New 110G upgrade

[madmax7774]

Just a few shots of my new 110G tank. I replaced my 75G with this one, and I am very pleased with it so far.

System:

All Glass 110X reef ready with one mega overflow

100 lbs of live rock

30G sump/refugium

4 maxijet 1200 powerheads on a redsea wavermaster

dual 250W 10K metal halide lights

Euro-reef RS80 protein skimmer (soon to be replaced with a Dantec ap851)

80 lb of southdown fine sand for substrate with about 20 lbs of aragonite from my old tank to activate it

1 coil denitrator

1 phosban reactor

GenX 6000 return pump

 

There is still some work to be done on the hood to cover the 5" opening, but I have to cut the wood and paint it. I also have to work out some sort of fan system up there to keep the new lights from overheating in the hood, but for now the 5" opening acts as a heat vent. The new tank backside was spraypainted black, and I love the way it looks. I also still need to install the automatic waterchanger, but overall I am pleased.

oh yeah, Thats my daughter Emma on the right (3 1/2 yrs old) and her best Pal jessica on the left.

 

John

 

Edited January 22, 2007 by madmax7774

[howser]

Nice job on the tank. Let me know if you ever want to sell the skimmer you're replacing. Also, just cause I know someone else will ask anyway, please post some pics of the sump area. Would like to see how you have it all plumbed.

[madmax7774]

LOL, I'm too embarrassed to show you my sump, its a disaster area of wires, tubs, and fish stuff. It's the one area I have neglected to cleanup....

[dandy7200]

Those rocks looked like it turned out just the way you wanted. Did you drill all the way through every rock and just run a rod through them?

 

Show us your sump!!! We understand how many wires and crap it takes to run a reef tank, and I actually need to see it anyway.

 

Oh and the fact that 3 days after the start of the upgrade you have it cleaned up good enough to make the wife happy means you are about 3 months ahead of what most of us are anyway You gotta show us some mess or were not actually going to believe that is a new tank

[madmax7774]

ok, here's the sump, but don't say I didn't warn you...

 

The overflow comes down the 1" tube on the left into a filter sock, and then flows through a sponge bubble trap under a plexiglass baffle. next to that is a phosban reactor and the protein skimmer. next to that is the genX6000 pump which return the cleaned water up the 3/4" return line on the right. under the light ficture on the far right is some extra rock for filtration, and a small refugium area with a bunch of cheato and caulerpa and live sand from many tanks...

[tygger]

Looking good. How do you have your powerheads mounted?

[madmax7774]

Dan,

I had an old dull 3/4" drill bit laying around, that I used to just bore a hole all the way through all of my rocks. I have a drill press which helped a lot. I don't think I could have done it with a hand drill. It worked out very well. Thanks to the acrylic rod you supplied me with, along with the idea of using the cutting boards as a base worked out better than I expected. Overall I am extremely please with how it's turned out. Seeing your auto water change system has given me the motivation and courage to attemp one myself. I am currently setting one up and hope to have it completed by next weekend.

 

 

Tygger - I bought sure grip 50 magnet holders for them. I hate suction cups with a passion. They never stick for me, and I have no patience for them.

[madmax7774]

here's some of my corals....

Here's beauty that I got from dandy7200:

Here's an amazing frag of zoo's I got from dhoch:

Here's my lobo:

 

 

Here's a shot of the zoo frags I was peddling at the winter meeting yesterday.

and here's funny little red hermit with blue dots on him:

[JMsAquarium]

Vey nice. Keep posting pics

[madmax7774]

Here's some lovely yellow polyps that I got from Johnny at BRK

Great store!

