble master is a really good skimmer. Kind of expensive, but good. have you thought about what calcium reactor yet? The pumbing looks good too, but I think you might a have a micro bubble problem with 8000gph going through the sump. I know you split the line to the sump but you can always change it later on. I would suggest adding as many true unions and ball valves to the plumbing that you can. They will make it much easier to service the tank and add and remove components that need to plumbed. Looks good though, I like the 155 bow. How wide is it at the center?


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## Ægir

No thoughts on a calcium reactor yet... gunna get it up and running first then buy a reactor, and CO2 bottle, reg, and whatnot... The Aquacontroller will control CO2 injection to adjust PH, so that will be one step towards total automation... and The bowfront is 2 feet deep in the middle
Also did some reading on the EcoAqualizer and changed my mind on that... unless i get one for cheap on ebay and can do a test and actually see if its a scam or not, otherwise they wont get my money...

Started on the plumbing tonight, got the drains roughed in as of right now, and the manifold built for water distribution... after i glue it together i will post another update video if im not totally brain dead from inhaling glue fumes









*HERES THE UPDATE!*


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## Ægir

Whats yous guys input on Beckett Injection skimmers? VS needle-wheel, conventional venturi, air diffusors, or otherwise?

I have narrowed down my skimmers to a Precision Marine dual beckett and the ATI Bubble Master .....


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## Ægir

Scratch that... ordered the Precision marine Bullet 3 "high performance" skimmer... its a whopping 32" tall but the bad news is: either i can only run 4 " of water in my sump if i place it in there, or i can build a stand for it behind and drill my sump for a 1.5" bulkhead, or place it on a stand slightly shorter than the height of my tank and not drill the sump... stoked tho

Also ordered a Pan World 200PS external pump to power that beast... 1100gph

Reading up on the new Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Elite controller... definitely making that purchase soon, along with a calcium reactor and Co2 setup... also will be adding ozone sometime after that


----------



## welsher7

2ft in the middle is awesome. you will have a lot of possibilities for aquascaping. beckett skimmers are great and perform like monsters, just , make sure you clean the injectors regularly. The only down side is power consumption and noise. But the noise won't be problem for you since you have a dedicated tank room. I have a geo 6x12 ca reactor and love it. I don't have it running yet but it is biult like a tank. have you thought anymore about flow? I know some of those controllers and controll the tunze streams too. This is going to be a great tank.


----------



## Ægir

welsher7 said:


> 2ft in the middle is awesome. you will have a lot of possibilities for aquascaping. beckett skimmers are great and perform like monsters, just , make sure you clean the injectors regularly. The only down side is power consumption and noise. But the noise won't be problem for you since you have a dedicated tank room. I have a geo 6x12 ca reactor and love it. I don't have it running yet but it is biult like a tank. have you thought anymore about flow? I know some of those controllers and controll the tunze streams too. This is going to be a great tank.


I have been watching ebay for a deal on a reactor, but really havent seen anything i have to buy... there are a few deals on some with CO2 tanks and whatnot but i will wait it out... As for flow in the tank, other than the return pump i will prob end up getting some (3?) Tunze to add to the DA controller, and possibly a wave box?

and yeah, the new DA controller will do almost anything... heres the ones that really got me hooked aside from its ability to connect to the internet WIRELESS via my home network AND

"NEW - 128 x 64 Graphical display (w/RGB backlight and 30 background colors)
The RK Elite utilizes a graphical display that allows us to display status icons, data graphs, and a variety of information in a way that has not been possible before.

NEW - More than 250 Programmable Channels
One of the highlights of the RK Elite system is its ability to control over 250 outlets. While most people will never need that many outlets, some will. Our goal is to be forward thinking and give your new system the freedom to grow."

63 alarms, data logging, data graphing, multi timer function for dosing, 63 dedicated timers, wavemaker, sump and skimmer control, topoff pump control and tons of other cool shiz... you can check out the website here:

Digital Aquatics

I could hardly sleep thinking about all the fun stuff i have coming in the mail!


----------



## Ægir

So today my Ushio 14 bulbs came in, i filled the tank with fresh water and installed a 1200gph pump in a closed loop to feed my main manifold as a pre saltwater glue clean-out, the sand and small amount of water in the tank smelled ROTTEN so i figured i would sacrifice it and clean it out good, took the gravel vac to most of the tank, will get it again when i drain the whole deal... upon firing up the pump i discovered the seal was F****D and it was leaking water everywhere







so i cut the plumbing back out, opened it and siliconed the seal good... just waiting for that do dry

Last night i also went and picked up 3 of the pop up sprinklers, the kind for in ground sprinkler systems, and tore the bastards apart, removing all metal parts (springs, screws, etc) so i could plumb the oscillating heads into 3 of my returns... 180 deg in the center, and 2 90deg ones in front of the overflows... thought it was a cool DIY and after removing the nozzle, water filter, and most of the restriction the things work pretty well, i will get a vid and make a DIY topic on how to do it. i just want to know the lifespan when saltwater starts flowing....

so now 95% of my plumbing is in place... pending the arrival of my skimmer, return pumps, and RODI unit on Monday.. things will be ready for a test fire!


----------



## welsher7

Man that is one nice looking manifold. The plumbing looks good.


----------



## Ægir

Thanks man, i am debating if i want to run that 8000 gph pump in a closed loop from the tank feeding the manifold, or just feeding the manifold from the sump, and allowing all that water to be tank turnover... if it is too much sump turnover i will prob take a day and slightly modify my plumbing and just add a 2000gph pump feeding the display from the sump, and the other pump in a closed loop for tank circulation... but i have a feeling with the feed pressure those sprinklers require, and the ability to dial down the other 2 returns, to a small trickle almost that my sump turnover will be in check, around 1500 to 2000 gph...

the good news is i was shipped 2 of the pumps, so the ability to add another it not far away... if not i have a backup for my shelf


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

What about weekly water changes and maintenance when its done, are you going to do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you?


----------



## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> What about weekly water changes and maintenance when its done, are you going to do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you?


Water changes will be as simple as flipping a switch, i will have a 55gal storage drum to mix salt water, and 2 outlets in the room are wired to a switch, basically i will flip one switch and drain as much as needed, and flip the other switch and add water back into the system... and not hiring anybody for sure, would hate to have anybody but myself to blame for something


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

loll that awesome


----------



## Ægir

Big day guys! received my skimmer today!!!! holy crap.... when this thing fired up i almost crapped my pants... heres an update video, and as you can see after about 5 minutes of the skimmer turning over the water in my sump, full of the rock, it is already pulling out some nasty shiz... cant wait till the "break in period" stated in the manual is over... anyways i have all my gear necessary to get the tank turning over, so the RO/DI unit will be working all night long to fill the tank, and tomorrow morning i will add salt!







SOOO STOKED!!!


----------



## nismo driver

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> What about weekly water changes and maintenance when its done, are you going to do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you?


Water changes will be as simple as flipping a switch, i will have a 55gal storage drum to mix salt water, and 2 outlets in the room are wired to a switch, basically i will flip one switch and drain as much as needed, and flip the other switch and add water back into the system... and not hiring anybody for sure, would hate to have anybody but myself to blame for something
[/quote]

i would reccomned not having those functions controlled by a regular wall switch, this just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. you would be better off building a seperate cabinet with well labled switchs just to ensure someone doesnt accidentally cauase a problem. this happened to my friends dad, he had all of his pumps and equiptment outlets wired to wall switchs in his office and someone left ofr the weekend and "turned off all the lights" and monday morning the tank was dead..


----------



## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> What about weekly water changes and maintenance when its done, are you going to do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you?


Water changes will be as simple as flipping a switch, i will have a 55gal storage drum to mix salt water, and 2 outlets in the room are wired to a switch, basically i will flip one switch and drain as much as needed, and flip the other switch and add water back into the system... and not hiring anybody for sure, would hate to have anybody but myself to blame for something
[/quote]

i would reccomned not having those functions controlled by a regular wall switch, this just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. you would be better off building a seperate cabinet with well labled switchs just to ensure someone doesnt accidentally cauase a problem. this happened to my friends dad, he had all of his pumps and equiptment outlets wired to wall switchs in his office and someone left ofr the weekend and "turned off all the lights" and monday morning the tank was dead..
[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up...


----------



## Ægir

Just a quick update...full after about 6 hours of running my RO/DI full bore, tank is cycling, and 50% of the rock (that i have) is in the display... gotta pick up about 150 lbs of dry base rock soon... skimmer is runnin like a mo-fo, and already made a gallon + of stank... fired up the return pump, 6000 gph after head loss is about perfect, no micro bubbles making it past the baffles







and the sprinkler head DIY is pretty sick!! i will post an update vid tomorrow when things clear up a bit


----------



## Ægir

Whatchya think?

And







to over a 1000 views... IF YOU WOULD JUST LEAVE SOME INPUT... seriously every thing helps from another perspective, my brain is tired


----------



## stevedave

Man, I gotta hand it to you that's an awesome setup you've got going thus far. Can't wait to see what you stock it with.


----------



## Ægir

stevedave said:


> Man, I gotta hand it to you that's an awesome setup you've got going thus far. Can't wait to see what you stock it with.


Thanks man! i cant wait to get my calcium reactor, and RKE controller... that will make things easier, just in the fact i dont trust the temperature stability of the tank yet, and it would be nice to have an alarm or the ability to shut off halides, turn on fan(s) turn off heaters etc when the heat climbs.... as of now i have it tuned to +-1 deg, and i am firing up all 3 lights to check the diff, if any


----------



## Trillion

what kind of skimmer is that ive gotta have one and how much did it run

great set up and plumbing job my god i bet your local hardware store loves you

great job man!!!


----------



## Ægir

Trillion said:


> what kind of skimmer is that ive gotta have one and how much did it run
> 
> great set up and plumbing job my god i bet your local hardware store loves you
> 
> great job man!!!


That is the Precision Marine Bullet 3... and it cost 540$ plus 260$ for the Pan World 200 PS pump (1750 GPH) this thing is amazing so far, and i would have no complaints, other than the fact it can only run in 4" of water if placed in sump, beings its over 30 inches tall, you would need a tall stand, or only 4 inches of water... it runs like a champ out of sump tho so i really cant take points away

and plumbing parts were around 200$, everything else was ordered via internet... thanks for your feedback man!

UPDATE: had a small malfunction, and ended up with about 10 gallons of water in the back room, faulty float i used for my RODI topoff, anyways no damage done, and got it dried out.... luckally my bro saw it before i went to bed, otherwise it could have been serious! 
after a testing of the water, things were almost perfect, small traces maybe, but undetectable on the test kit cards....so I put about 10 scoops of sand, and all the rock rubble i have been stocking in my old sump into the display and sump....
my 2 tangs, coral beauty, and tomato clown in the tank, and all the rock from my 55 gal, so now that tank is freed up i will prob add a lion or something cool, and use it as a quarantine tank when needed... need to order a wave maker, a calcium, phosban/carbon reactor, and co2 setup soon... and need the RKE controller to be released so i can automate this beotch


----------



## philbert

thats official...well done


----------



## Ægir

philbert said:


> thats official...well done


Thanks man! pretty excited myself








I cleaned up the back room some, and also got a new Volitan Lion for my 55 gal in the back. i will post another update video sometime tonight when all the lights are on...

Ordering tongiht
4-48" VHO actinic ballast and bulbs 
Skimmer collection cup
possibly a phosban and carbon reactor
and a wall mount for my new 50" plasma

and still looking for a calcium reactor with co2 setup

check ya later!


----------



## Ægir

Heres an update guys... The lion ended up going to a friend of mine, but he was neat while it lasted.

Also ordered a float valve for the RO/DI bin, new Spiderlight reflectors and sockets for the 175W halides, 440W ballast and endcaps for the VHO Actinic bulbs, a Precision marine waste collector, 2 Two little fishes reactors (one for phosban and one for carbon), bucket of salt, filter sock, Kent marine tech cb 2 part, and some other small things

Also got some new fish
2 Percula clown fish
2 tomato clowns
7 green chromis
and some snails to help with the algae problem


----------



## Ægir

So had a major problem this morning, the tomato clown that was originally in my 55 gal with the other fish went psycho and killed a few of the chromis, and was working on the other clowns when i woke up... had to take 80% of the rock out to catch the bastard and he is now solo in the back room. i don't know if i dare re introduce him into the tank in the future... so he will prob go to the LFS as trade for some rock. As if that wasnt bad enough the kent marine products i ordered were THRASHED in the box (thanks UPS) and blew up... almost a full half gallon into my order







Marine depot was great about it, and basically told me to keep what i could salvage and they would get another batch out tomorrow.

Got my ATO float setup for the RO/DI unit today also, linked the 2 20 gal garbage cans with bulkheads and a ball valve so i can fill up one, or both depending if i want to mix water for a water change... the bulkheads are below the float so just opening the ball valve will take care of both tanks. If i need to mix both containers for a large emergency water change i am installing a slip coupler so i can remove both bins independently and rinse them out... and i am sure they will need cleaning regularly anyways

Still need to order the reactors (phosban and carbon), Icecap ballast for the VHOs, Spiderlight reflectors, and a few smaller things... Planning on redoing the lighting system and adding atleast 1, if not 2 400Ws into the setup. Also trying to get ahold of a chiller and Calcium reactor with CO2 setup... so i will post an update video soon when things get setup.

Until then


----------



## elongatos

saltwaer wooooh too much work damn and expensive as sh!t


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## Ægir

elongatos said:


> saltwaer wooooh too much work damn and expensive as sh!t










been out drinking have we?

Yes it was "wooooh" too much work, and beings i was about the only one working on it (other than, heavy lifting and some help with the stand) tearing down an entire LFS, moved all that rock, sand, tanks, plumbing etc... working there from 9-5 and here from 6-3am and still got it mostly setup in under 15 days... and about a week of that was letting it cycle, woah is more like it...

As for the money part, i believe saltwater is on the other end of the $ spectrum from "sh!t"... prob located somewhere after crack and a good education...


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

How much do you think it costs run per day with all the electrical equipment you have on it?


----------



## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> How much do you think it costs run per day with all the electrical equipment you have on it?


I havent done the calculations yet... prob wont until i have it complete (still have a few small pumps to add, a wavemaker etc)... i am adding a 400W halide over the center of the tank, and right now i am running 3 175w halides, 2 large pumps (a return and a skimmer) plus 3 mag drives, the heater is on at night sometimes...
i don't have to pay for water cause we have a well, but if one lived on a city meter it could get spendy with a large tank like this... i have about 5 gallons of evaporation per day plus the 40 gal water changes weekly


----------



## AKSkirmish

Just thought I would stop by and say this quite an amazing thread 420-
Keep it up man-I'm learning alot from this.....

Thanks for it being so well documented man-


----------



## Ægir

AKSkirmish said:


> Just thought I would stop by and say this quite an amazing thread 420-
> Keep it up man-I'm learning alot from this.....
> 
> Thanks for it being so well documented man-


thanks man, i wanted to have record of the whole thing and beings i spend a good portion of my free time here... why not? I just ran the first full swath of tests and came up with:

Salinity 1.024
78.7 deg
Ca 460
Po4 .25







(clearly the cause of my algae problem)
PH 8.3
DKH 15

Also ordering some new fish tonight... got my eye on some fish, would like to have a group of lyretail anthias (7 females and one male or so) tangs (gold rim, naso, a powder blue possibly) a haddoni carpet anemone for the clowns, a foxface, and some sand sifting cukes... as well as some macro for the soon to be fuge... wish i could add more than 1 or 2 fish at a time but... slow is the best bet
also ordered 2 two little fishes reactors for phosban and carbon, pumps and media for the reactors, icecap ballast, endcaps, and a bulb for the 400w i just scored... new spiderlight reflectors and some smaller thigns...next week will be a lighting revamp and getting all that installed... then onto the calcium reactor and a controller

The cats in the bag, and the bags on the bridge...


----------



## benJii

Looks very rad dude. So is this your house? Its good to see so many people switching over to salt, there is just so much more to learn!


----------



## Ægir

Tibs said:


> Looks very rad dude. So is this your house? Its good to see so many people switching over to salt, there is just so much more to learn!


thanks man, technically its my parents house and they pay for half of everything tank related... which is cool cause instead of being completely broke, i am only half broke...


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

What does your family and people who visit your home think of it? I would personally be amazed.


----------



## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> What does your family and people who visit your home think of it? I would personally be amazed.


Most are pretty speechless, and don't understand what it takes to make it possible... some have trouble scolding their children for F$&*@!G around and trying to put their hands in the display, and things like that... good thing i don't have any problems yelling at children when it comes to this

Speaking of yelling, as a small update, i went camping for 3 days and returned to discover the basement had leaked tons of water/dirt into the fish room... have to empty everything i can and clean it out, as well as a water change because the skimmer got unplugged after the storm that caused the flood... "it was foaming at the top" was the only explanation i could get...

