160 gal Teatro aquarium, updated

[lobsterboy]

so the story goes like this,,, Teatro is the restraunt where I work, and we had renovated like 4 years ago, along with this reno we had gotten an aquarium, with sump and chiller to keep lobsters, that was kept in our office downstairs.

I had been asked a few times to do a tropical set up, and had declined the offer. Until a few weeks ago, I really wanted an easy tank to look after, and i do really like alot of the soft corals that are avabile, Toad stools, kenya trees, xenias, are my favs, so i thought it could turn out to be a cool tank, i took the bait. all live stock was removed to the sump and then holding tank, and then my work begun. I did a total of 8hours after service to get it where I wanted it. so this is what i started with.







during the cleaning I found something intresting.... 4 of these bad boys. each were huge and think and mad. I think the longest was 10inches,







so after all that, this was the first pic of the new tank, the sump wasnt done yet, and it was a mess, it was still full in these pics.







and the snails,



ans here is the sump all ready to go



and a fts



so these pics are a few days old, and there have been some improvements, made, the tank is now level, and the styrofoam thats under the tank is painted black, as well the salt creep on the cprnor is taken care of.

The tank has sand, rock, water and salt in it now, along with 5ml zeo bak, 1/2 bottle of stablity, one of my used filer socks, and some grape calurpa in the sump. I think this one is going to move fast. I thought i took pics of this progress, but cant find them, so the next ones will be a super FFWD.

[Delphinus]

Cool! So this will stay at the office in the restaurant then?

[kien]

Sweet! Those snails look yummy! The worms.. not so much.

[lobsterboy]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Cool! So this will stay at the office in the restaurant then?

yes, the tank is located in the office downstairs next to the prep kitchen.

Originally Posted by kien

Sweet! Those snails look yummy! The worms.. not so much.

haha, they were good, alittle butter, garlic and bread crumbs. mmmmm

i am talking about the snails, not the worms. hehehe.

[Carmen]

Neat John! This will be a fun one to watch!

[JDigital]

Wow... Awesome work on the clean up.. Hardly looks like the same tank!

Look forward to this!

[Coleus]

tag along for the ride. Are you going to put some lobsters in it eventually?

[lobsterboy]

Originally Posted by Carmen

Neat John! This will be a fun one to watch!

thanks Carmen, yeah i think this ones going to be alot of fun.

Originally Posted by JDigital

Wow... Awesome work on the clean up.. Hardly looks like the same tank!


Look forward to this!

lots of work when into it, and everyone at the restraunt is stoked for the change. maybe if i can convinece them,
i could get a shallow tank build going

Originally Posted by Coleus

tag along for the ride. Are you going to put some lobsters in it eventually?

Thanks Tai

livestock isnt choosen yet, someone sugguested that we take out the water and put hamsters. ???????

but there are a few favs that are going in for sure. those being, pair of occilis clowns, sixline wrasse, yellow tang.

[lobsterboy]

ok, so FFWD, a week, i have gotten the sand in and rock work in, i went with a super basic lay out, as i like to have lots of room at the top for fish to swim. also, put in a 45 pipe fitting, for the return, water is blowing across the tank now, its awesome.

2 damsels are in the tank now, and are eating well, even though they have the whole tank to them selves for now, they still find the time to chase each other. right now, we just have a single 39wt t5 on one side of the tank, i have two double 54 wt fixtures that a friend is going to hook me up with, so when he gets back from va-k I will make a trip to see him. I am kinda playing with the idea of having two pendents over the two open spots over the tank (the tank has a massive bracing in the center), but I think a combonation of t5 fixtures is going to win. BTW, these will probably not be changed out every 2-3 months.

[fishytime]

cool that you have some salt to stare at at work.....the work tank could get the leftover home tank bulbs?......what kind of rock is that looks like field stones?......good job there bi