Lynn and Frank's saltwater adventure.

[lcstorc]

Wel I have been trying to start a chronicle thread for a long time but somehow the pics never get edited something changes in the tank etc so I have never done it.
This was a fish tank Christmas with pretty much all the presents being new tank equipment which we are installing today with the help of a local reefing friend. So I figured this would be a good time to finally start a chronicle.
I have a 125g mixed reef that seems to constantly change along with a 24g aquapod seahorse tank. The tanks are plumbed together so they share water, filtration etc.
The system as it will be by the end of the day
29g sump with asmg4x skimmer
29g fuge with live sand, live rock, and cheato to begin with.
I have purchased a Pacific Coast 1/4hp chiller but it was delivered damaged so that will be added as soon as the new one gets here.
I also have 2 MaxiJet 1200 and 1 Maxijet 900 in the reef on a wavemaker for additional flow.
Oh the return is an 1800gph pump.
The seahorse tank just has the stock pump and lights since the low flow is great for them there.
Lights on the reef are 3 150w 10000k mh w/4 96w pc actinics.
Lots of live rock in the sump as well as the display but I have no idea how much it weighs and I have added pieces over time etc.
The reef was setup 11/05 and the seahorse tank was added 3/06.
Ok, that is all I can think of on tank specs so on to more fun stuff.
Seahorse tank inhabitants
0 Seahorses ATM .
1 yellow clown goby
2 fighting conchs
2 turbo snails
1 cleaner shrimp
1 peppermint shrimp
nassarius snails
millions of micro stars (They love mysis)
2 sun corals 1 yellow 1 orange
2 hairy mushrooms
2 kinds of green candy cane (not very happy right now cause unknown)
3 types of xenia
and a gorgonian that i fragged from the one in the reef but I don't know the name.
1 sea whip

reef inhabitants
1 Sailfin tang (my baby)
1 Chevron tang (his baby)
1 flameback angel
1 orange spot goby
1 spotted mandarin
1 scooter blenney
1 mean maroon clown
1 orange serpent star
1 sand sifting star
1 peppermint shrimp
2 fire shrimp
1 black capped basselet
4 blue chromis
1 six line wrasse
1 tri color cleaner wrasse
1 engineer goby
turbos and nassarius snails
1 4 in crocea clam
1 1 1/2 in maxima clam
huge gorgonian tree I don't know the name of.
red w/green mouth open brain
3 headed green open brain
green striped mushrooms
hairy mushrooms
3 green w/pink tip branching frogspawn
1 green branching hammer
1 pink scrolling hammer
1 red scrolling frogspawn
1 orange tree sponge
orange mushrooms
light green ricordia
tri-colored ricordia
green kenya tree
colt
cabbage leather
several zoanthids
Yellow Dendronephthya sp
fire coral
yellow green halmedia
Sea Pen
Long Tentacle Plate
and some more stuff I am forgetting right now. I will update the list as I remember. LOL

Well those are my tanks.
Pics will follow in a few minutes.

 

[lcstorc]

Ok these pics are not the best but they are only a week old so the are at least recent. These were taken under the actinics so the color is a bit off. Anyway the reef is viewable from 3 sides so I took 3 pics of each of the long sides and one of the end.

 

[lcstorc]

And the other side.

 

[lcstorc]

Pics of the plumbing upgrade coming soon as well as closeups of specific members of our reef. I need a break from typing so I'm gonna go clean the new skimmer.

 

[sasquatch]

Great JOB Lynn!! hope the upgrade is a smooth transition, all the best to you and Frank. Steve

 

[Scouter Steve]

Nice setup Lynn and Frank. Are you worried about the suction cups on those Maxi's giving way? Is that ASM 4X a bit big for your system. I am joining a 120 and a 125 through a 40 gal sump and was considering the ASM 4 as sufficient. Hope you have no problem with the chiller once you get it swapped. It is the same chiller I have now and I love it on my 120 40 sump with 2X 250mh plus 110 actinic.

 

[billyr98]

ASM 4x is never too big, u can't overskim a tank... Plus knowing Lynn, she got a bigger skimmer so she can get a bigger tank down the line..

Nice Tank thread lynn... we have only been waiting for like a ........ year or so

 

[lcstorc]

Gee Billy you do know me. Grin.
Hopefully I will be getting a 55 or maybe even a bit bigger tank added to the system this spring. I want to have more ponies and give them lots of room to roam around.
And you never know where I could go from there.
In reality I should have probably gotten a bigger chiller as well but I really only need to lower the temp a few degrees.
So far we have not had any problems with the maxis.
They are actually temporary anyway since the next project is a manifold system for the extra flow and then I will likely pull the maxis out.

 

[JFK_Jr]

I was always wondering when you would start a Reef Chronicles thread... looking forward to :chair: with some :lurk: and enjoying your tanks progress... Keep them pics coming...

 

[aquaman3680]

Awesome tank! I love your sailfin, hes awesome. Hows that 1/2 inch maxima doing? Do you have to target feed it?

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Very nice Lynn and Frankie..

 

[lcstorc]

Well the Maxima was about an inch when we got it and is now about an inch and a half. We have target fed him a couple of times but not nearly what I read that I should be doing. Still he is growing and appears quite happy so apparently I am doing something right. I do overfeed the tank with quite a variety of food so there is lots for him to pull out of the water column.
I am actually a bit worried about that with my new giant skimmer. I think I am going to have to increase my target feeding of several corals as well as the maxima since the water will be so much cleaner.

 

[lcstorc]

Well the new sump and fuge are in and the skimmer and sump are running. We are short a gasket for the fuge so it is just sitting for the moment. Hopefully someone will be open tomorrow so we can finish the entire thing.
Before and after pics in a bit. I need to download and resize etc.

 

[Woodstock]

Nice thread Lynn & Frank

**A big THANK YOU to both of you for being such wonderful hosts during my visit **

I am glad to hear the plumbing went smoth and there were no leaks! It looked great in person. Very nice job Frank & TC! Hey frank, you can obviously plumb as well as you can cook!

I must say that the pics lynn posted, although good, do not do the tank justice. It is very beautiful~ Gorgeous fish and corals... all very happy and healthy (as are their other cool animals... birds, cats & dogs ). Awesome job you two!!!

 

[billyr98]

Doni and Lynn at the same house and no posting.. posts must of have been down today

Just kidding Ladies!! Glad to see you ladies having fun in Florida!!!

 

[Woodstock]

Billy, We definately had a blast... Saturday, Lynn and I went to five LFS!! Then enjoyed a delicious dinner (garlic sauteed/grilled steak, sauteed shrooms, spinach, fried potatoes, and fresh baked bread) that Frank cooked! : ..ohh!.. he also made chocolate chip cookies for dessert!!

Ahhhh... life is good~
:bluenod:

 

[lcstorc]

Then back to two lfs on Sunday to stay out of the way of the plumbing. There were a couple of small leaks that made an appearance last night, but all are fixed now except for the one o-ring we need to get the fuge running.
Sump and new skimmer are up and running and everything looks great.
The skimmerpeople seem quite happy in their new home. Thanks for sharing them Steve.

I'll play with pics of the equipment and some of the fishies and corals in a bit.

 

[lcstorc]

Ok a couple of pics of the old and the new setup.
Here is the old sump which was actually a converted wet/dry that we replaced the bio-balls with rock and added a skimmer.

 

[lcstorc]

And here is the new sump and fuge with the new skimmer.

 

[billyr98]

Great work Lynn & Frank...