Sphinx's 125

[sphinx15]

Current State of the Tank
(7/31/2022)

Equipment​

Coming soon...

Livestock​

Vertabrates:
Ocellaris Clown (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Scopas Tang (Zebrasoma scopas)
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)
Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto)
Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus)
Orange Stripe Prawn Goby (Amblyeleotris randalli)


Inverts:
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
Tiger Pistol Shrimp (Aplheus bellulus)
Florida Fighting Conch (Strombus alatus)
Pincushion Urchin (Lytechinus variegatus)
Various CUC

Corals​

Softies:
Pipe Organ (Tubipora musica)
Pulsing Xenia (Xenia sp.)
Tangerine Bliss Rhodactis (Rhodactis sp.)
WWC King Tut Disco (Discosoma sp.)
Neon Ricordea (Ricordea florida)

LPS:
Frogspawn (Euphyllia divisa)
Hammer (Euphyllia ancora)
Duncan (Duncanopsammia axifuga)
Purple/green Acan (Micromussa lordhowensis)
Yellow Turbinaria (Turbinaria sp.)
Purple Turbinaria (Turbinaria sp.)
Orange Chalice (Echinophyllia sp.)
Red/green Blasto (Blastomussa vivida)


SPS:
ORA German Blue Digi (Montipora digitata)
Green Digi (Montipora digitata)
Neon Spongodes (Montipora spongodes)
WWC Green Goblin Stylo (Stylophora sp.)
WWC Atomic Orange Monti (Montipora sp.)
WWC Dragonfruit Monti (Montipora sp.)
Jedi Mind Trick Monti (Montipora sp.)
JF Rainbow Monit (Montipora sp.)
Superman Porites (Porites sp.)

 

[sphinx15]

It's happening! It's happening! It's happening!

It's upgrade time!!!

I've been running a 60 gallon cube for about 3 years now with, shall we say, moderate success. Whether from lack of knowledge, lack of time, poor placement or just plain bad luck; I never seemed to be able to catch a break. It was just one problem after another, not necessarily a complete failure but tank never really thrived. Then, 6-8 months ago all the pieces finally started to come together. Corals were growing, fish and inverts were happy, I was finally seeing the diversity of life that got me into reef tanks in the first place. Needless to say, I caught the reefing bug again. And I caught it bad!

Which brings us to part two of this little story... My wife and I are remodeling the main floor of our home and as part of that, the 60g needs to be moved. I, jokingly at the time, suggested it might be easier to just move everything to a new tank rather than teardown, move, and then re-setup the cube. There also won't be a great spot for it after the remodel. After much discussion, wine, chocolate, bartering etc. we decided it did in fact make (reasonable) sense to get a new tank.

Soooooooo....here we go!

Since this is for all intents and purposes my dream tank, I want to make sure I do everything right and will probably go a bit overboard on...well...most of it

I knew I wanted to go rimless. I'm a sucker for clean lines and a canopy on top of the tank would totally dominate the room. And, I knew I wanted to go with a Bean Animal overflow. I've been running a Herbie on the 60 and it's been perfectly ok but it does seem to take some fiddling every few days to keep it silent. So, dream tank and all, Bean Animal. With that in mind I started researching tanks. I'm a little bit limited on space and can only really have up to 2ft x 5ft so I figured a 150 with internal overflow would be the way to go. After some thinking though, I realized in order to stay in my 2ft limit I'd have to put the tank flush against the wall which just seemed like a bad idea all around. Also, having something like 5 holes drilled in the bottom of the tank would make the overflow rather huge. So, to kill many birds with one stone; a 20" tank with external overflow would give me plenty of room to clean, a smooth back wall and plenty of room for plumbing. After a ton of research, I settled on Glass Cages. The order was placed on Friday and suddenly its actually happening!

Planned Equipment List:
Tank: Glass Cages custom, 60x20x24
Sump: Eshopps Alpha Fuge 300
Stand: Home built
Lighting: Kessil AP9X x2
Controller: Neptune ApexEL w/ Trident
Everything else: TBD!

Planned Livestock:
Fish:
Not really sure yet, Ill be moving over my 2 clowns for sure and my wife wants a mandarin (part of her bargaining demands )

Inverts:
My skunk cleaner for sure, hopefully he continues to chase the clowns all over the tank!
Standard collection of reef cleaners

Corals:
Aiming for your standard mixed reef. Though, I do seem better at keeping sps than anything else so we'll see.

