Built - 240 gallon reef
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Nice! Can you tell us how you got here and what are your plans for the tank?
Charles Belisle
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- Oct 4, 2018
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Sorry for the delay been trying to gather all my thoughts together to post the ideas of my build. I picked up the tank (Acrylic - 240 gallon) used. The tank dimensions are 72" L x 24" W x 32" H. The used stand was in pretty bad shape; so I decided to rebuild the stand and create a canopy. The stand is built out of 2 x 4's with 3/4 plywood used for covering. Sorry, but didn't save any in-process build pictures. Canopy is built out of 1 x 2's with the same 3/4 plywood for covering. I chose to leave both open back as tank sits against the wall. I ended up refinishing the tank to remove several scratches and cloudiness. I finished both the stand and cabinet with white paint and water sealed with Polyacrylic. For lighting I went with 2 - VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control Dimmable 300W LED Aquarium Light Full Spectrum for Grow Coral Reef Marine Fish Tank LPS/SPS . I recently completed a PARS reading on the lighting and was able to get 100 par reading across the tank with White at 20% and Blues at 20%. I currently am running lighting at White 25% / Blue 25% which gives me a reading of 150 to 250 readings throughout the tank. I currently, only have Zoas and GSP for coral load so high par output is not required. I did take note of par readings for future SPS corals. Turning up the white to 30% and blue to 45% will achieve 250 par at sand bed and ramp up to 600 par near surface / center of lighting. I currently have lights 8" above the tank line with an additional 3" of air gap to waterline; totaling 11" from waterline.
The sump is a DIY 55 Gallon tank that I sectioned into six chambers. Each chamber except divider number #6 has a 1/2" stepdown from the previous baffle; creating a waterfall affect.
The first section is a egg create (pictured in left background) - sock chamber that holds - Rectangle 300 Micron Filter Socks. The second section houses a 8” x 8” x 4” Plate Ceramic Biomedia - a long with 50 3" Ceramic balls. Sitting on top of the Ceramic Plate is my Protein skimmer - (not sure of name - came with tank).
The Third chamber houses two small pumps. First pump feeds into a UV sterilizer -(that is currently not being used; due to lack of need). Water however, is being pumped through the sterilizer (light off) into chamber five (filter floss / bubble trap). Second pump is pushing water through BRS Media reactor - that currently is running carbon. Water from second pump is then returned to chamber four - the refugium.
Fourth chamber is the refugium - Initially, I had both pumps from chamber three pushing water through the refugium; however, waterflow was just too much movement. Recently, I added Copepods (yesterday) to the refugium and because of reduced overflow from the baffle. I tried to re-interduce flow from sterilizer into the refugium. Again flow was still to much and I am afraid the main tank fish got an expensive meal; when pods were flushed into return pump chamber. I allowed the three hour seeding time before restarting the pump cycle; so hopefully some pods were in Chaeto and live rocks and my refugium is still seeded.
(old picture of Refugium - currently about 3 softball sizes of Chaeto).
The refugium is on a 10 hour on / 14 hour off timer; using (1) - ACKE LED Grow Lights Full Spectrum,Plant Lights，Growing Lamps 12W for Indoor Plants,Hydropoincs . The refugium dumps into chamber five which is filter flossed with - Quilter's 80/20 Quilt Batting - from Walmart.
Last Chamber houses the return pump area - (pump name / volume - unknown came with tank).
Current fish livestock include:
Diamond Goby 4"
Yellow Watchman 1.5" - still looking for shrimp to pair up
Lawnmower blenny 3"
Stripeline blenny 2"
Chalk bass 2"
Royal gramma 2"
Blue-green Chromis (2) 2.5" - looking for 2 more
Frostbite clowns (2) - 3" and 2" - starting to pair up. (tried three pairs of 2 - six total - didn't work).
Neon Dottyback 4.5"
6 line Wrasse 3"
Additional live stock:
Emerald crabs (4)
Small hermit crabs (16)
Small snails (12)
Turbo snails (6)
Sand sifting starfish (1) used to see daily - been MIA for week to 10 days.
Cleaner shrimp (1) - 3" (body) - adding today.
Corals:
GSP - Isolated on rock on sand bed - one full frag plug worth.
Zoas: Nirvana started with 6 pps - now has 10 (in a months growth). Sunny D's 6 pps - now has 8 (in a months growth). Form of Orange Sakura - bought with 5 - starting to get 1 new growth. Had to move recently, start to melt. I think it was placed in a dead-zone flow area (currently working to resolve by placing a small powerhead). Reverse Ape Nipple - about 19 ppl - no noticeable growth. This coral will have to move off the plug to begin growing. Corona 7 pps may have 2 new pps. Nuclear Apple Paly - had 3 weeks - started with 1 full pp and two smaller pp. Currently, has 2 full pps and 1 medium pp.
Live rock : 150 lbs
Live sand : 40 lbs - with 100 lbs of live rock that was freshwater cleaned during tank set-up.
