Wade's 200g reef

[wade1]

Its been ages since I posted in here (years?) so I thought I would give a rundown on the tank and some current pictures...

*~200g (in main compartment) custom acrylic tank. 7'x30"x24".
-Overflow chamber is whole last 1' of space
*4x400W MH on PFO std ballasts... 2x6500K Iwasaki and 2x20kK XM
*custom 5' tall Beckett driven skimmer run by Iwaki 70
*custom 24"x6" diam calcium reactor
*main return is a sequence (4700?) hooking into 3x1" seaswirls
*tunze stream (6100) also in tank for added forward circulation
*fully automated topoff working with dual float switch (electronic) connected to mag7 pump, and solenoid controlled RO basin (20g) connected to 100gpd Spectrapure unit.
*65g custom acrylic sump (3'x2'x18")

Fish:
2x yellow clown goby (G. okinawa)
flame angel (Centropyge loriculus)
yellow tang (Z. flavescens)
purple tang (Z. xanthurum)
hippo/royal tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
2x true percula (A. percula) <- spawn constantly
2x pink skunk clown (A. perideraion)
rainfordi goby (G. rainfordi)
lawnmower blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
psychedelic mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus)
5x green chromis (C. viridis)
pair flame fairy wrasses (C. jordani)

Corals:
LOTS!
Mostly SPS, dominated by Acropora...
frogspawn
hammer
cabbage leather
yellow finger leather
bright green nephthea
blastamussa (2 colors)
handful of zoanthids and clove polyps

Others:
2xtigertail cukes
black atlantic sand cuke
short spined urchin (atlantic)
5 mexican turbo snails (some 4-5 years old)
3 astrea snails

Any details I'm missing that people want to know?

 

[wade1]

Pictures at this link and below: http://www.earthandh2o.com/reef/jan2005-gallery/

 

[danmhippo]

O~~~~~K~~~~~!

But, where's the beef?

I meant the pic.......

 

[danmhippo]

Holy Crap, Look at that color!

 

[wade1]

Since Danmhippo wants to see color (those first two pics were after the Iwasaki's went off... so 20kK only):

 

[wade1]

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

OMG...that is so incredible Wade. 8)

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

Nice work indeed! 8O I'de love to see a full tank shot if you wouldn't mind posting one.

I love your frogspawn; I have the same one.

 

[wade1]

Its really tough for me to get a picture of the entire tank... with windows in front of it and an open top... but here is a try:

LEFT SIDE-

RIGHT SIDE-

Not very good and it certainly doesn't show the aquascaping very well... but you get the idea.

 

[Anonymous]

seriously awesome!

 

[gatorracer]

I hardly see anything in there to create flow as far as powerheads and such. How do circulate everthing without showing off all your ugly power heads like my tank?

Gatorracer

 

[wade1]

All of the flow is generated from the 3500gph or so returning from the sump (on 3 seaswirls) and a single Tunze Stream in the front right corner.

I purposely avoided the use of powerheads and loops on this tank and went for the larger return pump.

Overall current in the tank is around 4300-4700gph (in a 200g volume, so a bit more than 20x).

 

[Anonymous]

Nice looking tank there wade.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Wow, sweet, I love that green acro. 8O

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

Very nice!

 

[Anonymous]

Well done, Wade...looks fantastic.

 

[wirick21]

nice hack!!!!

Brian

 

[Brian Slot]

Looks soooo great - thumbs up to the max

But.....
If you would scrape the back and put in a blue background your tank would look 10 times better and bigger - trust me i did it on my tank !

 

[wade1]

If you would scrape the back and put in a blue background your tank would look 10 times better and bigger - trust me i did it on my tank !

My plan was to have corraline covering the back entirely... and it has done so well on the smaller ends. However, the current against the back makes the corraline sheet off (could be proximity to the lights too) in chunks (there's a massive pile in the overflow chamber and at the bottom of the back wall). So you can still see through it!

I won't paint anything because if I ever find a house that has the room, it will become a peninsula style tank viewable from both sides. Getting paint off of acrylic would not be fun! I have considered getting some form of blue paper or blue acrylic to place against it though.

Thanks!

 

[Reefer_man]

I used some black gator board on the back of my 60 gallon. I used little squares of velco to fasten it on so i could remove it to clean if necessary. It works fairly well. It looks alot better than seeing all the wires and hoses behind the tank.