Weekly Discussion - Your current system

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Your current system

Where did you get the inspiration for your current system? How much time and thought did you put into it before you set it up?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm or start your own thread! :mrgreen:

 

[Ben1]

My current setup is a 150 gal AGA custom canopy and stand. PFO shimmer hood 2 x 250 watt MH and 2 x 96 wt PC and a PFO moonlight. I use a Bullet 3 for skimming and have a 20 long sump for the return with a mag 9.5 and Sen 900 through a seaswirl and some open nozzles. I use a tunze 6060 stream in the display to provide proper current along with a Hagen 802.

I had the 150 outside for years I got from coral trades plus a little cash. I got the tools to build a new stand and hood for it so tok the plunge and built the stand and hood. I had a WAY over packed mixed 40 gal reef and an over packed 20 tall and needed a bigger tank. Most of all I couldnt get any new corals! I love to grow new corals and really needed more space for my current ones to be happy.

I thought over the set up for a few years and new what I wanted to create in the system long before it was setup. Now I can't stop thinking about getting a custom tank built for the basement soemthing in the 6'x6'x30" tall range to give great depth of view.

 

[Mogo]

I got most of my inspiration from diving and also from the Atlantis aquarium in the Bahamas. I swore that one day I was going to get one of those (ok maybe a little smaller :wink

I eventually got a shiny new 140 tank for my birthday and it made a pretty good coffee table for a while until I figured out what I was going to do with it. The options were another fw or take the "plunge" into sw.

After discussing the expenses with my wife, I got the blessing to go sw. I also decided to build it in-wall that would also give me a fish room on the other side. The tank remained empty for a year while I did alot of research, lfs visits as well as dulling a few saw blades. It was almost 2 years from when I got the tank until I put fish in it.

After nearly 3 years of success (with some mistakes thrown in) I still dream of the "mother of all tanks" (and a million bucks to go with it )

 

[playfair]

I was inspired by a LFS specializing in corals. I had stopped in looking for a fish for my FO setup, but quickly left after seeing some of the prices for things that are "alive" but don't move around...

Their 90 gal display was impressive and stuck in my mind. Second visit weeks later I had recovered from the sticker shock and thought I'd do a larger FO for a while. I decided to go with a 120 because the left end of the AGA 90 had the overflow, and that was bad because it was viewable from the main doorway. I liked the "symmetry" of the 120, and the additional end viewing area. When all was said and done, all that was missing for a reef was better lighting and liverock. Figured what the heck, it's gotta be easier than taking those fake corals out and bleaching them every few weeks! 8O
Over the past 5 years I've changed out a few things, and added many conveniences (like reactors and a controller), but the basic setup and rock work is mostly unchanged.

 

[JD'sReef]

Instead of putting my brother and I in front of the TV when we were little, my parents always plopped us in front of the fams 45 Hex. From there my brother and I went on to many fresh water tanks and after some diving experience at the age of 12, the wheels started spinning in my head.
Now 23, my hobbie has escliated into a well planned out 46 bow reef tank. I have a 175 MH and two Atinics (only strip) in a Hamilton hood but I really want another MH in there; just low on cash right now. There is about 60 lbs of live rock in in a shelf like formation with a bunch of shrooms, recordia and a K-Tree corla filling in the voids. I am keeping it simple because I will be moving in the up comming months, pluss my Green BTA is growing farily fast and he is the reason for this tank. (I saw a family of Clarkies in a three ft carpet while diving on the G.B.R. and had to have it.)
Thanks for all the Inspriation and Help guys and gals, you have helped turn my tank into a true EcoSystem.
Jason S.

 

[npaden]

I have a page on my site devoted to my initial planning thoughts for my setup.

http://www.padens.homestead.com/TankSpecs.html

http://www.padens.homestead.com/Planning.html

FWIW, Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

My system was based on Lens system. Big skimmer, good flow, good lights, nice gadgets. I made my sump bigger because I had the space, and I took about 6 months thinking about it before putting it together.

 

[Anonymous]

My current system is an in-wall 150 gallon custom tank. A whole lot of planning went into it, since I built the wall myself. The tank is a custom acrylic 48"x30"x24" with 3 viewable sides. The front is flush with the family room, and framed in oak. You walk through an arched doorway, and can view the tank from the end, then view the full back panel from the office. The overflows are at the far end against the wall, the only side that is not a viewing area.
I made the sump from an All-Glass 60 gallon tank. I glued dividers in where I needed them, and made an acrylic stand for the skimmer to sit on in it's compartment so it sits at the appropriate height.
It's lit by an Aqualine 2x250W HQI fixture with pc's.

Jim

 

[hdtran]

My current tank is a 120 setup, put in October/November 2003. This is an upgrade from a 29g FOwLR system. I'd been planning on upgrading the 29g FOwLR to a 55 reef for a while, then, a friend pointed me to a good LFS. Went there, saw their showcase display; showed it to my wife; she said "don't even mess with 55. Go to the largest tank that fits in our living room."

That's a 120 (5ft long, not 4ft long).

We had some custom cabinets made to match the tank stand, to put on each side of the tank.

Almost 6 month (on and off) planning the 55. Less than a month planning the 120. About 1 month debating LFS LR vs Florida aquacultured; about 1 month setting up (mostly waiting for supplies to arrive at LFS). Just about all my dry goods from the LFS (I believe in supporting good LFS's). All my upgrade fish from the LFS. The only internet livestock is the aquacultured LR.