 

[sphinx15]

Been working on the stand design a bit. Nothing too crazy but I'm pretty happy with the way it has turned out so far.

Fairly standard 2x4 and 2x6 construction. Still going back and forth on a center brace in the front. It seems like a fairly long span for a 2x6 but according to the ubiquitous Rocket Engineer plans it should be fine. I'd much rather keep it open for access/appearance. One of my biggest pet peeves with the 60g is lack of access in the stand... Thoughts?

 

[sphinx15]

Planning out the controller section of the stand. It will be in the stand on the left side but will be a separate component in case I ever decide to change it up or need to remove it for some reason.

Has a spot for the Apex, 832, 4 Tunze controllers, 2 Varios controllers, an Apex expansion (with room for 3 more behind the front panel), DJ power bar and 12v battery backup. The front panel will be hinged to allow for access to cords/power bricks behind.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Nice!

 

[Sean Clark]

Liking the plan.

 

[sphinx15]

I was planning on posting some updates last night, been working on the stand a bit. But, then WWC sucked me into their live sale and I spent most of the evening playing with that. Nothing too exciting but scored some mushrooms that I'm pretty happy with

 

[sphinx15]

Before starting on the stand I wanted to address the floor under the tank. The tank sits against a wall that is supported underneath by the main I-beam running under the house. Being supported underneath and with the joists running perpendicular to the tank it should be fine. But, the floor in that room has always seemed bouncy and with 1500lbs of tank on the line I wanted to beef it up a little.

So, a quick trip to the store for some floor jacks and a 4x6...

The hardest part was trying to get everything into the crawlspace through the tiny door...

But, once underneath it came together pretty easy. The jacks sit on ~2'x2' concrete blocks which in turn sit on ~18" of compacted gravel. I don't know who did the foundation for this house but it's wonderfully overkill

Was it all necessary? Maybe not. Will I sleep better? Absolutely.

 

[Sean Clark]

Haha if only this hobby had anything to do with nessacary. Good work.

 

[sphinx15]

Haha if only this hobby had anything to do with nessacary. Good work.

Shh, it's all necessary

 

[sphinx15]

Perhaps not the most exciting update but I'm certainly excited! Approved the drawing from Glass Cages so they can start the build

 

[sphinx15]

Alright, got a decent bit done on the stand so I figured it was time for some pictures.


Turns out lumber is in fact stupid expensive right now...this little pile of wood cost twice what it should have...

Turned it into bits and bobs pretty quick. I purchased a chop saw as part of our remodel project and dang, what a difference it makes...

I went through and sanded all the 2x that would be exposed inside the stand. It's not a huge difference but I didn't want the saw/mill marks showing through.

I used my Kreg jig on the last stand and it went pretty well so I figured I'd stick with it this time. I did end up getting their coated screws though, figured the more protection against moisture the better

​

It went together pretty easy. Lots of screws, lots of glue...

​

That's as far as I've gotten so far. Next up is putting on the top then cutting the door openings. After that finishing, I see much sanding in my future...

 

[Sean Clark]

Nice work. I'll bet that outlast us all.

 

[Joe Glass Cages]

Perhaps not the most exciting update but I'm certainly excited! Approved the drawing from Glass Cages so they can start the build

thanks so much @sphinx15 for sharing. Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your journey! Here we go!

 

[sphinx15]

thanks so much @sphinx15 for sharing. Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your journey! Here we go!

Thanks for all your help. I can't wait to see it!!!

Is it ready yet, is it ready yet, is it ready yet?

 

[sphinx15]

Nice work. I'll bet that outlast us all.

Someday, long after the collapse of society, someone will find it and be like "Huh, what a weird table"

 

[sphinx15]

Starting to look like something! Got the doors cut out, everything filled and sanded, caulked all the corners and 2 coats of Kilz on the inside.

 

[Sean Clark]

Looking good.

 

[sphinx15]

Not a whole lot in the way of updates. My wife and I both got COVID so that slowed things down quite a bit. Hoping to get back at it this week.

I did get an update from Glass Cages though, the tank is all cut and should get assembled this week!

 

[sphinx15]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Mostly just waiting on the tank. I did get the stand mostly finished and painted though!

Still working on the doors and electronics cabinet, hoping to make some progress on those this weekend.

I also have basically all the parts and equipment I need (hopefully) so updates on all that coming soon too!