Shoehorn 150 build

[CBonito]

Thank you for the solid advice! I’m not really sold on any of them except the leopard wrasse.

Don't get me wrong, the melanurus is a really cool and beautiful wrasse. I love mine.

I was just totally shocked when this fish I raised from a baby who never hurt anyone lost his mind and assassinated my Redhead.

He was less than 2 inches when I bought him and he's 5 inches now.

 

[popethe5th]

Quick progress update before I pass out. TBS sand arrives tomorrow so I’ve been up till midnight getting the tank ready. I think I’m as good as I am going to get. I didn’t have time to run a full leak test but I did fill up the overflow and make sure my bulkheads seal. 4am wake up tomorrow and of course it’s my night to close, and I work this Saturday, so basically the timing couldn’t have been any worse. I think I’ve shoehorned all the gear I can possible fit into this tiny box. I still have a trident I need to find room for. I am debating mounting it behind the stand :-/

I wish I would’ve pushed the TBS delivery back 2 more weeks but here we are ready for rock and sand!

 

[popethe5th]

It’s finally starting to look like a tank now. I think I’m going to stack some more rocks in front of the overflow. The tank even got its first 2 tenants that hitchhiked in on the live rock.

 

[Submerge]

I’ll bet that starfish is freaked out.

I’m so jealous. I’m a month behind you. Looks amazing

 

[popethe5th]

 

[popethe5th]

After 5 attempts to upload those photos they finally went through. Now maybe I can give a quick update.

First the good news. A handful of cool snails showed up out of the sand. I turned on the gyres to get the water moving around. Flow looks good I might tweak some rock placement to get flow across the back but I’m pretty happy with it.

I am having some problems. My dual return pumps is way too much. I have them on the lowest setting and the ball valves halfway shut. This sump does not flow enough. I wanted to change to a roller sump but this one came with the tank and I’m a cheapskate. It looks like I’m stuck with it now as it has to come out of the back. The sump just does not flow enough I’m thinking about pulling 1 pump out and sticking it on the shelf as a spare.

I also can’t get my apex to play nice the power strip functions fine as a standalone as soon as I plug the controller into it all outlets turn off and no matter how I program them I cannot turn any of them on. Going to start from scratch after a hard reset this weekend.

I need to build some Kessil mounts and get them hung up this weekend. Which is exciting, but I probably won’t turn them on for another 4 or 5 weeks if I can be patient enough to last that long.

I’m ready to add all the fish and corals this patience thing is not my strength.

 

[Submerge]

Maybe 1 cor15 into a manifold? I was thinking 2 might be pretty strong.

Where did you get your rock and sand?

That sump looks too cool to rip out. I'm sure it's plenty big once you get the flow where you want it.

 

[popethe5th]

Maybe 1 cor15 into a manifold? I was thinking 2 might be pretty strong.

Where did you get your rock and sand?

That sump looks too cool to rip out. I'm sure it's plenty big once you get the flow where you want it.

I built the scape myself with Marco rock from the LFS. The sand was flown in from TBS and was well worth the cost 80lbs live sand from the ocean and 20 lbs special grade from the store.

 

[popethe5th]

I forgot I couldn’t resist and I ordered a yellow tang from Biota. I figured he will grow out a little so when I turn the lights on in November he will be ready to mow down some algae.

This week I need to try to get my mixing bin salinity reduced I must’ve put way too much salt because I’m at 40ppt I know some of it is the heat. Is there a good calculator or chart out there for temperature/salinity relationship? For example what should I mix my salt to in my 90° garage to be 35PPT at 78°?

 

[popethe5th]

Here’s a long overdue update. Been fiddling around while in the dark phase. Planning on kicking the lights on around thanksgiving. But I got my auto water change system up and running.

Also mounted the dosing container still working on the plumbing. I guess the last dosing pump will have to get mounted above the sump because I e ran out of room in the cabinet.

I have a feeling I will need a mp10 to help flow around the internal overflow. I’m really wishing I would’ve gone external. I thought I was doing my wife a favor keeping the tank closer to the wall SMH

 

[popethe5th]

 

[popethe5th]

I’ve slowing been adding some fish lately kicked the lights on for fun. I’m eager to get through the dark phase and kick the lights on full time so I can begin adding coral.

 

[popethe5th]

We plopped a tester coral in this weekend and it actually looks happier in my tank than it did at the LFS.

 

[JumboShrimp]

All your plumbing and electrical looks nice and tidy. Two-thumbs up!

 

[popethe5th]

View attachment 20251017_221659_C1DC6C85-7F24-47F7-B2E5-91874B819240.mov
Lights have been on for almost 2 months. I slowly ramped them up started at 4 hours a day and added 2 hours each week until I got to 12. The zoas are loving life so I plopped in some more to see if acros and goni’s might survive. This video is probably 2 weeks old the ugly stage has progressed everything is now dark green, but Coraline is beginning to form on the rocks so it seems we are headed in the right direction.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Nice aqua scape... I enjoyed the video.

 

[Cheezeits]

I tried to look up these tanks online and there's not a ton of info. They come just Tank, stand, and sump? So you need to build and setup all the piping? I was looking at the UNS r120 but the pricing on these shows to be a lot cheaper.

 

[popethe5th]

I tried to look up these tanks online and there's not a ton of info. They come just Tank, stand, and sump? So you need to build and setup all the piping? I was looking at the UNS r120 but the pricing on these shows to be a lot cheaper.

They minimize expense by making their website archaic and limiting any and all info on the tank lol. Well that’s what it seems at least. Almost every LFS around here (TX) carries them. I love mine my only objection is the sump design. It doesn’t flow as much as I would like and you’re limited to filter socks.

It comes with soft plumbing no gate valves. Just bulk heads, risers, and return pipes. They use Maggie mufflers on the drain, so it’s not a bean style drain. It is easily modified though.

 

[rbjohnston]

Nice build. I have the exact same tank that just arrived at my LFS. What are the size of the outflow and inflow in the internal overflow? Their website contradicts itself. I bought an ice cap sump and I am trying to figure out the plumbing.

 

[popethe5th]

Nice build. I have the exact same tank that just arrived at my LFS. What are the size of the outflow and inflow in the internal overflow? Their website contradicts itself. I bought an ice cap sump and I am trying to figure out the plumbing.

3/4 return, 1” drain I ran into the same problem. I think it’s because the riser is 1-1-2” riser inside the overflow box