240g re-setup diary

[mojo]

As some of you know, I moved a couple months ago from Stone Mountain to Roswell, and of course, my tank came with me. I'm changing some things around, so I thought I'd document the progression here.

I was really happy with my existing setup, and my livestock was all doing great:

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It was supposed to be a simple move - I already have a 140g frag tank that was empty at the time- the plan was to move it over to the new basement room, move the livestock over, then move the tank and sump over, and put all the livestock back in the main tank.

But, when I moved the tank, I realized that my joints along the bottom edge needed repair. This tank was the first large tank that MRC made, and I had it made with that knowledge in mind. I hadn't had the first problems with it, but I wasn't comfortable setting it back up until I figured what I wanted to do. I since decided that I'd have another one made, repair the one I had, and either sell or re-use my original tank. I just got my brand new replacement tank from SEA, and everything looks perfect.

Thus far, I've got the new tank in place, the stand is set, and I've got to add the plumbing and finish making 250g of RO water.

 

[flyingarmy]

Gorgeous tank!

 

[tnyga]

Great looking tank Chris

 

[calireefer]

WOW! thats one of the nicer tanks I've seen.:thumbs:
Two Questions:
Was your old tank Acrylic?
And is this one glass?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Are you downgrading the lights, or still running the 1000's?

 

[mojo]

Thanks for the compliments, but remember that's how the tank LOOKED - it's all broken down now... It was acrylic, and the new one will be acrylic. I really, really wanted to move to glass, but the cheapest glass quote I got back was $4000 (and highest was $10k), and I just couldn't just justify paying that much for a tank, so I just had an acrylic one remade.

Here's the new tank in it's new spot, filling with RO water now. Remember that these were taken with a very wide (10mm) lens, so things look a little distorted - the tank is 7 feet wide:

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Getting ready to run the plumbing to the basement, in a room directly below it:

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Finished the plumbing under the tank - ended up being a pretty clean job. I'll explain what the gate valve is for in another post:

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Here's what the basement room looks like, complete with frag tank and sump (currently covered to keep wood chips from falling in):

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[mojo]

And here's a current picture of my holding tank, where most of my stuff is being held. Unfortunately, due to being packed into the small 140g tank, I've lost a good bit of my stuff- ranging from my basket-ball size green slimer to my dinner-plate sized red BTA... I'm really bummed about the losses, but I did everything I can think of to save what I could.

I think the problem was that there was simply too much rock for the livestock, but most of my corals have attached to very large pieces of live rock, making it impossible to separate the two. I have four Tunze's in there, so I can't add too much more flow without tearing the flesh off of corals in some places....

Oh, and the fish are perfectly healthy - I'm not sure why the picture makes the yellow tang look gaunt...

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[flyingarmy]

Is that a skimmer in the last picture in the corner or a small H20 powered rocket ship?

 

[victor626nj]

wow chris i would love to see your tank in person when your done looks amazing and tang looks great

 

[mojo]

jmaneyapanda;101819 wrote: Are you downgrading the lights, or still running the 1000's?

Well, I went back and forth about this. I'm sure you want a short, easy answer, but I wanted to explain how I ended up deciding what I did...:

[For those that don't already know, I have two 1000w lights over my tank, with no other supplemental lighting.] I've tried both 10kK and 14kK bulbs, and settled on 14kK. Note that "10K" isn't really correct for "10,000 Kelvin" - it should be 10k Kelvin, 10,000 K, or 10kK, which is the notation that I use here.

