I thought I would create myself a tank journal to keep track of my own progress. Also ive never posted pics of my tanks before so thought I would share.
Pics are all taken from my camera phone so not the best quality. Need to borrow a friends Canon 40D to replace these pictures later.
I bought a used tank from a fellow reefer here about a 1.5 years ago but was waiting for my place to be built before I could set it up. I moved in april 08 but was pretty busy with the settling in etc. I finally started working on it in Dec during the holiday season when I had some free time. (Almost as bad as Tony, lol.)
During the wait for my house to be build, the tank was stored at a friends warehouse where we decided to paint the back of the tank with some black krylon fusion. Turned out pretty good I think.
I wanted to do something abit different then the usual rock stacking at the back of the tank so going with a few pillars instead for open space for fish to swim and coral to grow all around the pillars. I also decided to go barebottom
The tank has had water for 4 weeks now without live stock and 2 weeks since I added a small clean up crew.
The rocks have been cooking in a rubbermaid tub for about 1 year as well, so plenty "clean". When creating pillars it took me 5hrs to drill the rock slowly and I only broke my first piece but once I got the hang of it, it wasnt so bad. I used a 5/8 acrylic rod from industrial paints and plastics for the rod.
The sump is aprox 50gals (made by golds) that is predrilled for a humidifier float value that will be gravity fed. Im using a 350w stealth heater to supply the heat. I also have a backup heater ill be using but havnt hooked it up yet.
For the return Im using a Mag18 and 4 loclines that are fed back into the display. For more flow I used 1xKoralia 4 hidden behind the left pillar and 1 vortech MP40 for the right side. Hope this is enough as i want to keep the tank as clean as possible.
For lighting I decided to go with a Aquactinics Constellation 7x54W fixture. Bulbs I went with are Fiji Purples/New Gen/ATI Blue Plus. There wasnt much room within the canopy for the lights and return but it does fit snug and the canopy does have 2 industrial fans (1 blowin air in, and 1 sucking it out) for air movement to keep the unit cool. Without these fans I would really wonder if the unit would over heat as there is about and inch clearance from the top of the lights to the top of the canopy.
Anyways here is the display tank as is today without the canopy on. I have since cut down the middle acrylic rod to be flush with the top rock
I will try to add more pictures as I go along. Hope you enjoy and dont be too critical of my tank please, lol.