120 gallon journal - picture Feb 27

[kwirky]

I will keep the most up to date picture of the tank on the first post here:

Taken Feb 27, 2007

Current Specs (as of Feb 23, 2007):

• 120 gallon glass 48x24x24, tubular steel stand
• Sunlight Supply 4', 8 bulb teklight fixture
• 1 x Rio Seio 1500
• 2 x Rio Seio 1100's
• 33 gallon sump
• Mag 7 sump return
• currently ~100lbs liverock
• Euroreef RS135
• Aqua FX 75gpd RO/DI
• phosban reactor (rowaphos media)
• 1 cup carbon actively run in aquaclear HOB filter (in fuge)
• DIY air driven top-off

livestock in the tank now:

• Royal Grammy, aprox. 1.75"
• Pair of cinamon clowns. Viscious buggers.
• 2 adolescent sixline wrasses
• one finger leather coral about 5-6" wide.
• Three various toadstools, 3" and smaller
• Fragged toadstool (was 1' across)
• Silver, pulsing Xenia that's growing like a weed.
• Green Star Polyp, 2"
• Blue/Purple leather frag (like capnella but not)
• Pink chalice w/ green hilights, 2"
• Red chalice, 2"
• Green porite frag
• favia coral frag, about 5 polyps, still small
• red paly frag (about 5 polyps), still small
• pink mouthed zoos
• purple body, green mouthed zoos
• 6" branching hammer/frogspawn
• 1 sea hare
• 5 trochus snails
• 3 turbo snails
• 4 cone snails
• 1 left handed hermit crab (he's in there somewhere...)
• 2 emerald crabs
• 1 hitchiker crab that behaves like the emeralds, and hasn't caused trouble YET... (innocent until proven guilty)

plans as money comes in (and time):

• more liverock
• peristalic pump array for dosing

the following is the beginning of the thread, where I found some metal halide lighting, and started thinking of converting my 120 gallon cichlid tank to a reef tank

ok so I've gotten my hands on some free 400W M59 lights yesterday. gotta test them. I've been REALLY humming and hawing over whether to convert my 120 gallon cichlid tank to a reef tank. It's what I wanted it to be in the first place when I was building it. It's 20% stocked where I want it, and I could move most of the fish to the 3 foot tank I own already.

here's what I have:

• it's a 120 gallon tanganyikan tank, 48x24x24, with a 33 gallon sump w/ trickle filter. mag 700 return pump. drilled overflow/return

• a little 18 gallon nano reef which I've already spent close to $300 on upgrading it's crappy 36 watts of lighting to 150 watts of geissemman HQI, which still aren't operational

I went nano reef instead of big reef, because the initial cost of liverock for the big reef was so daunting. But now I've spent whackloads on this nano, which isn't very satisfying in size, and wished I did the big one in the first place. I could have cultured half the rock with baserock.

I've been considering the costs required to build a little nano cube the way I want it, and it's just so rediculous to do something that small. I'd be saving on the liverock, but the equipment doesn't scale in price the same way as a large tank.

If they work, I'm wondering if they'd be too crazy in heat for me to use? Before I covered the tank, the basement was SUPER muggy, since it has no ventilation. I would need to buy a chiller which would defeat the purpose of taking advantage of these free ballasts.

So if the heat's a major issue, I'll be getting rid of them one way or another.

I'm going to have so much leftover gear after all these changes in decisions. I should just start saving my money and buying everything at once instead of bit by bit as I go. That way I can't change my mind. They say gemini's are fickle, they must be right lol

any input, though?

I'm sure when all's said and done, I'll be giving the same advice everyone gave to me: go big or you'll regret it.