35 years in the making and 100gallons.

[atoll]

Bit of an exaggeration? Well not really. I have been in this hobby around that length of time and this is my 11th tank in all those years. When I think about it my new reef tank has been around 35 years in the making. I have had 11 previous tanks which I have sold on sometimes for a profit rarely at a loss. I have sold frags, swapped equipment, bartered and bought most of my equipment secondhand. I have done quite a bit of DIY inc my ATS, light brackets, Siporax basket and redesign of the sump.I have done lots of jobs for people all to fund this tank. I have put my 35 years of experience into it as well as the money I have spent. However, I could never have afforded it if I had to buy it all new and from the money I have from my pensions. Where there is a will there is a way and I like to think it shows what can be done if you put your mind, will and effort into it.

Tank specs.
AC Aquatics tank and stand. Stand in Ultra White Gloss.
54" long by 20" deep by 19" front to back with Starfire front glass and corner RH wier and overflow.
2 x Maxspect 150 gyres.

Sump.

36" long x 17" deep x 12" front to back,
Sump equipment.
Jebao 1DC8000 return pump.
Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer
Deltec PF509 calcium reactor with DIY CO2 scrubber.
25mm Siporax in a DIY egg crate basket. 12" x 8" x9" (you do the maths lol)
Aqua Medic Multi medium reactor with carbon.
Santa Monica HOB2 Algae Turf Scrubber run by a Tetra APS400 air pump.
DIY Algae turf scrubber lit by 2 x 20w hydroponic LED lights with 16 red and 4 blue LED's.
Aqua Medic 500w Titanium heater Wired to a ATC800 external thermostat.
Reefloat ATU with 20ltr reservoir.

Lighting.
4x Hydra 26s fitted to DIY wall brackets with reeflink control.

In Tank.

1.1/2" of Reef flowers Pearl White Sand 1 to 1.4mm grain size (medium)
Living rock.
Numerous SPS and LPS corals most grown by me from frags in my previous tank all of which have been transferred over to this new one.
Various small fish with just one small yellow tang.


Still some work to do including filling if the holes in the wall behind the tank left there from previous lighting brackets along with some tidying up of wiring etc.

 

[melypr1985]

Your tank looks great! Thanks for sharing

 

[MermaidTail]

Awesome!!!!

 

[atoll]

Thanks guys, it's getting there. The job in hand is never finished and always evolving never to be completed.

 

[atoll]

A vid of the tank taken 9 days after setting up.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great job and thanks for sharing!

 

[R_C]

Looking good. I completely understand about the cost of this hobby. I have done the same to be able to have my 125.

 

[atoll]

Thanks guys.

 

[NumberFish]

That is beautiful. That is my goal! What is your fish list. They really compliment your corals!

 

[atoll]

That is beautiful. That is my goal! What is your fish list. They really compliment your corals!

5 star damsels
2 Talbots damsels
3 red scooter blennies
2 common clowns
2 purple firefish
2 pinstriped wrasse
1 starry blenny
1 yellow watchman goby and partner pistol shrimp
1 yellow tang.

 

[atoll]

FTS of the DT with wiring tidied up by running the black cables (why don't they supply them in white to match the light?) in trunking

Sump shot with everything shoehorned in as best I could. and cables run in Cable Tidy to bunch them up.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Gorgeous!

 

[atoll]

Thanks revhtree.
Here is a question for you all (I shouldn't really be asking it here but I will) Do we ever consider our tanks as finished? Other hobbies like say restoring a classic car are considered finished but I always consider my tanks (and I have had 11 in 35 years) as work in progress, never quite finished always something to be changed, improved on or tweaked here and here with just the one more coral I can squeeze in somewhere. Just when I think that's it am done something will nag me and gnaw away at me till I do something about it. That something might be as simple as a little relocation of a coral or a major re-scape. Perhaps I could have done this or that a bit better, an adjustment of my lights or whatever but there is always something that needs my attention. I guess it's the pursuit of perfection but as we know perfection is something we can never ever achieve in our own minds it only exists in the minds of our friends or family who see our reef tank and are bowled over by the perfection before them. I like many suffer from the compulsive disorder I shall call CRM = compulsive reef mania. You might have a better term for it.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I understand the cost with retirement, I live off of my social security, some of my items I purchase in 2007 to upgrade to a larger tank and they sat for 7 year. I finally decided I was too long without a tank and set it up end of 2014 then moved end of 2015. I have a brand new Current USA 72" combo T5, hqi mh, led moon light combo hood still in the boxes because I decided to go with leds and not use my chiller. I purchased most of my corals as frag pack from Aqua SD and now letting them grow. I don't know that we are ever done there is always something we want to do differently. The least I do the better everything does. Buy a new coral and one at the opposite end of the tank suddenly is not doing well if it survives ends up doing better than ever.

 

[atoll]

New additions.

 

[ngvu1]

I have a pair too. AND they look exactly like yours

New additions.

 

[atoll]

I have a pair too. AND they look exactly like yours

Actually, they are more colourful in real life a deeper purple than my phone shows them.

 

[ngvu1]

I know (LOL); Actually when I ordered mine, the seller was at the wholesale and he told me they ran out of the normal ones and only had the "higher" end ones which are the ones from Maldives. These as I was told they have more yellow hint color than white hint color on their bodies. I personally can't tell that from mine pair ; cost me $10 more but I did not care much as they made in for the last many months.

Actually, they are more colourful in real life a deeper purple than my phone shows them.

 

[Cameron Martinez]

New additions.

Your not worried about jumping with these guys? I have an open top also but cover at night but decided not to get a pair due to the risk of loosing them to jumping out of the tank. My wife has one in the 30 gallon that is covered all day and he jumped during a water change. Got him back in the tank in time but I would hate to loose one.

 

[jsker]

Very nice setup