Luke33's 195g LeeMar Starfire Build

[Demonic]

Thanks Paul, and Demonic is correct.

You know, I never get tired of hearing that.
Are you building the stand today?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

That is one sweet tank!! Hurry and get it set up!

 

[nayrgaijin]

I agree with Rev!!!! AWESOME LUKE!

 

[secretreefer]

great to see this beauty of a tank in good, responsible hands. can't wait to see it setup Luke!

 

[luke33]

Thanks guys, its going to be a while before its set up though, lots of stuff to do and get!

 

[luke33]

Ok, so you could say i have been slacking a bit......pushing 4mths later i have a stand and a terrible picture to prove it.

The pup is still not happy about being in the sump

So the stand is built with 2x4 and 2x6's. Frame top and bottom is 2x4 and the legs (6) are 2x6's. Its pry overkill but thats what I wanted. I painted it white and it looks very nice, i'll have to take a good pic. Plan is to have it plumbed by the weekend and start filling it up. The equipment is askoll 1500 return pump, 300 cone skimmer, two sicce voyager 2800gph, 4 120w led lights, 90lbs of trop eden sand, swc120 reactor with biopellets. Thats all I got for now. Its going to be a very open tank with not alot of live rock.

 

[luke33]

I'll be using some pieces from Gooch in my tank as the main rockwork.

 

[luke33]

So here it is with water and my rockwork in it. The three pieces were made by The Alternate Reef. They are perfect for SPS guys. I will make islands of SPS on them. My sps have been trying to jump out of my current tank to get in there : )

I also hooked up a 120w 20k RFI LED in the center. It was 27" above the sandbed and was pulling 205 in the dead center. I think when i throw all 4 up there i'll be getting around 250-300 at the sand so i should be able to grow sps anywhere on the rock pretty well. And then......let the tree's grow!

 

[luke33]

Latest and greatest crappy pic : ) I swear i'll bust out my camera one day.

 

[xmetalfan99]

I see you went with a different skimmer. Why is that?

 

[luke33]

Well at first I was going to use the swc300 cone but the skimmer is just to powerful for the system and isn't going to skim consistently. I need something that is big enough but not silly big. The warner marine MF251 cone is a great fit for a 300g system and it only pulls 32 watts. Its powerful enough to at around 2500lph air. Then again who knows i may switch it out for a swc300 cone once it is rockin out : )

 

[orlando809]

cant wait to see it running,how long before we can see some fish in there

 

[skinz78]

Wow Luke, I missed this one and had no idea you were working on a new tank. It looks great! Are you going to skin the stand?

LOL I have the same kind of pup but instead of guarding the sump she'd rather be out playing in the mud...

 

[secretreefer]

Nice update!

 

[luke33]

Orlando, its got fish in it now. It seems to be cycled already since i used used water and some lr in the sump as well as 6mth old bacteria colonies from the biopellets. I added 6 chromis. I'm going to test a few corals here soon.

Chris, mine would rather be in a lake or mudd....but that doesn't happen to often. Yea, i plan on skinning it just want to get it up and running the way I want first.

Thanks Secretreefer, can't wait to get everything in it, will look pretty sick.

 

[luke33]

Ok, so I have the tank populated with all the coral except the huge bali slimer as i'm not sure what to do with it. Its pry 20" tall and 18" wide. Anyhow here is with just blue led on.

 

[Zef004]

Nice luke. Love the rock did you make it. Or did you buy it.

 

[luke33]

Scott from the alternate reef made it. He did a fantastic job.

 

[gooch Verified Sponsor]

I can not wait until it is all grown in. You wont even see the rockwork. All coral.

Now just a couple branching powerhead holders to hide the powerheads.

 

[bige]

Nice set up. The rocks are cool. It will look cool once they are all covered with coral.