Anselth's 70 Gallon Tech Tank upgrade

[Anselth]

Well, I'm constantly finding that your current setup is never enough. I've been planning on upgrading to a 110 for a while now and moving my 50 gallon out into the living room. Well, I was out today and bumped into a 70 gallon Oceanic Tech tank with stand that was the same footprint as my 50. I was already planning on upgrading the filtration, so why not move to a reef-ready tank too? I'm going to work on setting it up this evening after dinner, so there will be pictures then.

The tank is made by Oceanic, with starfire glass for a front panel, a large center overflow, 36 inches long by 18 inches wide by 25 inches tall. Filtration will consist of a 20 gallon sump with an Octopus 150 Skimmer and refugium. Lighting is a current outer orbit 2x96w PC actinic and 1x150 MH. additional circulation will be provided by two Korallia powerheads. I'll post pictures of the beginning of the build later this evening.

 

[boozeman]

:lurk:

 

[lcstorc]

Sounds great.
Waiting for pics.

 

[tbittner]

What are the dimensions of your new tank? Will 150's be enough to reach the bottom?

 

[Anselth]

Water level is going to be about 22 1/2 inches. 150s should be ok for LPS and softies, which are primarily what I keep.

Pics!
Full Tank

Return and Overflow

Top down of plumbing

 

[Anselth]

Tank is up and plumbed, water is in and circulating. I figure the move will be done on Sunday. I've already moved the aquacontroller JR to handle this tank, so my temp and salinity are matched between the 50 and the 70. Since the water will not be moving from the old tank to the new one, should I re-acclimate everyone, even though the tank params are matched?

More pictures
Plumbed sump, 20 gallon with an octopus NW-150 skimmer, phosban reactor, and uv sterilizer.

Another sump shot

Full tank, with water

 

[panmanmatt]

Looking great so far Adam. I would acclimate the live stock to the new tank. If he params are the same it shouldn't take long to get them switched over.

 

[Dentoid]

Looking good! I have the 90 gallon Oceanic Tech tank. I really like the modern, sleek design of the stand. Looking forward to this build!

 

[Anselth]

That was what I thought too Matt. Sunday morning is going to be a blast.

I really like the look too Dentoid. And the layout is great, lots of height in the stand.

 

[shale]

Sunday was not a blast. Sunday was a bit stressful. However, everyone made the move into the new tank successfully. I'll prod Adam to give you all a more detailed update with photos, etc.
-pokepokepoke-

 

[Anselth]

Well, yes, it was stressful yesterday. Between two fish trying to carpet surf
(one after playing dead for the whole acclimation process), water going everywhere, and just a general feeling of things spiralling out of control, everyone is in the tank. The Royal Gramma is in hiding, and has been for most of the day, although he just ventured out briefly and ducked back into hiding. The Angel is out and about, though sticking mostly to areas behind the rockwork. The blenny is mostly just sticking his head out of his bolthole, although he has ventured out for a second here and there. I'm currently running just the actinics to make them a bit more comfortable. I wasn't pleased with the aquascape at first, but it has grown on me. Seems like there are more areas for coral placement and more swim-throughs than before. All in all, stress level is down, everyone seems safe, and it's picture time!

Right Side

Coral Beauty out and exploring

Left Side

The Sea Hare finally found a place to bury herself

Bicolor Blenny

FTS:

 

[Anselth]

Picked up a couple new corals today, a yellow with purple polyps Montipora and a yellow Pagoda. Also added a new fish, a firefish. The Royal Gramma hs been in hiding since the move, only coming out for short periods of time, making it easy for the firefish to find a bolthole and get comfortable. It's after dark, but I'll try to get some new photos up tomorrow.

 

[Dentoid]

Can you make the photos a bit bigger for the visually challenged?

 

[Anselth]

Scott, they're clickable thumbnails

 

[Dentoid]

How was I suppose to know. That's better!

 

[Anselth]

As promised, pictures of the tank, including yesterday's additions:

Full Tank Shot:

Orange Zoas:

Gold Zoas:

Bicolor Blenny hiding out:

New Yellow Pagoda:

New Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica)

Caulastrea, which is growing like a weed:

Green Pagoda:

New Yellow Montipora with purple polyps:

Caulastrea Frag and Hammer:

Blastos:


Parameters are looking good, and everyone seems pretty happy.

 

[Anselth]

Today's theme was apparently weird happenings with Urchins. Our Blue tuxedo Urchin has been running around with a Chaeto 'fro for a while now, apparently he likes the texture. Well, Our sea Hare (Who is a monster, easily 6 inches long) found the urchin during her travels today and gave him a trim:

What's this? Food?

After a trim


So, needing to find more camo, the Urchin picked up a snail. And yes, that is a small Zoa frag he's carrying around as well.

 

[Anselth]

Won a couple frags in the raffle at the NJMRC meeting at Billy's, a purple tip frogspawn, an orange Monti Cap, and Matt also gave me a Nepthea Frag. No pictures yet, but soon. Came home from the meeting to find our sea urchin toting around a feather duster (a big one, not one of the little dusters). Crazy Echinoderms...

 

[Anselth]

Here's a picture of the duster being toted by the sea urchin. We're afraid to remove the worm for fear of damaging the tube. You have to look carefully, they're back in the rock a little ways:


Lounging Blenny:


A couple of the new corals, the frogspawn is lower left, the new cap is along the left side. In the bottom right corner you can just see the tip of the Nepthea frag:


Full tank shot with the new additions:

 

[Anselth]

Alright, when it's bulb change time, I think I'm going to switch to a 14k spectrum bulb. Does anyone have any recommendations on a bulb to use?