Serves me right for leaving, and i have a feeling i will be extensively training and paying somebody to maintain the tank when i leave


----------



## Ægir

Heres an update guys. Yesterday i received my order from marine depot with some important things... 
Icecap 660 ballast, 3 piece endcaps, 2 phosban reactors (one for carbon) MJ600 powerheads and media, Spiderlight reflectors and new ceramic sockets... A few days ago i came across a freebie 400W mh ballast and nice fantech exhaust fan, the fan i was originally using was a small fart fan for a bathroom, and wasnt moving enough air. So yesterday i spent about 4 hours revamping the lighting setup, installing that giant fan, as well as cleaning the 1/2 inch of dirt and mud off of my floor in the fish room from the flood a day before.

After firing the VHO super actinics up, i was already impressed with the improvement... and then i turned on the 10k 400 w, and the 175w 14k sides







My previous reflectors had been tarnished from salt creep, and were CLEARLY affecting the amount of light reaching the water... I set my timers as follows

9-9 Actinic
10-7 2x 175w
12-2 230-4 400W on (gave it a 30 min cool down cause i dont know how this will affect tank temp for a few days)
Then i went on to installing the Two little fishes reactors... extremely easy setup and great product for the price if you ask me. i filled one reactor with 150 or so g of phosban media, and the other with 4 cups of activated carbon, hooked up the MJ600s and turned them on... simple as that! the only thing i would recommend is using small hose clamps to secure the fittings.... for some reason they feel safe using slip fittings with a flexible 90 at the top of the reactor... personally i wouldnt risk one of them coming off and pumping water onto the floor

Like i said earlier i was camping for a few days, and returned to the room being flooded from a storm, and my mom unplugging my skimmer for 24 hours... algea had covered most of the sand bed and the water took a small dip for the worse, but after less than 12 hours of the reactors running and a 20 gallon water change its almost completely gone...

Heres the 3 110w Actinic lighting only


And a peek at the back room with the new fan, ballasts and lighting setup


Now i am looking at some new fish... anybody have some ideas? Want to add a few more tangs, a foxface possibly, lyretail anthias, a blue throat trigger, and a few others possibly, but would love some input on cool fish

I will post another vid when the 175s and 400 come on... dad has the camera in Panama so cant just snap some pictures, but video will do fine


----------



## AKSkirmish

Impressive 420-As usual....

Too bad I'm too damn ignorant to get into conversation about this setup.......But things look great and are comming along nicely......

Now just let me know when you make it up my way to setup my tank


----------



## Ægir

AKSkirmish said:


> Impressive 420-As usual....
> 
> Too bad I'm too damn ignorant to get into conversation about this setup.......But things look great and are comming along nicely......
> 
> Now just let me know when you make it up my way to setup my tank


Thanks man... i try







And really from what i have seen i am _atleast_ as ignorant as you, if not more. and i can see how it could be hard to understand from reading this topic, because you dont get to look at it in person for countless hours per day... if you saw it in person it would take about 15 minutes to understand the plumbing and basics... as for setting up your tank, you pay the airfare, lodging and booze and i am sure we could work something out


----------



## AKSkirmish

LOL-
Maybe one day when I turn the 500 into a reef.....Then I could see paying airfare-








Anyways-

What kind of Return pump are you useing-And are you happy with the performance of it----Is it quiet?


----------



## Ægir

i am using a Jebao 8000gph submersible pond pump for 230$.... i used this same pump on a FOWLR tank i setup, and it pushed enough water at 12' head, not including the multiple 90s and fittings, to feed that tank... i figured at 5' head it would be substantial to feed my manifold, according to the chart on the box i am around 6218.6.... GPH, thats at 2 meters head. Most of that water flows through the sump, and about 10% is diverted to drain near the pump to slow the flow through the sump and allow the micro bubbles to rise... still none make it to the display, even if i crank the other half of the drain closed

this is the pump: Clicky

the one thing i hate about it, is it leaks a small amount of voltage into the tank... fixed that with a grounding probe near the pump but... still a pain, soon i will prob switch to an external pump like the hammerhead or something larger... but i will prob just slow the flow through the sump and add a closed loop with another pump and an oceans motions or something

As for your tank... it wouldnt be that hard to turn the 500 into a FOWLR tank but finding enough rock to not look F'ed up would prob not be cheap around your parts... if i am paying almost 7$ a lb here you gotta be around 10$ atleast

Help me find some sweet fish or frags man! i need some more fish and i cant decide what to add next, and i would like to add a few starter corals, maybe some xenia or zoas of some sorts... nothing too calcium demanding until i get my reactor and set it up


----------



## AKSkirmish

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> i am using a Jebao 8000gph submersible pond pump for 230$.... i used this same pump on a FOWLR tank i setup, and it pushed enough water at 12' head, not including the multiple 90s and fittings, to feed that tank... i figured at 5' head it would be substantial to feed my manifold, according to the chart on the box i am around 6218.6.... GPH, thats at 2 meters head. Most of that water flows through the sump, and about 10% is diverted to drain near the pump to slow the flow through the sump and allow the micro bubbles to rise... still none make it to the display, even if i crank the other half of the drain closed
> 
> this is the pump: Clicky
> 
> the one thing i hate about it, is it leaks a small amount of voltage into the tank... fixed that with a grounding probe near the pump but... still a pain, soon i will prob switch to an external pump like the hammerhead or something larger... but i will prob just slow the flow through the sump and add a closed loop with another pump and an oceans motions or something
> 
> As for your tank... it wouldnt be that hard to turn the 500 into a FOWLR tank but finding enough rock to not look F'ed up would prob not be cheap around your parts... if i am paying almost 7$ a lb here you gotta be around 10$ atleast
> 
> Help me find some sweet fish man! i need some more fish and i cant decide what to add next


Well that personally doesn't sound like something I want to take on-Not being a DIY type guy.......But do like the GPH that it pushes...
I'm useinga "quiet one" pump-Submersible and it's alright-But certainly nowhere around the GPH's that I would like to have......Only pushing around the 8 GPH mark and should be useing a rated pump for around the2400 GPH mark.....So I need to find something a bit better-I'm thinking about going with another little giant and plumbing it up-Since me sump requires a submersible......I just hate the bit of vibrateing I get from the internal pump.....So I was curious....Never heard of that Hammerhead brand before......But thinks I should take alook at it.....

I dont understand what you mean by a closed loop either......









Yeah the 500---------Only one day down the road will that happen........But I'm makeing plans already for the future.......And yes I pay a bit over the $10 per pound for live rock...And have little selection at that.....But the 500 is only a dreamsetup right now-Nothing will happen soon...It will take a few years for me to prepare for this one.....

As per fish man-
I'm an eel guy myself......And love huge eels----I'm partial to the moray's and wolfies myself-Just can't have any in my setup----But not sure on everything you have either-I'll have to go back and see what ya all have in their first......

This is a non reef setup right.....Never mind-I seen the edit.....Scratch an eel then.....


----------



## AKSkirmish

Here 420
Just a list I have found explaining a bit about reef fish-
Not sure if it will help ya or not-But it's a start and I am learning a few things about acouple fish I had no clue about.......
Of course the material was taken from RC-

Fish To Be Avoided: (fish that have incredibly low survivability in aquaria or are totally unsuitable for home aquaria)

Moorish Idol (a few success stories but miniscule amounts live long, difficult feeder, mystery deaths, and even when accepting prepared foods often slowly starves)

Holacanthus tricolor [Rock Beauty] (nearly impossible to meet the dietary needs in home aquaria)

Centropyge heraldi (almost always caught using drugs)
Centropyge multifasciatus (this and the venusta are very similar, they don't adapt to aquarium life well, and both seem particularly prone to Lymphocystis)
Centropyge venusta

Clown tang (VERY ich prone and a finicky eater, horrible survival rates, when they do live they can be quite mean)

Clown Sweetlips(difficult feeders and get quite large)
Oriental Sweetlips

Platax pinnatus [Pinnatus Batfish] (gorgeous fish when young, very very few success stories, diet and disease are big issues)
Platax batavianus [Tiger Tiera Batfish] (see above)

Orange Spotted Filefish (specialized coral polyp feeder)

Most Butterlyfish (except those listed below)

Ribbon Eels (rarely eat in captivity)
Snake Eels
Garden Eels

Cleaner Wrasses (specialized parasite feeders, leave them in the ocean where they can do their job)
Anampses sp. Wrasses (VERY poor shippers and need tanks with their special needs in mind, even then they often perish)
Leopard (Macropharyngodon) Wrasses (see above but there are more success stories, must be kept in reef aquariums) 
Pseodojuloides Wrasses (very sensitive, they almost always die in transit so you don't see them very often if ever)

Parrotfish

Tilefish (VERY timid and difficult to get to eat, also excellent at carpet surfing)

Sharks

Rays

Skates

Grunts

Jacks

Drums

Trumpetfish

Remoras (unless you have a large Shark or Whale in your backyard oceanarium probably not a good idea)

Chambered Nautilus ( a plethora of reasons to leave them in the ocean, not a single good reason to add one to an aquarium)

Fish Best Left For Experienced Or Knowledgable Hobbyists:
(finicky nature, parasite prone, specialty feeders, require specialty tanks, or threatened species)

Anthias (require a good amount of swimming room, peaceful tankmates, and frequent feedings, often unhealthy and starving by the time they make it to dealers tanks, some almost require special tanks with their needs in mind)
Twinspot Anthias (one of the more difficult standouts of the Anthias)
Square Anthias (collection methods, stress, and starvation after collection seem to be especially problematic here)

Platax tiera (can very hardy once acclimated but there can be problems feeding, they stress easily, and are disease prone)

Regal Angelfish (Red Sea Specimens tend to be hardier and more willing to accept prepared foods and the more recent trend to keep this fish in reef aquariums helps with survivability)
Bicolor Angelfish (concerns with drugs used in collection and frequent unwillingness to accept prepared foods)
Genicanthus sp. angelfish (hardy once acclimated, but lots of problem specimens due to the depths they are collected at, take extra special care in examining and observing them before purchase)

Garibaldi (cold water species and protected)

Trunkfish [Boxfish and Cowfish] (most are rather sensitive and can release toxins when stresed or dying)

Clown and Gumdrop gobies (poor shipper, once established a good surviver with less boisterous fish)
Catalina gobies (coldwater species that will not do well longterm in tropical temps)
Mandarin Dragonettte (requires large amounts of live food typically which can be provided naturally in 50+ gal. tanks with a good amount of live rock, will only rarely accept prepared foods)

Radiata Lionfish
Fu manchu Lionfish (All the dwarf Lions require tanks with their needs in mind, the later two are also very sensitive, very shy, and poor shippers) 
Dwarf Zebra Lionfish

Anglerfish (most get very large and can consume fish nearly their own size)

Acanthurus sp. tangs (ich prone and fairly sensitive to water conditions, Achilles, Powder Blue, Powder Brown, and Goldrim can be rather difficult and beginners should be especially leary)

Ctenochaetus tangs (ich prone, some of the hardier tangs once established, the Chevron is probably the least hardy of the genus)

All Butterflyfish (except Vagabond, Longnose, Heniochus, Golden, Pebbled, Klein's, Lemon, Auriga, and Racoon, which need large tanks)

Seahorses (need quiet species tanks and large quantities of nutritious live food)
Seadragons (very rare and I'm unaware of any longterm success)
Pipefish (see Seahorses)

Longnose Hawkfish (hardy fish but they are notorious jumpers and be careful with ornamental shrimp with all Hawkfish)

Porcupine Pufferfish (can be hardy but also seem very disease prone)

Fairy wrasses [Paracheilinus and Cirrilabrus sp.] (require peaceful tanks and do best in reef aquariums, they stress easily and the first few weeks in captivity will often make or break their longevity)

Leopard Blenny [Exallias brevis] (specialized coral feeders)
Scooter Blenny (see Mandarin Dragonettes)
Lawnmower Blenny (will sometimes not accept prepared foods and will starve to death in tanks without a natural algae food source)

Sandhopper

Sleeper Gobys (Valenciennea sp.) (sometimes starve to death even when accepting prepared foods, tanks with large sandbeds containing lots of food will help as will frequent feedings when they will eat, mated pairs may help as well)
Rainford's Goby (often will not accept prepared foods, need established tanks with peaceful fish a sandbed full of life)
Twinspot Goby (combine the suggestions above for this one)

Cephalopods (not fish, but including them here because of their intelligence compared to the dumb lumps of goo that are most invertebrates, the Nautilus from above is in this group as well)
Octopi (must have species tanks, lots of swimming room, and should probably be on the above list)
Cuttlefish (similar care to Octopi, but slightly higher success rates)
Squid

Fish That Require Huge Aquariums (200 gallons or more):

Sharks/Rays/Skates (require much larger than 200 gal. and should just be left out of home aquaria, Nurse sharks can grow to 14ft. long!, repeating this one so it sinks in)

Most Groupers (especially take note of the cute little Panther Groupers)

Snappers (those cute little Red Emperor Snappers get big)

Naso sp. Tangs (Many will even outgrow common sizes like 125 gal. aquariums)

Moray Eels (large species)

Soldierfish

Orbi and Spade Batfish

Twinspot wrasse (Coris aygula) (beginners take special note of these three as they're often offered as cute juveniles, they get very large and very mean)
Red coris wrasse
Dragon wrasse

Flounder

Tassled filefish (often offerer when cute and tiny but grow large)

Many Large Angels (when purchasing any angelfish that isn't Centropyge be sure to check their ultimate size: take special note of the French, Gray, Blue, and Queen whcih are often offered as cute little juvenilles)

Venomous and/or Toxic Species:

Stonefish (can be deadly)

Lionfish

Rabbitfish/Foxfaces

Scorpionfish

Coral Catfish (these also get up to a foot long and no longer school once larger)

Bluering Octopus (can be deadly)

Toadfish

Canary Blenny (venomous bites that can be painful but little else)

Flower Urchins (can be deadly but rarely encountered in the aquarium trade)

Black Longspine Sea Urchin (can inflict painful wounds, some debate exists whether or not they are really venomous)

Cone Shells (rarely encountered in the aquarium trade, can be deadly)

Stingrays (many have venom associated with the spike on the tail which they use in self defense, don't get stung in the chest and you should live to tell about it)

Sea Snakes (I know of no one attempting to keep them in captivity, but included for good measure)

Box Jellyfish (quite deadly but of no concern to aquarists)

Hell's Fire Anemonen (while all anemones are capable of stinging, this is the one of the few to be concerned about, very painful stings)

Hydroids (usually just cause skin irritation if anything)

Fire Coral (see above)

Zoanthids (some of these can contain Palytoxin which can be quite dangerous and make you very ill, they're quite frequently harmless but if you want to err on the side of caution rubber gloves are a good idea when handling them, as are goggles when fragging them)

Extremely Aggressive Species:

Undulated Triggerfish (the meanest auqarium fish available in all likelyhood)
Queen Triggerfish (not quite as bad as the Undulated, but pretty close and they get very large)
Clown Triggerfish (pretty similar in demeanor to the above two)
Blueline Triggerfish (not so bad when young but a beast once it grows, perhaps the least aggressive of the four)

Passer Angelfish (probably the meanest of all Angelfish, I've seen them take over tanks)

Damselfish (they're not all bad, but ounce for ounce some of them are the meanest fish around, think twice about adding them as some of your first specimens)

Maroon Clownfish (females get quite large and they can get quite mean and bully any tankmates that dare come close, they're also probably the least tolerant of other clown species)

Sohal Tang (hardier than the Clown Tang but just about as mean, probably best to keep them as the lone Tang and if you must keep one in a community reef tank make it your last fish addition)

Inverts To Be Avoided Or Better Left To Experts:

Non-photosynyhetic Corals and Gorgonids [Sun polyps, Carnation, Devils Hand, Chili Coral, etc.] (if it's a soft coral and not green or brown in part and is very vividly colored odds are it's non-photosynthetic and requires more small particles of food than most aquarists are willing to provide, the only non photosynthetic stoney corals frequently seen are Tubastrea sp., regular feedings of meatier foots can lead to success with these)

Christmas Tree Worms (filters feeders that rarely live long in home aquaria)

Coco Worms (see above)

Goniopora sp. (some strides have been made but still miserably low survival rates, stokesi is the most common and seems to be the least hardy in the genus)

Feather Starfish (require huge amounts of flow and large amounts of tiny planktonic organisms)
Basket Starfish
Crown of Thorns Starfish (duh!)
Linkia Starfish (disease issues and poor acclimation to aquarium life, problem feeders as well)

Wild SPS Corals (small-polyped scleractinian) that are not frags (wild colonies can be particularly adapted to flow and light from their natural environment and often do poorly once in aquaria, see out hardy aquacultered specimens)

Sea Apples (often slowly waste away in starve to death if not offered large amounts of food appropriate for filter feeders, also chances of toxins being released and possibly killing other organisms)

Sea Pens (still offered in the aquarium trade but chances of survival are very poor with this filter feeder)

Giant Xenia (this one rarely does well once established and like most other xenia does not ship well)

Sea Slugs and Nudibranchs (very specialized feeders, a couple can be useful to elimate pests but it is very difficult to sustain a food source for even those, they're also very prone to damage by overflows and pumps)

Flame Scallop (filter feeders that usually waste away in home aquaria, the same goes for other Scallops which are les frequently encountered in the trade)

Anemones (most anemones should be placed in specialty tanks and also have very poor survival rates, beginners should not attempt Anemones without extensive research)
Bright Yellow Anemones (dyed; and done most commonly with Sebae, but also seen less frequently with Long Tentacle and Carpet anemones)

Harlequin/Clown Shrimp (must have live feeder starfish to survive)
Camel/Mechanical shrimp (Not reef safe but often sold as as such)

Elegance Coral (recent poor survival possibly due to a disease, other factors might relate to them coming from higher nutrient environments)

Red Serpent Starfish (often disolve and waste away and can be very fragile)

Pipe Organ Coral [Tubipora Musica] (often hacked off from a larger colony, recent survival seems better than in the past)

Large Sponges (often hacked off from large colonies of their rock base, also exposed to air for too long which leads to their demose, bright orange and yellow colors are common)

Special Notes:

Clownfish [Amphiprion sp.] (various species often acclimate poorly to aquarium life and suffer greatly from collection stress, I've seen estimates that as little as five percent of those collected live to be in home aquaria, when possible buy tank raised specimens)

Bangaii/Borneo Cardinals [Pterapogon kauderrni] (rather limited in range and rumors of an unsustainable population if the current rate of collection continues, there are also stories of poor survival after collection, buy tank raised when possible)

Tangs (should have larger aquarium to provide them plenty of swimming room, no a tang is not suitable for your nano cube or 29 gallon tank, when small 3'-4' aquariums can be suitable for short periods of time, though bigger is recommended by many, just be sure you're planning an upgrade in the near future as they can grow fast)

Angelfish (their compatibility with corals and clams is often brought up and debated, outside of Geniacanthus there really is no such thing as a "reef safe" Angelfish, before purchasing one consider how difficult one would be to catch out of your display tank after it decides your corals and favorite clam are delicious, they can be model citizens but there is always a risk associated in reef aquariums)


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## Ægir

You can have an external pump even if your sump doesn't have a bulkhead drilled for one.... you just plumb the intake over the rim of the tank, like a U tube, and MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS USE A BACK-FLOW PREVENTER in your return plumbing, cause back siphon is a really easy way to flood your house....

