Why hello there, r2r! I've been around for a while but I've also been laying dormant for the past few months. Buying a new house and getting moved has kept me pretty silent but it's definitely not kept me away from reefing.
That being said, it's time to get an active build thread going again. Rather than maintain 3 distinct threads for our 3 tanks, I figured I'd combine them all into one. Also, since my main tank will be getting switched out on an upgrade soon, I didn't want to start a thread and then have it go dead.
So without further ado, let's take a tour:
Tidepool
You can find the last video of the Euro 180 here:
Fast forward a few months - We narrowed down our house search and found the one that we wanted. When we walked into this house, we immediately knew where the tank was going to sit. This is from our inspection day before we closed on the house, so you'll have to excuse the former owner's decor, but that big wall with a TV was screaming for a 10 foot tank.
We moved in, painted, got new furniture, gutted the brass & glass fixtures and then set up Tidepool. I tend to think it looks much better these days:
The initial plan for this setup was a 6 foot stand to accommodate the 4 foot tank and a 2x2x12 display refugium. However the refugium never got plumbed, and the tank got turned into an emergency frag tank to help out a friend so it will probably stay that way until we replace the entire system.
A word of advice - Don't ever set up a tank beside a tank unless you think it through first. This setup prevents me from being able to clean the glass on the married sides, and it also prevents me from using a second MP40 in the main tank. A real pain in the butt.
Anyway, here's a picture of new sump day for good measure. I've always wanted Synergy stuff, and since their shop is only a few minutes from me it makes life easier. I finally bit the bullet and I couldn't be happier. It was also nice to get rid of the BRS dosing containers and the dog-food ATO holding tank
Tidepool is running happily, giving me great growth and color from pretty much everything in the system with the exception of a Jason Fox Jack O'Lantern leptoseris. I've been fighting to keep phosphates in the system and I think that the lepto is suffering because of it. I've recently started dosing AquaVitro Fuel so we'll see what happens, but this particular coral is my Eleanor. I've never had luck keeping a frag alive.
Here's the latest video from the tank. I'll try to get an updated one soon as I've just suddenly hit a growth spurt so I want to keep things documented.
Breakers
Pictures will come soon, as I think that setting up the new tank is my evening project this week.
Shimmy
As for the name? I broke convention a bit because this is really my wife's tank. She's a bellydancer and the flowing movement of the soft corals seemed fitting to a name that was a nod to her.
Here's day 1, early last week:
Lighting this tank is a challenge. The CF lighting had been gutted, which left me the option to converting it to LED. But I didn't want to toss a ton of money at a $20 tank so I've been looking at a way to do it on the cheap. My first attempt was 3 TrueLumen LED strips, but 3 of the LEDs burned out within 24 hours so now I'm back to the drawing board and considering an RapidLED retro kit.
What's Next?
That's a good question. I'm really happy with where Tidepool is right now. So happy, in fact, that I almost hate to tear it down. But the siren song of big fish is too tempting so it has to happen. Though I do think that we're going to wait out the winter and do the upgrade in the spring. Not only because it's easier, but also because we're laying new flooring when I move the tank and parts of that job are much better suited to higher temperatures.
So for now we wait, letting things grow in and picking up pieces for the new build as we find them. I still have to get my hands on 100 or so pounds of Pukani rock so that's my current hunt.
Thanks for tagging along. I'll try to do weekly updates especially on Tidepool because I've had so many people interested in seeing results from the AP700. In the mean time, if you want my thoughts on the light to date, here's a video for that too:
That being said, it's time to get an active build thread going again. Rather than maintain 3 distinct threads for our 3 tanks, I figured I'd combine them all into one. Also, since my main tank will be getting switched out on an upgrade soon, I didn't want to start a thread and then have it go dead.
So without further ado, let's take a tour:
Tidepool
- 48x24x16 - 80 gallon Deep Blue
- Synergy Reef SS44 custom acrylic sump
- Synergy Reef dosing containers
- 2x BRS 1.1 mL dosing pumps
- Diablo DCS 250 skimmer
- Avast Marine biopellet reactor running EcoBack
- Kessil AP700 lights
- Danner Mag 18 return
- 1x EcoTech MP40
- 1x Jebao WP25
- Hydor SmartLevel ATO
- Lots of Apex automation
- Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt, 10 gallons changed weekly
You can find the last video of the Euro 180 here:
Fast forward a few months - We narrowed down our house search and found the one that we wanted. When we walked into this house, we immediately knew where the tank was going to sit. This is from our inspection day before we closed on the house, so you'll have to excuse the former owner's decor, but that big wall with a TV was screaming for a 10 foot tank.
We moved in, painted, got new furniture, gutted the brass & glass fixtures and then set up Tidepool. I tend to think it looks much better these days:
The initial plan for this setup was a 6 foot stand to accommodate the 4 foot tank and a 2x2x12 display refugium. However the refugium never got plumbed, and the tank got turned into an emergency frag tank to help out a friend so it will probably stay that way until we replace the entire system.
A word of advice - Don't ever set up a tank beside a tank unless you think it through first. This setup prevents me from being able to clean the glass on the married sides, and it also prevents me from using a second MP40 in the main tank. A real pain in the butt.
Anyway, here's a picture of new sump day for good measure. I've always wanted Synergy stuff, and since their shop is only a few minutes from me it makes life easier. I finally bit the bullet and I couldn't be happier. It was also nice to get rid of the BRS dosing containers and the dog-food ATO holding tank
Tidepool is running happily, giving me great growth and color from pretty much everything in the system with the exception of a Jason Fox Jack O'Lantern leptoseris. I've been fighting to keep phosphates in the system and I think that the lepto is suffering because of it. I've recently started dosing AquaVitro Fuel so we'll see what happens, but this particular coral is my Eleanor. I've never had luck keeping a frag alive.
Here's the latest video from the tank. I'll try to get an updated one soon as I've just suddenly hit a growth spurt so I want to keep things documented.
Breakers
- 34 gallon Solana
- Apex Jr, no display
Pictures will come soon, as I think that setting up the new tank is my evening project this week.
Shimmy
- Oceanic 7 gallon Biocube
- Nothing else
As for the name? I broke convention a bit because this is really my wife's tank. She's a bellydancer and the flowing movement of the soft corals seemed fitting to a name that was a nod to her.
Here's day 1, early last week:
Lighting this tank is a challenge. The CF lighting had been gutted, which left me the option to converting it to LED. But I didn't want to toss a ton of money at a $20 tank so I've been looking at a way to do it on the cheap. My first attempt was 3 TrueLumen LED strips, but 3 of the LEDs burned out within 24 hours so now I'm back to the drawing board and considering an RapidLED retro kit.
What's Next?
That's a good question. I'm really happy with where Tidepool is right now. So happy, in fact, that I almost hate to tear it down. But the siren song of big fish is too tempting so it has to happen. Though I do think that we're going to wait out the winter and do the upgrade in the spring. Not only because it's easier, but also because we're laying new flooring when I move the tank and parts of that job are much better suited to higher temperatures.
So for now we wait, letting things grow in and picking up pieces for the new build as we find them. I still have to get my hands on 100 or so pounds of Pukani rock so that's my current hunt.
Thanks for tagging along. I'll try to do weekly updates especially on Tidepool because I've had so many people interested in seeing results from the AP700. In the mean time, if you want my thoughts on the light to date, here's a video for that too:
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