[jason the filter freak]

Hey keep me posted on that tank, also it was nice meeting you! Good looking set up

[madmax7774]

Thanks Jason

Here's my birdsnest. As you can see it took a terrible beating during this upgrade. I am not sure it's going to make it. :(

 

Here's a nice orange monti that I also got from Johnny at BRK:

 

Here's my fat clown. he's a big boy! I found this guy and his mate in a fish store down in Georgia while I was visiting my parents. I bought him and put him in a styrofoam cooler and hand carried him all the way through the airport, onto the plane, and back to here. Him and his mate are the only fish I have that have travelled on a plane with

[Sugar Magnolia]

Looks great! You may want to frag that birdsnest before you lose the whole thing - looks like the left side is in pretty bad shape. Just be sure to cut about 1/2" above the tissue recession.

[tygger]

Looks great! You may want to frag that birdsnest before you lose the whole thing - looks like the left side is in pretty bad shape. Just be sure to cut about 1/2" above the tissue recession.

 

Is it not likely to recover on its own from that?

[madmax7774]

Acutally, With Inna's talent for recovering dead and nearly dead corals, I am thinking of trying to convince her to take the birsdnest for while to try to save it. She has the interesting ability to raise corals from the dead!

[zoozilla]

John-

 

Nicely done... Frag-Away on that Bird's Nest. If you can, try to get as many healthy frags out of the Mother colony and place in different parts of your tank. From past experience, it usually increases the chances of at least a few frags surviving.

 

[SteveM]

John,

The tank is looking great. The lights sure do make it look good. I dont know what you were talking about when you said you had a bad camera, your pics are fantastic. I wish I could get mine to look half as nice. Heres a pic of my full tank and a pick of the new Leather I picked up from BRK. I oreder my new lights and I am hoping to have them by the weekend.

 

 

[Guest Riclat]

Where did you guys get the 110g tanks? I'm thinking about getting a 90 or 110. Is the 18" of front to back space creating aquascape headaches?

 

Richard

[tygger]

I shouldve went with a 110g as well (since I dont keep high light corals). Same foot print as a 75 and 90, only taller. Btw - how much do they go for?

[Guest Yomeister66]

Very nice set-up. Cool model planes too!

[madmax7774]

as far as where to get a tank and cost, I suggest you contact John at BRK. he usually has the best prices around, and if he doesn't, then there is a good reason, and you should ask him. I didn't and I regret it. I was originally going to get mine there, but I got caught up in what was supposed to be a deal somewhere else, and in the end I ended up paying more than at BRK. the place I got mine from didn't bother to tell me that they were not including the overflow kit, and when I found out about it, it was too late and with the ridiculous charge they hit me with for the overflow kit, I ended up on the losing end of the deal.

As far as the size of the tank, I am limited on my tank footprint to 18" x 48" base size. So that left height as the only direction left to grow. I also dislike having to stoop down to look into a tank, so I love the extra height. The height makes it more challenging to work inside the tank as I have to stand on a stool and take off my shirt and stick my whole arm and shoulder in to reach the bottom. I don't mind that drawback though, as it gives me enough volume to get some nice fish finally. 18" front to back depth was no issue at all for me in terms of aquascaping.

[SteveM]

I also don't have a problem with the 18" front to back. I had plenty of room to do my aquascaping and still have plenty of room to go higher with my rock if I want to. I also have to use a step stool to reach into my tank but thats not really an issue for me.

 

I bought my tank, stand, hood, and lights as a package deal from a shop in Centerville. (Didnt know about BRK). Mine included the overflow and I got a pretty good price on it since it bought it as a package.

[NRehman]

Looking good..congrats.. I see you took the girls out when you filled the tank. Good idea!

 

Sump looks like everything is working...!

[Guest Tranman]

Hey Madmax,

This is a newbie question. But what kind of lighting do you have above your tank.

I dig the bright blue color of the lighting in the tank.

 

thanks.

[madmax7774]

Tranman,

My tank is lit by a pair of Metal halide 250W XM bulbs. 10,000K I have a 48" NO actinic flourescent that I haven't gotten around to installing yet. That will hopefully go in today.

 

The other day my daughter actually asked if she could go swimming in the tank and play with "Nemo"