HD's 144 1/2 Moon

[hdsoftail1065]

Today's agenda it testing the tank to establish my baseline on the daily elements usage. I can't wait until I have my dosing pumps up and going, manual dosing is such a pain. I still have a bunch of corals to glue down. I have been considering selling my clowns. I figured the the females agression would taper down once the nems were gone and it did....for a day. Now she thinks she has to protect every hammer and torch in the tank. They are such beautiful fish I just haven't 100% convinced myself they need to go.

Since our tanks are fully stocked with fish, I bought the egg crate and pvc to start converting my 36 bf into a coral grow out. I went with the mars light this time around to see how it does. The tank sits in my mechanical room next to the room where sump and wc station is located. It not going to be a display so I wasn't needing anything fancy.

Update....the two hippos are still Loving each other. Still zero agression. The yellow tang which is rather large is peaceful as well. I got lucky adding all the neighbors fish into my tank. Even though I didn't get to restock with my dream fish I'm still happy with what I have. During the day there is so much activity in the tank it's mezmorizing!!!

 

[gkev]

I posted a few pic's when I first joined this great group of folks! Now I'm sharing what I have and where I'm going with this build. 1st off it is a 144 gallon 1/2 circle. You have probably seen this tank on old posts from yesteryears. This little gem was my dream tank years ago, found it still brand new, never wet and it was calling my name (my wife is still calling me names since I bought it). I have heard and read how bow fronts are distorted, how some people love them, some people hate them but hey, it's like my Harley, I always wanted one, took years before I was able to afford one and when the time came I pulled the trigger. The tank will be sitting in my man cave along a wall that can be viewed from anywhere in the room. Bar area, poker table, watching a flick on the big screen or walking down the hall. Yes I found the tank of my dreams.

I got lucky because it fits perfectly on the wall and I have an empty storage room behind it, so guess where the sump/refugium and all the other noise makers are going. You guessed it correctly! Behind the wall! I did make the mistake of listening to my lfs' and went with the eshopps r-200. Members on the forum shared views on it but it was to late to return it and go with something else. Although it is rated within the size of my tank, looking at it in that empty room made me think....dang! I could have gone much bigger! But it's to late to return it and I'm not slowing down now, I'll use it and continue my upgrades as they system matures (and my wallet recoups).

Never plumbing a tank before I really have no idea what I'm doing. I have looked at numerous builds on this site and I'm thinking...I'm missing something. 2 lines from my tank to my sump, 2 lines from my sump to my tank and a valve on my return pump. Is that all I need? Or are you still sitting there laughing at the noob? Ok, that made me laugh too!

I am using the eflux dc pump, they seem to have decent ratings and I have to keep the cost of this build somewhat under control. Like I mentioned earlier, I can upgrade to better stuff as it grows. Size of the pump area also played a factor in my decision for this pump.

For flow I will see how one Icecap 3k works in the tank, I'm thinking with the tanks design I might get good flow moving around the tank. If not, I will circle the wagons and go to plan B. I haven't figured out plan B yet.

Lighting. Oh boy, now that's a tough one. Decided to start out with 2 Al hydra 26's and adjust with more or a hybrid if needed. It's challenging because you don't see many of these tanks, so you can't just go see what the other guy is using and how they look.

My plan was to use all dry rock and seed it with one or two pieces of live rock from my wife's 32 Biocube. But we got to experience velvet for the first time so her tank is now a coral and invert display tank for 72 days (just to make sure there wasn't some ich in there as well). For people that don't quaritine, let me share some news, a Fishless tank is pretty boring. Now it's dry rock only. Yes I know what your thinking, the noob had a cause of rectum cranial inversion. I did, but now brothers and sisters we have a quaritine tank. Never again will we put anything in our tanks without quaratine first!

Now the skimmer, I haven't picked it up yet because hey, it's a new build so I can pick it up a few weeks after I fill it. But I'm leaning towards the curve 7.

Got a great deal on the figi sand. My wife has the Hawaiian black, but it's too dark for my taste. It seems to absorb to much light for my eyes.

So my reef family, that's where I am today, plan to fill it in another week. Feel free to give pointers, advice, laugh or take some friendly jabs and I'll promise to post more as I continue the build. Thanks for reading my post!

Amazing setup and pics.
I currently have a few pics on my phone and need to research photo equipment and lenses to capture my tanks. Also how to upload them thanks

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I'm using this for the pics.


I usually upload my pics here.

 

[Scurvy]

Interesting, I always select attach file and add there. I wonder if theres any difference...

 

[NY_Caveman]

Interesting, I always select attach file and add there. I wonder if theres any difference...

I always attach. You can do multiples that way.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I always attach. You can do multiples that way.

X3

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I have used the attach as well but never been able to do multiples.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

All 3 tanks are stocked with fish....
I wonder what I can do with the QT for now.....hum.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

@vetteguy53081, I decided to try out the Mars. Thanks for the feedback. Seems like a nice little light for the money.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Evening shot

 

[hdsoftail1065]

So I'm new to the coral game and on my coral haul I got a few pieces that I have no clue what they are and looking for a little help identifying.