And as for the closed loop... its where the intake and the returns of a pump are always under water, and no air can get in the system... basically like a canister filter without the canister part.... just another way to add in tank flow, with an external pump instead of powerheads....

The 400 just kicked on, will be posting an update vid once it warms up









In the tank is an angel beauty, 2 yellow tangs, 2 percula clowns, and 2 green chromis
As for fish... love tangs, have 2 clowns already and i think that the stress thing is BS cause most people keep clowns in nanos and small tanks... 2 clowns in my 155 are happy as pie, and they havent got the anemone for them to host in yet... my tomato clown is a dick face and i 86'ed him quick... want a blue throat trigger, have heard success in reefs are kinda hit and miss but for the most part alright... and i would love to get my hands on a black long nose tang also... Lyretail Anthias are a grouping fish with multiple females and a male, they look great but a group of 10 total is around 250$... need to add a few more green chromis cause 3 were DOA from shipping...


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## Ægir

175W+ actinic 


All lights... new 10k 400w in the center


Sorry bout the shaky hands.. energy drinks (with alcahol even!) got me all riled up... gotta love Sparks

HOLY LIST MAN! i am glad i havent considered any of the fish on the list... know what most are but know to stay away now... thanks! I will update later when i place my order







prob just 2 tangs (powder blue, and gold rim?) and a foxface... plus the 3 chromis that are missing from my group...


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## AKSkirmish

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> 175W+ actinic
> 
> 
> All lights... new 10k 400w in the center
> 
> 
> Sorry bout the shaky hands.. energy drinks (with alcahol even!) got me all riled up... gotta love Sparks


Damn-Thats nice and bright-How many watts total above the tank now?
Seems as if I really need to step it up on the lighting....Can tell a huge difference from when that 400 kicked on------Not a bad score their at all......


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## Ægir

400+ 330w actinic+ 2x175w= 1080w? i can still wire another 110w bulb to that icecap ballast, but didnt have a place for it in the light rack really... it will prob go outside the wall under a canopy of some sorts... and i will be adding that other 175W hood i took out to the fuge/frag tank when i set that up...


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## AKSkirmish

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> 400+ 330w actinic+ 2x175w= *1080w*? i can still wire another 110w bulb to that icecap ballast, but didnt have a place for it in the light rack really... it will prob go outside the wall under a canopy of some sorts... and i will be adding that other 175W hood i took out to the fuge/frag tank when i set that up...


Damn-----


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## Ægir

AKSkirmish said:


> 400+ 330w actinic+ 2x175w= *1080w*? i can still wire another 110w bulb to that icecap ballast, but didnt have a place for it in the light rack really... it will prob go outside the wall under a canopy of some sorts... and i will be adding that other 175W hood i took out to the fuge/frag tank when i set that up...


Damn-----








[/quote]
And as of right now the max temp is 79.8 with nothing but fans cooling the room, one blowing across the top of the tank under the bulbs, and the fantech exhaust fan at 1/2 throttle... my basment is 79ish so thats not bad


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## AKSkirmish

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> 400+ 330w actinic+ 2x175w= *1080w*? i can still wire another 110w bulb to that icecap ballast, but didnt have a place for it in the light rack really... it will prob go outside the wall under a canopy of some sorts... and i will be adding that other 175W hood i took out to the fuge/frag tank when i set that up...


Damn-----








[/quote]
And as of right now the max temp is 79.8 with nothing but fans cooling the room, one blowing across the top of the tank under the bulbs, and the fantech exhaust fan at 1/2 throttle... my basment is 79ish so thats not bad
[/quote]

Yeah thats excellent-Certainly nothing to worry about with that temp.....And sounds like you have plenty more if need be.....

Is this a final setup for your lighting-Or will it change to something different down the road?


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## Ægir

AKSkirmish said:


> 400+ 330w actinic+ 2x175w= *1080w*? i can still wire another 110w bulb to that icecap ballast, but didnt have a place for it in the light rack really... it will prob go outside the wall under a canopy of some sorts... and i will be adding that other 175W hood i took out to the fuge/frag tank when i set that up...


Damn-----








[/quote]
And as of right now the max temp is 79.8 with nothing but fans cooling the room, one blowing across the top of the tank under the bulbs, and the fantech exhaust fan at 1/2 throttle... my basment is 79ish so thats not bad
[/quote]

Yeah thats excellent-Certainly nothing to worry about with that temp.....And sounds like you have plenty more if need be.....

Is this a final setup for your lighting-Or will it change to something different down the road?
[/quote]

If need be i will upgrade it to 250w fixtures to replace the 175s... but i doubt i will encounter that for some time down the road when the tank is a full blown reef and little rock is visible

I will prob keep an eye out for a chiller on ebay, something small like 1/4 or 1/2 hp and that will be a big help with being able to actually shut the door to the rear room... its almost silent with the door closed as is, and when the trim is put up around the hole, it will almost just look like a picture... and as silent also

I am still looking for information on people using the Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Elite controller, they did a pre order and never specified the release date, but i have seen some people already using them so... if you see any feedback about them let me know?


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## Guest

Man, I just looked through this entire thread, and all I have to say is wow, that is an amazing setup. It kinda reminds me of my friends old 380g SW tank that was his doorway, except yours seems more technological... well to me atleast since I did not get to see everything up close. Your plumbing is crazy, I would have never thought that saltwater tanks could get so complicated. Not knowing anything about saltwater tanks does not help me understand much either though. I didnt know that you could run that much light on a saltwater tank too, it sure looks bright. Keep up the good work and I hope all go's well. Now I just want to start a saltwater tank.


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## nismo driver

damn this tank is becoming quite a beast, comming along nicely. good to see your being patient about adding corals and getting everything setup and running right.


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## Ægir

Wittlestguy said:


> damn this tank is becoming quite a beast, comming along nicely. good to see your being patient about adding corals and getting everything setup and running right.


Thanks nismo, taking my time for sure... if something happened from my impatience i would prob die a little inside after what i have put into this so far


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## Guest

thanks for the advice, I would go no bigger then a 20g tank for my first SW tank, I get what you mean for the plumbing though because you have so many things runnning and if one go's out it wont kill your tank.


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## nismo driver

Wittlestguy said:


> thanks for the advice, I would go no bigger then a 20g tank for my first SW tank, I get what you mean for the plumbing though because you have so many things runnning and if one go's out it wont kill your tank.


bigger is actually easier and more forgiving for marine tanks. just cost way more..

in a smaller tank the slightest change has a much biger impact (both negative and positive) marine tanks are like old senators they dont take kindly to rapid changes.


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## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> thanks for the advice, I would go no bigger then a 20g tank for my first SW tank, I get what you mean for the plumbing though because you have so many things runnning and if one go's out it wont kill your tank.


bigger is actually easier and more forgiving for marine tanks. just cost way more..

in a smaller tank the slightest change has a much biger impact (both negative and positive) marine tanks are like old senators they dont take kindly to rapid changes.
[/quote]
I was just going to say, i would start with atleast a 55 gallon, if not a 75 or 90... the depth of the 55 makes it impossible to add rock reasonably without hindering swimming space... and once you start you will just keep buying bigger and bigger tanks so... why start with something so small? after about 4-6 months of reading about 2 hours per day i finally jumped in to the salt scene... less than 2 years later i am running this tank, and had enough knowledge to set it up for the most part... still every day you learn atleast one thing you didnt know, and what causes it, how to fix it, etc... it just never gets old, or runs out of things that need to be done


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## Guest

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> thanks for the advice, I would go no bigger then a 20g tank for my first SW tank, I get what you mean for the plumbing though because you have so many things runnning and if one go's out it wont kill your tank.


bigger is actually easier and more forgiving for marine tanks. just cost way more..

in a smaller tank the slightest change has a much biger impact (both negative and positive) marine tanks are like old senators they dont take kindly to rapid changes.
[/quote]
I was just going to say, i would start with atleast a 55 gallon, if not a 75 or 90... the depth of the 55 makes it impossible to add rock reasonably without hindering swimming space... and once you start you will just keep buying bigger and bigger tanks so... why start with something so small? after about 4-6 months of reading about 2 hours per day i finally jumped in to the salt scene... less than 2 years later i am running this tank, and had enough knowledge to set it up for the most part... still every day you learn atleast one thing you didnt know, and what causes it, how to fix it, etc... it just never gets old, or runs out of things that need to be done
[/quote]
I dont have much space nor money, so a small tank would be ideal, but I thought about the part with the small tanks being harder to maintain, since I have a little 10g, which is utterly stupid. It will be a while before I can get a bigish tank, since I will need a job and my bro has got to go. I have only kept fish (any kind) for 1 year so I am still a noob. I will just keep reeding.


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## Ægir

Wittlestguy said:


> thanks for the advice, I would go no bigger then a 20g tank for my first SW tank, I get what you mean for the plumbing though because you have so many things runnning and if one go's out it wont kill your tank.


bigger is actually easier and more forgiving for marine tanks. just cost way more..

in a smaller tank the slightest change has a much biger impact (both negative and positive) marine tanks are like old senators they dont take kindly to rapid changes.
[/quote]
I was just going to say, i would start with atleast a 55 gallon, if not a 75 or 90... the depth of the 55 makes it impossible to add rock reasonably without hindering swimming space... and once you start you will just keep buying bigger and bigger tanks so... why start with something so small? after about 4-6 months of reading about 2 hours per day i finally jumped in to the salt scene... less than 2 years later i am running this tank, and had enough knowledge to set it up for the most part... still every day you learn atleast one thing you didnt know, and what causes it, how to fix it, etc... it just never gets old, or runs out of things that need to be done
[/quote]
I dont have much space nor money, so a small tank would be ideal, but I thought about the part with the small tanks being harder to maintain, since I have a little 10g, which is utterly stupid. It will be a while before I can get a bigish tank, since I will need a job and my bro has got to go. I have only kept fish (any kind) for 1 year so I am still a noob. I will just keep reeding.
[/quote]

Yeah man, read read read... take your time and it will be far less painful, especially on your wallet

As a small update while im here... made a fish order including

Blonde Naso Tang
Tennent tang 
Powder blue tang
Haddoni carpet anemone 
serpent star 
royal grama
Multi colored zoos (5 polyps)
and 2 free emerald crabs to join the single one i have
Some macro algae for the fuge i am setting up
and a bonus "mystery coral" for spending over 150$

*In the tank now is:*
2 yellow tangs
pair of false percula clowns (hence the new anemone)
Coral beauty
2 green chromis (3 others died in shipping, planning on beefing up the group to at least 10)
Rock and condy anemone
1 emerald crab
breeding pair of coral banded shrimp
5 peppermint shrimp
And an unknown zoo colony, spreading fast under the new halides

*Next potential fish:*
Atlantic blue tang
Purple tang
White cheek tang
Blue throat trigger (female)
School of Lyretail anthias (9 females 1 male)
Onyx Percula clowns and Heteractis Magnifica, (and) or long tentacle anemone
Magnificent foxface

And that would complete my fish stock list almost... still some small others i would like, but thats the majority

Package arives before 3pm tomorrow, so plan on an update video once the package arrives!!!
Now to start drawing up plans for fuge plumbing and _try_ tp get some sleep


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Why not get a Emperor angel? I seen one in person at the dentists office and its probably the most beautiful fish I've ever seen.










Oh and I wanted to ask you did you make any caves with the live rock. My friend set up his live rock so one of his yellow tangs can enter the live rock tunnel from one end of the tank and swim through the tunnel to the opposite side of the tank. man its awesome to watch.


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## Ægir

Angelfish feed on coral mainly... this tank will become a reef shortly so cant have angels... would love one but, cant

My tank is just setup so theres space between the rock and the rear for water flow, and tons of spaces to swim in and out of... i just got my package and the NEW FISH ARE ACCLIMATING

will post a vid shortly... also got some zoos, carpet anemone, "mystery" frag and some other small things... check ya in a few


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## Ægir

Everybodys in, and doing great!


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## Ægir

Quick update guys, the new fish are doing great! the tennent, powder blue, and blonde naso tangs are getting along great with the other fish... and the carpet anemone is opened up, but the clowns are yet to take interest.

On another positive note i discovered why i was having such a bad algae problem on my sand, and raised DKH levels today as well... The digital timers i use for my lights have some home security settings and other BS that i dont need, and upon activating a set time schedule it atuomatically assumes i want 3 on off cycles... which i dont, only 2 on my center lights, and one on the 175s... well around 3 am, the 400w was turning BACK ON untill around 6 am... basically i was running 16hours of halides over my tank... The raised DKH is caused by cycling of my sand bed, i dont have any fish or inverts to stir it so CO2 bubbles were building up... i stirred it lightly with a fork today, and will be adding a goby of some sorts to take care of that problem... any suggestions?


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## Ægir

Alright guys... i am officially pissed off... these scratches are driving me nuts and i have started looking for a replacement tank... time to tear it down and get something that doesnt look like sh*t in the wall

if anybody can find me a 155 bowfront for a good deal i would offer a reward... theres one on ebay with a skimmer and other shiz for 1400$, dont need that crap, a new one is 900$ so i talked to my tank guy from denver to see what he can work out but no reply yet...


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## cueball

wares these scratches i cant notice them from the pics dude looks nice


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## Ægir

cueball said:


> wares these scratches i cant notice them from the pics dude looks nice


The scratches are all over the front panel, the reason you cant see them is most of the vids are shot straight on, and i havent really shown detailed enough pics to see them... the scratches are from the previous owner using sandpaper or something to remove calcium spots, or barnacles or something because in the center of each scratch patch is a small circle... pisses me right off that i didnt see them when i drained the tank at the lfs, or at my house when i was painting the background... now they are all i can focus on

Also theres a constant flow of salt creep coming from the bottom trim, which would indicate a small leak somewhere... makes my butt pucker slightly


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## Ægir

So i still havent heart a reply from my tank guy, but odds are i will never find another bowfront for the price i want to pay... looking at replacing the bow with a 220g wide (72x30x24tall) with a starphire front panel... but that could be equally costly (700$ my cost)

so as of right now i will most likely be draining the entire system, storing all the rock and fish, and attempting to polish the scratches out myself... i spent a few hours reading about polishing glass, and found a pretty good complete system for 100$ or so, polishing discs and all. Come to think about it, this will be tons of work to accomplish in a safe period of time.... basically in a day, i will have to setup a temp tank for the fish, unload all of the rock and as much water as possible into storage bins, remove the sand and plumbing (lucky most is over the back, i will only have to cut my drain pipes) then several hours of buffing glass, followed by cutting the inner silicone seal out of the bottom and re-sealing that... 24 hours of drying with a fan, an extensive fresh water rinse and then i can start to rebuild the system... the plan is 48 hours from siphon start to topped off, talk about a crazy time lapse video









anyways i am on the fence now... either i can spend tons of money, or sacrifice tons of time working my ass off...


----------



## cueball

how much ya want to sell the brokin tank for bud,,? or should i say how much wold you sell a tank thats broke. that would make a sweet frog breeding tank


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## Ægir

cueball said:


> how much ya want to sell the brokin tank for bud,,? or should i say how much wold you sell a tank thats broke. that would make a sweet frog breeding tank


Its not broken, its simply scratched on the inside and theres a small leak in the silicone towards the bottom center of the front panel.... this tank new is 1000$ without overflows, or being drilled for drains, and i paid 500$ or so for it...

