Just a 240 gallon reef tank.

[gontheroad]

My son came to me one day and said, “Dad I think it would be cool to have a fish tank with clown fish and an anenome.”
I had been waiting for those words for years. If has been 20 years since my last reef tank since a move from Minnesota to North Carolina. We had had a smaller fresh water tank with the kids but life has been busy and I have not had a tank for 7-8 years.
Well, to simplify life I found a 240 gallon tank and here we go.
Side note: I found a 32 biocube that was all set up and running and so he has his fish already as I did not want to lose him in the build process and I will need a quarantine tank right? Lol

Anyway, I had to build a stand and clear the space and today we finally got her in the house.
I plan to run a reefmat 1200, maxspect duo skimmer and algae scrubber. Quantra Pro lights (5) and an Apex system.
Next plumbing and water.

I bought some about 180 pounds of coral from a guy whose tank cracked and it is ready after some work. Plan to get some Tampa as well.

Excited and a little scared but here we go.

 

[PokeFish]

looks great- will be following

 

[nbooks]

i just put quantas up over my 220 (72x24x30), you will NOT be dissapointed.

 

[DeadEnd]

Good job!

 

[gontheroad]

i just put quantas up over my 220 (72x24x30), you will NOT be dissapointed.

Which did you go with? I went with 5 2- blue 2- reef and 1- tropic sun

 

[gontheroad]

Well...in starting to assemble parts and was not happy with the sump. Ordered a trigger systems this am and will have to get a different pump. The joys!!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Congrats!!! I’m a big algae filtration fan. Had an effective refugium in my last tank ( my best tank ever) moved up to an Ice Cap Algae Scrubber. So far so good! Your small tank looks nicely established. Will there be a small tank, large tank transfer at some point?

 

[bnord]

nice start to an epic adventure -

 

[nbooks]

Which did you go with? I went with 5 2- blue 2- reef and 1- tropic sun

for now just 1 reef crest and 1 meso (both 6 foot), have a fluval sea that came with the tank that i use for dimming. I have dual corner overflows, so going to add a 4 foot reef crest to get rid of some shadowing. will have to see what the par is with 3...if i need anymore it will be another 4ft meso/possibly an og pop.

i cant imagine how bright it will be with 5 lol, they put out a ton. these are iphone 12 pro pics with no filter or adjustment (sorry to dump these in your thread, but i feel theres not a lot of info about these lights out there)

1- meso only
2- reefcrest only
3- both

 

[gontheroad]

Congrats!!! I’m a big algae filtration fan. Had an effective refugium in my last tank ( my best tank ever) moved up to an Ice Cap Algae Scrubber. So far so good! Your small tank looks nicely established. Will there be a small tank, large tank transfer at some point?

Unsure right now as he is kinda liking it! Thinking I maybe should have just done that tank and called it good....lol

 

[gontheroad]

for now just 1 reef crest and 1 meso (both 6 foot), have a fluval sea that came with the tank that i use for dimming. I have dual corner overflows, so going to add a 4 foot reef crest to get rid of some shadowing. will have to see what the par is with 3...if i need anymore it will be another 4ft meso/possibly an og pop.

i cant imagine how bright it will be with 5 lol, they put out a ton. these are iphone 12 pro pics with no filter or adjustment (sorry to dump these in your thread, but i feel theres not a lot of info about these lights out there)

1- meso only
2- reefcrest only
3- both

Thank you for the pics. I love it. I talked with the owner of the Quanta...nice guy.. and I want to be able to grow sps and whatever and that is what he recommended...should be 450 par or so in the middle.

 

[nbooks]

Thank you for the pics. I love it. I talked with the owner of the Quantra...nice guy.. and I want to be able to grow sps and whatever and that is what he recommended...should be 450 par or so in the middle.

I followed along for quite awhile after randomly stumbling across his stuff on instagram. I was planning on using 3 sky's since i have cross braces...but so far the quanta bars are making me realize how silly an idea that was.

His data seems to be proving true, ill let you know what the par meter shows on mine soon hopefully.

 

[gontheroad]

Rinse nearly complete. Did some plumbing today but had to order parts. Sump was supposed to come yesterday. Still no word….

 

[gontheroad]

More plumbing done. I need two parts coming and internal plumbing will be done. Time to start placing some rocks in the tank after a cleaning this am.

 

[gontheroad]

Okay 180 pounds in. Truly thought it might go further lol. Well….whatever eh.

 

[gontheroad]

So found another 75 pounds of rock and put them in. Also added some sand around it.

 

[gontheroad]

i just put quantas up over my 220 (72x24x30), you will NOT be dissapointed.

Pics?

 

[gontheroad]

Alright…updates. Still plugging along. Found another 100 pounds of coral in my town. Been dry 10+ Years and looks good. Stuck some ruble in sons tank. Got my Trigger Systems sapphire 44. Man georgeous. If each section was 4” longer…. But I love it.
Started some plumbing and have more stuff coming.
frustration….not quite sure how the algae scrubber will fit in. She is big. Anyway off to bed busy day tomorrow.
Note: schedule 80 union parts will work on the reefmat 1200 to convert to hard pipe. I did still use the black stretchy pipe for flexibility but the discovery allowed me to use both sides.
peace

 

[gontheroad]

Forgot to mention that I have spent a lot of time on reef moonshiners lately…

 

[gontheroad]

Waiting for coffee this am.
yesterday was productive.
I have a rough mounting of my lights…Quanta Pro 6’.
I have the plumbing roughed in after a couple changes due to the algae scrubber positioning.
hopibg to get plumbing all glued and maybe some water filling action.