- Location
- westchester ny
Hi all,
After taking a few years off to focus on some other hobbies (mainly dart frogs and green tree pythons), I am finally ready to take the plunge back in to reefing. My wife didn't love all the chirping and fruit flies everywhere, and thought a reef tank would be a better fit for our family now that we have a daughter- so who am I to argue with that!
I was originally planning on something conservative like a 75 or 90 gal but when I saw an immaculate 4' 150 gallon tank on mr that came with a custom 40" sump, about 175lbs of dry rock and real reef rock, a classic reef octopus skimmer, a myriad of powerheads/pumps/Wavemakers, test kits, refractometer, and even a few buckets of un opened I/o salt (and im sure im forgetting something) for just $600 I couldn't say no.
This will be the largest reef I've ever attempted and the size is a little daunting, but I know a lot of great reefers out there that I can call on for help and I've got a great resource in the guys over at complete aquarium in Bedford so im going for it.
Here's the tank as it currently sits in my garage
Once I got the tank home my next step was to figure out lighting. It was a tough call because this tank will primarily house anthias some of which are not fond of high lighting, but I will be keeping some sps towards the top so I needed a solution that could provide adequately strong light where I need it without blasting the entire tank. As often happens, the solution presented itself as I was scrolling thru the mr for sale page. I ended up picking up two ai hydra 52's and a 48" reef brite strip for such a good price that I don't want to say it, but I will say it was less than a single new hydra 52 would have cost. I am pairing these lights with a two bulb t5 retrofit by Hamilton and am very happy with the color blending and versatility this set up offers. I may opt for two more 52's in the future but for now I've got plenty of light to get started. I've been planning and acquiring equipment for almost a year now, so there's is no rush to get corals or fish in the tank once it's set up.
My most recent equipment pick ups were all at RAP (where I won an mp10 that I couldn't use on this build unfortunately) a wifi enabled 4 pump dosing system and custom three part reservoir (I'll be using aqua forest balling liquids for macro and micro supplementation), an ice cap ato system, and a brand new overflow kit from the great people at marineland who mailed it to me free of charge even though it's a used tank and they know im the second owner!
I plan on having a very open hardscape that will consist of 1 large column and a "c" shaped structure linking it to a second smaller column (pics to come). So here's where I need your help- since im not using a lot of live rock, biological filtration will have to be supplemented. I've been toying with lining half of the bottom of the tank with marinepure 8x8x1 plates and then covering it with an inch or so of special reef grade or small screened crushed coral. This should allow for easy syphoning of detritus while providing tons of surface area for benes. Im also going to add two of their large "rocks" to the scape for some additional help with denitrification. Beyond the marinepure and the oversized skimmer, im not sure what else to add as far as filter components. Since I'll be keeping anthias, a well stocked fuge is a must, but Id love to get your thoughts on any reactors, or other filtration equip I may need. This tank will not have a heavy bioload (12-20 3" anthias and a few one off's and that's it) but Id like to achieve an ulns. I was thinking of either running an appropriate amount of chemi pure blue or a brs reactor with carbon and gfo. And that's pretty much it to start...
One last question Id love your opinions on is whether or not I'll need a chiller. I keep my house at a constant 72 degrees year round with a 1-2 degree swing at most (usually downward). Im trying to get this thing running for under 3k (not counting livestock) and I've got about $1500 left to spend so a chiller is going to take a bite out of that. If I can avoid running a chiller, Id spend the savings on a good dc return pump and an als add on fuge (which would give me another 20 gallons of total water volume). If I do get a chiller it will be a used Aqua logic drop in, which are going for 200-300 so not the end of the world, but space and money are at a premium.
More pics to come as things start to come together (tank is getting moved upstairs this weekend). This is a big move for me and im really going to be counting on your input and experience to make this tank a success, so please let me know what you think! Thanks guys!
After taking a few years off to focus on some other hobbies (mainly dart frogs and green tree pythons), I am finally ready to take the plunge back in to reefing. My wife didn't love all the chirping and fruit flies everywhere, and thought a reef tank would be a better fit for our family now that we have a daughter- so who am I to argue with that!
I was originally planning on something conservative like a 75 or 90 gal but when I saw an immaculate 4' 150 gallon tank on mr that came with a custom 40" sump, about 175lbs of dry rock and real reef rock, a classic reef octopus skimmer, a myriad of powerheads/pumps/Wavemakers, test kits, refractometer, and even a few buckets of un opened I/o salt (and im sure im forgetting something) for just $600 I couldn't say no.
This will be the largest reef I've ever attempted and the size is a little daunting, but I know a lot of great reefers out there that I can call on for help and I've got a great resource in the guys over at complete aquarium in Bedford so im going for it.
Here's the tank as it currently sits in my garage
Once I got the tank home my next step was to figure out lighting. It was a tough call because this tank will primarily house anthias some of which are not fond of high lighting, but I will be keeping some sps towards the top so I needed a solution that could provide adequately strong light where I need it without blasting the entire tank. As often happens, the solution presented itself as I was scrolling thru the mr for sale page. I ended up picking up two ai hydra 52's and a 48" reef brite strip for such a good price that I don't want to say it, but I will say it was less than a single new hydra 52 would have cost. I am pairing these lights with a two bulb t5 retrofit by Hamilton and am very happy with the color blending and versatility this set up offers. I may opt for two more 52's in the future but for now I've got plenty of light to get started. I've been planning and acquiring equipment for almost a year now, so there's is no rush to get corals or fish in the tank once it's set up.
My most recent equipment pick ups were all at RAP (where I won an mp10 that I couldn't use on this build unfortunately) a wifi enabled 4 pump dosing system and custom three part reservoir (I'll be using aqua forest balling liquids for macro and micro supplementation), an ice cap ato system, and a brand new overflow kit from the great people at marineland who mailed it to me free of charge even though it's a used tank and they know im the second owner!
I plan on having a very open hardscape that will consist of 1 large column and a "c" shaped structure linking it to a second smaller column (pics to come). So here's where I need your help- since im not using a lot of live rock, biological filtration will have to be supplemented. I've been toying with lining half of the bottom of the tank with marinepure 8x8x1 plates and then covering it with an inch or so of special reef grade or small screened crushed coral. This should allow for easy syphoning of detritus while providing tons of surface area for benes. Im also going to add two of their large "rocks" to the scape for some additional help with denitrification. Beyond the marinepure and the oversized skimmer, im not sure what else to add as far as filter components. Since I'll be keeping anthias, a well stocked fuge is a must, but Id love to get your thoughts on any reactors, or other filtration equip I may need. This tank will not have a heavy bioload (12-20 3" anthias and a few one off's and that's it) but Id like to achieve an ulns. I was thinking of either running an appropriate amount of chemi pure blue or a brs reactor with carbon and gfo. And that's pretty much it to start...
One last question Id love your opinions on is whether or not I'll need a chiller. I keep my house at a constant 72 degrees year round with a 1-2 degree swing at most (usually downward). Im trying to get this thing running for under 3k (not counting livestock) and I've got about $1500 left to spend so a chiller is going to take a bite out of that. If I can avoid running a chiller, Id spend the savings on a good dc return pump and an als add on fuge (which would give me another 20 gallons of total water volume). If I do get a chiller it will be a used Aqua logic drop in, which are going for 200-300 so not the end of the world, but space and money are at a premium.
More pics to come as things start to come together (tank is getting moved upstairs this weekend). This is a big move for me and im really going to be counting on your input and experience to make this tank a success, so please let me know what you think! Thanks guys!