Is this some kind of encrusting Monti? I have no clue. Ignore the sand I had a fish fly-by and it got crop dusted.

No clue what this is but kind of neat.

And this? The little spotted piece in the middle.

This piece I thought was dead when I fished it out of the guys tank, it was completely white and I thought it was a skeleton but it is waking up and very vibrant green, almost neon, hopefully it continues to snap out.

This one?

And this one? Hard to get a good pic on it....sorry.

 

[Fudsey]

The 1st one looks like a Christmas monti. The rest I don't know

 

[Scurvy]

Congrats on 365!

the last one looks like maybe a Leptastrea of some kind.
The neon green coming back to life maybe an Elkhorn monti.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Congrats on 365!

the last one looks like maybe a Leptastrea of some kind.
The neon green coming back to life maybe an Elkhorn monti.

I was also thinking elk horn. Thanks for looking.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Evening shot

Looking good!!

 

[Katrina71]

The 1st one looks like a Christmas monti. The rest I don't know

+1

 

[hdsoftail1065]

It's really fun watching these two stroll around the tank together.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

It's really fun watching these two stroll around the tank together.

I imagine 1 as beautiful.. but 2 must almost make it feel like ur diving.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I imagine 1 as beautiful.. but 2 must almost make it feel like ur diving.

I have never been, but I imagine seeing a big school of these would be incredible.

 

[Hamada]

I posted a few pic's when I first joined this great group of folks! Now I'm sharing what I have and where I'm going with this build. 1st off it is a 144 gallon 1/2 circle. You have probably seen this tank on old posts from yesteryears. This little gem was my dream tank years ago, found it still brand new, never wet and it was calling my name (my wife is still calling me names since I bought it). I have heard and read how bow fronts are distorted, how some people love them, some people hate them but hey, it's like my Harley, I always wanted one, took years before I was able to afford one and when the time came I pulled the trigger. The tank will be sitting in my man cave along a wall that can be viewed from anywhere in the room. Bar area, poker table, watching a flick on the big screen or walking down the hall. Yes I found the tank of my dreams.

I got lucky because it fits perfectly on the wall and I have an empty storage room behind it, so guess where the sump/refugium and all the other noise makers are going. You guessed it correctly! Behind the wall! I did make the mistake of listening to my lfs' and went with the eshopps r-200. Members on the forum shared views on it but it was to late to return it and go with something else. Although it is rated within the size of my tank, looking at it in that empty room made me think....dang! I could have gone much bigger! But it's to late to return it and I'm not slowing down now, I'll use it and continue my upgrades as they system matures (and my wallet recoups).

Never plumbing a tank before I really have no idea what I'm doing. I have looked at numerous builds on this site and I'm thinking...I'm missing something. 2 lines from my tank to my sump, 2 lines from my sump to my tank and a valve on my return pump. Is that all I need? Or are you still sitting there laughing at the noob? Ok, that made me laugh too!

I am using the eflux dc pump, they seem to have decent ratings and I have to keep the cost of this build somewhat under control. Like I mentioned earlier, I can upgrade to better stuff as it grows. Size of the pump area also played a factor in my decision for this pump.

For flow I will see how one Icecap 3k works in the tank, I'm thinking with the tanks design I might get good flow moving around the tank. If not, I will circle the wagons and go to plan B. I haven't figured out plan B yet.

Lighting. Oh boy, now that's a tough one. Decided to start out with 2 Al hydra 26's and adjust with more or a hybrid if needed. It's challenging because you don't see many of these tanks, so you can't just go see what the other guy is using and how they look.

My plan was to use all dry rock and seed it with one or two pieces of live rock from my wife's 32 Biocube. But we got to experience velvet for the first time so her tank is now a coral and invert display tank for 72 days (just to make sure there wasn't some ich in there as well). For people that don't quaritine, let me share some news, a Fishless tank is pretty boring. Now it's dry rock only. Yes I know what your thinking, the noob had a cause of rectum cranial inversion. I did, but now brothers and sisters we have a quaritine tank. Never again will we put anything in our tanks without quaratine first!

Now the skimmer, I haven't picked it up yet because hey, it's a new build so I can pick it up a few weeks after I fill it. But I'm leaning towards the curve 7.

Got a great deal on the figi sand. My wife has the Hawaiian black, but it's too dark for my taste. It seems to absorb to much light for my eyes.

So my reef family, that's where I am today, plan to fill it in another week. Feel free to give pointers, advice, laugh or take some friendly jabs and I'll promise to post more as I continue the build. Thanks for reading my post!

Very nice tank reefer! I have the same icecap 3k and it works really well, do not got for the smaller version of the icecap!! I have it and boy does it hum and hum its insane the amount of noise it makes.