Equipment and tank tour, 2 and a half years up and running now. (Pic heavy)

motortrendz

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So when we bought our house I couldn't wait to get the tank up and running. My tank was bought used, i believe it's about 80 gallons (it's an odd shaped coner bow with a flat panel across the back)
I drilled and installed a weir with a 1.5in drain. And I sanded and redid the stand. ( wish I took pics at the time) after filling the tank I found a seam leak and had to break it back down to reseal the back panels.

After that debacle, it held water fine and ran well. I used florida dry rock and some left over pieces of Fiji and a few tonga pieces to make my aqua scape. I used a really pretty sugar sand to start(a mistake I later came to regret!) I had purchased 3 hydra 26s for the tank and supplemented with 2 retrofit t5s (one atinic and one purple plus)

For equipment I used my diablo 200 skimmer from an older much bigger system, squeezed it into a 20g long aga tank i made into a sump with glass cut panels. I used a dual 4in filter sock intake in the sump, skimmer and heater section. And then my return section. My return pump is a jaebo 6000 running at 75% I have 2 reactors I mr1 for my go and one vertex 1liter for my carbon(this reactor is beautiful and I really love the vertex products.

The next few months were uneventful, ugly tank syndrome, various algaes and break outs...

I started adding corals at 6 months, zoas, shrooms and some Lps did pretty good. Couldn't keep any sps for almost a year.

Once my tank settled in and rocks were covered in purple corraline I noticed my sps really starting to take off.

I eventually got tired of dosing and added a vertex calcium reactor filled with 2little fish meda mixed with zeovit magnesium rocks in the main chamber and a smaller grain argonite in the second chamber.

I've battled lighting issues forever. I eventually took down the t5s, then came across 2 hydra 52 which I used to replace the 3 hydra 26s, i finally started noticing more color pop and some faster growth in sps. FINALLY, felt like i was getting smoother. After a few months running, I noticed everything in the back half of the tank still looked dull, so I added 2 of the hydra 26s behind the 52s and set them to all to about 70% blues and 10% whites. Finally got it in the ballpark for a good lighting setup. (Only took 2 years to get it right)

My calcium reactor has been up and running for about a year now and I finally just had to turn it up to help maintain the new uptake is calcium and alk.

It's been a fun journey, delt with red slime outbreak, a turf algae, briopsis outbreak and then dinos. That was about 6 months of hell. But right now my tank is going through a "pretty stage" so I'm enjoying it while I can, bc we all now it's a rollercoaster ride of a hobby.

In the next week or 2 I will be completing a new sump, a 75 gallon acrylic tank to triple my sump volume with an integrated 15g water change compartment. And running my plumbing down to the basement. I purchased a vectra m2 return pump, for that sump. Built a new manifold to run everything. It should be a good build. I'll be posting that on here as I go.

Almost forgot a few pieces of equipment, I have an mp40qd, on my left side running on reef Crest at 80% and I just recently replaced a gyre (i really didn't like it at all in my system) with the nero 5. I really have to say i love it, the contollability and the amount of water it moves, as well as being able to program flows, intensities and patterns all on my phone. To only downside is that dang magnet mount. Its really just not strong enough! So hopefully there's a fix coming for that. And I just recently ordered a rear guard from a member on her to make sure I dont get any fish sucked in...

I also spent about 2 months replacing my fine sand with coarse sand. I finally got tired of always having cloudy looking water, sand storms and cleaning off my rocks of piles of sand. And my sump even looked like it had about 1/4in of sand in it.
I know it's a long post, I've been in the hobby for about 15 years had many tanks over the years. My goal is to eventually upgrade to a reef savvy tank. But this tank will do for a few more years.

Now for the part everyone loves to see, the pictures..... they're a little out of order, but you can see the progression of the ta k and its growth and maturity. A tour of the equipment and of course some close up corals and fish. At the bottom is a few pics of the new sump build and manifold build.

Let me know what you guys think. :)
Thanks for looking.

