120 G with 60 G sump build

[Palmer]

Originally Posted by muck

Was wondering when you might get around to slapping a tank journal thread up..

Sounds like you have a great start and will be following your progress.



Just an FYI...they are the exact same skimmer made in the same factory. Jayson at SWC just private labels them and sells them as his own brand.

Oh okay! That explains how identical they look! I actually wondered about the business model and patent if several companies were making the same model. Now you have explained it.

Palmer

[Palmer]

Well I finally poured the last bit of RO/DI water in and flipped the switch! The skimmer has been breaking in since last Friday (and other than some loud noise initially it is working awsome so far), now the water is circulating from the sump to the main display. Had a slow drip start up again at one of my bulkheads ARGHHH! But a quick tightening took care of it. I have 60 lbs of dry eco rock from BRS on order and it was supposed to show up today but the holidays probably slowed down the shipment. I am looking to supplement this with some live rock once set up.

I put an order in with Kevin at RC for a Sunglight Maristar MH fixture. It's a 48" with 2x 250 W MH and two T5 lights and Galaxy ballasts. This should come in shortly in the new year I am going to place it on the tank with a bracket. I will also pick up a couple of Koralia 4's for flow.

Oh well its time to head out of town for the holidays so hopefully this tank will be up and running by end of January.

Palmer

[Palmer]

Well I thought it was time for an update since I had gotten my light fixture and can now take better pictures (..somewhat.) Since December I have added -

Two Koralia 4 powerheads
60 Ibs of dry eco rock and 40 Ibs of live rock.
A fuge light and chaeto
A Tunze osmolator
A DIY eggcrate stand for my skimmer
A Sunlight Maristar 48 " 250 W MH/T5 fixture
T5 (one Actinic/one 15000K bulb)
MH (14000 K Ushio) bulb x2

2 Astrea snails
2 Nassarius snails
1 Blue porcelain crab

For whatever reason I never really had much of an ammonia/nitrite spike. I am not sure if that is because the LR came right from a fellow reefers tanks and was already cured. I also had my protein skimmer on while cycling.

Hitchikers I have noticed are-

Aptasia, Pineapple sponges, collonista snails, and digitate hydroids (there are alot of these and I am hoping to get rid of them soon.)

Here are some pictures of the tank and sump. I forgot to clean the front of the tank so I apologize that the pictures are not the best.

[lastlight]

Holy COW man that sand is just...UNREAL =)

I looked into the maristar fixtures a long time ago. What I like about them is that they have much better reflectors than most of the mh/t5 fixtures. Nice and deep...good spread!

Keep up the good work!