[sponsored] Project Reef by Elder1945 200g

Clayton Jessup · Feb 1, 2018

Wow @Elder1945 you should make it a 75g sense that’s what I have lol! That’s great to hear about the Vertex sumps , I sure the Somatic sumps are of a good quality . Are they , do you have any of their models ?

Elder1945 · Feb 4, 2018

Clayton Jessup said:
Wow @Elder1945 you should make it a 75g sense that’s what I have lol! That’s great to hear about the Vertex sumps , I sure the Somatic sumps are of a good quality . Are they , do you have any of their models ?

I am waiting for my Somatic system. I am still working on the logistics of the next build.

My first step is to get fish in this display and order some coral.

Skep18 · Feb 5, 2018

This tank looks ridiculously good and makes everyone jealous. Touche sir. Great job!

Wu Tang Clam · Feb 7, 2018

Dude.....I can see all of them orphek v4s under the blanket lol....what are you going to do with them???
Make one big super ultra awesome elder orphek v4 monster????

Elder1945 · Feb 25, 2018

Ok I have fixed the links in this thread..... Any "Removed" post is me moving pictures around. Everything should still be here... . Moving hosting sites is a pain LOL

drawman · Mar 11, 2018

Any livestock yet @Elder1945 ?

Elder1945 · Mar 12, 2018

drawman said:
Any livestock yet @Elder1945 ?

Why yes I do.. I will have pics soon I promise

.

I am working on my next tank build now. It is sucking up quite a lot of time getting company's on board but if you think this build was cool just wait.

Updates soon!

najer · Mar 12, 2018

Bloody tease!

Elder1945 · Mar 12, 2018

najer said:
Bloody tease!

LOL.. Soon!

MAREEF · Mar 12, 2018

Elder1945 · Mar 19, 2018

So the good and bad...

Bad:
Ich... .. This is my fault for rushing into things but gambled on a fish and lost... It however was a hybrid Achilles tang so I think it was worth the risk. Long story short the Achilles had zero appetite and was on deaths door. I freshwater dipped him and through him in my DT (it had not fish in yet). The logic was that the DT is quite a bit larger then my QT and would alleviate some stress. It did work for a while as the Achilles gained some of its appetite back and started to look "better". This was abruptly ended by its death....

I am not upset as this is a price I payed for rushing and I know better.

Good:
I have installed a UV and I plan on rebuilding the left side of the tank to fit some new equipment!
I have also started to add a few corals...

Here are some pic's I just took ( I am re wiring the whole tank so don't mind the random wires ).

20180319_212833 by Elder1945, on Flickr

20180319_212852 by Elder1945, on Flickr
This is the side I am re building:

20180319_212916 by Elder1945, on Flickr
Love the GHL P4

I plan on adding the KH director soon

20180319_212900 by Elder1945, on Flickr
Look at the GHA on the R2R LOL.. I need to clean my tank but I like it to burn off all the junk from overfeeding the Achilles.

20180319_212933 by Elder1945, on Flickr
What you don't see:

20180319_212907 by Elder1945, on Flickr

The plan is now to rework the wireing as it got out of hand. Remake the left side of the tank to fit some shinny new equipment (more on this later). Also work out where the KH Director would fit and if I will need to re build the right side as well... We will see.

Just a FYI if you ever think of building a gaming PC into a Reef Aquarium..... Just ask yourself how many times are you going to play a game on a fish tank.... My guess and this is from experience is not many especially if it is in portrait.... Just my 2 cents..

newbreefer316 · Mar 20, 2018

Elder1945 said:
So the good and bad...
The plan is now to rework the wireing as it got out of hand. Remake the left side of the tank to fit some shinny new equipment (more on this later). Also work out where the KH Director would fit and if I will need to re build the right side as well... We will see.

Just a FYI if you ever think of building a gaming PC into a Reef Aquarium..... Just ask yourself how many times are you going to play a game on a fish tank.... My guess and this is from experience is not many especially if it is in portrait.... Just my 2 cents..

lol!!!

Sorry to hear about the ich run in but glad that you aren't letting it slow you down! Looking forward to how you integrate the KHD, I just picked up my 220 this weekend and even though I run classic Apex on my other tanks I plan to give GHL a try on this one.

HolisticBear · Mar 20, 2018

Your installs are a work out art, just beautiful.

I have an honest question about keeping the sump beautiful a year from now. In my barebottom tank with filter socks, I get some garbage in my sump. How can you keep that your vertex sump looking at beautiful as the day you installed it? Had you decided to go Triton and run a fuge, with the light spillover, how keep all the glass + sides immaculate like your pictures?

p.s. I just went thru the firmware update of GHL Profilux + Doser, both require a USB connection. It looks like you can easily pull the boxes out. It would be interesting if you had a hidden USB port on the side of your mount, so you could connect without moving the units.