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Peace River

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Wow! This is a great start to your build thread! I appreciate the thorough write-up and all of the pictures - good work!
 
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motortrendz

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Wow! This is a great start to your build thread! I appreciate the thorough write-up and all of the pictures - good work!
Thank you. I wish I had all the pics from back when I started. I had pics of the stand refinish the reseal.and drilling the back. Even pics of the original sump build. But they're were all on my old phone and like a dummy never backed them up before losing it. So I figured I'd start a bit now. Trying to backtrack as far as I could.

I gotta the vertex calcium reactor is amazing. The construction is awesome and the simplicity of use is outstanding. I use a milwakee controller for it and its fed by my manifold under my tank and the reactor is in my basement.
 
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motortrendz

motortrendz

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Love the bow front, my first saltwater tank was a 90 BF!!
Yea I do too. My old 92 corner bow was a better finish on the glass, this tank is definitly lower quality and distorts slightly. Most people dont notice it but it drives me nuts.
 

AiKkz

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Yea I do too. My old 92 corner bow was a better finish on the glass, this tank is definitly lower quality and distorts slightly. Most people dont notice it but it drives me nuts.
Haha I hear ya, I have a scratch on my glass and no1 sees it but it drives me crazy!!!
 
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motortrendz

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What a terrible morning I'm having. My trio of flame wrasses are no longer a trio.... my large alpha male is gone, saw him laying on the sand behind my rock work and though that was odd, so I grabbed a light to see what was up and saw he was half eaten.... guess he died during the night somehow and became breakfast for my CUC. I'm so mad/upset. Not bc of how much they go for now, but bc I had him for 3 years now, he was the personable one of the 3. Always came to greet my hand when I had to do things in the tank... so now my sub malw better step up. Lol. All other fish are in good health and corals look open and everything seems fine. It's been about a year since a fish died in my system. Ugh.

On the flip side, guess there's now an open bed at the inn... lol.
 
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motortrendz

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The only thing I can think of is, they always swarm my hands when I'm doing stuff in the tank, and yesterday afternoon I used a razor to cut a new reefer a nice frag of my neon green sinulara and now I'm wondering if maybe I got him with the blade somehow. I feel terrible.
 

albano

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Sorry to hear, Mike... but IME with multiple wrasses, (you’ve seen my tank) there is a good chance of the ‘big one’ being ‘eliminated’... maybe that’s why they’re called ‘terminal’ males
 
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motortrendz

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Sorry to hear, Mike... but IME with multiple wrasses, (you’ve seen my tank) there is a good chance of the ‘big one’ being ‘eliminated’... maybe that’s why they’re called ‘terminal’ males
So mad. Haha. He was so pretty! And amazingly with all the wrasses I have I've never witnessed any aggression as I always use a acclimation box when introducing wrasses. It's just crazy 1 min hes good and an hour later hes gone.

Any recommendations for another.... lol. Was thinking. 8 line. Haha
 
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motortrendz

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Wow! Awesome story and really stunning pictures. Beautiful tank, livestock, and equipment setup. Not to mention a nice, concise introduction :D
Thank you so much, stay tuned as I'll be building a new 75g sump this weekend into next week and installing it Into the basement. Which should be fun.
 

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And amazingly with all the wrasses I have I've never witnessed any aggression as I always use a acclimation box when introducing wrasses.

Any recommendations for another.... lol. Was thinking. 8 line. Haha
I also use an acclimation box, but as they grow, the aggression can grow.
8 line flasher, yes... 8 line wrasse , no!
 
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motortrendz

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Leopard wrasse (cough cough)
I'm in love with the chaoti but I'm gonna wait till I have my red savvy tank built before I get him.
Im.gonna have them build me a 60x30deepx28tall tank next year. I cant wait! Hence all the sump and filtration upgrades now ha
 

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Very nice setup and fish collection.
I'd go for a juvenile and watch it mature and change color. I can wait for my octitaenia to switch to terminal male colors.
 

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