144G Half Circle Mixed Reef

[Carmen]

And so the upgrade begins.....

Well I truly thought that I'd be happy with the 72 G Bowfront - big enough for me I thought! But...A recent house move allowed me the perfect opportunity to "upgrade"!

I figure since I've never really done a tank journal, I will try to for this tank.

I purchased a "used" 144G Half Circle Tank. The tank came fully stocked with approx 150lbs+ of Live Rock, MH Light fixture, Calcium Reactor, Skimmer, ATO, etc etc etc...

Dimensions of the tank are 57.5" X 29" X 29"

I was really looking for a bowfront but this one was a deal that was truly way too good to pass up. And I still get the "curved" look so I went for it. This tank is MUCH larger than I was looking for. And has already proved to be abit more challenging than I thought it would be.

I picked it up today and it was originally owned by someone who did NO tank maintenance on his own (hired someone to maintain it) and knew VERY little about the tank at all. The tank tear down was purely my own responsibility with NO help from owner. Thanks to family we got the job done but not without a whole lot of effort! The sump was not removeable and could not move the stand with it inside so we had to completely take the stand apart to move it. Way more work for everyone. PLUS this tank is HEAVY!!!

But we got it home.
Liverock is temporarily in rubbermaid bins and fish have been sold except 1! I kept the coral though most are in bad shape and nothing to get excited about.

Here's a couple pictures of the tank empty. I need to have a sump built since the existing sump is not adequate. I hope to have this done within a week or 2 and move on to adding water! Need a little help from a friend (Fishytime) on getting this thing plumbed properly and we shall be ready to roll! I will need to re-cycle the tank before I can transfer the contents of my 72G into it. Anxious to have my tank back since my Mom has had the tank at her house while we moved houses.

Definately tough to take pictures of the curved tank!

[fragNplug]

Very nice.
Much better... now you more room for more things.

[simplycoral]

Looking Great Carmen

Glad you finally found a tank.. I know you have been looking for a while.

Good luck with the journal I will be following it..

Simon..

[lastlight]

The stand has curved glass too? Nice touch. Based on how much I like your other tank I'm sure you're going to put the original owner's efforts to shame =)

[Skimmerking]

Well done Carmen can't wait to see it full of stuff

[JDigital]

Wow!!! That's way nicer than I was expecting...

Good Luck with the build thread!

[leducreef]

thats going to be a sweet tank
now that you have a bigger tank you can have more fish and corals etc
what is in it for lighting ?

[Carmen]

Thanks everyone!
Yes, curved glass doors on the stand too.
I have an Aquaspace Fixture 2 X 250W MH with PC's that came with the tank. I am not really sure I will be excited about the lighting since I think I will miss the color of the
T5's alot but we will see. I am thinking the 6 bulb Tek won't be quite enough light since it's 30" wide and deep.

And for the skimmer...It came with a ETSS Downdraft skimmer which I know very little about. Has some great reviews on RC but sounds abit "touchy" to set up initially. My 72G skimmer is a Turboflotor so I don't think it will be enough for this. Don't have $ to buy a new skimmer for quite awhile so one of these will have to work for the time being.

I am sooo excited now that it's sitting in my family room! Dreams of aquascaping all night! ha Ha! And already can't wait to add to my collection!!! Eyeing up a HUGE Elegance coral at work! But I guess I should really get it plumbed first!!!

[Leah]

It is huge! Very exciting!!! CONGRATULATIONS, can't wait to see this come together. How big will the new sump be?

[fishoholic]

Congrats, looks like a really nice tank, I can see why you wouldn't pass it up