Clay&Cheys 130g peninsula... "Quintessence"
 

Hi everyone, a little history. This tank/setup was a christmas present to my gf- Cheyanne who had a saltwater tank in the past and this is something I've always wanted. We're both from the coast and the ocean has always been a big part of my life so this is the next best thing. Before this i've never owned a tank of any kind but through tonnes of reading, researching online and going through all your tank journals i've begun to gain a little knowledge.
So we picked the tank after christmas but we were moving april 1st so everything had to be put on hold till then. Well the set up at least. Specs... The tank is 60"x18.5"x27.5" for total of 130g. The tank had an overflow in the rear corner with only one hole and the return was drilled mid tank 3/4 way towards the far end. Needing some guidance, luckily, we found a great asset at a LFS, Kevin from Red Coral. He totally gave us ideas on how to set our tank up, explained it in ways easily understood, gave us the pros and cons of different setup possibilities, and he was just as excited with our growing set up as we were. Thanks Kevin honestly without your help this wouldn't be possible.
So first this is who we are....

Cheyanne and her newest fish for the tank

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...forthetank.jpg

Claytons first ever fish way back when

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...irstfish-1.jpg

Sweet love

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...weetlove-1.jpg

Our cleaner shrimp puppy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...hrimpPuppy.jpg


So first off our tank had only one hole drilled in the overflow and kevin had a quick super simple solution for that, just drill the emergency drain through the back wall and there ya go a fully functional herbie overflow.

The tank going in to get drilled

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a.../EAdogfish.jpg

Our fearless guardian

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...rtankguard.jpg

So got the tank back moved into our new house and the tank is to be the divider between our kitchen and our livingroom

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...oompretank.jpg

I set about building the stand

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ngthestand.jpg

Its well built with 2x4's and 2x2's braced in all the right places

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ngtogether.jpg

The panelling is eucalyptus and i ran it 2" high on top to hide the black trim on bottom of the tank and i built the stand a foot longer than the tank to make a shelf and storage space also ran the panelling 4" further on the rear to hide all wires and the overflow pipe;

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...tandeatyou.jpg

Bombay mahogany stain

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...oganystain.jpg

Very nice! I love the stain colour.

Looking good so far. Looks like it'll be a good build thread. Keep asking questions so that you can do it right the first time and not have to regret it. Be PATIENT. This is one thing I have learned over the years.

This board is so great for learning and I have developed so many friendships over the years even though I haven't had a tank for the past few years the friendships continue.

Looking forward to seeing how your tank turns out.

One thing you might be able to get rid of is that middle vertical bar between your doors and brace your tank with a beefier horizontal "beam" in your stand. One thing I've learned is you want as much access as possible under your tank. It makes life much easier in the long run.

I don't even have a sump under my tank, just a closed loop and I'm already dreading when my skirting is coming for my stand because it's going to limit my access below a bit. Hope this helps.

BTW, Welcome to Canreef.

Des

So got the stand done and the tank and stand are moved into the house

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...toposition.jpg

How the overflow is done with the emergency drain drilled out the back.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...lledemerge.jpg

Kevin at Red Coral had us a custom 3 chamber sump built at 48"x14"x16" and heres the dry fit with equipment in the sump

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...sinthesump.jpg

Quiet one 6000 and Hydor preformer 600

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...Hydorprefo.jpg

The Drain and emergency drain going down to the sump

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...gencydrain.jpg

Tank end shot... Next tank will be same length and height but 36" wide

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...panelonyet.jpg

Reactor and the plumbing prior to the change. Now hardlined in with 2 45's no 90's

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ortothecha.jpg

Our fearless guard

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...elessguard.jpg

Dogs eye view

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ogseyeview.jpg

My first shot at wiring this bad boy up. Not bad I must say.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ttingwired.jpg

Sand is now in.. we went with fine sand, 1\2 live rest is regular good ol sand

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...dyforwater.jpg

Ready for water. See how our return breaks into 2

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ketooverfl.jpg

This is where the magic is mixed

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...gicismixed.jpg

Ready to fill her up

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...llingbegin.jpg

Waters in but its a little cloudy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ttlecloudy.jpg

Looking good so far. One quick question. What happens when the power goes out? With your return plumbing running mid and low in the tank, won't all that water siphon out when the power goes out and drain half your tank?

I would run the line from your return pump near the water surface. Even with a check valve, the check valve could fail with anything getting caught in there.

Des

Real cloudy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...y/Cloudier.jpg

I'm sure somethings swimming in there

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...inginthere.jpg

View from the bedroom

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...edroomview.jpg

Again we are lucky enough to deal with a great LFS. Red Coral. Kevin opened the store up early for us so we could pick and choose through all his live rock till we came up with an over all shape and plan for our live rock set up. We probably went through 600-700 lbs to find the 130lbs that was right for us. We totally messed the floor of the store up building our desired shape, saved our new hardwood floors for sure. Again thank you very much Kevin Cheyanne and myself greatly appreciate that.
So 130 live rock at home built and photographed ready to go in... but no its not that easy to recreate what you've built once inside the tank.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...orockitout.jpg

Even with pictures...

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...tinthetank.jpg

its way harder in the tank. By the way Kevin thanks for the beautiful live rock

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...osentwantt.jpg

Rock and water all in, the divider is up. The lighting we went with is a tek light 48" fixture with 8 bulbs. Looking from the kitchen towards the livingroom.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ividerisin.jpg

When the stand and hood are completed there will be a ledge all the way around the top edge of the stand to rest a drink on or whatever your fancy. The hood will be enclosed and the back against the wall will be enclosed.
Here is the view looking from livingroom back towards kitchen

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ngroomview.jpg

Our origional aquascape and the vortech and wavebox

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...andwavebox.jpg

Overflow a working

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...sadraining.jpg

Sitting pretty. So the tank has been running since mid april

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...tingpretty.jpg

Tunze nano wavebox and vortech-mp20

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...outtheflow.jpg

Return lines going down either side of rock work

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...eitherside.jpg

The flow splits

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ingtheflow.jpg

One of our caves

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...chey/Acave.jpg

Looks Freak'n GREAT! What's the plan for Live Stock?

J

Awwwww yeah! Love me a FAST build. Thanks for the instant gratification and good luck. It's looking really nice.

Cheyannes favorite crab

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...voritecrab.jpg

Frag from fooser

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...fromfooser.jpg

Another frag from fooser, thanks alot

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...rthanksman.jpg

our Bicoloured Blenny peaking out

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...peakingout.jpg

Maculiceps Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...licepsTang.jpg

Our so called reef safe Oriental Sweetlips sold to us by another LFS with complete asurance that it was perfectly reef safe and easy to take care of. So far its been a great fish doesn't bother other fish but i do notice when i'm out looking at the tank in the middle of the night with my trusty flashlight that it is always patrolling all night long

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ledreefsaf.jpg

Did some more aquascaping with a bit more new rock now we have a bridge between our 2 islands also some mushrooms and Sun Polyp coral

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...msandsomeS.jpg

Clown Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...rClownTang.jpg

Clown Fairy wrasse along with a Chalice from JDigital

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...aandaChali.jpg


Dark Red Mille from JDigital and its friend

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...ndaitsfrie.jpg

Lime green Acro from JDigital. Thanks for the sweet coral my pics dont do the colours justice

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...omJdigital.jpg


Pulsing Xenia

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...lsingXenia.jpg

Our Vlamingi Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...amingiTang.jpg

3 of 4 domino damsals

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...inoDamsels.jpg

Very nice tank build. Your wife must be very pleased!