New Member

AcroMark · Feb 11, 2017

Hi Folks,
Glad to now be a member and look forward to hearing from you.
I've been on the hobby for almost 20 years now, geez looking at that in writing seems odd.
Currently re-establishing my tanks after a move from New Jersey to Indiana. Breaking down my 10 year old tanks was the most heart wrenching part of the whole move.. All the Acros and clams that had grown so full over the years, to let them go was tough... although I'm happy to say I gave every piece and every ounce of the nearly 400 lbs. of rock to local aquarists free of charge to help keep the dream alive..
At its height there were three tanks all plumbed to one 125 gallon sump, 4-5 inch sand bed in sump..
There was a 180 and 75 gallon as the "show aquariums" and another tank for fragging..
Had three 400w halides (14k) and 4 VHO over the 180, Two 250w halides (14k) over the 75..
Used an MTC Pro-Cal calcium reactor and an MTC HSA 1000 skimmer...
Happy to say this was a very successful system, only problem was keeping the corals from outgrowing the tank... therefore the frag tank.
Well, about to begin the second coming of the 180.. told the wife it'll stop there.... hehe, silly girl.

Jason mack · Feb 11, 2017

Welcome , beautiful tanks , but now you have the chance too start again .. what if anything , would you do different this time .?

AcroMark · Feb 11, 2017

As mentioned above with all those Halides, eventually needed to plumb a chiller out to the garage and back again to deal with heat... looking into the LED option..
I made the 125 gal sump mentioned above myself, 4 ft. of it dedicated to the sandbed, 2 ft. for the water in from the tanks above and for the skimmer. Separated the 2 portions with acrylic in a staggered design so water was forced under one piece, up and over the other before flowing into sand bed portion to eliminate bubbles returning to tank.
Other than possibly the lighting I don't think id do anything different, I prefer as minimalistic an approach as possible.. researching if LED's can sustain what Im going to want them too......