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curator

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720 Gallon Project Update part Two

This is part of a series covering the trials and tribulations of the home coral farm.

My last post talking about a few of the details of the climate control system, and the Polyboard wall covering. I wrapped up with speaking about the individual grow tanks, and the species I planned to cultivate in each of the tubs.

Some new gear came in today and I wanted to post and update prior to the work ahead of me. Since the last post all of the tubs are full. Below list my breakdown of the individual
Systems.

Quarantine
SPS
Leather
Gorg & sponge
Disco & LPS
Palythoa & Zoanthus

This is a shot of the left side of the room when you walk in the door. I just snapped the shot just 20 minutes ago. My lighting cycle will run with the day, but for the purpose of illuminating the room I switched two of the light I have installed on.

nite.jpg


And here is a shot of those same four tanks from the opposite side of the room.

nite2.jpg


This is the opposite side of the room from the same side, these two tubs you are looking at are the sponge, and quarantine systems.

nite3.jpg


The light is currently hanging above Zoanthus, but this will be a tank dedicated for Discosoma and LPS. The tank has a 8 in deep sand bed, and I am currently having
Shelves built to hold the plugs I grow on. Once the tank was up and running I
Chose my Purple Tang to help break things in. Much of the live sand from a previous display was ported to this tank, so things were not so rocky. Zoanthus being a favorite
I started making road trips about a month ago looking for some new color morphs. Here are some recent additions.

zoo.jpg


Many of the polyps were closed when I switched the lights on but I’ll be sure to post some updated photos in weeks to come.

zoo1.jpg


Each system contains a 350 watt heater, as a back up to the gas heat already keeping the room at a constant temp of 78. In addition I have purchases a Hot Magnum for each tank to run the water through carbon, or hold any type of absorbing material for problems that may arise down the road. I chose the magnum because it seemed to offer the most bang for the buck and occupied the least space.

The powerquad PC came with some great mounting hardware. Vinyl coated steel strand adjustable sleeves, and eye hooks. After mounting the fixture I really liked the look. I went to Home Depot and purchased some coated steel strand (I was only able to find green though) and some adjustable catches. I took apart a dual strip light and drilled the fixture for the steel strand and mounted it as best I could to match the PC fixture. If anyone out there knows where I can get black steel strand please email me.

drill.jpg


I chose recessed lighting throughout the area for a less obtrusive look, and to also serve as a place to mount ballast out of the way of water, and eyes. This recessed shelf serves
That funstion.

shell.jpg
 

beerbaron

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looks great man. those zoos are cool too. im so jealous. maby some day :D. one question, why not run them all together, with larger equipment? sorry if you have already gone over this. could you post links to all of the other updates and progress threads?
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curator

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Beerbaron:

Thanks for the encouragement.

Hey start planning, I dreamed of this for about two years before I decided to move forward. I use to visit Anthony Calfo at Elmer’s Aquarium every few weeks when
He worked there. He eventually left and built a greenhouse and ran that for years.
I suppose seeing his operation first hand gave me some insight on what I could
And could not pull off.

I fought with my local township for a year to get the foundation in, I cover allot
Of those details on my site under Farm Story.

I had a system previous to this, there is a post around RC entitled 450 gallon Multi
Zone Reef System. The December issue of FAMA has an article I wrote covering the tank. The system was dedicated in one room, about 12 by 12. It consist of 6 tanks. They
All started as display but three ended up being dedicated to grow systems.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

It worked well as far as convenience, but propping Palythoa, and Leathers in an
SPS tank ended up being troublesome. In addition many of these species grow quicker under different conditions. In the limited Diving I have done I have never seen all of these types of coral together within the same 6 feet of reef.

Zoanthus for example have grown great for me in a nutrient rich atmosphere which
Seemed to slow down SPS growth indirectly by the build up of nuisance algae.

I have thought of trying to link all the post together, I do plan on keeping this going as a series. Beginning from building the systems, to the performance, successes and failures.

I am keeping them all the same name, if you search under 720 gallon project update
You should be able to find the others

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

above link to part one
 

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