After sleeping on it i am prob going to drain it and buff the scratches myself, if i find another bowfront i will prob still repair this one, and set it up as a carbie tank or something fun... but thats in the future


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Is there a lot of very noticeable scratches? I would just overlook them if I were you thats going to be a lot of work. Plus that tank is a masterpiece I dont think anyone would be looking at the scratches.


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## nismo driver

yes i would just leave it alone until you are realy ready to just replace it.... just dont sit close to the tank and you wont notice it..


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## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> Is there a lot of very noticeable scratches? I would just overlook them if I were you thats going to be a lot of work. Plus that tank is a masterpiece I dont think anyone would be looking at the scratches.


Thats the problem, i put everything i have into creating this... and i am not going to let anything slide. i cant just "look past" something like this... The scratches are the one thing that turn this tank from a centerpiece in a high end home, to something that should be in an apartment or trailer park. i found a buffing system, and will prob be tackling the project next weekend. Also another main reason i am doing this is the salt creep on the bottom trim... tank desperately needs a re sealing... purchasing a new tank is out of the question basically, and ideally this system will stay with the house when we sell it

Another thing i fear is the scratches will prob keep the future buyer of the house from wanting to keep the system... i would rather leave the thousands of pounds of equipment and start fresh with a big check in my pocket

Also figured out how to shoot time lapse from my webcam so, i will make a video of the whole process for your entertainment


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Lol that would be a really awesome time lapse video, goodluck man!


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## nismo driver

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Is there a lot of very noticeable scratches? I would just overlook them if I were you thats going to be a lot of work. Plus that tank is a masterpiece I dont think anyone would be looking at the scratches.


Thats the problem, i put everything i have into creating this... and i am not going to let anything slide. i cant just "look past" something like this... The scratches are the one thing that turn this tank from a centerpiece in a high end home, to something that should be in an apartment or trailer park. i found a buffing system, and will prob be tackling the project next weekend. Also another main reason i am doing this is the salt creep on the bottom trim... tank desperately needs a re sealing... purchasing a new tank is out of the question basically, and ideally this system will stay with the house when we sell it

Another thing i fear is the scratches will prob keep the future buyer of the house from wanting to keep the system... i would rather leave the thousands of pounds of equipment and start fresh with a big check in my pocket

Also figured out how to shoot time lapse from my webcam so, i will make a video of the whole process for your entertainment
[/quote]

honestly i highly doubt the future buyer of the house would want the tank, there really are not that many people that wnat to take on something like a large salt water or reef system.. if any thing they might see it as a pain in the ass to clean up and get the hole in the wall filled..

unless of course a reef nut is looking to buy the house but that about as likely as being struck by lightening


----------



## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> Is there a lot of very noticeable scratches? I would just overlook them if I were you thats going to be a lot of work. Plus that tank is a masterpiece I dont think anyone would be looking at the scratches.


Thats the problem, i put everything i have into creating this... and i am not going to let anything slide. i cant just "look past" something like this... The scratches are the one thing that turn this tank from a centerpiece in a high end home, to something that should be in an apartment or trailer park. i found a buffing system, and will prob be tackling the project next weekend. Also another main reason i am doing this is the salt creep on the bottom trim... tank desperately needs a re sealing... purchasing a new tank is out of the question basically, and ideally this system will stay with the house when we sell it

Another thing i fear is the scratches will prob keep the future buyer of the house from wanting to keep the system... i would rather leave the thousands of pounds of equipment and start fresh with a big check in my pocket

Also figured out how to shoot time lapse from my webcam so, i will make a video of the whole process for your entertainment
[/quote]

honestly i highly doubt the future buyer of the house would want the tank, there really are not that many people that wnat to take on something like a large salt water or reef system.. if any thing they might see it as a pain in the ass to clean up and get the hole in the wall filled..

unless of course a reef nut is looking to buy the house but that about as likely as being struck by lightening
[/quote]

I have talked to several people, including the people we sold our last house, and they have all been for it... the key is they dont want to do the maintenance part (weekly water changes, gravel vac, emptying the skimmer etc) so basically i would get an extra paycheck each month for doing the simple sh*t, being on call 24-7 to answer questions or help with problems... and odds are the next house will be just across the culdesac so, its not a big commute or anything. And i already do that exact thing for another house across town, helped them setup a 220 gallon with a basement sump setup, and i am on call when they need me, other than that twice a month a drive up there and do a water change.

if the tank has established coral a year from now, i would prob just leave a good sized frag of everything in the tank, and take the mother colony's with me, if they wanted a reef tank... most likely i would take the bulk and it would be a FOWLR tank for the new people. and if not, i have no problems packing it all out and leaving them with a 6'x2' hole to patch...


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

how did the tear down go?


----------



## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> how did the tear down go?


Next weekend bro... this weekend i was at Warped Tour in Washington


----------



## Ægir

Quick update video guys, things are doing alright... cant decide if its worth tearing down to buff those scratches.. gunna wait it out and see what happens over the next few weeks



Still having a small problem with algae on the sand but, ordering a goby of some sorts to keep things stirred up, also ordering some sand sifting cukes, gold rim tang, another tennent tang (mine went carpet surfing) and some more green chromis... possibly some other goodies also, will let you know when they come in!


----------



## Ægir

Whats up guys? Just an update for everybody... Things are going good, going to change a few small things around and hopefully be making some BIG new additions...
Making a fish order with a few new tangs, hippo, tennent, gold rim. and a goby, 2 cucumbers to stir the sand a bit... in a few months i found an importer that can get me a few Hawaiian black tangs, and purple tangs for a reasonable price... He can also get me box lots of coral, but i dont know how i feel on importing stuff directly from the ocean

Working on getting a calcium reactor still, think i might have that under wraps.
Also working on a Ecotech Vortech Mp40 combo with wave driver









Unknown (think they are plain brown zoos)









Unknown "mystery frag" (think its frogspawn)









Rock anemone









Feeding time! (sorry for the shaky hands...)


update again when new fish arive?


----------



## Sheppard

Damn that tank is looking good! What Calcium reactor are you looking at?
Also, good call on the Ecotech Vortech Mp40!! Those things rock especially linked up with the controller. I have seen some wicked videos of them in action on you tube when they are set interchangably on the pulse setting and the waves it creates is amazing.


----------



## Ægir

I am looking at any calcium reactor i can find lightly used with co2 bottle, reg, PH controller the whole deal... but something decent, i have passed on about 20 that were rated for 150 gallons or so but that just doesnt cut it... most likely i will buy the reactor used and have to get the other parts elsewhere.. ideally i would like a precision marine or korallin... and yeah the mp40s are my alternative to an internal wavebox... the tunze is around 900$ anyways so i figure its worth it for the clean look

a few more pics with just the actinic lighting on


----------



## Ægir

Just ordered the following:
Gold rim tang, long fin sleeper goby, tennent tang, scopas tang, hippo tang, sand sifting cukes, and a little bear conch... also got some green Ricordea, chili coral (free bonus) Xenia colony, green eye zoos, and a green chromis to join the solo one i have (another free bonus)

Turning out to be a tang filled tank! Cant wait till we sell this house, or i move and i get to upgrade to something atleast 240gallons sooner..

Update video friday or sat morning depending on arrival time?


----------



## nismo driver

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Just ordered the following:
> Gold rim tang, long fin sleeper goby, tennent tang, scopas tang, hippo tang, sand sifting cukes, and a little bear conch... also got some green Ricordea, chili coral (free bonus) Xenia colony, green eye zoos, and a green chromis to join the solo one i have (another free bonus)
> 
> Turning out to be a tang filled tank! Cant wait till we sell this house, or i move and i get to upgrade to something atleast 240gallons sooner..
> 
> Update video friday or sat morning depending on arrival time?


how many tangs is that now?

some of thsoe species of tangs are algae eaters, depending on how much algae you have and how well fed teh fish are you may be able to cut back feedings a little bit and they will graze on the algae you have. on the otherhand by adding soo many fish at once to what is a relatively young tank you may continue to have algae issues until the tank adjusts to the bioload and matures.


----------



## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> Just ordered the following:
> Gold rim tang, long fin sleeper goby, tennent tang, scopas tang, hippo tang, sand sifting cukes, and a little bear conch... also got some green Ricordea, chili coral (free bonus) Xenia colony, green eye zoos, and a green chromis to join the solo one i have (another free bonus)
> 
> Turning out to be a tang filled tank! Cant wait till we sell this house, or i move and i get to upgrade to something atleast 240gallons sooner..
> 
> Update video friday or sat morning depending on arrival time?


how many tangs is that now?

some of thsoe species of tangs are algae eaters, depending on how much algae you have and how well fed teh fish are you may be able to cut back feedings a little bit and they will graze on the algae you have. on the otherhand by adding soo many fish at once to what is a relatively young tank you may continue to have algae issues until the tank adjusts to the bioload and matures.
[/quote]
No doubt the tangs all eat algae, all day long they eat off the rocks and back wall of the tank, and love the nara seaweed strips

(current)
Two yellow
Blone Naso
Powder Blue
(new)
*Tennent*
*Gold rim
Scopas
Hippo*
For a total of 8 tangs...

Coral beauty
2 False percs
Single green chromis 
are the other fish already introduced

I rarely add more than one large or two small fish per day and typically place the others in the 55 gal quarantine tank, my skimmer is hardly pushing out anything at the moment and 99% of algae growth has stopped, water params are almost perfect (Dkh is still 11, CA 480+) so that could be dropped a little but... nothing bad

Im just glad we dont have "tang police" like ReefCentral


----------



## nismo driver

why no kole or chevron tangs? those would be higher on my list then a hippo

I was going to blow the tang police whistle but i figure whats the point? your nto the worst offender anyway atleast ist a 6 foot tank and most of them are still fariiy small.

im kind of breaking some fish keeping rules with my rabbitfish in a 45 gallon but he is a slob and for the last month has been gourging him self on the distrubing amounts of algae that had been slowly taking over my tank. his belly looks like he swallowed a clownfish. he has eaten about 95 percent of the algae tank looks great now except for the red bugs that have stressed my sps severly but i have finally found a source for interceptor so i will doing a first round treatment of taht tonight ot tomorrow. then things will really be looking good.

this was pretty much at its worst, i could spend na hour removing it by hand, pull out a cup full and hardly make a noticeable dent and it would all be grown back in a day. i guess the good side was it was keeping my nutrients low but the macro in the tank was out growing the macro in the fuge. 









now you have to really look hard to find any macro in the display, its still there and would quickly take over again if teh rabbit fish wasnt dinning at the all day buffet. i will take a picture of it to night and try to post. looks uch better in terms of algae but the corals are very pale and a few have some tissue loss from teh red bugs. hiopefully they will bounce back after the treatment.


----------



## Ægir

nismo driver said:


> why no kole or chevron tangs? those would be higher on my list then a hippo
> 
> I was going to blow the tang police whistle but i figure whats the point? your nto the worst offender anyway atleast ist a 6 foot tank and most of them are still fariiy small.
> 
> im kind of breaking some fish keeping rules with my rabbitfish in a 45 gallon but he is a slob and for the last month has been gourging him self on the distrubing amounts of algae that had been slowly taking over my tank. his belly looks like he swallowed a clownfish. he has eaten about 95 percent of the algae tank looks great now except for the red bugs that have stressed my sps severly but i have finally found a source for interceptor so i will doing a first round treatment of taht tonight ot tomorrow. then things will really be looking good.


The kole and chevron tangs werent available when i made fish orders, and the hippo was a fish for mom, something she has seen in a movie and could pick out... but they are on the list, with 2 purple and 2 black tangs soon to come before 09 hopefully, and i love the red sea shoal tangs, and sailfins as well.... some black clowns a magnificent foxface, and a pair of blue throat triggers is about all i will add after that... with my skimmer running on the largest recommended pump (panworld 250ps) i figure it can keep up with the fish load, and when the tangs get larger i will find a 240 or 300gal tank... who cares if i have to cut a bigger hole in the wall?
Yeah, i am definately not worth the tang polices time, they are after the 30, 40 and 55 gallon keepers with 2 yellows no sump or skimmer style setups, and obviously space isnt a problem because they are always together in a group moving from side to side grazing... never once have i seen any of my tangs freely swim from one end of the tank to the other and back, the most they move is 2 or 3 feet at a time and continue grazing

oh and, your tank always looks good







atleast you are keeping SPS with success, and i havent gotten into much of LPS let alone SPS yet... so you are steps ahead of me for sure... i have heard of people removing everything from the tank rock wise, and placing it in the sump (if you have room) and removing remains by hand, transferring all the growth to the sump, and stocking the display with a little more rock... after time you can remove the rock in the sump and kill off the macro you cant remove by hand, and re stock the display... keeping growth in the sump or fuge is a difficult task unless you have some sort of filter on your pump

Outie! update tomorrow around 12 when the fish are in


----------



## Ægir

Just got back from a 3 day, 20 mile pack trip in the woods (will be posting some pics prob)... fish are doing great (except my gold rim tang who didn't come out of his doping from shipping) and everybody has been slowly added to the display... heres some pics of the colorful things with just the actinic on, and i will snap some more today when the 400w kicks on


















Green eye zoos, with brown zoos above









Haddoni Anemone









Rock Anemone









A video and Daylight pics soon to come


----------



## Ægir

Heres you go (note the scratches in the glass, pics 3 5 and 7 i think?)... zoos day









Blonde Naso









Curious tangs









"so are you going to feed us or what?"


















PBT (agressive ass)









Scopas tang (top)









center of tank, various fish









Left side









FT shot









More in a minute, gotta empty the memory stick... this project finally filled it up!


----------



## Ægir

Quick update video from tonight.... Trim on the viewing area is in and some other small things











Now its time to start looking into a projection system for the room, and making it a part time theater


----------



## Ægir

Anybody own a Precision marine skimmer? After reviewing my manual i have a feeling my skimmer isnt running at optimal efficiency and i am trying to find a video or pictures about dialing it in more precisely... Its the Bullet3 with a Panworld 200PS pump... thanks!

Nevermind, talked to Precision marine directly and got it worked out


----------



## Ægir

Alright guys just made another fish order







adding a powder brown tang, another gold rim tang (mine went carpet surfing) and a foxface... last night i was up until 3AM removing most of the display rock, (to weigh for possible sale, but we will get into that later) and also catching the powder blue tang that has been beating up my tennent tang, and surely responsible for the death of my first gold rim and hippo tangs... surely he chased them around until they jumped out or into the overflow









So he is in exile with the tomato clown (who did the same thing), and i will possibly consider adding him at a later date once the other fish are dominant and have established territory... or possibly not and order a new one at a later date because hes kinda an ass

Update upon fish arrival (hopefully tomorrow!)


----------



## Ægir

Whats up guys, heres a video of the small DIY project i made today (guard to keep fish out of the overflow) and the new fish... They really did it with this order! The powder brown tang they sent is BEAUTIFUL, (although its not a technical PBT its a white faced, or japan surgeon fish but they are sold as powder browns)... the foxface is quite the charecter and the gold rim looks great also... got a small zoa colony and another "mystery" coral, and already managed to drop my ricordea polyp and loose it somewhere in the tank... not worth tearing things apart for 10$ so i will let it be



Just realized you finally get to see the face behind this project... weird i havent been in any of the other videos directly


----------



## Ægir

Quick update... had a few losses in the past day and i am unsure of the cause... The first was the large powder brown, kinda a picky eater and had a rough time recovering from shipping, and the foxface, dont think stress was an issue for the foxface and he ate like a pig. I spotted the bodies in the morning and did a water test, nothing out of skew too terribly but some small rises from the dead fish. then a few days later my blonde naso died, once again a healthy eater and has been in the tank for some time. 
Kinda sucks, but we will see where the tank goes from here... thinking about selling and moving out of state at the beginning of 09


----------



## Ægir

Over 3000 views... wow! never thought that would happen!

Anyways heres an update, just got home from another week long vacation (METALLICA CONCERT!!!) and had the rents take care of the tank, simple feeding and turning on the RO to fill the topoff bin when needed... everything went smooth and seemed to go great heres an update, only thing i dont like is the algea on the sand, but i turned back my timers 30 minutes for DST cause it gets dark so early now... hopefully that helps


----------



## Ægir

So i have been thinking heavily about putting this up for sale, its something i love dearly, and have put countless hours of work into already but i am thinking about moving around the first of the year... Havent decided if i will keep enough rock to stock a 90 gal, and the livestock yet, but lets say thats the plan...

*What do you think is a fair price to list this setup for?* I estimate it would cost around 9,500$ (low ball) to setup new...not including freight for the tanks, plumbing parts, lumber for the stand, and thats _if you set the entire thing up yourself_ and found a great deal on live rock locally... I think i have around 5,300$ into it,(and have receipts for most of it, minus the tank, sump, and all the things i got from the LFS) once again not including plumbing parts, time (3 days of tearing down a local LFS, and trading my 8" xingu rhom) and all of the time i put into the 14 day total setup...

