150 gallon SPS reef - teevee

[Quinn]

-48"x24"x30" - 150 gallon display tank;
-Inter-American with Starphire on all four sides;
-2" corner overflow, Eurobracing, black silicone;
-Very satisfied with tank quality, cost;

-48"x12"x18" - 50 gallon sump/fuge tank;
-Acquired used from a Calgarian reefer;
-Added smoked glass baffles (cut by IA) myself;
-Baffles are ~3" apart, and provide adequate current control;
-17 gallons on one side is a fuge with 7" DSB, sand provided by an Edmonton reefer;
-Auto top-off built with float valve, vinyl tubing and eggcrate;
-Eggcrate for running carbon between two of the baffles;
-Hitchhiker mithrax crab acquired from Edmonton reefer lives between two of the baffles;

-Overflow built from 2" PVC and ABS piping, with Stockman standpipe;
-Overflow includes (unfortunately) five 90 degree bends;
-Noise level is high, but acceptable;
-Return pump is a Mag12 running into 1" PVC;
-Dual returns on either side of display tank;
-Return flow plumbing includes 1/4 open pipe leading into fuge, which overflows back into sump, as well as a 1/4" nipple which fit into vinyl tubing to allow for easy water changes;

-Berlin Classic skimmer (weak point, I know), with venturi mod, powered by Rio pump;
-Two 250w Ebo-Jager heaters, one in baffles, one in fuge, both set to 81F;
-Canadian-Man DIY calcium reactor next to sump, 10lb CO2 tank, CA level is at 400;
-Display tank current supplied by four Maxijet 1200 powerheads and Wavemaster Pro;
-Cooling over sump provided by two 6" clip-on fans from Canadian Tire;

-Lighting over sump is two 40w NO tubes from Home Depot, caulerpa and two mushrooms are doing well under this;
-Display tank is lit by dual 400w 10k Ushio metal halides, one bulb and moguls supplied free of charge by Brian Robak in Washington DC, the other, as well as the PFO EYE ballasts, cables and spider reflectors from J&L aquatics in Vancouver;
-Lighting period for halides is currently approx. 11:00am to 10:30pm daily (analog timers in use);
-Cooling for lights provided by two 4.5" fans from Princess Auto, on seperate timer, a second set of fans are mounted in canopy and ready to be wired if necessary;
-Canopy is 18" high and lights are 10" off water surface;

-DIY stand and canopy made from 2x4's, plywood and pine siding, stand is built larger than tank footprint and is an absolute beast;
-Tank is located on second floor and therefore reinforcing with two steel posts was a necessity;

-Tank contains 150lbs of base rock purchased through Bargain Finder, some very nice shapes;
-Also contains 70lbs of Kanai live rock from J&L Aquatics, very pleased with quality and price of this rock;
-Rock design is very open, with many wide channels and several interesting caves, hollows, etc.;
-2"-5" DSB (unlevel due to current pushing sand around);

Total spent? A lot (perhaps $4000 CDN). Lessons learned? Don't talk so much Quinn! You can't have an anemone yet! Salt water tastes bad and skimmate smells worse (but one of those smells you just gotta keep whiffing at).

Many thanks to all those who have assisted me in this hobby since I began last December, notably Canadian Man on Canreef.com, and Fishinchick on ReefCentral.com. Cheers to those of you who have donated sand, macroalgaes, beer and chips, and notably a rather expensive lightbulb, as well as those who offered rocks and livestock that were never picked up.

-As of July 17, 2003, tank contains two black saddleback clownfish, one atlantic blue tang, one bicolour blenny, four skunk cleaner shrimps, one strawberry conch (sand sifter) and 28 assorted algae-eating snails;

-As of October 29, 2003, tank contains two black saddleback clownfish, one atlantic blue tang, one bicolour blenny, one orange-diamond goby, one potter's angel, three skunk cleaner shrimp, one strawberry conch, ~27 assorted algae-eating snails, a myriad of hitchhiking inverts such as chitons, sea slugs, sea squirts, sponges, etc., two LPS, two softies, 24 miscellaneous SPS frags, and a brown and yellow long tentacled anemone.

-As of January 16, 2004, tank contains two black saddleback clownfish, one atlantic blue tang, one bicolour blenny, one orange-diamond goby, one potter's angel, three skunk cleaner shrimp, one strawberry conch, one tuxedo urchin, one pink Hawaiian sea cucumber, one red Fromia starfish, ~35 assorted algae-eating snails, eight scarlet-leg hermit crabs, a myriad of hitchhiking inverts such as chitons, sea squirts, sponges, etc., one candy-cane LPS, one green frogspawn, two patches of green star polyps, a sad piece of xenia hiding in a back corner, ~35 miscellaneous SPS frags/small colonies, and a brown and yellow long tentacled anemone.