Seafansar's 150 gallon reef

[seafansar]

I recently moved and upgraded my 125gal undrilled a 150gal drilled. I wasn't happy with the rock work in the 125. It was pretty much a rock wall with frag racks on the front, so my boyfriend put together the rock for the 150 with rods and epoxy, and frag racks are banned from the tank. It gives the fish a lot more swimming room and looks nice. The new tank is going to be mainly SPS.

Right now there's only 4 fish in it that came from the old tank:
hippo tang
orange shoulder tang
tailspot blenny
spotted mandarin
We want to add a school of 5 anthias at some point.

I was a little worried about putting so many corals and fish into a new system (new water, new sand, old rock though) since it never had a chance to "cycle," but there wasn't much I could do. I needed everything out of my old house. So far everything is doing good. Fingers crossed!

We used a 50 gallon as a sump, the skimmer from the old tank (have no clue what brand), sock filters (made cool holders for them with pvc), and a carbon/phosphate remover reactor. My boyfriend and his dad built the stand. With the tank on it, it's as tall as me! and I'm 5'9"!

Old 125 gallon

New 150!

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

We're using a MP40W on the left side. There isn't enough flow on the right, so we're getting another MP for that side. I made mesh tops for the tank also.

 

[Clownfish518]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Very nice

 

[astiesi]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Looks great, I like the mesh tops!

 

[BigAl07]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Saraaaaa you new tank and stand look AMAZING! Job well done to you all!

I love the new rock work! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

And those "Mesh Tops" are sweet! Did you use something like this
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/nano-reefs/28949-new-nano-4.html#post474405

I'm anxious to see how they perform over time and I may incorporate that design into my existing and any future tanks.

 

[Phreek]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Looks good sara, nice work!

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Thanks everyone!

Saraaaaa you new tank and stand look AMAZING! Job well done to you all!

I love the new rock work! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

And those "Mesh Tops" are sweet! Did you use something like this
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/nano-reefs/28949-new-nano-4.html#post474405

I'm anxious to see how they perform over time and I may incorporate that design into my existing and any future tanks.

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I did. I just used 1/4" mesh instead of using 2 sheets of mesh overlapping each other. I got the idea from R2R. The guy who started the thread made tops for his tank in '07 and so far hasn't posted any complaints about them.

 

[BigAl07]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I did. I just used 1/4" mesh instead of using 2 sheets of mesh overlapping each other. I got the idea from R2R. The guy who started the thread made tops for his tank in '07 and so far hasn't posted any complaints about them.

That's what I thought! It looks GREAT!

My only concern would be any potential "crust" from salt spray. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do this on my 90g pretty soon and my 10g VERY soon.

Keep the updates coming I'm subscribed babyyyyyy!! LOL

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

That's what I thought! It looks GREAT!

My only concern would be any potential "crust" from salt spray. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do this on my 90g pretty soon and my 10g VERY soon.

Keep the updates coming I'm subscribed babyyyyyy!! LOL

LOL. Ok will do. I still have some corals from the 90 that need to go into it. I crammed all my other corals into the 90 and now there's no open space on the sand. And it doesn't help that my tenneti tang thinks he's a sandsifter and keeps bumping sand on all the poor corals.

To prevent any salt creep from messing up the tops, I'm going to rinse them every two weeks or so. So far the only salt creep that gets on them is from me sticking my arm in the tank and not drying off the edges of the tank good enough.

 

[redsea reefer]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Did you just stack your rocks like that or did you epoxy or drill w/rod.
That is a very nice scape job, well done...

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Thanks! We drilled the rock and used fiberglass rods (found the rods near where they sell mailboxes at the hardware store).

 

[BigAl07]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Thanks! We drilled the rock and used fiberglass rods (found the rods near where they sell mailboxes at the hardware store).

Those work out good. They sell them with "Driveway Markers" locally here.

 

[redsea reefer]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

A trick I do is, I saw off a tiny bit off the bottom of the rock so its completely flat when I place them on the sand. I do that to all the rock that sits on the sand so its more stable and doesnt dig into the sand...

 

[BigAl07]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

I made a "Base Plate" from a flat "Table Rock" and this was the base for my columns. Also I place all rock on the bottom of the tank before sand so there's no shifting afterwards.

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

Added a second MP40w, put them on the back, and now the flow is great! The 10K bulb on the right blew, so there's an old 14K in there now.

 

[seafansar]

Re: Seafansar's 125 gallon reef

OMG! I titled this thread "Seafansar's 125 gallon reef" Not "Seafansar's 150 gallon reef!" Oops! I guess I'm too used to having a 125. Can someone change that for me?

Thanks Allen!

 

[seafansar]

New anthias!

New chalices!

 

[BigAl07]

LOVE your pics! WOW!!!

 

[seafansar]

Thanks Al!

 

[RaysReef]

Sara, it's superb. I've just had that horrible 'i need a bigger tank' feeling

Sorry if i've missed anything: What's your lighting? I take it you have your mp40s on pulse/wave mode? I've never seen them on the back before. Love your quality cabinet