First Tank Thread: 120 Euro

[lfsmarineguy]

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I didn't actually get to chronicle the construction of the setup thus far since it was done slowly due to the store opening and I did it as time permitted. This is my office tank, it's a normal dimension 120 custom I got from a friend of mine in LIRA about a year ago and didn't setup until about 6 weeks ago. To expedite the process I used a rubbermaid bin for the sump temporarily with an Iwaki for the return and a Vortech for internal flow. The majority of the corals and 1/3 of the rock is from my 50g that I moved into the 120 (I didn't stock a 1 month old SPS tank from nothing lol). I'm using a 25w Emperor Aquatics UV and the Fauna Marin Ultralith system currently and will be adding a PM Bullet 2 skimmer next week. The light is an Aquamedic Spacelight (Thanks Alhra) 2x 250 (10k) and 1x 150 (20k) for the actinic. Don't have time to post all the pictures but I will post a few teasers lol and I will keep this updated as I add on to it.

Full tank shot as of yesterday afternoon:

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My poker stars monti (already a few millimeters of growth):

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A favor from ORA, an as of yet unreleased ORA Duncan (it's much greener than the picture shows I can't seem to get the white balance right and it was 6 heads and now has 7 with a ton of nubs around the edge):

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This mushroom I lucked into when I was picking up some fish. It was buried in the back of the coral tank and I think I heard it call my name..... I took pics of it under normal, actinic, and with the flash to give you an idea of the real color on this thing ("Superman Rhodactis"):

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Even under the flash the colors just pop on it and you can see the green better on the Duncan in the last pic.

I plan on adding a 30g refugium and I have a 25g food grade plastic cylinder I am going to plumb into the system as an experiment. The cylinder was inspired by Steve Tyree's zonal approach and I am going to make it very low flow with a bunch of rock at the bottom of it to help encourage growth of sponges and whatever else I can get to grow in there aside from the normal fuge. I'll post some more pics when I get a chance.

 

[crox99]

Good job Jared. I really like the duncan.:bigeyes:

 

[lfsmarineguy]

You should see that thing eat when I target feed it. It wraps up on the syringe like a fat kid in a cake factory. Also, I forgot to mention the biggest upside to this tank........."Business Expense"!

 

[kris]

Nice setup. Isn't using a UV with a bak system like Ultralith a no no?

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Personally there are lots of things that aren't supposed to go with certain other things (like skimmers on an ecosystem....) but I am a big fan of UVs and will never go without them. I like the algae and parasite control they offer and what little difference it may make in the ultralith system, if any, doesn't bother me. My corals are growing rapidly and getting some really amazing color so if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

some more

Uploaded some more pics of the tank. Haven't added anything as of yet equipment wise but I will post as I do. For now here are some livestock pics.

Picked this one up locally and it was bleached out brown with lime green mouths at the time. It's since started to change colors (under actinic it has a pinkish cast) and it started to grow a green rim...... Only time will tell on this one but I think I may have found one of those sleeper pieces.

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I think it may be a watermelon in need of some good tank parameters to recover from shipping. This is after a month in the tank. The mouths also protrude out usually. I'll try and get a better shot this one was with the flash.

This guy was the first fish I added when I started this one up. Its color is much nicer than the pics show. The pink stripes are very distinct and stand out on the yellow. Great personality, he and my leopard cruise the tank together all day.

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Last pic for now. Chevrons have been scarce recently, more so than usual, so when I saw 2 in the wholesale tanks I grabbed both. They were both nice (but I cherry picked this one lol I can't help myself it's a disease and I'm working through it) this guy swims around all day with a gut from food and scraping algae all day.

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Best part about this tank is the way the flow is setup with the vortech all my fish swim out in front of the glass all day, even the zebra gobies.
The fish list currently stands at:
2 Zebra Gobies
1 Chevron Tang
1 Bimaculatus Wrasse
1 Leopard Wrasse
2 Pink Skunk Clowns (had these for over 2 yrs never seen any eggs but they are inseparable)

I plan on adding a sand sifter since I made the mistake of using the ESV sand and it's gotten brown on top from the original cycle. I might remove the top layer of brown since the tank is stable now and won't regrow it. Skimmer is coming this week so will update when it's here.

 

[Awibrandy]

Nice tank!

 

[ireefny]

saw this tank during the grand opening, better than the pics, lots of rare stuff. its like a secret stash for Jared. I would advice shopping in his office first...LOL

pm sent!

 

[reefnewbe]

nice tank!:biggrin: