Terry's 180 SPS Peninsula Upgrade

Terry4505 · Jan 21, 2016

Just wanted to share some pics I snapped last night. The plan for the tank all along was for it to be the center piece of our living room-dining room-kitchen open concept floor plan. I think we succeeded in that plan:

And a close-up of the Kessil/T5/Moonlight hybrid:

revhtree · Jan 21, 2016

Very cool!

Ortho281 · Jan 21, 2016

Love this build thread! I will be building a custom 180 peninsula tank at my new office this summer and will be referring to this thread for more inspiration!

Terry4505 · Jan 24, 2016

The long-term plan is still to try a calcium reactor, as it's new territory for me. I know I've talked about this since getting this tank started, but the sump is eventually moving to the basement (probably during February recess, I'm a teacher). In the meantime, I am going to use the Jebao dosing pump, and I am using B-Ionic for two-part, as the tank is only consuming like 15 mls of each part at this point. I was getting air bubbles on the discharge side of all three heads, so I did the roller flip mod that is floating around the web. I had to do the same thing with the pump on my old tank.

Where the lines go into the sump, ignore the mess of cords, things will be cleaned up when the sump moves (man, I say that a lot):

maroun.c · Jan 24, 2016

Very neat setup you got there.

Terry4505 · Jan 30, 2016

A quick walk through of the tank:

http://vid1354.photobucket.com/albums/q681/terry4505/20160130_090824_zpsbogozqgm.mp4

http://vid1354.photobucket.com/albums/q681/terry4505/20160130_092624_zpszv2evpst.mp4

SATXBrian · Jan 30, 2016

Inspiring! Beautiful tank.

fragit · Feb 1, 2016

Great looking build I'm planning something similar, but built in to a wall. Love your aquascape.

Terry4505 · Feb 4, 2016

Some updated pics:

revhtree · Feb 4, 2016

Excellent!

Terry4505 · Feb 6, 2016

Water change and maintenance done and the tank is looking stellar this morning:

Tests read:

PH: 8.1
Alk: 8.5 dKH (Hanna)
Cal: 450 (Red Sea)
Mag: 1400 (Red Sea)
PO4: .04 (Hanna ULR Phosphorus)

fragit · Feb 11, 2016

I've been following your build which looks great. Love the retro you did to that light. Couple questions, are you totally satisfied with the Kessils? And when/if you move your sump to the basement what are your plans for the return pump?

Terry4505 · Feb 11, 2016

Thank you!

I cannot say I am "totally satisfied", I am never totally satisfied with any part of my tank(s). I wish they dimmed all the way down to 0. They do not POP as much as the Radions did on my old tank. I think this is a lack of red and UV diodes. I am sure I will continue to tweak the lighting over time.

I currently have the Jebao DCS9000, which I don't think will be enough when the sump moves (next week). I will probably go with a DC15000.

revhtree · Feb 11, 2016

Love it!

lblock82 · Feb 11, 2016

Amazing tank! Well thought out and very inspiring! On a side note, did you ever add bracing to the floor?

Terry4505 · Feb 20, 2016

One of the ongoing challenges with this tank has been figuring out the flow. With the peninsula, I have struggled a bit with generating enough flow to satisfy the SPS, while not interfering with the overflow, and getting the mass of water moving towards the drain end.

I bit the bullet last night an picked up a Maxspect Gyre XF150 and Icecap Apex module. I had a Gyre on my old 120 and loved it, but with the dual megaflows on the back wall, it never really did what I needed it to do. I placed the new Gyre on the far end of the tank (something I was hoping to avoid, but now that it is there, I honestly barely notice it. I have it on pulse at about 40%, and all I can say is WOW. Maxspect upgraded the paddles, which can be seen here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2418285&page=83

They claim there is no improvement in flow, but I'm not sure that is true.

Pics:

Ignore the cord hanging in the water, I had to order the extension cord from CoralVue.

Terry4505 · Feb 27, 2016

Quick video of the Gyre in action. I added eductors to the end of the return lines and sold the WAV pumps:

http://vid1354.photobucket.com/albums/q681/terry4505/20160227_141841_zps8hznsijl.mp4

Sctip · Mar 11, 2016

I'm thinking of getting the gyre for my frag tank coming. It's only 28-24-12. It should move enough water, I'm worried it might be to much pump.

Jimbo662 · Mar 11, 2016

I had been running my gyre at 55-60%. When I upgraded the paddles I had to decrease it down to 45% because the flow was so much more.

bknapp · Mar 11, 2016

Nice build this far. Any more insights on the sugar dosing? Was that a one time thing or something you're continuing? Your original tank was very nice!