footballdude2k3
Acroholic
So I originally was going to use a 125 that I had, and upgrade my 65. I also had a 120 laying around in a storage unit. My fiancé and I moved into our new apartment, found a crack in the 125 top brace, and the stand would have needed work to be usable as well, it was pretty flimsy.
When I saw that issue, I decided to use the 120 to upgrade with the contents of the 65, and buy a 180. Go big or go home, right?
So the 120 got the contents of the 65, and is up and running fully now. Decided to go full reef with that one, had an exquisite fairy wrasse jump last night, it was through a 2x3" area, most of it was covered with eggcrate, I was not happy, really didn't think it would find the little area in the corner like that. Aside from that, there is a yellow tang, a melanurus wrasse, an orchid dottyback, one blue/green chromis, and a pair of black clowns. It's mainly SPS and LPS, added a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp, going to add one more of each, and possibly a clam. In a few months when things have settled down, and they are happy in there, I am going to add a pair of flame wrasses in there.
The 180 is up and running partially now, the rock was bought fully cured and was in a tank for about a month up and running before the move. Now the structures are build, one island on each side, and one big rock in the middle. Currently there are 5 fish, a pair of snowflake clowns, one saddleback clown, and one regular clown that is missing the middle strip on one side. I know having two pairs of clowns might not work out so well if/when they start to pair up and get to a breeding age, but if there is ever any aggression, one pair will go into the frag tank. I care about the fish first and foremost, they spent time in QT together, and got along well enough that I wanted to give them a big tank and pull them if it ever gets bad. The other fish in the tank is a Smith blenny.
This is going to be SPS and LPS based as well, I tried, and I mean REALLY tried to get into zoas, which seem to really be the only thing that 90% of people in San Antonio do. So I am going to be the odd man out there, and have to just get my coral from the internet, there are worse things in life.
This is going to be a bit of a project tank, the equipment is leftovers from what we have laying around from various builds, and we are going to slowly upgrade everything on here. The first thing is going to be flow, right now we have a few various pumps that I am going to turn on slowly because the little clowns were struggling with the higher flow, so there's just one pump going. Going to get 4 MP40wQD's, I have 2 MP40wes on the 120, they were on the 65, and I have never loved any pumps more than VorTechs, so that's where I am going to stay.
For lighting, I am still torn on what to do, I have a good friend that does amazing with CT Lites, but I have always liked how Radions interact with VorTechs, so that's going to be a big decision.
I am going to run a separate sump and refuge, the sump is going to be a 40b with a skimmer, a 29 is going to be the refuge.
This one is going to be a coral safe tank, but not invert friendly. The next things going in will be a pair of flamehawks. After that, a ruby headed fairy wrasse, a pair of Labout's fairy wrasses, a naoko wrasse, Bristletooth Tomini Tang, purple tang, powder blue tang, and a black trigger.
Might be a little heavy on the fish load, but I have extra space available if there are every any issues with aggression, and I can always adjust if it starts feeling too full before everything gets added.
I have a bunch of things in front of the tank right now, so pictures will be up tomorrow on what's started, the plumbing still needs to be done, and I need one more return pump since I am going to be running separate systems. Those will be coming online in the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking, and if you have any pictures of 180's, equipment you have used, or fish/coral in your tank that you want to share, we always love to see whatever we can get my hands on.
Paul and Rachael
When I saw that issue, I decided to use the 120 to upgrade with the contents of the 65, and buy a 180. Go big or go home, right?
So the 120 got the contents of the 65, and is up and running fully now. Decided to go full reef with that one, had an exquisite fairy wrasse jump last night, it was through a 2x3" area, most of it was covered with eggcrate, I was not happy, really didn't think it would find the little area in the corner like that. Aside from that, there is a yellow tang, a melanurus wrasse, an orchid dottyback, one blue/green chromis, and a pair of black clowns. It's mainly SPS and LPS, added a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp, going to add one more of each, and possibly a clam. In a few months when things have settled down, and they are happy in there, I am going to add a pair of flame wrasses in there.
The 180 is up and running partially now, the rock was bought fully cured and was in a tank for about a month up and running before the move. Now the structures are build, one island on each side, and one big rock in the middle. Currently there are 5 fish, a pair of snowflake clowns, one saddleback clown, and one regular clown that is missing the middle strip on one side. I know having two pairs of clowns might not work out so well if/when they start to pair up and get to a breeding age, but if there is ever any aggression, one pair will go into the frag tank. I care about the fish first and foremost, they spent time in QT together, and got along well enough that I wanted to give them a big tank and pull them if it ever gets bad. The other fish in the tank is a Smith blenny.
This is going to be SPS and LPS based as well, I tried, and I mean REALLY tried to get into zoas, which seem to really be the only thing that 90% of people in San Antonio do. So I am going to be the odd man out there, and have to just get my coral from the internet, there are worse things in life.
This is going to be a bit of a project tank, the equipment is leftovers from what we have laying around from various builds, and we are going to slowly upgrade everything on here. The first thing is going to be flow, right now we have a few various pumps that I am going to turn on slowly because the little clowns were struggling with the higher flow, so there's just one pump going. Going to get 4 MP40wQD's, I have 2 MP40wes on the 120, they were on the 65, and I have never loved any pumps more than VorTechs, so that's where I am going to stay.
For lighting, I am still torn on what to do, I have a good friend that does amazing with CT Lites, but I have always liked how Radions interact with VorTechs, so that's going to be a big decision.
I am going to run a separate sump and refuge, the sump is going to be a 40b with a skimmer, a 29 is going to be the refuge.
This one is going to be a coral safe tank, but not invert friendly. The next things going in will be a pair of flamehawks. After that, a ruby headed fairy wrasse, a pair of Labout's fairy wrasses, a naoko wrasse, Bristletooth Tomini Tang, purple tang, powder blue tang, and a black trigger.
Might be a little heavy on the fish load, but I have extra space available if there are every any issues with aggression, and I can always adjust if it starts feeling too full before everything gets added.
I have a bunch of things in front of the tank right now, so pictures will be up tomorrow on what's started, the plumbing still needs to be done, and I need one more return pump since I am going to be running separate systems. Those will be coming online in the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking, and if you have any pictures of 180's, equipment you have used, or fish/coral in your tank that you want to share, we always love to see whatever we can get my hands on.
Paul and Rachael
