120 gallon Revival

Staghorn

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Hey everybody. About 5 years ago I decided to upgrade my 60 gallon sps heavy reef to a 120. At the time we were also having termite issues and a new baby in the way so I decided I would take advantage and break down the cube and tent the house before the new baby arrived. Long story short I moved the 60 gallon cube to a house I was working on that was currently being remodeled and set up the new 120 in my house after the tent was removed. I probably 25 different colonies of sps and the undertaking was a nightmare. Unfortunately the move wiped out half of my sps and after that between being down about losing those corals and having my hands full with the new baby the 120 was on auto pilot. Auto top off ,auto feeder, auto dosing (until the jugs were empty) no water changes, no bulb changes. The worse things got the less I was willing to make an effort. I now regret that descision really bad. I had a few nice colonies including a rainbow stylo colony that was probably 14” across(which I grew from a domino sized frag) along with a few other nice corals. They held out for a couple years before wasting away. Fast foreword 2021 I’ve decided to turn things around. The only survivors are a pretty big colony of Yuma’s probably 100 polyps, about 10 purple hornet zoos, a flower anemone, and a mini maxi anemone. It’s pretty amazing all the stuff even survived the desolation but when I did test my water the nitrates were immeasurable and .04 phosphate probably due to my sump sandbed and the ton of algea growing in the tank. So far I’ve done some water changes and cleared most of the algae out. The two fish that were put into the tank originally are still alive and going strong which are a breeding pair of snowflake clown fish. I will be rehoming them soon because they bite me allot, not only am I wimp and I’m afraid of the little clown fish but I think they are way too aggressive for me to add new fish. I plan on adding some algae eating fish and some fish to help control the ton of aptasia I have on the rock work. I have replaced the metal halide t5 diy hood I built with 2 kessil a360x. My original plan is to do a mixed tank, but the more I’m getting back into the hobby amd seeing all the amazing sps tanks out there the more I think I may be adding more kessils. Btw my wife sends a big thank you to kessil for getting me to remove the sun(my old diy) from out living room. I’m keeping the same tank but have designed and am buiding a new stand and sump. I will be running plumbing through an exterior wall in my house and am going to try to keep some equipment outside. Including my ato container/ saltwater mixing station/ reactors and who knows what else. I hope to have the stand and sump done in the next month. I’m currently cycling some liferock I added to the aquarium and hopefully will start adding corals in about 2 months hopefully. It’s good to be back guys. I feel energized and ready to reef again.
 
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Staghorn

Staghorn

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Some preliminary stand and sump drawings
 

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Staghorn

Staghorn

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And here’s a test we did of the new sump out of mdf. Good thing I used mdf because I installed the baffles upside down!
 

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Staghorn

Staghorn

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So tomorrow I am going to make my controller board which is recessed in the left side cavity of my stand. I’m thinking of doing either a gloss black or maybe a stainless steel controller board to kind of contrast the light gray the stand is made out of and the high-gloss blue that the doors and surround will be. Can any of you guys think of a better option? Or maybe support one of my choices. I will probably start laying up that material tomorrow morning around 5 o’clock so your comments may determine what color it is
 

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Lokipsl

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I would do the high gloss black for the controller board cavity. It will contrast with the light grey stand better than the stainless would.
 
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Staghorn

Staghorn

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I was planning to do mixed reef but i’ve seen so many nice new SPS out there that I am kind of on the fence. The thing is I finally gave in and got rid of the halides and already purchased two kessil a360x. So I’m thinking of maybe getting 2 more and supplementing that with something else so I can get the lighting right.
 

Lokipsl

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At least you will not have to worry about the halide bulb changes. I’m hoping to have my small 25 gallon aquascaped this weekend
 

Zach B

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Looks great so far! Following along :)
 
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Staghorn

Staghorn

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So this weekend I think I’m going to finish the stand. Adding my wiring chases and installing doors. I can’t wait to get this thing in my house. This thing is turning out so nice that I might just build another cabinet and put it on top of it and forget the aquarium
 
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