Ryans Reef

[RyanG]

In my meet and greet thread I was asked to start a tank thread. Ill keep it mostly to a photo-journal to get it up to date then we can all see what comes of it in the future. I fresh tested last weekend and am trying to get it salty this weekend so here goes.

Its a 180 custom eurobraced tank drilled for a closed loop(2" intake with 3x3/4" and 4x1/2" returns)

Stand and Canopy

Tank in its home 180

Sump Building 101-75 gallon

Plumbing

 

[RyanG]

Through Overflow returns

Back Wall

Fill er Up!

Flow Video--Just for the sake of it

 

[RyanG]

As far as equiptment goes heres the list.

Closed Loop pump-Sequence 3200
Lighting-2x250w magnetic 1x400w icecap eballast VHO actinics
Reflectors-3xLumenarc III mini's
Skimmer-Bermuda BPS 8c pump-mag18
Return pump-mag12

I guess thats it for now hopefully this thing turns out great! If not....? Enjoy

 

[Nate82]

ha just start? sounds like it will be awesome!

 

[dfurbee]

Nice flow Ryan.

 

[Poseidon]

That is a LOT of PVC, and I thought I had a lot.... WOW! Great job!

 

[ahayes13]

yes, looks great! im sure you are excited to get it all up and running :) looking great so far ;)

 

[RyanG]

Thanks for all of the comments! Ive been collecting my equiptment for this project since mid-march. Im wicked excited to be finally getting everything going. The tank is empty as we speak waiting for the RO unit from www.purewaterclub.com to make water. Im going to need a good transfer pump that will handle a pretty decent head. Any suggestions?

 

[Poseidon]

Submersible?

 

[RyanG]

Preferably that would save me from having to cut holes in perfectly good trash cans and having to deal with uniseals.

 

[Poseidon]

If this is an occasional use pump, then a MAG would be ideal as they are cheap and reliable. If this is going to be used more frequently, then an Ocean Runner or Eheim would be a better choice, as they are more power efficient then the MAG pumps are.

 

[RyanG]

I only need to use it for water changes, so once a week for about 30-40gallons is my plan.

 

[Poseidon]

I'd look for a used Mag then, you can usually find a MAG9 for about $50 I have seen MAG12's for that price too. I think that would be perfect for occasional use, the difference in price to get an Eheim or OR pump would take forever to make up in power costs.

 

[RyanG]

Here is a link to my "home forum" that has the chronicle from the beginning. I saw that Rev said it was ok in another members thread, if things have changed between then and now let me know and I will remove the link.

http://www.livingreefs.com/forums/tank-showcase/14260-ryans-reef.html

 

[RyanG]

Well I got my live rock all aquascaped today and got the system online. I need to pick up a mag 18 tomorrow to run my skimmer and all will be well:wink:. I also need to dampen the vibrations coming from my closed loop pump it a little more than a touch on the loud side. Ill post up some pics once the sand cloud settles a little as I stirred it up when I turned on the loop.

 

[ahayes13]

cant wait to see the aquascaping. always interesting to see what people do :)

 

[RyanG]

Here are some shots of the tank now that the sand has finally completely settled.

FTS

Left to Right

I made sure to have a lot of nooks and crannies, a few small caves that go through the stack and put the tunnel in as well. With the size of some of the rocks it was hard to do what I had envisioned but overall Im pretty happy with the end result. Hope you all enjoy.

 

[RyanG]

Like a dope I cleaned the glass after I took the photos. Oh well.

 

[roshi719]

Nice 'scaping

 

[RyanG]

I thought it was a little too symetrical and rescaped the entire thing haha. Looks a lot better IMO. Ill show it off a little when it clears up, had a little sand tornado when I turned it back on.