Current Tank as of 3/20/23
Current Tank as of 8/26/22
Original Build Thread Below:
Hello everyone! I wanted to go ahead and lay out my first reef tank journey, hope everyone enjoys going along for this wild (and expensive) ride with me.
I started keeping fish about 10 years ago with a 36g bowfront planted freshwater tank. When I bought my house I also upgraded my tank to a 130 gallon tank I got from a local guy who was upgrading his tank. I kept that tank as a high tech freshwater planted tank.
My biggest struggle with this tank was I had both angelfish and loaches, which ate every single clean up crew I put in the tank. As a result I was constantly battling algae. I eventually gave up and tore the tank down last year after having it running for about 5 years.
That brings us up now where I decided to convert this tank to a reef tank. I always wanted a reef tank but up until this point in my life I couldn't justify the expense for doing it how I wanted.
Here's a brief overview of my plan for this tank:
Equipment:
Return Pumps: 2x VarioS-2 Reef octopus DC pumps
Overflow: Durso standpipe with reverse durso in the sump
Sump: 40g Breeder with 4 chambers: Filter, skimmer, refugium, return
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 6" Regal SSS
Reactor: BRS mini carbon reactor
Powerheads: 2x Octopulse 2 pumps and 1 MP-10 on the backwall
Light: Reefbreeder Photon 50 Vs Pro
Controller: APEX with DOS, 2x FMM modules, and PAR monitoring
Water storage: 2x 55 gallon barrels, one for ATO and one for SW
RODI: BRS 4 stage with booster pump
Dry Rock: Mix of Marco Rock and Marco Shelf Rock
Planned Livestock:
2x clowns
2x Mandarin Gobies (captive bred mated pair)
1x flame angel
1x blue throated fairy wrasse
5x Zebra Barr Dartfish
1x Yellow Tang
1x Whitetail Tang
2x Cardinal Fish
Got the tank cleaned up and emptied. First step is to remove the old sump, redo the inside of the stand, and put in the new larger 40g breeder sump. The journey shall continue...
Current Tank as of 8/26/22
Original Build Thread Below:
Hello everyone! I wanted to go ahead and lay out my first reef tank journey, hope everyone enjoys going along for this wild (and expensive) ride with me.
I started keeping fish about 10 years ago with a 36g bowfront planted freshwater tank. When I bought my house I also upgraded my tank to a 130 gallon tank I got from a local guy who was upgrading his tank. I kept that tank as a high tech freshwater planted tank.
My biggest struggle with this tank was I had both angelfish and loaches, which ate every single clean up crew I put in the tank. As a result I was constantly battling algae. I eventually gave up and tore the tank down last year after having it running for about 5 years.
That brings us up now where I decided to convert this tank to a reef tank. I always wanted a reef tank but up until this point in my life I couldn't justify the expense for doing it how I wanted.
Here's a brief overview of my plan for this tank:
Equipment:
Return Pumps: 2x VarioS-2 Reef octopus DC pumps
Overflow: Durso standpipe with reverse durso in the sump
Sump: 40g Breeder with 4 chambers: Filter, skimmer, refugium, return
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 6" Regal SSS
Reactor: BRS mini carbon reactor
Powerheads: 2x Octopulse 2 pumps and 1 MP-10 on the backwall
Light: Reefbreeder Photon 50 Vs Pro
Controller: APEX with DOS, 2x FMM modules, and PAR monitoring
Water storage: 2x 55 gallon barrels, one for ATO and one for SW
RODI: BRS 4 stage with booster pump
Dry Rock: Mix of Marco Rock and Marco Shelf Rock
Planned Livestock:
2x clowns
2x Mandarin Gobies (captive bred mated pair)
1x flame angel
1x blue throated fairy wrasse
5x Zebra Barr Dartfish
1x Yellow Tang
1x Whitetail Tang
2x Cardinal Fish
Got the tank cleaned up and emptied. First step is to remove the old sump, redo the inside of the stand, and put in the new larger 40g breeder sump. The journey shall continue...
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