DerpFish
Active Member
After 5+ years of planning, the time has finally come for me to start setting up my dream 150g. After negotiating a decent raise at work and taking advantage of some good Black Friday deals, two of the most expensive parts of the setup have been purchased.
As much as I would love to be able to buy all of the highest end equipment, I'm an MLT and far from rich . I'm a strong believer that a person doesn't have to purchase the most expensive products to achieve high quality results. My goal for this tank has always been for me to create a larger mixed reef tank to accommodate more fish and corals while finding a balance between equipment quality/features/aesthetics and affordability.
Here's the equipment list of the build:
-150g PNP system from SCA (includes tank, stand, sump, and skimmer)
-3x Noopsyche K7 Pros
-1x Jebao MCP-150 gyre pump
-Jebao DCP-3500 return pump
-Jebao DP-5 Dosing pump
-Kamoer ATO
-2x 500w Hygger titanium heaters
-Inkbird temperature controller
-Kasa SmartPlug power strips
Updates will come once I get the tank delivered and start actually setting the thing up.
This is a long time coming and I'm excited to begin this journey.
February 11, 2023 Update
The weekend is here and I'm getting a good chance to look at my order of dry rock that came in during the week. I put an order in at Addictive Reef Keeping for 210lbs of dry rock of various sizes. For the most part I received large pieces, which I suppose makes sense for the quantity that I ordered.
I have to admit that I wasn't super impressed with the rock that I received. I got quite a few very dense pieces that didn't appear to have many holes at all in them like the Marco rock I had ordered from BRS for my 10 gallon a few years ago. This became even more apparent when I began to break the rocks down for the HNSA build I have planned. Many of the rocks had virtually no internal pore structure and appeared like just basic limestone on the inside.
That being said, I feel like I was able to break the rocks down into some interesting shapes that should suit what I have planned pretty well.
February 25th, 2023 Update
Aquascape is pretty much done. I just need to reinforce the connections with some mortar and then hope I can get them in the tank.
While that's drying I'm hoping to get the tank leak tested and filled. If everything goes well I should be able to get the tank cycling within the week.
March 13th, 2023 Update
I finally got the rocks in the tank after being sick for a couple of weeks. Now begins the leak testing.
April 11, 2023 Update
Tank is officially cycled and ready for life just in time for the TCMAS reef expo.
I got my lights all set up with par values between 150-310 at different areas of the tank. I still want to try to make some small adjustments to give myself a bit more lower par areas while keeping some higher par areas.
April 17th, 2023 Update
I think I finally got my lights set up in a way that's giving me the par values I was looking for. I used the Photone app for measurement.
I fragged off pieces of all the corals in the 10 gallon that I wanted to keep along with the deals I've gotten over the last couple of weeks and moved them into the 150 gallon. So far most things are still looking pretty ticked off about the dip and move, but my gold torch is open and looking pretty good. Hopefully everything else comes around soon.
As much as I would love to be able to buy all of the highest end equipment, I'm an MLT and far from rich . I'm a strong believer that a person doesn't have to purchase the most expensive products to achieve high quality results. My goal for this tank has always been for me to create a larger mixed reef tank to accommodate more fish and corals while finding a balance between equipment quality/features/aesthetics and affordability.
Here's the equipment list of the build:
-150g PNP system from SCA (includes tank, stand, sump, and skimmer)
-3x Noopsyche K7 Pros
-1x Jebao MCP-150 gyre pump
-Jebao DCP-3500 return pump
-Jebao DP-5 Dosing pump
-Kamoer ATO
-2x 500w Hygger titanium heaters
-Inkbird temperature controller
-Kasa SmartPlug power strips
Updates will come once I get the tank delivered and start actually setting the thing up.
This is a long time coming and I'm excited to begin this journey.
February 11, 2023 Update
The weekend is here and I'm getting a good chance to look at my order of dry rock that came in during the week. I put an order in at Addictive Reef Keeping for 210lbs of dry rock of various sizes. For the most part I received large pieces, which I suppose makes sense for the quantity that I ordered.
I have to admit that I wasn't super impressed with the rock that I received. I got quite a few very dense pieces that didn't appear to have many holes at all in them like the Marco rock I had ordered from BRS for my 10 gallon a few years ago. This became even more apparent when I began to break the rocks down for the HNSA build I have planned. Many of the rocks had virtually no internal pore structure and appeared like just basic limestone on the inside.
That being said, I feel like I was able to break the rocks down into some interesting shapes that should suit what I have planned pretty well.
February 25th, 2023 Update
Aquascape is pretty much done. I just need to reinforce the connections with some mortar and then hope I can get them in the tank.
While that's drying I'm hoping to get the tank leak tested and filled. If everything goes well I should be able to get the tank cycling within the week.
March 13th, 2023 Update
I finally got the rocks in the tank after being sick for a couple of weeks. Now begins the leak testing.
April 11, 2023 Update
Tank is officially cycled and ready for life just in time for the TCMAS reef expo.
I got my lights all set up with par values between 150-310 at different areas of the tank. I still want to try to make some small adjustments to give myself a bit more lower par areas while keeping some higher par areas.
April 17th, 2023 Update
I think I finally got my lights set up in a way that's giving me the par values I was looking for. I used the Photone app for measurement.
I fragged off pieces of all the corals in the 10 gallon that I wanted to keep along with the deals I've gotten over the last couple of weeks and moved them into the 150 gallon. So far most things are still looking pretty ticked off about the dip and move, but my gold torch is open and looking pretty good. Hopefully everything else comes around soon.
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