Time to go all in with a large upgrade.

[Freenow54]

I have had a 20G cube for coming on close to a year now and of course have been itching for a larger tank since the day I started it. So over the weekend I placed a deposit on a new tank. I ended up ordering a 150G (60x24x25) Planet Aquariums Mega Matrix tank with internal overflow, stand and canopy from my LFS.

Stand and Canopy will be unfinished due to wife wanting it a specific color to match the rest of the furniture in the room. So once the stand and canopy come in will be painting it. Plan on using Killz as the base coat but am open to any recommendations on others as well as top coat and sealers.

Current equipment plans are as follows.

Acrylic Habitats Leviathan LR36 Sump
3x Radion XR15 Pro's (will likely add a 4th)
Dalua GreatWhite GW-7 Skimmer
2x Eheim Jager 300W heaters
Dry Rock - going to try my hand at NSA Scape for this
Ocean Direct Sand

Undecided on
Return pump - Neptune COR-15 or Ecotech Vectra S2 (also open to ideas here)
ATO - Currently have XP Aqua and its been working great. So either sticking with it or changing to the Neptune ATO
Also currently have a NERO5 that im not using so either adding another NERO5 along with it or MP40's.

Already have an Apex system on the cube so thats some of the reason thinking about the Neptune products.

Excited to get started on the new build in the coming months. 6-8 weeks for delivery of the tank and will be working on aquascape in the meantime. Ordered the rock yesterday so hopefully should be here next week. Open to any suggestions on the equipment list and will be posting pictures as things come in and start going.


**Update 1/11**

Final equipment list
Acrylic Habitats Leviathan LR36 Sump
Acrylic Habitats 10G ATO Reservoir
3x Radion XR15 Pro's (will likely add a 4th)
Dalua GreatWhite GW-12 DC Skimmer
Inkbird Temp Controller
2x 300W BRS Titanium Heaters
~120lbs of Ocean Direct Original Grade sand
Neptune Cor-20 Return pump
Neptune ATK
2x Nero 5
2x Maxspect Gyre FX330
Neptune Trident
Neptune DOS

**Update 2/18**
Fish List
Frostbite Clown
Ocellaris Clown
Red Firefish
2x Banggi Cardinals
4x Blue/Green Chromis
Lubbock's fairy wrasse
Carpenters Flasher Wrasse

I am a big into refinishing. The easiest by far are waxes, or oils. With oils you can build them up to the gloss you prefer, and the best thing is when you get discolourization, you just rub more oil on. As to the traditional way need to know more about the material. However lots of colored all in one varathanes. Your paint dealer would know the best procedure for actual painting

 

[mlivvy]

Curious to know how your canopy is ventilated. Are you using fans?

 

[aquatic_dad]

@fowler279 how loud is your setup? I am considering putting the similar setup I am planning in my home office and I work from home so I will be in that office for 8 hours a day.
Water trickling sound and flushing could get old very fast. A video with the setup running would help.

thank you very much for your help and inspiration!

 

[fowler279]

Curious to know how your canopy is ventilated. Are you using fans?

I am not using any fans. I thought I would have to at first but temp stays right where I want it to. The Canopy is completely open in the back so helps a little. We also keep the house around 69-71 year round.

@fowler279 how loud is your setup? I am considering putting the similar setup I am planning in my home office and I work from home so I will be in that office for 8 hours a day.
Water trickling sound and flushing could get old very fast. A video with the setup running would help.

thank you very much for your help and inspiration!

Its in our bedroom and the only thing that really bugs me in the Trident. When its running its testing the high pitch motor noise can be a little over whelming. Found a way to schedule the tests to when I want them to run and that has helped quite a bit.

There is some noise from the water going from the crash box to the filter sock but its not overly bad. Honestly I dont really notice it all that much. Took a bit in the beginning to tune it and ended up raising my emergency drain pipe a little, since then the noise is much better. Its all about tuning. Been thinking about raising the water level in the sump a little to see if I can get it a little quieter but havent gotten around to it yet.

 

[fowler279]

So after several months of battling SCA Dinos I finally beat them about a month ago. Started ramping my lights back up and are now at full strength again. Finally able to start adding more coral and now my Coral QT/Frag tank is starting to get empty (its only 20G). Everything has been holding pretty stable luckily. Having to dose phosphate occasionally to keep it above 0. Tank is really starting to come together just need to add more fish and coral now.

 

[Projects with Sam]

So after several months of battling SCA Dinos I finally beat them about a month ago. Started ramping my lights back up and are now at full strength again. Finally able to start adding more coral and now my Coral QT/Frag tank is starting to get empty (its only 20G). Everything has been holding pretty stable luckily. Having to dose phosphate occasionally to keep it above 0. Tank is really starting to come together just need to add more fish and coral now.

great update! looks nice.

 

[fowler279]

great update! looks nice.

Thanks. Getting there.

 

[JachPot]

I'd like to hear more about the QT frag tank. I need to set that up soon. I got all my fish from DR reef and I want to keep my corals from bringing in fish disease.

 

[fowler279]

I'd like to hear more about the QT frag tank. I need to set that up soon. I got all my fish from DR reef and I want to keep my corals from bringing in fish disease.

Its my old Waterbox 20 Cube. I put frags in there for QT for approx 4-8 weeks to watch them before putting them in the display. Its fishless and all i really do is clean the glass and feed the tank 1-2 times a week to keep the nutrients up. Used it as a holding tank while i got the 150 setup and going and just left it up.

 

[fowler279]

Tank is now a little over a year old. Coming along nicely. Added a few tester pieces of SPS 2 months ago and they are growing like weeds. Entered the @Battlecorals Roses on Raindrops grow out contest and picked up a battle box while I was at it. Pieces all came in looking great. Almost immediate PE as well. Looking forward to seeing these pieces grow out as they are all my first nice pieces of SPS.

 

[fowler279]

Tank is still coming along. Started refugium a month ago and harvest a ton today. Brought my PO3 down quite a bit. Nitrate still a little high and dealing with some GHA currently but other than that tank is looking good.

 

[Freenow54]

Tank is still coming along. Started refugium a month ago and harvest a ton today. Brought my PO3 down quite a bit. Nitrate still a little high and dealing with some GHA currently but other than that tank is looking good.

Just a warning about your refugium. Keep it clean. I have a problem with my corals I have a hang on the back cheato grower. It was filthy think I found the cause. Just a 10x 4x 6 box