Our 400 Gallon In Wall Natural Sun-Lit Reef

[jdpiii3]

Check out the awesome new badges! Thanks Reef 2 Reef!

Reef of the Month! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...unlit-reef-a-living-memorial-to-kelly.939510/

 

[Karliefish]

Thanks so much, This thread took on a life of its own during my wife's battle with cancer. I am so thankful for the reef-2-reef community allowing me to share my grief so deeply it was so therapeutic, it helped me get through some very rough patches.

As for the videos, yes I know I've been slacking, you would think with all this great digital media equipment I have I'd be posting videos constantly. I need to pull out the Sony Mirrorless Alpha A7 and start shooting.

I'm going to blame it on bad hair days, yes 10 years worth

I know ,speaking on behalf of the whole community out here, we are all cheering hard for continued great success with your tank and we all will be thrilled to see an updated video wherever you can get to it

 

[Bipolarbear]

Hey Joe congrats on tank of the month! Your tank has been an inspiration for me and my wife for years. My wife battled breast cancer and survived and to celebrate we remodeled our kitchen and installed a 225 gallon aquarium lit with solar tubes and LED strips. Without seeing your success I would have never tried solar tubes.

Reading through your posts you mentioned that you had used a pneumatic sander to polish out the inside of the tank while there was still water in it. Do you have some links to the sander you used or more information about that process? My tank is also acrylic and I have been buffing out scratches by hand but would love to use a sander like you did.

 

[jdpiii3]

Hey Joe congrats on tank of the month! Your tank has been an inspiration for me and my wife for years. My wife battled breast cancer and survived and to celebrate we remodeled our kitchen and installed a 225 gallon aquarium lit with solar tubes and LED strips. Without seeing your success I would have never tried solar tubes.

Reading through your posts you mentioned that you had used a pneumatic sander to polish out the inside of the tank while there was still water in it. Do you have some links to the sander you used or more information about that process? My tank is also acrylic and I have been buffing out scratches by hand but would love to use a sander like you did.

Thanks so much very happy to hear your wife is a survivor from breast cancer. Blessings to you and your family.

Your tank looks amazing I would love to see a build thread.

As far as sanding I used a cheap orbital air sander from Amazon just make sure its oil-free and your compressor is also oil-free with an exhaust port, if I remember the one I used cost $45. Hook your exhaust hose up and have it return to the sump I had it running into an extra filter sock with a few towels to catch any particles and splatter.

Get yourself the micro mesh sanding discs you can purchase them on Amazon all the way up to 12,000 grit I also used a long pole sander again with the micro mesh sandpaper working small sections at a time.

The orbital worked best for the heavy cutting, for the fine cut 5000 grit and higher I did them all by hand with a mighty magnet with the sandpaper mounted to white scrub pads. Be sure to work the hand sanding left to right then top to bottom for next grit. Alternating the sanding pattern for each grit all the way to 12,000

 

[Bipolarbear]

Thanks so much! Again congrats! Here is my build thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bipolarbears-new-kitchen-with-225gal-peninsula.848628

 

[jdpiii3]

Here we see the mermaid in her native habitat keeping her home clean.

 

[Gatorpa]

Just received my order from ABC Reagents. With rising costs the way they have been to be able to save just a little bit for other reef tank goodies is welcomed.

3 Day turnaround from when I placed my order, packaging could have been a bit better. Thankfully none of the containers were leaking or damaged.

Once I run out of my current supply I will be using these and will post my results as they come.

How are the ABC solutions working out?

 

[jdpiii3]

How are the ABC solutions working out?

I started using them about a month ago and they've been very stable with their testing results.

When I switched I did manual tests first to set my values. I'll do another set of manual tests this weekend to confirm the accuracy.

 

[jdpiii3]

Wishing everyone a blessed New Year!

 

[OldRed1]

I am so envious of this tank! Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[trsmith18]

Wishing everyone a blessed New Year!

Sick…absolutely sick. Truly disgusting how awesome that looks!

 

[jdpiii3]

Sick…absolutely sick. Truly disgusting how awesome that looks!

Thanks so much. I had a friend over today, I think part of his jaw hit the floor when he walked in and saw the tank.

 

[jdpiii3]

Sorry for my lack of photos the last month or so. I've been having some really good growth and reaction to switching salts.

Due to stocking issues at Live Aquaria I had to abruptly stop using the Live Aquaria Reef Pro salt, and had to switch to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.

I've been happy with the switch and with the cost reduction switching to Instant Ocean I'll probably continue to use it.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Sorry for my lack of photos the last month or so. I've been having some really good growth and reaction to switching salts.

Due to stocking issues at Live Aquaria I had to abruptly stop using the Live Aquaria Reef Pro salt, and had to switch to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.

I've been happy with the switch and with the cost reduction switching to Instant Ocean I'll probably continue to use it.

I use the instant ocean normal salt. 38$ for a 5 gallon bucket of salt at Petco and 20% off that if you pickup at store, then normally get 8% off when I find Petco deals with one of my credit cards. So 25$ or so for 5 gallons of salt mix. Crazy how much others charge for salt! And my acros seem to thrive with it. Legitimately the only thing I consider not outrageously expensive and over priced when it comes to my aquarium.

 

[jdpiii3]

I use the instant ocean normal salt. 38$ for a 5 gallon bucket of salt at Petco and 20% off that if you pickup at store, then normally get 8% off when I find Petco deals with one of my credit cards. So 25$ or so for 5 gallons of salt mix. Crazy how much others charge for salt! And my acros seem to thrive with it. Legitimately the only thing I consider not outrageously expensive and over priced when it comes to my aquarium.

I need to check that out my last batch of four 5gal pails I got them from Amazon for about the same price. Quite a difference in pricing from what Live Aquaria was charging if I remember the 200 gallon box was $79.

 

[jdpiii3]

Happy Sunday everyone! Homemade quiche by the reef for breakfast. Enjoy a few new shots of the reef.

 

[i cant think]

Happy Sunday everyone! Homemade quiche by the reef for breakfast. Enjoy a few new shots of the reef.

This tank just gets more impressive every time I see it!
Also, I don’t know if I said it when you got ROTM but congrats

 

[jdpiii3]

This tank just gets more impressive every time I see it!
Also, I don’t know if I said it when you got ROTM but congrats

Thank you! and thanks again for always showing your support! I enjoy reading your comments, they are always well thought out and helpful!

 

[i cant think]

Thank you! and thanks again for always showing your support! I enjoy reading your comments, they are always well thought out and helpful!

Well, I wouldn’t say well thought out haha, I just say what I think
And helping people is what I love to do anyway, one thing I tend to say is;
Why have the knowledge but never share it?

 

[A Young Reefer]

Well, I wouldn’t say well thought out haha, I just say what I think
And helping people is what I love to do anyway, one thing I tend to say is;
Why have the knowledge but never share it?

But but…. I thought that you can’t think