MuralReef
Community Member
Hi All,
I am new to R2R but not to reef keeping. My first reef was a 120 softie tank back in the 90's when bioballs were still the thing to use. I was out of the hobby for a few years and was given an opportunity to get back in. A friend and parent at the school I teach offered me a 225 that was in their house when they bought it. They wanted it gone and I wanted back in to reefing. I grabbed up the tank, built a sump, and lighting system and was off to the races until the top brace cracked prior to last summer. I was freaked out thinking I was going to have over 225 gallons of saltwater all over my classroom (which I have flooded 3 times since!). I was able to raise some money by starting a crowd share and figured why not take this opportunity to upgrade. I bought a used 360 from a fellow club member. The current tank is still in my classroom over a year later and measures 6' x 4' x 2'. I used an old 120 gallon tomato bin for a sump. Here are the specs. I run a Precision Marine Bullet 3 for my skimmer, 5 250W double ended MH 4 are 14K phoenix bulbs and the other is a 10K ushio, I also have 4 48" T-5 HO bulbs 2 purple 2 actinic, currently using a babyfish doser to dose calc, alk, and mg (looking to replace this point of sale), and have a current chiller to keep cool in the summer. For water movement I run only 2 Jebao wp-60's using their linked controller and get a 2" wave. The tank is mostly automated but lacks an actual controller. I really want an Apex but I maintain this tank out of pocket with little to no support from the school. The kids love it however and make the hard work worthwhile. I will post a few pics but have been out for the summer so they will be a bit out of date. These are from March.
Mike
I am new to R2R but not to reef keeping. My first reef was a 120 softie tank back in the 90's when bioballs were still the thing to use. I was out of the hobby for a few years and was given an opportunity to get back in. A friend and parent at the school I teach offered me a 225 that was in their house when they bought it. They wanted it gone and I wanted back in to reefing. I grabbed up the tank, built a sump, and lighting system and was off to the races until the top brace cracked prior to last summer. I was freaked out thinking I was going to have over 225 gallons of saltwater all over my classroom (which I have flooded 3 times since!). I was able to raise some money by starting a crowd share and figured why not take this opportunity to upgrade. I bought a used 360 from a fellow club member. The current tank is still in my classroom over a year later and measures 6' x 4' x 2'. I used an old 120 gallon tomato bin for a sump. Here are the specs. I run a Precision Marine Bullet 3 for my skimmer, 5 250W double ended MH 4 are 14K phoenix bulbs and the other is a 10K ushio, I also have 4 48" T-5 HO bulbs 2 purple 2 actinic, currently using a babyfish doser to dose calc, alk, and mg (looking to replace this point of sale), and have a current chiller to keep cool in the summer. For water movement I run only 2 Jebao wp-60's using their linked controller and get a 2" wave. The tank is mostly automated but lacks an actual controller. I really want an Apex but I maintain this tank out of pocket with little to no support from the school. The kids love it however and make the hard work worthwhile. I will post a few pics but have been out for the summer so they will be a bit out of date. These are from March.
Mike
