kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[lorenz0]

So hold the phone.... you got a power module for a fowler????

love the set up man, its going to look killer once everything is done

[freezetyle]

Kien... we need to talk.... You gotta stop setting up reef tanks so the rest of us can have a chance for TOTM. Seriously, Its getting out of hand...


Love the scape, gonna be a beauty for sure

[superduperwesman]

Why not just have the tanks separate? You have 2 return pumps anyway. Isn't the fowlr just going to increase your nutrients and make it harder to maintain you the levels in your mixed reef? I'm assuming it's mainly to ease you water changes b/c your tank is in the middle of your main floor but why not just implement your sump with water change section on both tanks? I guess you'd also need another skimmer but don't or didn't you already have one?

Don't get me wrong. Love the tank! And you're far better reefer than I'll ever be but just a few things that came to mind

[dynamite]

Kien, how do you like your powermodule?

Do you like it better than your MH's?

Thanks in advance!

[kien]

Originally Posted by dynamite

Kien, how do you like your powermodule?

Do you like it better than your MH's?

Thanks in advance!

I like the powermodule. It is a slick fixture and puts out a lot of light. To be honest though I am a halide fan as I do tend to miss the shimmer from it.. But then all I have to do is turn my head to the 150 reef. It is neat seeing them literally side by side because they both produce a completely different look. The halides are a sharp penetrating light while the T5s are more of a soft enveloping light. Well, that's how I see it anyway In the end it just boils down to which one you prefer.

[dynamite]

Thanks Kien!

Hey Kien, Thanks for all the input yesterday...was nice meeting you. also you have a great system....keep them pics rolling.

[burtonboy]

WOW!!! Looks really good kien!! Cant wait to see this tank full of fish, Do u know what kind of fish your going to put in there yet?

I like how the water change sump/container turned out! Ill be putting mine together this week i hope it works out, seeing how u had to put in a third hole in the water change container do think putting 1 or 2 2" holes would work? How many gallons/hour is going through your tank?

Thanks!

Daniel

[Coleus]

Hopefully, I will get a chance to see this setup in person. Really like the black looks of the tank

[kien]

Originally Posted by superduperwesman

Why not just have the tanks separate? You have 2 return pumps anyway. Isn't the fowlr just going to increase your nutrients and make it harder to maintain you the levels in your mixed reef? I'm assuming it's mainly to ease you water changes b/c your tank is in the middle of your main floor but why not just implement your sump with water change section on both tanks? I guess you'd also need another skimmer but don't or didn't you already have one?

Don't get me wrong. Love the tank! And you're far better reefer than I'll ever be but just a few things that came to mind

My goal is to reduce duplication of maintenance and equipment. One skimmer to clean, one tank to dose and test, one tank to heat, one controller to monitor the temp, pH, salinity, etc.. I wouldn't say that it will be harder to maintain levels in the mixed reef and I wouldn't say nutrient levels are necessarily going to go up. What I have effectively done is increase my entire water volume by 150g taking my total water volume to the 300+ mark. Plus I have a new skimmer coming that's rated for 400ish gallons and will be dumping in another liter of NP BioPellets :-D In the end I think of this as one 300g system rather than two systems. Just like with everything else in this hobby there are pros and cons and there typically isn't a right or wrong answer, just different answers. So by no means would I consider my setup the RIGHT way of doing things.. just the way that I'd like to do it

Originally Posted by burtonboy

WOW!!! Looks really good kien!! Cant wait to see this tank full of fish, Do u know what kind of fish your going to put in there yet?

I like how the water change sump/container turned out! Ill be putting mine together this week i hope it works out, seeing how u had to put in a third hole in the water change container do think putting 1 or 2 2" holes would work? How many gallons/hour is going through your tank?

Thanks!

Daniel

Thanks! I'm not much of a plumber but it depends on the size of the pipe that you're feeding the water change tank with. In my example I have one 1" drain pipe feeding this tank from the 131g tank and discovered that two 1" outlets from the water change tank could just barely keep up with that! (like both 1" outlets were totally submerged). That kind of had me scratching my head but whatever.. I just drilled a third 1" drain and that solved that. I'd imagine a 2" hole would flow more than enough. The reason I went with 1" outlets is because I wanted to maximize the water in the water change tank as much as possible. 1" holes allows those holes to be higher up on that tank, and when the feed water is cut off I only loose an inch or so of water when it drains to the bottom of those bulkheads. A 2" hole will be much bigger, so you'll lose a bit more volume in the water change tank.

As for stocking, I'm thinking this will be an "Angels & Demons" sort of tank. Angelfish and Triggers