"Seriak is back" Build
 

Well after a long break from this hobby I am finally back at it. I was initially looking at buying a used tank off a fellow reefer, but I ended up talking to Dave at Concept Aquatics and I just couldn't say no to his prices and service.

Dave had a stand wipped up for me right away but it took a little longer for the tank and sump.

Here is the stand. Standard 48" X 24" X 33"

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-A...130_172513.jpg

Once I received the tank I wasn't quite happy with a couple air bubbles in the tint so I decided I could fix that. Oh what a mistake. I ended up ruining the tint job on the back, but Dave was nice enough to come over and redo the tint at no charge. I can't believe the service he provided.

Here is the tank. Standard 48" X 24" X 24" - 120 gallon

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v...315_163631.jpg

I immediately decided to test the tank with some local wildlife.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W...310_162236.jpg

I am now in the plumbing and filling stage so I will have to get some pictures going of the entire setup soon.

Looks great so far. Is that glass or acrylic and how much did the stand, tank, and sump cost with setup? Take pictures of everything and throw them up on here.

+1, as I too am just getting back into the hobby and would love to see your progress as I'm looking at a similar size (or 150g, 5'x2'x2'). I however am still months away as I'm still hanging drywall.

I also think you should have gotten a bigger tank. That "local wildlife" is going to outgrow that tank pretty quickly. Something more like a 2000gal would have been more accommodating for them. :P

An awesome start. Can't wait to see where this build goes! Welcome back to the fray Chris. :)

Thanks guys,

The tank is all glass with 3 sides being starphire and the top has the standard euro bracing. It has a large external overflow where I will be using a bean animal setup.

I am not too concerned about the size of the local wildlife as I have already rehomed them into a much larger enclosure.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-E...800/Castle.jpg

Nice, I have always wanna tank by concept, one day...
love the re-location program. :mrgreen:

now now those things only get as big as their tank! I saw it on television!:mrgreen:

Your kids are adorable! When I was a little girl I would have sold my siblings for a play castle like that.

was nice to meet you the other day mang......this is looking to be pure sweetness.....

Thank you so much. We raised them ourselves.

Here is a complete tank shot. As you can see some of the salt has yet to be dissolved and you have to love my nitrate spongs. I am getting a baffle to raise the water level under the sock so I don't hear the constant water sounds. At that point I will remove the sponges. I also couldn't decide on the best way to plumb the return. What I have works, but the pipe on the right is so short that it made the one on the left very long. I only have the one radion up, but it is looking good so far.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L...318_094634.jpg

Looking good so far. This is pretty much what I'm looking to do sometime soon. Will be following closely

Looks great so far! Looking forward to updates and LOTS of pics!

Not to hi-jack your build, but where did you buy this castle? Is that a bed inside it as well? My daughter's would love this setup!

Nice looking tank. That radion puts out a lot of light for such a small unit

The Radions are amazing. I think that light was only at 30 or 40% at the time. You do need two for my setup to get full coverage though for optimal coral growth. I actually managed to bung up the lenses on the lights (Not following directions) and Ecotech is sending me brand new ones for free even though I explained to them that I made the mistake and it was my fault. Their service is amazing.

Hmm the castle bed was built by my brother for his daughter and we got it as a hand me down. He did quite a job on it. There are secret compartments hidden away in it. My daughter was so excited when she got it. That is actually an old picture. There is a ladder that goes to the top where she sleeps now. She actually has a mattress on the top and bottom just in case she wants a friend to sleep over.

Do you know if they have a rule for the number of units per foot of tank (ie. like MH reflectors cover 2 feet etc)?

From what I have read, each unit will cover 24" X 24" area.

Here is another shot of the sump. The sump design was pretty much perfect for a standard skimmer; however, the sro 1000sss requires very minimal water in the skimmer chamber so I had to raise it up as my second bubble trap was set at 7" which was too high for this skimmer.

Man, my phone sometime takes crappy pictures. Sorry for the bad quality.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...323_073905.jpg

Here is a ful tank shot. I have a bit of rock in there atm. I need to do something about those radion cables. The heater will dissapear once I get the baffle installed in the sump.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...324_105614.jpg

I have my radions hung the same way on a grizz light stand, I pulled the cables back to the bar and ran them down the legs, can't see them at all. You've got a great setup!

I have 2 daughters and they would have loved a castle like that when they were little! Nice that you could keep it in the family!

So here is an updated pic. I am not quite happy with the rockwork, so I didn't give any closeups. I repositioned the Radions and hid the cables to the best of my ability. Everthing seems to be coming together.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-E...408_183128.jpg

Looks ultra clean, I like it! I am a big fan of less is more approach so I think a couple more lR at the most. This kinda reminds me of v1 rotate's a reef in the sky built on reef central. Btw nice job on hidding the wires!

The aquascape is not bad! It has the lots of open space appeal, and leaves lots of room for corals to grow up.

I like my minimalist rockwork. I thinks I will move my zoas to the sandbed like Zoaelite did which will leave me some more room for SPS and LPS above. And maybe just reconfigure the rock a tad.

I like the rock scape very clean and lots of open space.

Well here is a quick updated photo of my tank. Haven't done too much to it recently.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_...0/IMG_1792.jpg

And one closeup that didn't turn out too bad.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_...0/IMG_1795.jpg

And maybe one more

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...0/IMG_1796.jpg

Looking good! How are you liking the lights so far?

I can't complain about the lights. All my corals seem to be doing great. I get no excessive heat. And assuming the fixture doesn't break, I shouldn't have to change any bulbs in the forseeable future. I definitely would do it again.

Well it's about time I post an updated picture. Too bad I always think of taking the picture closer to the end of the day.

Left side of tank

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...212_180156.jpg

Right side of tank

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...212_180202.jpg

Full Tank

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r...212_180212.jpg

looking great. My daughter would love me more than mom if I built her a castle like that: wow.

Nice. So what's your maintenance schedule like these days?

this is hot

Not much.

Magfloat every couple of days
Change sock every week
Empty skimmer every week
20% water change every 1-2 weeks

I did not steal anything. :)

Thank god my brother built it for his daughter and then passed it on to me. No work on my part and my daughter loves it.

Just trying to post a new picture to see if it is any better than previous ones.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T...Tang%25201.jpg

And one more. Still a little dark but it starts to look grainy when I brighten it up too much.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...Tank%25201.jpg

Okay, a closer look at my Setosa. I think I am getting better at taking pictures. You tell me. A big thanks to Kien for all the tips and pointers.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d...tosa%25201.jpg

And a closer look at the elastic holding my Darth Maul Zoas on.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...Zoas%25201.jpg