I am almost positive it wouldnt sell locally for a reasonable price, unless i parted it out, so i would prob post on ebay, and craigslist for a state in each direction and provide delivery for a charge.... and in no way do i expect to make my money back, i am quite aware thats not how things work in this hobby









*Display*---- AGA 155 Bowfront --- 900$ (w/o overflows, drains around 1200 with)
*Sump*--- 125gallon 1/2" glass --- 250$ (if you found a used one)

*Rock*--- Mixed figi, tonga branch, other 350-400lbs (on ebay 50lbs is 171$ or 3.40 per lb shipped, but is 7$ local)
Rubble--- 200-250 lbs (3$ per lb local)
Live Sand--- 150lbs (1.50 per lb local)

*Pumps*
several mag drive 9s, 12
Jeabo Return--- ---260$
PanWorls 250PS --- skimmer--- 263.99$
MJ 600s --- ---31.98$
*
RO/DI 6 stage* --- 300$
Floats --- 46.99
*
2 Little fishes reactors *--- 63.98$
carbon, phosban media --- 65$

*3x175W MH ballast* --- 325$
Sockets --- 90$
Ushio 14K Bulbs --- 150$

*400W MH ballast* ---225$
Bulb ---87.99

*Reflectors *--- Spiderlight ---150$

*IceCap 660* --- 124.99$
Sockets --- German 3 piece --- 39.96$
Bulbs --- Super Actinic --- 83.96$

*Fantech Exhaust Fan*--- 140$

*Skimmer* --- Precision Marine Bullet 3 --- 540.00$
Collection cup --- Precision marine --- 117.99$

*ATO* --- 80$
Storage bins --- 40$

Venturi for returns --- 47.96$

*Fish*
2 yellow tangs
Coral beauty
Clowns
Tennent tang
Scopas Tang

*Corals*
Torch
Fire
Xenia

*Zoas*
Green Eye 40 heads
Clay large 20 heads
Mixed 100+ heads
Pink Eye 20 heads

*Anemones* 
Haddoni carpet
Rock

Plus all the kent marine aditives, test kits, and misc BS you accumulate with things like this...

Thanks guys, ANY INPUT OR TANKS FOR SALE I COULD COMPARE THIS TO WOULD BE GREAT!


----------



## nataz

WOW !!! dude you have a kick a** display, Sorry to hear you put it up for sale. You pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said something about parting it out. It suck but you'll safe it faster. You might want to try and find a local reefclub or one in a state near by, alot of times they guys there will go in as a group and divide it up. Best of luck, Hate to say it but you probably now where to post it if you want to move your stuff fast.


----------



## nataz

Heres a setup for sale that might give you some ideas and all, its not a bowfront and 5 gallons smaller.

150 gallon tall full reef set-up f/s 
I am going to sell my reef tank because I have too many expensive hobbies and spend the rest of the time at work. I am willing to sell the entire set-up plus all the extras I can find for $2300 or I will trade for an old car (1927 - 1969) or a 1970's style trike. If you want the tank you will need at least 4 -6 people to carry it. There is a ton of stuff to list and I'm sure I'll forget something but here it goes:

150 gallon extra tall Oceanic Aquarium (48 x 24 x 30)
-glass center brace
-overflow on center of right side
-custom overflow cover
-drilled for a closed loop (6 times w/ 1 inlet, 1 continuous flow outlet and 4 alternating outlets) includes Loc-Line and an Oceans Motions Squirt and a Pan World 50PX-X Water Pump (1110 gph) for circulation
-40 inch tall custom built dark wood stand with 3 access doors (2 front and one side)
-48" Current Orbit Pro Series light fixture (2 250 watt14k Phoenix bulbs that are 6 months old)

40 gallon breeder sump/fuge (36 x 18 x 16)
-baffled with a compartment for live sand and chaeto
-20" 96 watt Coralife PC light
-2 acrylic filter sock holders (8 filter socks thrown in)
-Mag 9.5 return pump
-6 Phosban Reactors (3 used for carbon and 3 for GFO)
-Quiet One 1200 
-Maxi-Jet 400
-Bermuda Aquatics 3C skimmer w/ pump

Livestock
-150 - 200 lbs. of live rock (Marco Tonga rock and Fiji)
-150 lbs. of live sand plus 2 unopened 40 lb.bags (40 lbs. of crushed coral and 40 lbs. of Caribsea Seaflor Special grade)
-Chalk Basslet
-Midas Blenny
-Mystery Wrasse
-Black Clown Goby
-Peppermint (Masudai) Hogfish
-Green "Coris" Wrasse
-Yellow "Coris" Wrasse
-Large Powder Blue Tang
-Large Long Nosed Butterfly
-A few large SPS colonies (including one immense Blue Tort and a large albeit browned out Tyree Soli colony)
-small frags of Rainbow and Sunset Monti
-Frogspawn
-misc. zoanthids (AOG, Darth Maul, EE's...)
-Branching Hammer
-tons of Ricordea (yuma and florida 20 - 25 easy: green, orange, blue, orange and blue, rainbow, gold and purple blah blah blah)
-Clove Polyps
-Xenia
-Rhodactis (including 1 Superman)
-Favia
-small Micromussa colony
-Torch
-Purple Gorgonians
-Candycane
-2 small Chalices (1 pink and 1 teal)
-1 small orange Acan
-10 head Duncan
-teardrop Maxima
-hermit crabs
-snails
-Chaeto
-Mangrove
-Peppermint Shrimp
-Ring Cowries

Miscellaneous
-500 watt Aquamedic Biotherm titanium heater element with brand new controller
-100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank
-50 gallon Brute trashcan
-20 gallon water barrel
-Quiet One 4000 used for water changes
-misc. heaters and powerheads
-a lot of GFO from Get Tanked
-a couple of pounds of carbon from Get Tanked
-2 adjustable metal braces to put under your floor to support the tank
-Spectrapure RO/DI
-Seio 1200 with Sure-Grip Magnet
-DJ Power Center
-Coralife Dual Timer
-Mag-Float
-lab grade glass thermometer
-refractometer
-All plumbing included

I am quite sure I am forgetting something so I will post on here with updates. I am not parting this out!! All requests to part out will be ignored at this time. It is well worth the price. Feel free to PM me with any questions. Pics available upon request. Please only reply in original post or by PM.


----------



## Ægir

nataz said:


> WOW !!! dude you have a kick a** display, Sorry to hear you put it up for sale. You pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said something about parting it out. It suck but you'll safe it faster. You might want to try and find a local reefclub or one in a state near by, alot of times they guys there will go in as a group and divide it up. Best of luck, Hate to say it but you probably now where to post it if you want to move your stuff fast.


Thanks for the reply man, it does suck, but with the money i could better my life instead of just having a kick ass fish tank... i am looking for any clubs within a few states, and will prop post a similar topic as this at RC and see what kinda feedback i get...

DAMN man, that 150 you posted is almost identical, except he has a larger (and more valuable) coral collection, and 6 reactors? wtf would you need 6 reactors for? anyways thanks again!


----------



## nataz

Np !!! I here you on the money thing, one thing I have noticed about a hobby you really enjoy is it can and usually becomes a money pit. Sh*t aim HIGH and take off RUNNING, from what I have read on this site from you your are a very intelligent person and will excel when faced with a challenge. BEST of luck to you and I hope everything works out and you are able to better yourself and future!!!


----------



## Ægir

nataz said:


> Np !!! I here you on the money thing, one thing I have noticed about a hobby you really enjoy is it can and usually becomes a money pit. Sh*t aim HIGH and take off RUNNING, from what I have read on this site from you your are a very intelligent person and will excel when faced with a challenge. BEST of luck to you and I hope everything works out and you are able to better yourself and future!!!


Thanks man... I will prob post a few adds this week and see where things go... The good news is everything is growing like a weed, the Xenia has split 3 or 4 times, the zoos are blowing up... even the torch has doubled in size almost!


----------



## Ægir

Couple quick update vids, dunno why its so shaky... maybe i was having a seizure or something?

Update

Feeding time...


Sorry again for the crappy vid? maybe a re shoot is in order


----------



## snakehead rock

one of the boomest SW setups i have ever seen







keep up the good work


----------



## Ægir

Matty125 said:


> one of the *boomest* SW setups i have ever seen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> keep up the good work


I will assume you were going for "Bomb-est" there, and ill take that as a double compliment








Thanks man

UD
Just got home from Denver again, tank is the way i left it a week ago other than some noticeable growth on the Xenia and zoas.... Why doesnt my damn xenia grow bigger, instead of splitting into smaller stalks? its going to be annoying removing them down the road and i now understand how it got the nickname "reef weed"

Fish are doing good as well, havent had any losses after the 3 tangs and foxface bit the dust, so i will possibly make a fish order shortly?


----------



## Ægir

Got an order in last night... Some new fuzzy mushrooms, purple zoas, and a few fish: Another foxface, PBT and finally a female blue throat trigger! I will get some pics up shortly?


----------



## Ægir

been in denver for a few days, Got a call from the parents at 3 am... KABOOM the skimmer pump blew a fitting and in the 20 seconds it was spraying water down the wall into outlets it emptied around 20 gallons of water onto the floor... lucky it kicked off the ATO and didnt flood my tank with fresh water, burn out the skimmer pump or cause a fire... Dad has a handle on things now, but this is a REAL test for them caring for the tank when i am gone... if things come out alive and running i am sure almost anything could be handled from here out.


----------



## lo4life

Thats crazy. Let us know how everything is going!


----------



## Ægir

lo4life said:


> Thats crazy. Let us know how everything is going!


Called to check on things... my dad spent 6 hours cleaning up water and straightening things out, and replaced the coupler with a true union, the only thing making me nervous now is the fact he only let the glue dry for a few hours instead of waiting overnight like i asked... i am not doubting his knowledge in plumbing, or anything like that, its just the thought of PVC glue nuking my tank if it isnt totally dry

Anyways i have hardly slept the past 2 days cause of this, and as of last night everything was running somewhat within spec so now to work on getting the salinity up a touch (its at 1.022) and make sure the skimmer is running correctly... i get home thursday night so

Could have been far worse


----------



## AKSkirmish

Damn man-You got lucky their-----Glad things got worked out for ya.


----------



## lo4life

Hopefully everything will be alright till you get there and get everything under control. Your tank is awsome. I read this thread from this first post and the progress that you have made since you started this project is mind blowing.


----------



## Ægir

lo4life said:


> Hopefully everything will be alright till you get there and get everything under control. Your tank is awsome. I read this thread from this first post and the progress that you have made since you started this project is mind blowing.


Thanks man, it was tons of work to pull together, and i have been extremely blessed and fortunate to have things fall into place like they did... and more fortunate to not have lost more to this point. Taking every potential little thing into account, and over build everything you can within your budget... its common to hear about skimped things like skimmers and plumbing jobs going wrong, when you could have spent the extra 10$ and saved all that hassle in the first place

Hands down the second most important thing in this hobby (after READING) is to not cut corners, or use botch plumbing fittings just to save a trip to home depot... no more hard repair couplers for me, only true unions


----------



## lo4life

We have all did the same thing just to get our tanks up and running. Bad thing is that stupid stuff does happen. Live and learn I guess.. But keep us updated on everything.. Like to see your thread up there with something new added to it or just new pics or vids..


----------



## Ægir

Got home at midnight last night after a terrible flight... came home to access the damage and to my surprise other than a small algae bloom on the sand (same purple slime crap as always) there was literally nothing that was affected... thank god for my dad being somewhat savvy with this fishtank thing, and knowing how to do some plumbing saved my ass... I guess the small blue rug in the doorway was holding back an inch of water from making it to the carpet...

It got me thinking again what a burden this is on my family when i am out of town, and once again i am contemplating doing something to lighten the load (either break down and sell it, or get a controller that allows me to monitor EVERYTHING from the web and having atleast 2 cameras and water sensors)

Now i am working on a new DIY project that i think will be really cool, and completely eliminate the entire algae problem :rasp:

So i will be sure to take DETAILED pics this time (unlike "operation overdrive" and the sprinkler head DIY) and keep you guys posted! today i am also having my 55 quarantine tank drilled for 2 drains, so i can hook up my sump again (sold my overflow box to a friend to force myself to get it done) so it will be a busy day... i will post pics shortly


----------



## Ægir

Allright guys, been hard at work on the room today... ditched the 55 gallon quarantine tank for a while because despite what the sticker on the bottom says the entire tank is tempered glass, so no drilling, no sump... just a 10 gallon "nano" haha... anyways cleaned things up a bit and got 99% of my DIY done as well... just waiting on my ocean pulse duo from a friend to create the tidal surge i am looking for







and i will make a separate write up for everybody...

Tanks gone...









Thought this was a cool picture... yeah thats a full size DeWalt 18v drill :laugh: TOWER OF POWER









Opened up work room between the shelves, and stashed the ATO and mixing bins under the stand









Plumbing shot :nod: 









Tomorrow i will do the write up on the "turf algae" filter i built... hopefully will help with the problem everyone seems to have and it was a 20$ DIY that took less than an hour...


----------



## Ægir

Finished my Turf Algae Scrubber today! time will tell if it is a good thing or bad... we will see! You can learn how to build one by going to the DIY build topic i created earlier: CLICKY!



Dont dis on my icecap box stand... need to boost that shelf up a little, and also paint my skimmer tower black... i have a feeling that 18hours of light near my skimmer tube will not help with the crap that grows in there







but... i can custom paint my 600$ skimmer now


----------



## titan505

wtf thats sick u can do that


----------



## Ægir

getin dachopuh said:


> wtf thats sick u can do that


Thanks! Dont know what you were going for with "do that" (the DIY, the tank, or the whole build itself?) but i do know that "sick" is a good thing...


----------



## Ægir

Full tank


----------



## Ægir

Things are going good in the tank, the turf algae scrubber is taking off, and i just noticed that my first DIY sprinkler head crapped out, which is longer than i expected with what i am using them for.... sad to say tomorrow i am planing to put it up for sale... if anybody shows interest and i dont have to take a slaughtering on what i have into it, i will let it go. Its a sad day, but it wont be the end of my saltwater hobby...

I would just like to give a BIG thanks to everybody who helped with this build, to everybody who gave me the encouragement and advice to pull it off, and even to the people who just read and didnt leave comments... What i have learned on this journey will continue to fuel the fire and who knows what my next project will be? I will post a link tomorrow when i post it, and who knows, maybe be willing to part some things out if i dont have any takers

Thanks again guys









Timeline....
April 16









June 11 was the beginning of the build...


June 14, tank and lighting in place


June 23, plumbing done RODI filling of tank... 


June 25, running system with live rock


June 29, Fish in... 


18 days.... not bad for one person?


----------



## Ægir

Just a shot showing growth...








Then








Now









And an update video, during feeding time tonight... containing just about everything thats in my tank


----------



## stevedave

Man I want your tank!

Great job once again.


----------



## Ægir

stevedave said:


> Man I want your tank!
> 
> Great job once again.


Thanks man!

actually it is posted for sale right now locally so you could have it for the right price... i am pretty sure you could make the drive back home and keep everything alive :laugh:


----------



## Guest

I've only gone through the last few most recent pages, but this is a nice little project Skunk.

PS how old are you? Do you own this place?


----------



## Ægir

DannyBoy17 said:


> I've only gone through the last few most recent pages, but this is a nice little project Skunk.
> 
> PS how old are you? Do you own this place?


Thanks man!

I am a 24 year old, who is attending college... The house is my parents, actually building houses is what my dad and I do, and my mom is a realestate agent... so about every 2 years we build a new house and move. ( i think this is house number 5?) Its awesome to learn everything that goes into a house from digging the hole up to laying shingles and finish work. And i was lucky enough to talk them into giving me a room for this project, and leaving an unfinished 6' x 2' hole in the wall until long after we moved in... I just wish this project could have been on their budget and funding, not mine


----------



## Guest

Very nice!

I probably missed it earlier but what lights are you runnin on this beast?


----------



## Ægir

DannyBoy17 said:


> Very nice!
> 
> I probably missed it earlier but what lights are you runnin on this beast?


I think its like 1080 total watts now, sometimes after working all day in the fish room the back of my neck gets a sun burn :laugh: Originally it was 3x 175w halides and i beefed that up shortly after by adding a 400w in the center, and an Icecap 660 to power 3 110w Super Actinic bulbs... as for bulbs i am running Ushio 14K on the sides, and an SPS 10K in the middle

If i ever start a frag tank, or find a good reason i can use the extra lead from the 175w ballast to power one more bulb

4000 views!


----------



## Ægir

Couple quick pictures from tonight, changed some rock around...



















uploading a few more right now


----------



## Murphy18

Just....Wow!. I only wish i had the knowledge and cash to setup something like this.

