So after all that, here's what I ended up with.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271486809

I'm having a bit of a conflict with the low rock pile to the right. I really want to turf it but its the only cave structure I have for fish to hide and I think that's pretty important in the long run, so I may have to keep it. And yes, those are SPS pieces that I kept from the 104.72 lagoon. They were crowding the 150g reef so I threw them into the FOWLR.

Here are a few of the inhabitants.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271486915

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271486932

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271486951

There are a few others but I'll save them for later :biggrin:

This weekend I hope to skin the stand and set up the automatic water change.

Setup looks great Kien. Great pics and explanations of everything too. Both tanks are amazing. Looks like you are wearing scrubs in the one pic. Work at a hospital?

He he, thats what I was going to ask as my wife is an RN :)

Looking Incredible Kien!:mrgreen: I think the rockscape is very neat! A stellar build, as if we would expect anything but from you!

tank looks awesome. love it

Thanks everyone! And yes, those are hospital scrubs I'm wearing :-)

So this evening I finally got around to plugging in the Bubble Magus. I had assembled it on Friday but didn't have a chance to actually start using it until today. Luckily I have plenty of room in the sump to wrestle that beast in. Here he is busy skimming away.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271665764

So when I plugged the Magus in I decided to clean out and replace my carbon. This process took about 20 minutes plus another 10 minutes of cleaning up. After I reinstalled the carbon reactors I took a peek at Mr. Magus to see what he was up to. I was quite shocked at what I saw. This is 30 minutes worth of skimming..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271666038

Fish poop on the walls of my brand new shiny skimmer cup!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271665984

I am officially a Bubble Magus fan boy! :lol:

Mmmm.. seafoam..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271666094

Wait until BM breaking in and you will be more impressed.

Great picts and description as always

Today I decided to top up my NP BioPellets and while I was at it, I figured I'd re-plumb the reactor. The reactor, although performs beautifully, is kind of awkward to plumb. Currently I have a crap load of hose adapters to go from my MaxiJet 1200 into the Vertex with hose snaking through the sump. Not a very clean setup but got the job done.

Instead of flex hose all over the place I decided to use rigid 1/2" PVC and cemented all the pieces together. I also wanted to minimize the footprint of the whole rig so it took a little playing around with. I also wanted to increase the input so I threw a bigger pump at it.

Utilizing this cheap-o 500gph pump from Odyssea.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056830

Here's what I ended up with..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056874 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056901

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056926 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056948

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272056967

here she is in the sump.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272057059

Even with all of those 90 degree bends I still have to throttle back (about 1/4 turn) the input or the pellets get blasted through the outlet. Also, as you can see here the outlet drops right in front of the inlet to the skimmer.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272057110

and here is my new full sump shot.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272057137

i am impressed! Here is what the Bubble Magus pulls out of my system.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272057482

yummy!

What's the blue stuff wrapped around the pump? I see you have it in the water as well.