Sarasota SPS Penjing Tank

mchristian · May 25, 2012

Southside_Reefer said:
What lighting are you planning on going with

I have 1 Radion with their premium hanging kit.

revsgirl · May 25, 2012

Beautiful set up!! Can't wait to see the progress!

NY_Sea · May 26, 2012

Great start. Aquascape looks great. What skimmer are you going with?

larryl · May 26, 2012

Looking good!

mchristian · May 26, 2012

Thanks so much guys! I'm surprised everyone likes the aqua scape with such an exotic structure.
I have a Eshopps s-120 skimmer...any thoughts on this unit?

mchristian · Jun 20, 2012

Updates!!!

Got the plumbing completed, painted it black and completed a successful wet test!

Aquaph8 · Jun 20, 2012

Looking good, water tests mean your getting close.

J Rog · Jun 20, 2012

Nice set up!

mchristian · Jun 20, 2012

Also test fitted supporting equipment and built a electronics panel to hold both the electronics and power supplies.
I made this out of a acrylic stand that we used at work to hold small ads and brochures. It holds everything in a nice tight, organized, space.
All the items are raised to protect from accidental spills and I avoided hacking up or screwing everything to the stand or doors.

The clear acrylic boxes on the left will come in handy for holding tools and supplies!

secretreefer · Jun 20, 2012

Welcome back to the addiction! Awesome tank and build, way to recycle used acrylic and incorporating it into the "control center". I myself have a couple of these acrylic pencil/brochure holders. I've turned one into a chalice frag "fortress" to prevent hermits from getting on my chalices (I was once a chalice fiend..).

BarbH · Jun 20, 2012

Beautiful looking tank and stand, looks like this is going to be a fun build look foward to following along.

mchristian · Jun 21, 2012

secretreefer said:
Welcome back to the addiction! Awesome tank and build, way to recycle used acrylic and incorporating it into the "control center". I myself have a couple of these acrylic pencil/brochure holders. I've turned one into a chalice frag "fortress" to prevent hermits from getting on my chalices (I was once a chalice fiend..).

Any chance your a descendant of Fletcher Christian? My last name is Christian and have wondered if I'm related to anyone out there on Pitcairn or Tahiti...

Steelerfan747 · Jun 21, 2012

Love it. Reefsavvy makes great tanks. How many gallons is it? I love the fact that your stand opens in 3 directions, will make working inside the stand easier. Only thing I recommend is get the lid he offers for the over flow. Good luck with it. Will keep an eye on this one.

turbo21 · Jun 21, 2012

Nice aquascaping and i love how your stand opens on the side too

bob

mchristian · Jun 21, 2012

Thanks guys! I did get the hybrid overflow lid...just waiting on it as having it made was a little delayed. Very cool option, I believe it finishes it off nicely and cuts down on the noise.

revhtree · Jun 21, 2012

Looks great man!

G8RSNOOK · Jun 21, 2012

Looks great!!!! May want to remove sponges in sump, I don't know how other people think about them but I have found them to be nitrate factories. You can put something like denitrate media in the overflow area to increase your bio filtration.

.Marshall · Jun 21, 2012

Love it! Build loods amazing so far!!! Cant wait to follow along

mchristian · Jun 22, 2012

G8RSNOOK said:
Looks great!!!! May want to remove sponges in sump, I don't know how other people think about them but I have found them to be nitrate factories. You can put something like denitrate media in the overflow area to increase your bio filtration.

How can you tell they are nitrate factories? What if you clean them out often?
It would certainly look cleaner without that huge black sponge block in my sump. I would also think that with a good quality filter sock you would pull out any larger particles and the foam block would not be necessary because the filter sock goes down to the micron level and the foam has huge holes and wouldn't effect anything. I didn't have issues with bubbles in the third camber during my wet test so that isn't a problem.

Reef Breeders · Jun 22, 2012

mchristian said:
How can you tell they are nitrate factories? What if you clean them out often?
It would certainly look cleaner without that huge black sponge block in my sump. I would also think that with a good quality filter sock you would pull out any larger particles and the foam block would not be necessary because the filter sock goes down to the micron level and the foam has huge holes and wouldn't effect anything. I didn't have issues with bubbles in the third camber during my wet test so that isn't a problem.

If you keep them clean, you are just fine. Also, if you use a filter sock, the sponges will do nothing for you. I just let the skimmer do the work.