Elder1945 · Mar 20, 2018

newbreefer316 said:
lol!!!

Sorry to hear about the ich run in but glad that you aren't letting it slow you down! Looking forward to how you integrate the KHD, I just picked up my 220 this weekend and even though I run classic Apex on my other tanks I plan to give GHL a try on this one.

I am quite Happy with my P4. I still have yet to use it at its full potential. It is nice when something just works..

HolisticBear said:
Your installs are a work out art, just beautiful.

I have an honest question about keeping the sump beautiful a year from now. In my barebottom tank with filter socks, I get some garbage in my sump. How can you keep that your vertex sump looking at beautiful as the day you installed it? Had you decided to go Triton and run a fuge, with the light spillover, how keep all the glass + sides immaculate like your pictures?

p.s. I just went thru the firmware update of GHL Profilux + Doser, both require a USB connection. It looks like you can easily pull the boxes out. It would be interesting if you had a hidden USB port on the side of your mount, so you could connect without moving the units.

Keeping any sump and or tank clean is easy... It is just work... I enjoy and find it quite relaxing to clean my tank to be honest. You have to remember my last tank was a 16 foot long monstrosity so working on this tank of 200 gallons is kinda a joke to me.

The I-supra is also designed in a way to make it easy to clean. The sides are PVC not acrylic so algae does not stick that well to it. Also the sump has a pass though on the plumbing to isolate the skimmer chamber. This one feature is why I wanted the I-Supra as it makes cleaning and water changes easy and fast.

As for Triton... I do not see a need to run a refugium a algae reactor would do the same so If anything i would use a algae reactor. As for the whole Triton method... There seems to be waves of what is "Hot"... Not so long it was ZEOvit, or miracle mud refugiums and so on... I kinda let the trends play out.

In practice I am a strong believer in skimming and not putting a bunch of food in my tank. It is a kinda simple approach but seems to work. I like dosing 2 part or kalk or just running a calcium reactor. Past that my tank will do "OK" with SPS but i am a realist and know I am not going to grow a .5" frag of fruity fruity bubble super star SPS to a massive 20" colony. I do not have the time nor the patients for this and there are way to many "life" variables that come into play.

chefjpaul · Mar 20, 2018

Elder1945 said:
I am quite Happy with my P4. I still have yet to use it at its full potential. It is nice when something just works..

Keeping any sump and or tank clean is easy... It is just work... I enjoy and find it quite relaxing to clean my tank to be honest. You have to remember my last tank was a 16 foot long monstrosity so working on this tank of 200 gallons is kinda a joke to me.

The I-supra is also designed in a way to make it easy to clean. The sides are PVC not acrylic so algae does not stick that well to it. Also the sump has a pass though on the plumbing to isolate the skimmer chamber. This one feature is why I wanted the I-Supra as it makes cleaning and water changes easy and fast.

As for Triton... I do not see a need to run a refugium a algae reactor would do the same so If anything i would use a algae reactor. As for the whole Triton method... There seems to be waves of what is "Hot"... Not so long it was ZEOvit, or miracle mud refugiums and so on... I kinda let the trends play out.

In practice I am a strong believer in skimming and not putting a bunch of food in my tank. It is a kinda simple approach but seems to work. I like dosing 2 part or kalk or just running a calcium reactor. Past that my tank will do "OK" with SPS but i am a realist and know I am not going to grow a .5" frag of fruity fruity bubble super star SPS to a massive 20" colony. I do not have the time nor the patients for this and there are way to many "life" variables that come into play.

Love this!

Ortho281 · Mar 28, 2018

Very impressive build! A work of art! When only the best will do!

Elder1945 · Mar 28, 2018

chefjpaul said:
Love this!

Ortho281 said:
Very impressive build! A work of art! When only the best will do!

Thank you! I will have updates soon.. I have moved some things around in the tank and added a bit of coral.

I am re working the electrical side... I needed to clean it up a bit as it got out of hand quick.

More to come! I think I will be re building the left side (computer side) and design it to hold a the Vertex RX6-D with dosing containers with the computer.

lbacha · Mar 28, 2018

What height above the tank are you running your Atlantiks? I just got one and while they call for 16" above the tank I was going to try 12" and see how they do at a slightly lower intensity

Elder1945 · Mar 28, 2018

lbacha said:
What height above the tank are you running your Atlantiks? I just got one and while they call for 16" above the tank I was going to try 12" and see how they do at a slightly lower intensity

I am 14" from the top of the tank. I run the lights in the 70% range lower in the red.

Jerett83 · Mar 29, 2018

Elder1945 said:
I am working on my next tank build now.

If you decide to part this setup out let me know. Id be interested in the glass. After reading this thread I started looking into Miracle tanks, I didn't realize there was a tank builder so close to home. I want to upgrade to a 180-220 gallon but we are having a baby in August and my wife says I need to wait until she goes back to work from mat' leave.