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SHF's & BC Mosaic's new 220g Starphire system
So, my friend Richard asked me to rehome his fish & corals for at least the next couple of years, maybe forever & we finally settled on his 220g starfire tank instead of the 7' 265g (too big to fit into my place).
The new tank had its front pane replaced by BCMosaic, Kolewolf & myself and has sat in storage for about a year. REALLY shocked that Irene said yes to this upgrade! Timeline: Saturday - Aug.14, 2010 - Built 6' x 25" x 34" stand out of 2x6s, 2x4s, & 2x3s Sunday - Richard brought over tank & we water tested it on my lawn - water test went well so we drained, drilled 2 holes for 1" bulkheads, painted back blue & built black acrylic overflow box system - the 2 of us transported the tank into my livingroom & hefted it onto the stand Monday-Thursday - Plumbed the tank, built an 80g sump (too tall) so bought an old 90g wide & cleaned it up & modified into a 4' x 2' x 18" tall sump. Sump has 2' wide 28" long skimmer "box, a section for the refugium (stored extra live rock) and a 6' section for the return pump Friday - transported 200lbs of Live Rock, some corals and saltwater from Richard's 7' reef tan - spent most of the night aquascaping the rocks Saturday morning - went to Richard's & caught & transported fish, corals & water to my place After lunch (all-u-can-eat fish&chips at C-lovers), we caught out the last fish, scooped up the last corals & drained thte tank to collect all the sand Released fish into my tank at 7:30pm and started washing sand (2 or 3 hours) then did final aquascaping, setup skimmer, setup return pump, setup lights - FINALLY finished at 4 am & turned on the new lights (6' 3x1502 metal halide with 14000k Phoenix bulbs - but we only turn on the end lights not the middle Monday - August 23 - Added second skimmer due to heavy bioload |
System Specs:
220g 6' long x 2' wide x 30" tall Starphire glass front - low-iron glass for extra clarity Overflow - 12" x 6" x 6" DIY black acrylic with 2 x 1" drains & 1 x 3/4" return Return - Sedra 9000 Skimmers - SWC Extreme200 - Marine Tech 250 with Sedra9000 meshmodded impeller pump Flow - HK Magnum8 & HK4 & HK3 Stocking: 1 6" Vlamingi tang 1 4" Elongate (A. mata) tang 1 4" Blonde Naso tang 2 4" Purple tang (Red Sea) 1 4" Chocolate tang 1 3" Orange Shoulder tang 4 4" Yellow tangs 1 3" Blue Regal tang 1 2.5" Kole tang 1 8" Porcupine puffer 1 6" Marine betta 1 4" Emperor angel (Juv.) 1 4" Lamark's angel 3 Lyretail anthias 2 Psychadelic Mandarin gobies 1 Cleaner wrasse 1 Leopard wrasse 1 Scissortail goby/dartfish Still to be added from my other tanks I'm shutting down &/or selling: 4 Blue-eyed cardinals 1 Bangaii cardinal 1 Yellow Watchman goby 2 Black Leopard wrasses 1 Lyretail hawkfish 1 Black Sailfin blenny Corals: Assorted LPS, SPS, Photosynthetic Gorgonias & softies (mostly frags or small colonies) Inverts: Lots of snails Not much else (Poofie the puffer would make short work of them) |
Now for some pics - Cause a tank journal thread without pics is a waste of time, I know, I know.
These were taken Tuesday morning after I spent Monday plumbing the overflow system. http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0916.jpg Empty tank on stand http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0919.jpg DIY black acrylic overflow with Durso silent drainage system http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0921.jpg Felicia in front of tank to give size reference & cause she's sooo cute http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0924.jpg Side view from my computer desk |
These pics taken Friday night (after hauling rocks & water from Richard's):
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0926.jpg 90g wide sump (allows me to work inside the short stand (I usually build much taller, but wife wanted a shorter stand for viewing from the couchs) http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0928.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0925.jpg Tank with 150g new water, 40g old water and 170lbs live rock http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0929.jpg Other side view |
Saturday night - around 4am after finally installing lights
The plywood & doors have NOT yet been installed, just leaning up against the front of the tank: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0930.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0932.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0938.jpg No flash for this last full tank shot: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0939.jpg |
Water is a little murky since everything is still a little stirred up:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0936.jpg Side view (Saturday night/4am) http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0942.jpg Just the tank http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0944.jpg Left Rock structure http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...c/DSC_0946.jpg Right Rock structure |
Today (Monday early afternoon: August 23) - second skimmer just installed & micron filter sock on down tubes have helped clean the water up
Cut the plywood facing, installed facing & cabinet doors - VERY HAPPY with how it turned out (cabinet stand) but still need to finsih the side panels (adding doors to those as well) http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0926-1.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0924-1.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0927-1.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0925-1.jpg |
Sectional shots (Monday, August 23, early afternoon:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0928-1.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0929-1.jpg Left side: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0930-1.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...DSC_0931-1.jpg Right side: Most of the pics were taken without my contacts on (relying on teh Nixon DX3000's autofocus completely) Thanks for looking & hope you enjoyed. Anthony |
Really nice job with the towers. They look really good as is but I imagine those will be boss for coral mounting location/variety.
That's one heck of a long span for those 6 foot 2x4s is it not? |
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