djkms' 225 SPS Dominant build thread

[Suzanne Lynn]

Tank is in. Picked it up out in Commerce City with my brothers box truck. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of us moving it or with it crated up but here is what I have.

and the pvc bottom:

That would look awesome with a red accent wall behind it!!!!!! Sorry, I couldn't help myself!

 

[djkms]

Khalis, the lights come off easy and the back 2 are removed. The front 2 are 8 or so inches from the canopy with about 2 inches of clearance from top to bottom if the tank was sitting next to the front lights.


I plan to use the tank as a room divider in the future so I didnt go reef ready. I will probably drill one side but for now I will still use my Lifereef overflow.

 

[djkms]

Going to start setting up the system today after 2pm. If anyone wants to come help out and do some reef geeking hit me up. I'm off of Hampden and Sheridan now, for those who have been over to my previous place. PM for my number if you don't have it. I can provide cheetos and goldfish!! (sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

[ReefCheif]

No twinkies?? Sorry, I too couldnt resist!

 

[Suzanne Lynn]

ACCENT WALL!!!! lol Wish I could help!

 

[djkms]

So I spent the weekend setting this bad boy up. My brother in law came over for a bit to help but I pretty much did it all myself. Got the sump, skimmer, dosing pumps, reactors, top off and halides running. I still need to hook up my T5's and one more dosing pump (which I use for supplements). The only fish I kept from my old system were a Vroliks Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, mandarin and a Banggai Cardinal. I grabbed 3 Azure damsels from the shop along with a flasher wrasse and added them last night.

Here is a FTS taken with my phone a few hours after setup, the tank is still clearing up a couple days later.

As soon as it becomes crystal clear I will break out my DSLR and take better photos along with equipment pics.

 

[cdrewferd]

I'm liking the scape. Nice job Kris.

 

[djkms]

Thanks Drew! When I broke down my 125 there were 2 things that were important to me. 1, not having a rock wall like I did and 2, not having any rocks touching the glass. It is truly 2 islands not touching any glass. I LOVE the depth of this 225. I used almost all my rock from my 125 plus 2 full boxes of rock I got from the shop. As you can see I still have plenty of open space. Here is a pic of my 125 before I broke it down:

I also removed all my softies, including zoanthids/palys. I did find some zoanthids stuck to a base rock on the right hand side, not sure what I am going to do with them yet.

 

[cdrewferd]

Yea, the new scape is much nicer. A lot more swimming room for the fish as well.

 

[jahmic]

That looks great man. Liking the open scape a lot.

 

[KhensuRa]

Mount them t5's and I will wire them. Rock scape looks great man

 

[Cherub]

love the new rock work and +1 to no rocks touching the glass! I did the same thing

 

[djkms]

Thanks for the compliments all.

VP - I will get them mounted hopefully over the holidays. Wife is ticked I have been spending the last 4 days setting it all up.

I did figure out why my system has still been cloudy days later. I thought it was the Salinity salt just not mixing well but that is not the case. I was sitting down watching everything for a couple hours yesterday and noticed when my MP40's kicked up higher than 80% it was disturbing the sandbed. I used oolite sand, talk about fine substrate. So I turned down my MP40's to 75% and its clearing up nicely now.

 

[Craigar]

Looking good how's the cloudy ness?

 

[djkms]

Thanks Craigar. Tank is still a bit cloudy, hoping it clears up soon!

 

[cdrewferd]

I put in the same sand in my fuge, about a 4" DSB, and it clouded my whole tank for almost 2 days.


Drew

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[djkms]

So I have a few minutes to update this thread so here it goes. Equipment list....

Almost all my equipment came from my 125 except the lights. Previously using LEDs, now I am going back to Halide/T5

From Top to bottom:

Lighting
3 250w Radiums
Lumanmax Elite Reflectors
3 Galaxy Select-A-Watt Ballasts (250/400)

T5
Geisemann Aqua Blue Plus (2x39w)
Geisemann Actinic Plus (2x39w)
Geisemann Pure Actinic (2x39w)
Geisemann Aqua Pink (2x39w)
Workhorse Ballasts (will probably upgrade these in the future)

As you can see I still need to install the T5's, at that time I will also clean up the wiring.

For cooling I ordered 4 Scythe 120mm slip streams. The power supply I also ordered is not working, hence why I have a cheapo fan in the hood right now.


Circulation
2 Ecotech MP40's w/battery backup
Mag 18 Return Pump


Control
Neptune Apex w/vdm Module, breakout box and 2 EB8's
Float switches on my buffer, calcium, vinegar. This will notify me right away via email and text message if any are low or leaking.
Float switch on my skimmer so if it ever acts up and goes crazy it will shut down the pump so the cup doesn't overflow.
Float switch on my sump encase I have a leak somewhere and it will also shut off my ATO so I don't turn my system into a freshwater tank.
Water sensor via 2 aluminum tape strips running the length of the stand. Should water leak anywhere it will bridge the tape, tripping the sensor and shutting almost everything off. This still needs some tweaking.

Filtration
Lifereef Sump
Lifereef Skimmer
2 Bulk Reef Supply Reactors (carbon/GFO)
Refugium (still needs to be hooked up)

Dosing/Other
Litermeter 3 (dosing buffer/calcium)
Marine Magic Dosing Pump (dosing vinegar/aquavitro fuel)
Tunze Osmolator ATO
JBJ True Temp Heater

 

[djkms]

And I brought some new friends home today:

 

[Haddonisreef]

Very cool man and love how clean everything looks! WANa come straighten out the mess under my stand!?

 

[KhensuRa]

When you gonna get a real skimmer? Hahaha



Looking good bro is there going to be room for them t-5's?

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