Truly is a beautiful tank, well done sir


----------



## Ægir

Murphy18 said:


> Just....Wow!. I only wish i had the knowledge and cash to setup something like this.
> 
> Truly is a beautiful tank, well done sir


Thanks for the compliments! Start researching and you will realize its not as scary as you think... i was quite intimidated before i set up my first saltwater tank, and realized after a few months of reading its not as complicated as i thought, its just nothing like fresh water which was the staple of my knowledge at the time. Dont let it spook you away, def one of the more enjoyable things i have ever built in my life... and the compliments from other people really drive it home


----------



## Ægir

Shitty day, went to feed the fish this morning and noticed my "star player" hadnt shown up to eat... After an hour of searching i found my BlueJaw Trigger pretty much dried up and the bottom of my mixing bin... I will admit it was quite the gap from the tank to the bin, but i just wish there was some water in the bottom









Here you can see how amazing it actually was... from the top right corner, into the closest garbage can UNDER A STAND









F*** S*** A** B**** C***

Man i liked that fish, really sucks ass


----------



## Ægir

So i was just doing the weekly water-change and cleaning things out a bit... when all of a sudden i saw something out of the corner of my eye... sorry for the bad vid, i had to RUN and grab the point and shoot camera.. middle of the screen you see a few "poofs"

I think its some sort of snail spawning and releasing eggs or sperm? Pretty cool to see... i was amazed something like that happens in my fish tank!!

FTS with flash









Laying on the floor... as you can see no legs support the front of the tank giving the hanging out of the wall "free floating" look...









Skimate that blocks the sun!









I will get some more tonight when just the actinics are on


----------



## Avatar~God

Bloody hell man, probably one of the best setups ive seen not just the rock work but the plumbing and all that as well. My brother and I just set up a 150 saltwater and put a few damsels to get things going and you make my tank look like child's play haha.

How's cleaning the algae on the front bottom of your tank? I know my work sells these algae pads on like a rod that I use for my tank. I clean tanks for people who go to my work and this lady has a 55 in her wall and behind her tank there was just enough room for me to walk in there, no joke my shoulders touched both sides of the wall but cleaning the tank was a pain reaching in from behind like that scrubbing the front side.


----------



## Ægir

Avatar~God said:


> Bloody hell man, probably one of the best setups ive seen not just the rock work but the plumbing and all that as well. My brother and I just set up a 150 saltwater and put a few damsels to get things going and you make my tank look like child's play haha.
> 
> How's cleaning the algae on the front bottom of your tank? I know my work sells these algae pads on like a rod that I use for my tank. I clean tanks for people who go to my work and this lady has a 55 in her wall and behind her tank there was just enough room for me to walk in there, no joke my shoulders touched both sides of the wall but cleaning the tank was a pain reaching in from behind like that scrubbing the front side.


Thanks man! This is the first large scale tank i have done for myself, and it seems the rock moved about weekly until recently... my other "biggest" tanks have been 55gals max so i tried to set a good standard with this (approx 220gal total vol) in wall for projects to come... Because then entire bow front sticks out from the wall i just reach in from the viewing side, its only 24" deep so its about 3/4 arm to reach the sand, i do virtually no cleaning from the back room, only check the water bin for topoff, the skimmer etc... i just setup a "turf algae scrubber" that has been working out great for me... so i only clean the glass about every 3 weeks now, with a razor blade mostly (check it out in the DIY forum, as well as my plumbing explained!)... occasional mag-float if i see something i dont like

Soon to come is a good LPS/SPS stock (10 more frags) and i have been eying a CA reactor and controller (RKElite) but cant justify it when i am dosing 2 part with pretty good results... i know that it will take that when the frags grow into colonies, but that is a good time to save up!

In the far future i would like to find a 72"Lx36"wx24"h acrylic tank for this hole, incorporating the same stand with the bow cut off the front and trim moved in a bit... the extra 12" depth into the room would get better use of my lighting system, and give far more swimming room for my fish. the bow front is cool, but causes weird flow patterns with 6000+gph... next time i will go closed loop plumbed in, with more linear overflow to reduce noise from my drain (allowing me to keep the door open in the summer)

You should get some pics of your setup in the forum!


----------



## Avatar~God

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Bloody hell man, probably one of the best setups ive seen not just the rock work but the plumbing and all that as well. My brother and I just set up a 150 saltwater and put a few damsels to get things going and you make my tank look like child's play haha.
> 
> How's cleaning the algae on the front bottom of your tank? I know my work sells these algae pads on like a rod that I use for my tank. I clean tanks for people who go to my work and this lady has a 55 in her wall and behind her tank there was just enough room for me to walk in there, no joke my shoulders touched both sides of the wall but cleaning the tank was a pain reaching in from behind like that scrubbing the front side.


Thanks man! This is the first large scale tank i have done for myself, and it seems the rock moved about weekly until recently... my other "biggest" tanks have been 55gals max so i tried to set a good standard with this (approx 220gal total vol) in wall for projects to come... Because then entire bow front sticks out from the wall i just reach in from the viewing side, its only 24" deep so its about 3/4 arm to reach the sand, i do virtually no cleaning from the back room, only check the water bin for topoff, the skimmer etc... i just setup a "turf algae scrubber" that has been working out great for me... so i only clean the glass about every 3 weeks now, with a razor blade mostly (check it out in the DIY forum, as well as my plumbing explained!)... occasional mag-float if i see something i dont like

Soon to come is a good LPS/SPS stock (10 more frags) and i have been eying a CA reactor and controller (RKElite) but cant justify it when i am dosing 2 part with pretty good results... i know that it will take that when the frags grow into colonies, but that is a good time to save up!

In the far future i would like to find a 72"Lx36"wx24"h acrylic tank for this hole, incorporating the same stand with the bow cut off the front and trim moved in a bit... the extra 12" depth into the room would get better use of my lighting system, and give far more swimming room for my fish. the bow front is cool, but causes weird flow patterns with 6000+gph... next time i will go closed loop plumbed in, with more linear overflow to reduce noise from my drain (allowing me to keep the door open in the summer)

You should get some pics of your setup in the forum!








[/quote]

Really nice man, I've always been a fan of bow's but I always wondered how that would affect current in the tank.

I'll get pics up when I'm done with the rock work, Cost like 4 bucks a pound so it will be an easy 200 bucks to make the tank look nice. Still contemplating on what kind of coral's to go with, I dont even know what sorta fish I want to drop in there yet. After about a month of these damsels swimming around and doing their thing I'm going to scoop them out and start stocking it.

My main issue right now is lighting though, I ended up picking up a fixture plus bulbs but didn't think of how I was going to rig it up. My first thought was to have it hanging from the ceiling with chains (sorta like what you see at lfs). BUT the tank is in the basement and we have ceiling tiles and I'm not sure how well it will hold the weight of the fixture. I was thinking about picking up a shelving unit that is attached to the wall and use that to hold the fixture. Time will tell haha


----------



## Ægir

Avatar~God said:


> Bloody hell man, probably one of the best setups ive seen not just the rock work but the plumbing and all that as well. My brother and I just set up a 150 saltwater and put a few damsels to get things going and you make my tank look like child's play haha.
> 
> How's cleaning the algae on the front bottom of your tank? I know my work sells these algae pads on like a rod that I use for my tank. I clean tanks for people who go to my work and this lady has a 55 in her wall and behind her tank there was just enough room for me to walk in there, no joke my shoulders touched both sides of the wall but cleaning the tank was a pain reaching in from behind like that scrubbing the front side.


Thanks man! This is the first large scale tank i have done for myself, and it seems the rock moved about weekly until recently... my other "biggest" tanks have been 55gals max so i tried to set a good standard with this (approx 220gal total vol) in wall for projects to come... Because then entire bow front sticks out from the wall i just reach in from the viewing side, its only 24" deep so its about 3/4 arm to reach the sand, i do virtually no cleaning from the back room, only check the water bin for topoff, the skimmer etc... i just setup a "turf algae scrubber" that has been working out great for me... so i only clean the glass about every 3 weeks now, with a razor blade mostly (check it out in the DIY forum, as well as my plumbing explained!)... occasional mag-float if i see something i dont like

Soon to come is a good LPS/SPS stock (10 more frags) and i have been eying a CA reactor and controller (RKElite) but cant justify it when i am dosing 2 part with pretty good results... i know that it will take that when the frags grow into colonies, but that is a good time to save up!

In the far future i would like to find a 72"Lx36"wx24"h acrylic tank for this hole, incorporating the same stand with the bow cut off the front and trim moved in a bit... the extra 12" depth into the room would get better use of my lighting system, and give far more swimming room for my fish. the bow front is cool, but causes weird flow patterns with 6000+gph... next time i will go closed loop plumbed in, with more linear overflow to reduce noise from my drain (allowing me to keep the door open in the summer)

You should get some pics of your setup in the forum!








[/quote]

Really nice man, I've always been a fan of bow's but I always wondered how that would affect current in the tank.

I'll get pics up when I'm done with the rock work, Cost like 4 bucks a pound so it will be an easy 200 bucks to make the tank look nice. Still contemplating on what kind of coral's to go with, I dont even know what sorta fish I want to drop in there yet. After about a month of these damsels swimming around and doing their thing I'm going to scoop them out and start stocking it.

My main issue right now is lighting though, I ended up picking up a fixture plus bulbs but didn't think of how I was going to rig it up. My first thought was to have it hanging from the ceiling with chains (sorta like what you see at lfs). BUT the tank is in the basement and we have ceiling tiles and I'm not sure how well it will hold the weight of the fixture. I was thinking about picking up a shelving unit that is attached to the wall and use that to hold the fixture. Time will tell haha
[/quote]

I wouldnt get too attached to your rock stacking if you are removing the damsels... i guarantee you will have to remove every rock in the tank to catch the bastards... you are lucky to get rock for 4$lb, its around 7-10 here!

And as for hanging your light fixture, if i understand what you are saying with "ceiling tiles" you are talking about suspended ceiling with the styrofoam drop in panels? you will have to remove a tile, attach the chains to your floor joists inside, and then drop the chains through a hole in the ceiling tile... should be sturdy enough!


----------



## Ægir

Test results for tonight!

Nitrate: untraceable
Nitrite: untraceable
Phosphate: untraceable
Ammonia: untraceable 
SG 1.025 strong
Calcium 420 (







)
Dkh 10

just ordered 2 boxes of reef crystals, kent marine tech M, and a magnesium test kit... i suspect low mag is contributing to the small amount of nuisance algae still remaining.

Also just found out i will be spending 2 weeks in Panama, with my family so i have to train somebody new to take care of my tank... keep your fingers crossed nothing happens!


----------



## Ægir

Leaving for panama tomorrow, somebody who has never owned a fish tank is going to be staying at our house. I will be gone for 2 weeks, and am kinda nervous about the whole thing... seems like every time im not around something major happens (last time i was in denver, a union blew on the skimmer pump and drained around 25 or 30 gallons onto the wall and into outlets) but hopefully everything runs smooth! I am typing a "book" about maintainance, daily things to look for with a check list, also color coding plugs in the back room to make things easier. Basically i have to make it simple enough for a 3 yr old, and have plans for various scenarios laid out...

I WISH i had a controller of some sorts, that would allow me to monitor and control things from the interwebs or my phone!

Will post an update pics and params shortly... working on a few things for the moment!


----------



## His Majesty

love your tank. looks nice and neat


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> love your tank. looks nice and neat


Thanks man, i tried to keep it as organized and junk free as possible 









Just talked to the "fish keeper" while i am away, and everything is going great so far! only one week left of vacation then i will know for sure...

Definitely going to try and pick up some cool rock snorkeling, and a baggie of sand to add from the beach....


----------



## Ægir

Just got home from my 2 week vacation... because my brother couldnt come with he ended up taking care of the tank, instead of the house sitter. Needless to say, im quite impressed... It looks better than when i left! I attribute a good part of that to the 100+ gals of water i changed but, atleast after that it doesnt look worse?










RIGHT









LEFT









The only problem i had, was due to my dumbass being in a hurry to get on the plane... Had a malfunction in the timer on the TAS







So there was a good part of dieoff, but for the most part the halides kept one side green. I expect a full recovery!

Props to my little bro for doing a great job









I also brought home some sand from the two beaches we were on, i try to add some from every vacation so my "ocean" at home has a part of the places i have been. Bahamas, Panama (both coastal sides), Hawaii... Just to remind me where i have been when i look at my tank.


----------



## His Majesty

yeah taking vacation can be a real killer sometimes. gives most aquarists a slight heart attack everytime they go away.

id be careful with the sand. you might inadvertently introduce some bad bacteria or what not and kill your whole tank. i like your idea but i wouldn't risk it just in case one time it does mess it all up.

keep the good work up though. you gonna replace that bluejaw?

keep us updated


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> yeah taking vacation can be a real killer sometimes. gives most aquarists a slight heart attack everytime they go away.
> 
> id be careful with the sand. you might inadvertently introduce some bad bacteria or what not and kill your whole tank. i like your idea but i wouldn't risk it just in case one time it does mess it all up.
> 
> keep the good work up though. you gonna replace that bluejaw?
> 
> keep us updated


I have pretty good faith on my family watching the tank, but when we are all supposed to go it made me a bit shaky... I wrote up a day by day planner, and about 6 pages of instruction so that a 5th grader could have prob done it. And lucky for me, but sadly for him, my brothers passport got denied when we went to leave, expired by 2 days! So he ended up in charge... and once again props for the great work!

The sand was completely dry, and no less than 120 degrees sitting in the sun... Sometimes during the day it was so hot you couldnt walk on it barefoot or in flip-flops, and it melted the bottom of my plastic beer cup... im not too worried about it containing anything living and just to be sure i will nuke it in the oven. I think my biggest worries would be parts of a cigarette from the assholes that threw their butts on the beach, and most wood/grass debris floated to the top when i rinsed it.

I am trying to find a male/female pair of bluejaws to replace her, still somewhat hard to find. I think i would like to buy a Vortech Mp40w and a controller first, and transition this into more of a reef with some SPS/ LPS... right now i only have zoos and mushrooms with the exception of the torch coral which is doing great!

On a more positive note, we may be building a new house... talking to my dad about going with Solar tubes, and panels to cut the cost of operation, and you can bet on a large upgrade on the tank. Im thinking atleast 6x3x2 (LxWxH) acrylic, with a wavebox and some other neat things... look for a new build thread in the future, and i will keep you guys posted!


----------



## Ægir

Test results from after my vacation: Mostly untraceable on my test kit








Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
PH 8.4
Ca 420
DkH 8-9 finally down from 11

And the TAS (Turf Algae Scrubber) is up and slightly growing again, mostly back to green... I noticed it was a pod breeding ground when the lights were off for almost 2 weeks, i flicked it on and they all scattered, watched lots go into my sump/return pump from the TAS drain...


----------



## Puff

good to see there were no ill effects from leaving a reef newbie in charge. i made that mistake one time and came home to some sh*t.lol. i just recently got the rust brown flatworm explosion in check...they arrived not this past august...but the previous one!

that video you posted of the "poofs" definitely look like stomatella spawning. ive had them spawn in my tank and it is identical.

tank looks awesome man.


----------



## Ægir

Puff said:


> good to see there were no ill effects from leaving a reef newbie in charge. i made that mistake one time and came home to some sh*t.lol. i just recently got the rust brown flatworm explosion in check...they arrived not this past august...but the previous one!
> 
> that video you posted of the "poofs" definitely look like stomatella spawning. ive had them spawn in my tank and it is identical.
> 
> tank looks awesome man.


My brother pays attention atleast, he knows it would kill me a little bit inside if anything happened so... plus being a phone call away really helps

Yeah it was either a stomatella or one of my sand sifting crabs.. i couldnt tell because it was hiding mostly under one of my zoa frag rocks... cool either way!

Thanks for the compliment...

I am going to be placing another fish order tonight, thinking of a few more tangs (another yellow to make 3, the 2 i have are fighting for dominance) and maybe another two scopas tangs (to make 3 of those)... a sand sifting goby, maybe a few more chromis to join the single that survived my tomato clown, and more snails (yeah my hermit crabs are buttholes that kill snails) to sift my sand and clean the glass on the rear (my two huge turbos cant keep up) who knows what else i will see so i will be posting an update when they are in!

Does anybody who might read this think i will have problems adding another dwarf angel in my tank (a flame angel, with my existing coral beauty)? i know they are prone to fighting, but what are the odds in a larger tank with two small fish?

Also trying to con my dad into buying an Ecotech Vortech MP40w wavemaker


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

About 6 stomatella just popped out in my 10 gallon out of no where, haven't added or done anything new to the tank for months.


----------



## Ægir

E-THUG said:


> About 6 stomatella just popped out in my 10 gallon out of no where, haven't added or done anything new to the tank for months.


Prob in your live rock / sand or something?

Made my fish order, should be here tomorrow?

Ordered a cleaner shrimp (was on sale 1/2 price) 2 Scopas tangs, 30 snails (10 each turbo, nassarius, certh) to help with that remaining algae problem and replace the snails my butthole hermits killed... A bullet goby to sift sand, an ORA staghorn frag to see how it does, a "mystery frag", and got a bicolor blenny as a free gift! If he is small, i will prob put him in my 10 gal tank.... I think that is all, and i will post an update when they arrive with LOTS o Pictures

Also tomorrow im going to SCRAP my Turf Algae Scrubber, and build a refugium that fits in my sump and is fed by my drain to save power... I will post pics of that and a good DIY writeup of that as well?


----------



## Ægir

Working on better pics, heres some i took today!