During the cycling phase the tank saw a diatom out break that only lasted about 3 days. However, a heavy Green Hair Algae (GHA) outbreak flowed. This was a result of high levels of Nitrates and Phosphates; related to overfeeding. I had four (4) Banggai Cardinalfish that just refused to eat. As an attempt to save the fish; I over feed. As you can see from my livestock break-down they didn't make it. Through phosphate removers and normal feeding; I have been able to level out both and get rid of the GHA. I currently do tank cleaning / water changes (10 - 20%). Below are my test checking result:
Currently I have about $3300 into this tank.
Used tank / Sump / return pump / powerheads- $1500
Food Grade 300 gallon water tanks (2) - AquaFX Barracuda RO/DI Aquarium Filter 100 gpd - $300
Lighting - $450
Wood for Stand / Canopy - $150.
Fish live stock - $500
Coral live stock - $125
Salt / additionals - $200
The sump is a DIY 55 Gallon tank that I sectioned into six chambers. Each chamber except divider number #6 has a 1/2" stepdown from the previous baffle; creating a waterfall affect.
The first section is a egg create (pictured in left background) - sock chamber that holds - Rectangle 300 Micron Filter Socks. The second section houses a 8” x 8” x 4” Plate Ceramic Biomedia - a long with 50 3" Ceramic balls. Sitting on top of the Ceramic Plate is my Protein skimmer - (not sure of name - came with tank).
The Third chamber houses two small pumps. First pump feeds into a UV sterilizer -(that is currently not being used; due to lack of need). Water however, is being pumped through the sterilizer (light off) into chamber five (filter floss / bubble trap). Second pump is pushing water through BRS Media reactor - that currently is running carbon. Water from second pump is then returned to chamber four - the refugium.
Fourth chamber is the refugium - Initially, I had both pumps from chamber three pushing water through the refugium; however, waterflow was just too much movement. Recently, I added Copepods (yesterday) to the refugium and because of reduced overflow from the baffle. I tried to re-interduce flow from sterilizer into the refugium. Again flow was still to much and I am afraid the main tank fish got an expensive meal; when pods were flushed into return pump chamber. I allowed the three hour seeding time before restarting the pump cycle; so hopefully some pods were in Chaeto and live rocks and my refugium is still seeded.
(old picture of Refugium - currently about 3 softball sizes of Chaeto).
The refugium is on a 10 hour on / 14 hour off timer; using (1) - ACKE LED Grow Lights Full Spectrum,Plant Lights，Growing Lamps 12W for Indoor Plants,Hydropoincs . The refugium dumps into chamber five which is filter flossed with - Quilter's 80/20 Quilt Batting - from Walmart.
Last Chamber houses the return pump area - (pump name / volume - unknown came with tank).
Current fish livestock include:
Diamond Goby 4"
Yellow Watchman 1.5" - still looking for shrimp to pair up
Lawnmower blenny 3"
Stripeline blenny 2"
Chalk bass 2"
Royal gramma 2"
Blue-green Chromis (2) 2.5" - looking for 2 more
Frostbite clowns (2) - 3" and 2" - starting to pair up. (tried three pairs of 2 - six total - didn't work).
Neon Dottyback 4.5"
6 line Wrasse 3"
Additional live stock:
Emerald crabs (4)
Small hermit crabs (16)
Small snails (12)
Turbo snails (6)
Sand sifting starfish (1) used to see daily - been MIA for week to 10 days.
Cleaner shrimp (1) - 3" (body) - adding today.
Corals:
GSP - Isolated on rock on sand bed - one full frag plug worth.
Zoas: Nirvana started with 6 pps - now has 10 (in a months growth). Sunny D's 6 pps - now has 8 (in a months growth). Form of Orange Sakura - bought with 5 - starting to get 1 new growth. Had to move recently, start to melt. I think it was placed in a dead-zone flow area (currently working to resolve by placing a small powerhead). Reverse Ape Nipple - about 19 ppl - no noticeable growth. This coral will have to move off the plug to begin growing. Corona 7 pps may have 2 new pps. Nuclear Apple Paly - had 3 weeks - started with 1 full pp and two smaller pp. Currently, has 2 full pps and 1 medium pp.
Live rock : 150 lbs
Live sand : 40 lbs - with 100 lbs of live rock that was freshwater cleaned during tank set-up.
During the cycling phase the tank saw a diatom out break that only lasted about 3 days. However, a heavy Green Hair Algae (GHA) outbreak flowed. This was a result of high levels of Nitrates and Phosphates; related to overfeeding. I had four (4) Banggai Cardinalfish that just refused to eat. As an attempt to save the fish; I over feed. As you can see from my livestock break-down they didn't make it. Through phosphate removers and normal feeding; I have been able to level out both and get rid of the GHA. I currently do tank cleaning / water changes (10 - 20%). Below are my test checking result:
Currently I have about $3300 into this tank.
Used tank / Sump / return pump / powerheads- $1500
Food Grade 300 gallon water tanks (2) - AquaFX Barracuda RO/DI Aquarium Filter 100 gpd - $300
Lighting - $450
Wood for Stand / Canopy - $150.
Fish live stock - $500
Coral live stock - $125
Salt / additionals - $200
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