Advantages of the 1000w lights:
<ul>
<li>More PAR than you can imagine... I could get ~1200 PAR at the corals (9" in the water) with 10kK lights (IIRC), and around 5-700 PAR at the corals with 14kK lights. At the bottom of the 26" tank, I'd get 250-300 PAR</li>
<li>Simpler lighting configuration. Some people may not see this as an advantage, but I've come to the conclusion that simpler is better, and the fewer lights and light types I have to have, the better. I'd rather have two large lights rather than 4 MH's + VHO. That's less bulbs to keep around, fewer types of bulbs, etc.</li>
<li>And who am I kidding, 1000w lights give bragging rights. Nothing quite says "I'm serious" in the same way... </li>
</ul>Disadvantages:
<ul>
<li>While the up-front cost is about the same as any other lighting system (around $250-300/light, although the bulbs are ~$120 each), each light is like running a small microwave. All day long... 2000watts or 18 amps takes up an entire circuit. My electric bill from the lights alone (at only 9hrs/day) is $50/mo.</li>
<li>They're freakin hot. People who have normal 250-400w lights and think they know just haven't experienced the full power of the 1000w-ers. I mean HOT - enough that my PVC within the hood had to be covered in aluminum foil b/c it was distorting and melting... and it was a foot away.</li>
<li>That heat goes somewhere, and I had to add active ventilation for the room, multiple fans everywhere, and a chiller. While this is all normal, a chiller runs almost all day in the summer. Add in another 9 amps for 9 hrs/day (we're up to $75/month in electricity for lights and chiller alone).</li>
<li>The latest research shows that there's a limit to how much corals can absorb, so it can be argued that there's no need for much over ~300 PAR.</li>
<li>My soft corals never did well, and I never had coraline algae due to the intense light</li>
</ul>I had almost convinced myself to get rid of them, except for two things- 1) I saw great growth and 2) it'd cost me a fortune to re-buy lights.

So I've decided to keep the 1000w-ers, but change up how they're being used:
<ul>
<li>The 1000w lights will be 10kK lights, and on for only 2-4 hrs/day. This is to minimize power usage and heat, but maximize on PAR used by corals</li>
<li>I'll add two or three 250w 20kK lights that will stay on for ~12/hrs day - these would be my normal viewing lights, and I like the 20kK look.</li>
</ul>This is my best compromise between electricity usage and having all that PAR. My best comparison is that the real reefs have the most intense sunlight for only 2-3 hours/day, so I'm going to try the same thing...

 

[mojo]

flyingarmy;101860 wrote: Is that a skimmer in the last picture in the corner or a small H20 powered rocket ship?

LOL! It's my skimmer - an MR-3 with a four-foot extension, powered by dual becketts on a Sequence Pump. Works pretty well...

I'll try to cover all my equipment (and reasoning) as I go.

As for the skimmer reasoning- it's what I have....

 

[glxtrix]

lookin great chris. Now that youre in roswell, you shouldnt be too far from me. If you need any help let me know and i'll see what i can do.

 

[mojo]

glxtrix;101886 wrote: lookin great chris. Now that youre in roswell, you shouldnt be too far from me. If you need any help let me know and i'll see what i can do.

Cool- thanks. How are you at aquascaping?

 

[glxtrix]

heh. Depends on how many beers I drink before hand. Its a hit and miss thing I guess. If you want some help Ill be there. Cant this weekend, family is in town, but after then i should be able to. You have my number and all that mess, call me if you need some help.

 

[victor626nj]

he is so gonna melt his tank lol

 

[mojo]

That's the plan. I'll be using a controller for everything, so if I decide to turn off the 250's while the 1000's are on, I can do so.

Tank plumbing is mostly done. I'll post a picture later.

 

[mojo]

The rock was re-added, and what's left of my corals was added after that. I still have some work to do with the lights - for now, I just threw some 250's up there, and added a reflector to keep the wood from getting too hot. It's amazing how dim </em>two 250's are in that tank....

I'm not 100% happy with the aquascaping - it looks a little boring to me, but it's still a work in progress. I wanted a little coral garden to the left, an opening for the gigas, and then the main rock structure, with plenty of room left open for corals to grow and fish to swim.

Sand will be added, and I'll be picking up my gigas tomorrow. It's really depressing how much color I've lost...

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[cameron]

Simply gorgeous. Certainly what many of us want in our house but few achieve.

 

[james s_]

So whats the plan for adding sand after the rock and corals? How you going to accomplish this without making a mess?

 

[mojo]

Cameron;104162 wrote: Simply gorgeous. Certainly what many of us want in our house but few achieve.

Thanks very much for the compliment!

46bfinga;104165 wrote: So whats the plan for adding sand after the rock and corals? How you going to accomplish this without making a mess?

I've tried two methods that work pretty well - either use a 1.5" or 2" pipe, and feed the sand down that and onto the bottom, or just scoop up the sand, bring it down to the bottom, and then gently pour it out (rather than pouring from the top). The other trick is to make sure you get a good sized sand - I use "CaribSea Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand" - I've tried a number of different sands, and this is the best compromise between too fine (like southdown) and too coarse. Lastly, I'll wrap poly-fill (the stuff you can get at fabric stores or walmart) around my pump intake strainers and clean them out every 30 mins, to remove the particulate matter that will be suspended - just makes the skimmer cleaning easier.