Scripps Green Tip Staghorn









Can you spot the blenny? 









Same pic, without the blenny to help...









Green mushroom colony









Rock Anemone









New Zoa colony, kinda red and the caps are green









I will get more in the daylight tomorrow


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Looks great man, Its been more than a year into it now and its awesome reading this thread and seeing all the changes.


----------



## Ægir

E-THUG said:


> Looks great man, Its been more than a year into it now and its awesome reading this thread and seeing all the changes.


Yeah, its been an amazing learning experience as well... Hopefully have another project in the works for our new house, that will blow this one away. Regardless, the tank is completely stable and mature now, and i feel more comfortable adding some SPS and LPS corals to let this thing grow out. Paying for the lighting electrical bill is pointless if i dont.. Hopefully some upgrades and a good coral stock will be in the near future


----------



## His Majesty

everythings looking great.
nice work.

i love setting up a new tank and watching it develop as time goes by. really cool and rewarding when you look back on what you started.


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> everythings looking great.
> nice work.
> 
> i love setting up a new tank and watching it develop as time goes by. really cool and rewarding when you look back on what you started.


Yeah, like i said the progress i have made, and things i have learned about this hobby really surprise me... I was intimidated by the whole saltwater thing when this project started, and now finally am seeing the payoff of all the reading, and countless hours of work i have put in.

Heres the tangs going crazy for the seaweed clip...


----------



## His Majesty

great video thanks for posting
all your fish look happy and healthy.

and i love the last bit with the dog







he looks so bored

one again awesome setup. nice work


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> great video thanks for posting
> all your fish look happy and healthy.
> 
> and i love the last bit with the dog
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> he looks so bored
> 
> one again awesome setup. nice work


Yeah, they dont screw around with the seaweed clip... As for the dog... not bored just jealous i was watching the fish and not her :laugh:

Thanks for the compliment


----------



## Ægir

So, my wonderful project is about to take a huge turn within the next few months.... All i will really say is: Bigger tank, Starphire front panel, better flow (closed loop and Vortech), Controller, Ca/ Kalk reactor in the mix possibly as well....

I will try to capture some screenshots of the tank i am designing, this is my first time using google sketchup so cut me some slack :rasp:

The tank will be 6' L x 30" deep (or 36" depending on what i do with the stand) 25" tall, Starphire front panel... 5/8" thick glass everywhere except the overflow box, and the euro bracing around the top and bottom (that will be 1/2")... The back panel has an external overflow box, with 4 drain holes and 2 returns... 2 more returns in the rear euro brace for eductors, or wavy-seas? Also there is a hole for a 1.5" drain and 4 1" returns (closed loop powered by a Reeflow dart and Oceans motions 4 way) and possibly 2 SCWDs on the sump returns (they make them in 1" now!!!!)

Back









Corner









End









Top rear









Top front









As you can see, the tank will be over built somewhat... i have double bracing around the top, with corner braces in areas for extra hold. The 155 bow i have now is near the end of its life span (i fear) beings almost 3 years old, and showing signs of salt creep around the bottom trim... I estimate i can build this new tank for around 660$ (250 something of that is the starphire front) and that is farrrrrr cheaper than even replacing the carpet on the display side provided the existing tank breaks free...

The main things that have been plaguing me this entire time are flow (not through the sump!) because opening my ball valves to 100% does nothing but create a sand storm... the new tank will have crushed coral or larger grain sized sand (not sugar sized like mine now) and also will be adding a 50lb box of base rock from marcorocks.com to fill in the bigger tank... The closed loop, oceans motions wave maker, and 2 SCWDs on the sump returns will help to move some SERIOUS F'N water







Another thing in my 155 that scares me to death, i have no standpipes in my overflow boxes... if one of the overflow seams breaks, theres a 2" drain that will empty my ENTIRE display into my sump (155 gals- 75 gals sump capacity= 80+ gals of water on my floor) so... why not tackle all the problems at once!?

The reason this whole project came about was i am planning on moving out of state... i need 100% security in the system to take off for a few months, and blowing a tank seam or something like that is #1 on my list right now. Adding a controller with net (RKelite) will allow me to monitor all the goodies from anywhere, even my cell phone.... and take care of dosing, safety in flooding, etc...

Now i need to start planning how im going to make the switch... Do i assemble the tank on site, or in my friends shop across town? How am i going to carry this down the stairs when its done if i do it in his glass shop? Where are all the rock, fish, and water going to stay for the 2 weeks it takes to build the tank and let the silicone dry if i build it in place?

Right now i am thinking a large (150 gal) rubbermaid storage bin for the big fish and most of the LR with my skimmer on it, moving the corals/anemones to a smaller tank (and some fish) and assembling this tank right in my living room to make it easier to swap... i still gotta carry the 155 up the stairs so, no sense in pacing 2 tanks around?

ANY INPUT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED guys, cant wait to start another project with you guys!!


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Goodluck with the new tank, I think putting all your stock in a big rubbermaid is a good idea. I seen photos of people on reefcentral that did the same thing with the rubbermaids.


----------



## Ægir

E-THUG said:


> Goodluck with the new tank, I think putting all your stock in a big rubbermaid is a good idea. I seen photos of people on reefcentral that did the same thing with the rubbermaids.


Wow, over 100 views and only one comment... Thanks for the input man! The thing that scares me is the tank... if i assemble it on site in my basement i really cant water test it at all before its in the house, but if i build it in his shop i could compromise something carrying it down the stairs to my stand and blow a seam anyways. Its a tough one, and im glad i have some time to plan it out.


----------



## His Majesty

wow man sounds like a great project. look forward to the progress

unfortunatley theres nothing you can do about moving the tank other than bribing some of you friends with some beer too help you shift it. it will be a long and painful process, and probably a slow one as you have stairs to negotiate. unless you can get it out the window and hire a forklit truck.

i reckon setting it up on sie is the best way forward. this way you can get everything right and just the way you want it rather than havin to move the whole system rom out side in and the fiding some unforsen probelm

the 150g rubber pond sounds like a good temp home while you sort things out. but good precise planning is needed or this.
i also suggest going to RC into the large ree tanks sections. alot of guys over there have big projecs like this. be a good idea to browse around aand maybe get some idea.

Please do keep us posted. be great to see the project develop


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## Ægir

Quick update!

Just found a BRAND NEW OCEANIC 215 gal tank for a reasonable price... Starphire front panel, no overflows or closed loop drilled yet, and still in the box. Its about a 3.5 hour drive each way to pick it up. I am working things out with the current owner as i type.

The bad news is i am going to have to completely dismantle the stand from the bowfront, and make my wall opening 2" taller to accommodate the 29" height of the tank. Its really quite the PITA, and i dont know how my parents feel about me making a huge mess of the totally finished basement but.... If they bitch i will just remind them what 150 gals of water would do if this thing gives, or my overflow boxes fail (no standpipes thus draining the tank into the sump = 110 gals of water after max sump capacity)

I am leaving for Denver for a couple months next tuesday and need to get this leaky tank and liability out of the house. so plan on another kick-ass, into wee hours of the morning tank build, beings i have a day job as well.

Can anybody come help if i pay them in beer? I got 2 550 lb tanks to pack up and down my stairs, 400 gals of water and 300lbs of rock to shuttle around


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Hahaha you have a lot of work to do man, cant wait to see how thing get going on the 215 gallon.


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## Ægir

E-THUG said:


> Hahaha you have a lot of work to do man, cant wait to see how thing get going on the 215 gallon.


If its going to happen i have till tuesday of next week to have it running... i will know tonight for sure if its going to fly

Also, i plan on setting up my camera on the tripod and taking a time lapse set of pictures, like 1 per hour or something, so that should be interesting.


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## Ægir

So in preparation for my extended vacation, i finally got ahold of a 40 gal breeder and had it drilled for an overflow... This will become my refugium as soon as the glue dries and i get a ball of cheato. I wanted the biggest tank i could fit near my skimmer, and it just turned out this tank was damn near made for the area i wanted to fill.










With the collection cup shelf...









So now onto organizing...

Planning on ordering a controller tomorrow







Going for the ReefKeeper Lite level 3, with added ORP probe, Moonlight controller and LED modules. Figured it was smarter to buy that over the Elite, and for the money its perfect for what i need it to do. Just wish i could connect it to the internet...

No updates on the new tank as of now.


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## Ægir

No go on that Oceanic 215... Bottom line, it doesnt have overflows (reef ready) and the guy is asking to much money and not willing to negotiate... Retail on the reef ready version, with starphire front glass, is $999.99. This guy is asking 725$ for the basic version with starphire front when its retail is $620.49, plus my 6 hours of driving and 120 something in gas. I would love to add my own coast to coast style overflow and not have the space loss with corner overflows, its just the fact i could have it delivered to my door with it drilled to my specs for $100s less and not go through the hassle

Guess we will have to see what happens.


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Sucks man but keep looking. Haha your fuge is 4x the size of whole set-up. The biggest reef tank I have ever seen personally was a crazy 150 gallon one I cant imagine how something like yours would look inside a home. Anyways good luck bro.


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## Ægir

E-THUG said:


> Sucks man but keep looking. Haha your fuge is *4x the size of whole set-up*. The biggest reef tank I have ever seen personally was a crazy 150 gallon one I cant imagine how something like yours would look inside a home. Anyways good luck bro.


4x the size of whole setup? my display is 155 gals, my sump is about 80, fuge 40 for a total of 275 gals approx. I just started looking for a tank down in Denver (thats where i am for a few months) to ship home. Really liking the look of the Marineland Deep Dimension 300 gal which is 72 long X 36 deep X 27 in tall... that would be my ideal tank for this project and would require no modification of the stand except cutting the bow off the front, and adding a 2x6 to the back of my stand to make it 36" deep.

Right now i feel my tank looks moderate at best. Theres so many small things that i hate and would like a chance to fix. Some of those being: *standpipes in my overflows*, if my silicone on the overflow box fails that drains the tank into the sump spilling 100 gals of water onto the floor. *Scratches in the glass*, that i didnt see until the tank was on the stand... previous owner mistake trying to remove algae or something with a brillo pad? Would like to change the return pump to an external, add a wavebox or closed loop (which my tanks older silicone cant handle, already have slat creep on the bottom trim) And i hate the over the top returns too, would love to clean that up with a nice coast to coast overflow box, and closed loop drilled. and i would like to add a few new tools to the tank like a controller, Ozone, and UV, possibly a chiller.

On a separate note, About a week or so ago i thought my smaller yellow tang was killed, saw a body in the anemone that had a yellow face so counted him as dead... turns out it was a scopas tang (i had 3 total) that was being bullied by the bigger one, and my yellow tang was TRAPPED OR STUCK SOMEWHERE IN MY TANK for a week or more. I dont know if he was trapped by a rock slide, or pinched between the glass or what... but he freed himself. and was out feeding the day before i left. the bad news is it looks like he is blind in one eye from the accident, and pretty beat up on one side. He is back eating now, and im amazed he survived whatever happened


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

My bad skunk I meant 4x the size of my whole setup.


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## Ægir

Just wanted to share how excited i am right now... For those who dont know i have been in Colorado for 2 months, and i left the ENTIRE system and up-keep to my Dad. I have been chatting with him weekly, and ran through the basics that he needed to keep up on before i left... which only included:

Daily:
Check temp, skimmer, feed fish, top-off water bin.

Weekly:
Empty collection cup for skimmer, salinity

Bi-weekly
Clean skimmer neck, beckett injector, 20 gal water change.

As needed:
Testing, and thats if something doesnt look right (no PE, cloudy water, slime coat on fish etc)

Anyways, i havent seen the tank sense i left... and i am driving home tomorrow.
My dad hasnt talked about the tank in 2 weeks so.... Things could either be way screwed up (highly unlikely) or hopefully there will be some growth and things are just as good as ever.

CANT WAIT TO SEE MY BABY and how things worked out without me around. I will be sure to update tomorrow night when i know.


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## Ægir

After 1000 miles, and 13 hours of thinking about my dogs and fish tank... i finally got home just before the lights went out. Temp at 81, some algae on the sand, everything else running and looking great... my order of 20 mangrove sprouts is acclimating (from fresh water to salt) and will be going in the fuge, with some macro ASAP

Might have lost the stag frag (looked browned up, no PE) but the torch coral was out in full glory, and everything else (minus the F'n peppermint shrimp destroying my zoas... im going to get that bastard)

Pics and maybe a vid tomorrow!


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## His Majesty

Glad to hear that your tank as survived with minimal loss. 
look forward to the pics


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## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> Glad to hear that your tank as survived with minimal loss.
> look forward to the pics


Thanks bro, im working on it right now... i will update shortly


----------



## Ægir

Snail eggs









Mangrove roots









Tops


















Blenny under zoas









Starfish out the A... Every one of those white dots is a small star fish









Mushrooms opened up 









FTS


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## His Majesty

tank is looking very nice skunk









and i see you got yourself some mangroves.
i want some too. might go and pick some up this weekend


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## RedneckR0nin

This is looking deadly Skunk and keep us updated on any further advancement for sure!!


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## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> This is looking deadly Skunk and keep us updated on any further advancement for sure!!


Thanks man... I will keep it updated for sure!


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## redbellyman21

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> This is looking deadly Skunk and keep us updated on any further advancement for sure!!


Thanks man... I will keep it updated for sure!
[/quote]

TANK looks good, and that link is to brian from ebay. I have purchased almost all from him. Theres also a guy selling 45 from fla, all seeds tho, no roots yet, but mine are coming in nice! They both rock and they both look good, for pics or video check my posts, I have it there

MANGROVES RULE! skunk buds tank lookd hella nice too.. get some harlequin for those stars hahhahaha


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## Grosse Gurke

Thanks for the link to the mangroves...Im going to order some. I have some of those starfish as well....I remove about 5 every morning as they really come out under the night lights. You should start taking them out...they will continue to multiply until they take over.


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## Ægir

Grosse Gurke said:


> Thanks for the link to the mangroves...Im going to order some. I have some of those starfish as well....I remove about 5 every morning as they really come out under the night lights. You should start taking them out...they will continue to multiply until they take over.


They are doing a good job cleaning up algae right now... lots of my turbos fell off the glass and died so i will let them do their thing.

I think i have so many because i always mow them over with the mag float and then they regenerate into 2 or 3 new ones.

As for the mangroves, be sure to take atleast a week to acclimate them to salt water (i just used a pitcher with half tank water and half RO water, then let it evaporate) because they are grown in fresh from the seller... and keep up with the weekly misting to remove salt from the leaves

Mine lost all their leaves because of shipping (went dormant) but some have bounced back, and all of them are growing roots rapidly.

Anybody have some cheato they want to donate :laugh:


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## Ægir

Today, after a long day of work... i took on a little project i had in mind for a month or so now





































Mounted my light on the wall also, using an old batwing MH reflector i had from when i upgraded... Going to add a bigger bulb there, and also add another light for some cheato on the left side.

Also going to take apart the skimmer one of these days, and paint it BLACK except for a 1.5" wide viewing strip up the side... ambient light grows too much sh*t inside the tower. I love the idea of custom painting a big $$ skimmer









Also removed the 400w in the center... not really necessary at the moment, and need to cut down power usage in the house. This also means that i can now keep some "not reef safe" fish in the tank... Thinking a big angelfish, and something else cool that has always been on the "do not order" list.


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## His Majesty

nice idea, looks good too


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## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> nice idea, looks good too


Thanks man, i like the ability to slide it side to side, and lift out the basket to rinse the mangroves off.

The basket also acts as a guard for my drain, which will keep cheato and other macro (once i add it) from being sucked up potentially.

On a third note, when i decide whats going to actually happen with the tank (house is for sale! major changes in my life) i will also add a frag shelf to the bottom and wire the 400w back up, then add the extra 175w over the fuge.... if the tank goes back to reef that is... If it stays FO (with the zoas and mushrooms that remain) then i will just get a bigger CFL, and add the one i have to a top mount (will rest on the eggcrate like before) light for the cheato on the left side more.

BUT wait.... because the house is for sale, that means its almost time to BUILD ANOTHER ONE! The one thing everybody hates about my tank now is the fact it isnt in the area everybody is hanging out, you have to go to the basement, in its own little corner for viewing. So the new tank will be on the main floor, with a basement equipment room. As a preventative measure their will be a PVC liner under the display incase of any leaks, that will drain to the basement, and a floor drain near by to keep any water damage from happening on the main floor. The other thing thats a turnoff is the power usage... going solar and high efficiency pumps/wavemaker means i could have 10x the tank for less cost overall.

Ideas include: 3 or 4 18" solar tubes on a LARGE peninsula or island (walk around) display... ideal dimensions for me would be 8'L 4'D 30 " tall, or 10' 4' 2' depending on the floor plan and where the tank will go... another 1 or 2 smaller solar tubes for the fuge, and equip room?

(2?) 300 gal Rubbermaid stock tanks for a sump

And covering all the small details i left out during this build (floor drain and dedicated sump basin with pump, some electrical issues, better planning all around) and actually have the tank planned from square one, not after the framing and concrete work is already in place.

Its just a thought as of now, because the trigger wont get pulled until a buyer appears for the existing house... anybody have 675K to buy an awesome house? fish tank (and a year of 24-7 support) included!


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## Ægir

Did some work tonight, thought i would share some pics. Note the classy aluminum foil end to my reflector



























Skimmate bubbles









Skimmer cleaning



























Puppy was really interested...


















Going to have a display cleaning/ rock remodel in the next few days... will post tank pics then!


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## His Majesty

thats some top quality skim right there my friend


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## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> thats some top quality skim right there my friend


Thanks... its a love hate relationship (I love the skimmer, but hate emptying the collection cup)









I am cleaning the tower every other week, and emptying the collection cup (about a gallon) every 4 or 5 days. After seeing (and SMELLING) this stuff, i dont understand why people would want a tank without a skimmer...

Today, i have to go install a new kitchen sink and hang an exterior door (work) but after that, plan on doing a remodel of the rock in the display.

IN OTHER NEWS: The power bill has to go, 400 something last month... took some time to figure out where my power usage in the tank room is coming from (about 120$) and planning to change some serious things to get the usage around 40$ per month.

I think if i go to a smaller return pump (not [email protected] hahaha) and setup either a closed loop, or add a MP40W, Cut back the lighting a little, and nix one or two power heads in the sump.... i will be in the ball park. Either i cut it down, or the tank has to go...


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## His Majesty

damn 400 is a big chunk of money. id like o see what you come up with to reduce your poer usage. i would like to do that too. or rather my dad would appreciate me not useing so much power


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## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> damn 400 is a big chunk of money. id like o see what you come up with to reduce your poer usage. i would like to do that too. or rather my dad would appreciate me not useing so much power :laugh:


Well number one replace my return pump, costing approx 42$ per month... and replace it with a mag 18, or Dart (use 150w or 10$ per mo) so thats 30$

Change my light schedule, and add a daylight bulb to my T12 Actinic config... If i run a daylight and the actinics, have one halide come on at noon, and the other 2 for a couple hours (instead of the 2 outside coming on first... and the center being on shortest) Really i only need the halides to keep my anemone and coraline alive... most photosynthetic things have been removed.

Add a Vortech MP40W to replace the in tank flow, that removing my giant return pump and manifold makes now. thats only 12-40watts depending on mode! Or pulling one of my overflow boxes, using the 2" bulkhead for a closed loop, and keeping the manifold i have now.

Adding a thermostat to the exhaust fan so its not running 14 hours per day.

I think shaving 60$ off of the 120$ total bill is possible... just going to take some re-vamping and changing the sump-flow around a bit.

Im sure as hell not buying a new pump for my skimmer (28$ per month) because that thing works too damn well... and was expensive to begin with.

If it costs me 600$ to save 60$ per month... thats payoff in 10 months!


----------



## Ægir

Well tomorrow theres a showing of the house, so i decided to get off my ass and do a water change/ move some rock around. Water is still kinda cloudy from stirring up sand but... Skimmer is doing work









Flash FTS









No-Flash FTS









Left (ignore my small mag drive powerhead







)









Center









Right









Good sized sponge i found growing... along with 4 or 5 other ones in dark areas between rock.









Hopefully the people who look at the house like the tank and want to keep it! I REALLY dont want to carry this back out of the basement.

I also just found out i am being "hired" to setup another good sized system in an office for a friend of my parents... That would be my 3rd custom install. And later this week i am doing the 2 year walk-through on the first system i did (about 4 or 5 months before this project). I have never remembered my camera when i go up there, but this time i promise i will take some pics.


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## His Majesty

its a pretty nice setup








although i would probably do a little rearranging of the rock work. 
also id clean up all the rubble on the sand or are those left of shells from snails and hermits? either way i would get rid of them
you gonna add any more coral? or you gonn leave it till you move house and work on the new tank there?


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> its a pretty nice setup
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> although i would probably do a little rearranging of the rock work.
> also id clean up all the rubble on the sand or are those left of shells from snails and hermits? either way i would get rid of them
> you gonna add any more coral? or you gonn leave it till you move house and work on the new tank there?


Thanks, I have tried for a year now to get the rockwork EXACTLY how i wanted it, and still cant balance good flow in the display with something i like. And the rubble on the sand, and shells keep my sand from blowing to one end of the tank (not really the ones ontop of the sand but). I have removed 4 or 5 baggies of shells and rubble already, but leave whats there to keep things in place.

Prob not going to add anything to the tank, actually i am trying to get the F out. I am taking sh*t from all sides right now, and really dont have the time to screw around with it.

If somebody brought me 2000$ cash, i would prob let them take most of it... just because its holding me back and making things harder than they should be. Odds are i wont spend the time to put a tank in the new house... nobody really appreciates it or understands what it takes from me to make it happen.


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## His Majesty

so after you move you wont setup a new SW tank?


----------



## Ægir

Trigger lover said:


> so after you move you wont setup a new SW tank?


OH i will, but the thing is it wont be in the next house we are building... Theres a good chance i will be moving to Breckenridge, Colorado for school in the next few months, so i dont see the point in having a tank in my parents house in Montana. That and they travel lots now, so its kinda hard for me to leave that responsibility on them if im not going to be around to take care of it. They are kinda on the fence about it, but my guess is it wont be likely. We have thrown over the idea of a FW tank, Planted, with solar tubes and a drip system... That would be about as simple as it can get, and not need attention while on vacation with an auto-feeder. No skimmers, and other expensive things as well... and not complicated overall

Ideally this tank will stay with the house when it sells, if not i break it down and keep the BIG things i might need (skimmer, 100lbs of rock, Halide ballasts, fish, reactors, etc) and then take what i can get for the rest.

I already posted an add locally, so if the whole thing sells outside of the house selling... thats an option as well. WORST case scenario, the house sells and they dont want the tank, no local interest, in which case i would tear it down, find a temp home for my fish, dry out all the rock and store the rest in a unit.

My life is just going in a whole new direction, but my love for this hobby will never die and i will have a tank wherever i may end up. Even if its just a small tank... Im tossing around the idea of setting up my 40 gal breeder (refugium) as a tank, with my Bullet 3 skimmer


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## Ægir

Yesterday i was told my deadline to have the system shut down is the 25th of this month... The "Hole in the wall" adventure is coming to an end...

My plan is to keep what i can, and setup a new tank i acquired (5' x 2' x 2') once i move so... i will be back someday!

Im kinda shaken up right now, but will fill in more as it happens.


----------



## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Almost 2 years old now this thread, long journey in this build. Thanks for giving us something awesome to read and for giving regular updates. You da man!


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## His Majesty

OHHH shame its gonna be torn down. and as sym said. thnkyou for this thread. lots of ineresting updates and info. its been good

im sure when you eventually get a new permanent house you will setup a huge badass reef tank








good luck with tearing the hole in the wall down.


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## Zulu Warrior

Great thread mate and great result







well done, you learnt and enjoyed the process.... shame all the same


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## Ægir

speakyourmind said:


> Great thread mate and great result
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> well done, you learnt and enjoyed the process.... shame all the same


Thanks man! like i said above it was one of the biggest learning experiences ever, and i enjoyed every second. Its not really a shame, because i will be back like i said... and this time with more knowledge and insight.

ALSO, i just downloaded some software for my laptop that allows me to shoot time-lapse with my webcam... i am going to be rocking that for the breakdown process and turning it into a video. I figure one last tribute to this project is the best i can do!

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYBODY WHO FOLLOWED ALONG (even if you didnt leave any comments







)
IF ANYBODY WANTS CHEAP SALTWATER ROCK, or the display or sump real cheap HIT ME UP


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## SeedlessOne

How much you looking to get for the LR?

Sucks the tank will be broken down. It was a good read.


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## Ægir

SeedlessOne said:


> How much you looking to get for the LR?
> 
> Sucks the tank will be broken down. It was a good read.


prob 2-3$ a lb depending how much was taken... the only local places sell it for 7-10$ so i thought it would sell... nothing yet i also got another 150 gal tank so... who knows

i will prob end up storing most of this stuff... And to make things worse, my big yellow tang died. It was my first SW fish, and hands down my favorite EVER.

RIP "Mello"

Attacking the sh*t out of the algae clip


----------



## His Majesty

ohh







sorry for your loss

do you know the reason for his death?


----------



## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> ohh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sorry for your loss
> 
> do you know the reason for his death?


No, I would guess the anemone... It has been a healthy eater, just like all my other fish... PIGS lost one of 3 scopas tangs into that bastard also



















Seems like most of my dead fish end up in there









Next tank i will never have an anemone in my display... this one has never moved or anything but, i just dont like it... maybe a separate tank on the same system with clowns and a different species.


----------



## Ægir

Aquired some new fish from another tank i am tearing down (see the other topic!) Including a hippo tang, LARGE powder brown, undulated trigger, blue spot grouper, and tomato clown.

Only the hippo and PBT are in my display... the others are in my large refugium for the time being. I fear they would kill my other clowns, and attack my fish... that undulated is MEAN



Heres the other aggressive bastards... sorry its hard to get a good shot with the glare from the halides





grouper... 









Tank teardown is going to be soon... will keep you posted!


----------



## Ægir

TEARDOWN BEGINS










Lighting, plumbing, all gone!

That clear line is a temp 1200GPH to keep it turning over through the sump


----------



## His Majesty

the teardown of the tank is a whole new project in itself

by the way thats a nice looking rouper in your previous post


----------



## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> the teardown of the tank is a whole new project in itself
> 
> by the way thats a nice looking rouper in your previous post


Yeah, and its not the type of project i enjoy... atleast when setting up a system you are working towards something, now i am working towards having nothing.

I am stoked for the new system tho, I am going to take my time and save some cash... Theres lots of expensive toys i would like to have....

Controller
CA Reactor
Ozone
Lumen-bright reflectors with 250w halides (better yet DIY LED, or a LED setup)
Cone skimmer (ATB?)
Vortech MP40W
Closed loop with Dart pump and OM4way
Sea swirls on the returns of the sump
Possible DIY foam/rock wall, and Large arch with acrylic rod.

So that right there will take some time to afford. Like i said im not doing any sand in this tank so i can have a ridiculous amount of in tank flow... And it will prob be just a shell with fish and rock in the sump for 6 months or so. Then after i find my own place and get on my feet, i will take it down again and start the real build.








guys, and thanks for your support and interest. I wouldnt document this stuff if it wasnt for other people to learn and get ideas.


----------



## Ægir

Today I removed all the living things other than fish (remaining mushroom rocks, zoas, palys, chili coral, Haddoni Anemone) and took them to the new LFS in town...

Also took out 150lbs of rock to sell to a guy from Idaho @ 2.50/lb.

Before









-150 lbs









That was all i could fit in my extra garbage can... he will prob take around 200lbs from the display, and another 100 in rubble from the sump.

Will take pictures as the tear down continues


----------



## His Majesty

its sad times seeing a tank you have worked on so much being torn down.


----------



## Ægir

-220 lbs and another 30 or 40 of rubble from my sump...









This blows... really i cant describe how much this sucks to be parting this out. Sold my lighting, rock, and other stuff for like 25% of what i paid. That guy got all that rock for around 1.50/lb

If anybody wants the display and sump, its posted at 400$... or the skimmer setup for 600$ (over 1100$ new)

Bottom line... never put yourself in a situation where you have to choose your fish tank, or your girlfriend (and try to hide it by sacrificing some things to make it look like you are picking her)


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## His Majesty

always pick the fish over the girl :laugh:

even though your stripping it down. the tank itself is still looking pretty nifty with its minimilistic look


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## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> always pick the fish over the girl :laugh:
> 
> even though your stripping it down. the tank itself is *still looking pretty nifty with its minimilistic look*


But dont tell her that... hahaha... if i couldnt use my tank as an excuse to get away and relieve stress, i would prob have lost it and gone crazy long ago.

Yeah, i am digging it... I have been throwing around the idea of making a foam/rock wall for the new tank, and adding some tunnels and "shelves" to attach frags and stuff to. Then taking the rock i have, and turning it into a large archway (drilled and using acrylic rod) to keep that "wide open" look with lots of swimming room.

I have also thought about taking my masonry saw, and cutting a few pieces in half, so they sit against the wall and have a perfectly flat back side, and will also use cut pieces for my archway bottoms (stability).

Also prob going to be a bare bottom tank... so it should look pretty sweet when its done.


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## His Majesty

all thats sounds awesome egir







the archways would be great with frags covering them

and i like bare bottom tanks. they can look awesome plus it does help with maintenace


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## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> all thats sounds awesome egir
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the archways would be great with frags covering them
> 
> and i like bare bottom tanks. they can look awesome *plus it does help with maintenace*


Yeah, my main thing is flow in the display without a sand storm... after a year of being on the brink of moving sand around, and always having to reduce my flow to avoid it, i just think it would be better without. Plus, that 2" of sand always moving around isnt any help to my system. A RDSB would prob be more effective


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## Ægir

So today around noon, i started moving things out... I fly out tomorrow at 1pm so... This is the progress until right now (935pm) Most my water went to anther install i am doing (for the cycle, and i had to take rock and some rubble over)























































All of my fish have a great home at a new LFS in town... Their own 150 gal tank, Today i took in my 2 PBT (the potential pair), 2 Scopas tangs, hippo tang, tennent tang, bi color blenny, single chromis, my clowns and the other living things. They were added in with 2 Fox faces, a cool rabbitfish, a huge yellow tang (to replace my other loss) 2 large anthias and another 2 fish i dont really care for (flame wrasse and gold banded goby) So when i get home, i can setup my other tank and get them moved in.

NOW i have to finish moving the sand out... and pack the display into the garage. Then take apart the stand and pack it out... then the sump (and several hundred lbs of rubble) so i am going to be up LATE tonight... and then early again tomorrow.


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## His Majesty

have fun. ill order you a srtipper to perk the evening up a lil :laugh:


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## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> have fun. ill order you a srtipper to perk the evening up a lil :laugh:


Was up till 430 am moving sh*t out... still have the sump (empty) and the 40 brdr refuge

I am so sore i could cry... Lucally a good friend of mine was able to come by around 11pm to help me get the display upstairs and into storage.

More pics tonight... im exhausted and still have to move / pack / leave at noon


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## jamesw

Why have you taken this set up down? Cant find the reason as its such a long thread. Was a great looking set up, real shame to see it gone. But







for all your hard work.


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## Ægir

jamesw said:


> Why have you taken this set up down? Cant find the reason as its such a long thread. Was a great looking set up, real shame to see it gone. But
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for all your hard work.


Short story: Its my tank, in my parents house... I build houses with my dad, we put a tank in the house (as my project) and the house sold... The new owners dont have the time to keep up with it (he travels overseas for most the year). I am also moving 1000 miles to go back to school, and dont have a place to keep all this stuff alive until then.

So... Its on to another project









Heres more of the tear down...




























The good news is we have an awesome bar now...





































Heres more of how the stand was constructed (in reverse hahaha) because i didnt really cover that in the build.



















The large glue lam that supported the front of the tank









Now time for vacation!


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## His Majesty

nice work egir. tht a big hole in the wall. whats he new owner gona do with it?


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## Ægir

His Majesty said:


> nice work egir. tht a big hole in the wall. whats he new owner gona do with it?


They have a couple options... The room the fish tank was in (not the back room, the display side) is wired to be a home theater room. Its got speaker wire in the wall (7.1 THX if you want to go that route) and component/ projector cabinets in the back of the room. Theres even a wire chase to keep things hidden (between the projector and components) and CAT5 pulled to the phone and cable junction box for a whole home media server.

They could either put in a built in cabinet (recessed with a plasma TV) to fill the hole, OR patch it with sheetrock and have a huge drop down screen for the projector.

The main reason we never had the projector setup, was the fact i had to pay for it.... because like the fish tank it was my awesome idea









I would bet they just patch the hole and leave the room as a sitting room or some boring thing like that.


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## Ægir

So the TANK SUMP AND SKIMMER SOLD TODAY









Just got the phone call, I am 1000 miles away, but the guy is coming to pick it up in about 20 minutes. Kinda sad, but kinda happy the tank is going to LIVE ON and make somebody else happy. The gentleman has about 20 years of FW experience, and has always wanted a marine aquarium. When i get home (10 days or so) i told him i would help him get it running and give him a crash course. Its about a 1.5 hour drive to his house, but he is doing me a huge favor by getting it out of storage (and funding my next tank)... sadly i sold it all for less than i paid for the skimmer, pump and waste collector.

I dont know if i should start crying, or jump up and down!

One more pic. 









I will be sure to keep this updated with new pics once she is back up and running!


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## Guest

Dammit..

I read the first few pages and got psyched, skipped to the end, and now this! Luckily I have that other thread of yours to catch up on.

They should turn that hole in the wall into a bar.


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## Ægir

Mr. Lahey said:


> Dammit..
> 
> I read the first few pages and got psyched, skipped to the end, and now this! Luckily I have that other thread of yours to catch up on.
> 
> They should turn that hole in the wall into a bar.


Yeah man, but the bowfront lives on!

IT CAN BE FOUND HERE: MY CUSTOM INSTALLS

And the bowfront is more badass now than ever... STAY TUNED and watch the updates on this system.


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