dan55
Community Member
Since I enjoy reading other's build threads, I figured I would add my own. The 150 gallon tank build would begin in early 2020. But first, my current tank was an Innovative Marine 50 gallon All-In-One Lagoon. I had started that tank in 2018 with the idea of starting from scratch with dry rock, (2) AI Hyrda 26HD, a few shrimp and crabs, a single blue chromis and jumping straight to acropora.
I struggled with that tank as you may have already surmised. Almost immediately a stringy brown algae began consuming the white dry rock. The small acro frags that I was seeding the tank with struggled to peak out from the brown algae forest that blanketed the surface of the rocks. The brown algea quickly morphed into what I assumed to be some form of stringy dinos. After months of manual removal, I decided to swap the dry rock out with live rock from a fellow hobbyist. I had enough live rock to fill the tank + some to store wet in a 5 gallon bucket. The dinos began repopulating the new rock within the next few weeks. I decided to dramatically increase the fish population to try to raise nutrients to combat the dinos. I received a Biota Captive Bred Yellow Tang, 3 Pajama Cardinals, and a banggai cardinal. The yellow tang was only about 1 1/2", very pale and had some HLLE. Although it was tiny, I knew that it would need some more swimming room soon and this would be the seed for the 150 gallon build to come.
I continued to struggle with the Dinos. A reefing friend from work suggested I decrease light intensity. This was a tough pill for me to swallow as I knew that the acro frags may be sacrificed, but I conceded to dramatically reduce light intensity for the coming weeks. I combined this with heavy feeding of pulverized pellet food that I broadcast fed the tank to dirty the water. Additionally, I began to dose a saturated kalkwasser solution to the tank with a peristaltic dosing pump. These 3 measures did the trick and the dinos were outcompeted by green turf algaes which I was able to manually remove.
With the dinos out of the way, I began looking for a larger tank. I found a freebie 48"x24"x30" tall Top Fin tank. I was hesitant to take the tank given that these tanks are known to bust seams. However, I came up with a plan to do a partial silicone seam replacement. I scraped out the existing silicone seam fillets while leaving the thin amount of silicone present between the glass panes. Then I reapplied a true 45 degree 3/8" silicone fillet seam all around the tank.
I also wanted to insure that the tank stand was very solid as this can be a major contributor to tank failures. I ditched the old stand and built a 2x4 style stand that I skinned with plywood. The top of the tank was framed with 2x8s to insure there would be no tank deflection. I also made the stand very tall at 42" so that I could comfortably view the tank without leaning down. This puts the top rim of the tank at 6 ft. I added soft-close hinges to the doors of the stand and painted it with a semi-gloss white.
I drilled the tank for an Exotic Marine 20" acrylic overflow. I didnt want to run the risk of the center brace of the tank interfering with the overflow, so I located the overflow on the left side of the tank. I drilled the right side of the tank for (2) 3/4" returns. I had some help placing the tank in position on the new stand, I shimmed the bottom of the stand for level, and filled it up 80% for a leak test. Here is a pic of the tank and stand
I struggled with that tank as you may have already surmised. Almost immediately a stringy brown algae began consuming the white dry rock. The small acro frags that I was seeding the tank with struggled to peak out from the brown algae forest that blanketed the surface of the rocks. The brown algea quickly morphed into what I assumed to be some form of stringy dinos. After months of manual removal, I decided to swap the dry rock out with live rock from a fellow hobbyist. I had enough live rock to fill the tank + some to store wet in a 5 gallon bucket. The dinos began repopulating the new rock within the next few weeks. I decided to dramatically increase the fish population to try to raise nutrients to combat the dinos. I received a Biota Captive Bred Yellow Tang, 3 Pajama Cardinals, and a banggai cardinal. The yellow tang was only about 1 1/2", very pale and had some HLLE. Although it was tiny, I knew that it would need some more swimming room soon and this would be the seed for the 150 gallon build to come.
I continued to struggle with the Dinos. A reefing friend from work suggested I decrease light intensity. This was a tough pill for me to swallow as I knew that the acro frags may be sacrificed, but I conceded to dramatically reduce light intensity for the coming weeks. I combined this with heavy feeding of pulverized pellet food that I broadcast fed the tank to dirty the water. Additionally, I began to dose a saturated kalkwasser solution to the tank with a peristaltic dosing pump. These 3 measures did the trick and the dinos were outcompeted by green turf algaes which I was able to manually remove.
With the dinos out of the way, I began looking for a larger tank. I found a freebie 48"x24"x30" tall Top Fin tank. I was hesitant to take the tank given that these tanks are known to bust seams. However, I came up with a plan to do a partial silicone seam replacement. I scraped out the existing silicone seam fillets while leaving the thin amount of silicone present between the glass panes. Then I reapplied a true 45 degree 3/8" silicone fillet seam all around the tank.
I also wanted to insure that the tank stand was very solid as this can be a major contributor to tank failures. I ditched the old stand and built a 2x4 style stand that I skinned with plywood. The top of the tank was framed with 2x8s to insure there would be no tank deflection. I also made the stand very tall at 42" so that I could comfortably view the tank without leaning down. This puts the top rim of the tank at 6 ft. I added soft-close hinges to the doors of the stand and painted it with a semi-gloss white.
I drilled the tank for an Exotic Marine 20" acrylic overflow. I didnt want to run the risk of the center brace of the tank interfering with the overflow, so I located the overflow on the left side of the tank. I drilled the right side of the tank for (2) 3/4" returns. I had some help placing the tank in position on the new stand, I shimmed the bottom of the stand for level, and filled it up 80% for a leak test. Here is a pic of the tank and stand
