SeaHorse_Fanatic's 165g mixed reef - THANKS CHIN!!!!
 

So, as most of you have heard, September has been a very eventful & wet month for me. I set up a beautiful 225g Starphire front tank at the end of August, beginning of September. On Labour Day, the night after returning from a 5 day trip to the interior with my family, the front pane cracked, releasing a literal deluge of sw all over my living room, including wetting my loveseat.

After recovering from the resulting injuries, I started my rebuild.

First of all, need to really thank Chin Lee for his great generosity and friendship. When he heard my 225g blew, he offered to tear down his 165g and give it to me as a replacement tank. With Victor's (Veng68) help, we brought Chin's tank home last Monday (Sept. 20th) but the move reaggrevated my injury so I waited a couple days before starting the rebuild.

Painted the tank blue, cut out the old silicone and resealed the tank on Thursday (23rd). Had a couple guys come by to pick up the broken 225g and so they helped me carry Chin's tank into the house and onto the stand.

Here's a pic of the empty tank:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0161.jpg

Started making RODI water over the weekend and added a bucket of IO salt & turned on the Hydor Koralia Magnum8 powerhead to mix it up on Sunday evening.

Finished plumbing the tank on Monday (Sept.27). Had to fill up the 90g wide sump with the hose and pump out the dirty water using a Maxijet. Cleaned out the skimmers. Replaced the return pump with a Sedra9000 off the 120g and cleaned out the external overflow box.

Came home from a BCAquaria staff dinner on Monday night and decided to try aquascaping after having several Sakes and Asahis:razz:

This was the result last night:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0187.jpg

Here's pics with my little Felicia to show off daddy's tank:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0181.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0180.jpg

Spent over an hour to wash 100+lbs of sand (mixed aragonite):

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0188.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0194.jpg

Then after testing the water early this afternoon, I started transferring the fish & corals out of the 120g & 90 refugium into the new tank:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0198.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0197.jpg

Since this is a smaller tank than the original, decided on a more open aquascaping with the spare rock in the refugium section of the 90g wide sump I built inside the stand.

Thanks for looking.

Anthony

Shot of the tank from my computer desk:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...g/DSC_0200.jpg


I have since removed the HK4 powerhead since I have sufficient flow in the tank.

One last pic tonight from the other side:

I'll be over tomorrow and then the new tank will crack next week ^_^

Cheers,
Vic

Looking good Anthony.
Wow, has Felicia ever grown since I've seen her! She's such a cutie-pie. :biggrin:

Wow Anthony sorry to hear about the 225 but that 165 looks really good!

At a quick glance I thought the puffer had these booties on and some cheerleeder pom poms. "Rah Rah! Anthony's Tank! Rah-ah-ah! Ok feed me now."

She's standing on a chair, but yeah, she's grown a lot since last year. She's just under 3' tall & only 27 months old.

Only Anthony can get away with 4 yellow tangs and 2 purple tangs in one tank...... something about that house makes those fishes act differently. I think i will change Anthony's name to Fish_Whisperer
It looks good bud. thought you would have drilled the holes through the stand and put it flush. Nevertheless, it looks super nice with the blue background.

It would have been a tight fit & any work on the plumbing would have been a PITA. This way it may not be as clean looking, but far easier to work with or to modify.

Again, thanks for the tank.