 

[hsosa]

My current system is a 300gallon tank with a 100gallon sump. two inch retruns I have two skimmers one in the sumb and one on the tank. THe tank is in my garage. Running 1 250watt Iwasaki Ice cap ballast 1 4000watt Xm with a blueline ballast and 96 watt 03actinic pc and a 55watt 03actinic . I had my 100gallon going for about 4yrs . Then one of my friends gave me his giant fish's and I needed to go bigger. eventually im going to get more corals but the initial set up broke me. I got a great deal on the tank. it was used but i couldnt pass up the deal. I also had a 33gallon stony set-up but I broke it down. Current stocking


Sohol Tank 8inches long
Blue face angel. this fish is huge
2 blue tangs , One is a giant tang
Purple tang ,large
10yr old Maroon Clown. she s huge
3 Oceleris clowns
one tamatoe clown
one skunk clown
Adult Navarscus angel


Corals
Hairy tonga mushrooms
green mushrooms
small colony of polyps
long tentacled anemone plate
regular aneomone

100 lbs of live rock. yes I need more.
1inch sand bed in main tank
2inch sand bed in sump with caulepra as a algage scrubber. I run my lights on a reverse lighting on my sump. I use a liter meter to add make up water KALK its about 3-4gallons a day evaporation

PH 8 -8.2
TEMP 76-80 winter not sure about summer
Salinity 1.23 to .25
calcium 450-500

I got everything hooked up and running smoothly.next need to build a kalk reactor .

 

[Anonymous]

Current tank is an acrylic 125 gallon 6 feet long, FOLR. Two Quiet one 6000 return pumps, rated at 1500gph a piece through one inch returns. There is also a wave2k to provide add'l water movement. The estimate is around 4000 gph from the w2k, which is probably about right. There is a 40 gallon acrylic refugium reverse lit by a 96W Powerquad pendant. The sump is a 25 gallon custom acrylic tank. There's a Euroreef ES series skimmer on the sump, running 12 hours at nighttime. I did this hoping that when it's 'night' in the refugium the pods won't get skimmed out. The topoff is a Litermeter III, with a tiny bit of kalk thrown in to keep the pH up.

The lighting in the main tank is two 13W actinic PCs, as it's meant to simulate a deep fore reef. I *might* make it a full blown reef some time down the road, as all the fish I plan on are reefsafe. All I would have to do is add some 400W MHs. The sandbed is about an inch thick, a mixture of mostly SD with a tiny bit of some larger grained stuff. There will eventually be about 150 lbs LR, right now there's about 135 lbs from www.harboraquatics.com . The water is all from Bodega Bay in N. California.

The fish plan is:
Fathead or Sunburst Anthias
Lineatus Fairy wrasse
Yasha goby
Pair of Ornate Angels, G. bellus
Trio of flasher wrasses
Potter's angel
Red firefish
Curious wormfish, Gunnelichthys curiosus (beautiful fish)
...maybe a Synchiropus in a couple years.

Eventually I'll be throwing my SPS corals in the refugium.

 

[Anonymous]

i have a 90g that is taking a painfully long time to accomplish.
i am doing too much DIY.
i am never satisfied with the run of the mill stuff and couldn't bring myself to do this in any fashion other than i presently am.

there wasn't much inspiration in the tank purchase.
i needed a new one to replace the old 46g and went after the largest i could afford with the end product in mind. i was really close to getting a 120g and i probably should have but i spend too much on this stuff as it is.
i prefer cube tanks.
i realize the 90 is far from a cube but it is a larger capacity tank for a very reasonable price and it isn't long like a 125g which is also reasonably priced but i find it unappealing.

i wish i had some inspiration actually. i can't seem to arrange liverock to my liking and already have regrets in the design of the system (i still like it better than some boring manufactured setup).

some tanks that i find inspirational are Righty's, Len's, an LFS's, Steve Weast, Steve Tyree... and many other's.
most of these i have only seen photos of but i would be very happy if i could replicate the style within these tanks by even a fraction.

the thought i put into this tank consumes me. i do boring work and am mostly on my own throughout the day so my mind wanders, and too often it settles on reef tanks.

 

[Mikef1]

My current setup is a 90 gal aga with the new magna flow system. I have 95lbs of premium figi with a 3 inch dsb. Equipment consists of a 35 gal sump with a ev-180 skimmer pushed by a mag 12. I have a mag 12 for a return pump and also another mag 12 running a 1/4hp inline custom sealife chiller. I run a myreef creations CR-2 calcium reactor driven by a mag 2 pump and fed by a maxijet 1200. For lighting I have 2 400w radiums pushed by a PFO HQI ballast with spider reflectors, I am currently adding to 110w VHOs also. All of my inspiration and choices came from here and a lot of opinions offered from everyone. I also got a lot of inspiration from len and righty. Thanks for the help guys!!

 

[bergzy]

my current 125g has a sump with a 5g bucket for a fuge (incredible results from this little fuge). it also has a second hand skimmer along with a new chiller. lighting is powered by 2x400w 10k mh with 2x40w no actinics made it my ideal reef tank.

my decision to go full reef came from being unhappy with my 29g fowlr and having a very small reef in the past inspired me to go a little bigger.

i would say the greatest development in reefing (besides better understanding of the reef ecosystem) through the years have been:

1) leaps and bounds in improvement of lighting technology
2) the understanding of the effectiveness of algae filtration & its proper implementation

some would argue that improved protein skimmers, nielsen reactors, ca reactors, controllers, ozonizers, chillers, wave makers, supplements, filter media, foods and whatever else there is...are responsible for higher success in reef keeping but for me...nothing comes close like the above listed 2 items.

 

[Anonymous]

<-----still plannin' :wink: and always will be..