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My 110G in wall tank (lots of pics)

cbashaw

By cbashaw,
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Ne0eN Grandmaster Reefer

Ne0eN

Any problems cleaning the glass? How often do you find yourself 'behind' the wall every day? I'm thinking about the same concept, but it seems like I would be speding more time 'behind' the tank, than in the front... :blink:

 

Also, what kind of light do you have?

 

-Rob

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Any problems cleaning the glass? How often do you find yourself 'behind' the wall every day? I'm thinking about the same concept, but it seems like I would be speding more time 'behind' the tank, than in the front... :blink:

 

Also, what kind of light do you have?

 

-Rob

 

For lighting I have a 4X65W PC setup but I'm upgrading to a 3 110W VHO in about a week because I don't like the color of the PC's too much.

 

I didn't build the tank it was here when we bought the house. If I had built it myself I would have put a small door in front for feeding and cleaning. I also would have went with a slightly shorter tank because It's almost impossible to work in the tank without using tongs.

 

So far cleaning the glass is not too bad because the tank is still fairly new and I don't have much coralline growth but I think it's going to be a real pain once the coralline gets going.

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Caribbean Jake Oracle Reefer

Caribbean Jake

nice, I whish I could do the same set up, but I already have a finished basement. Looks very nice., one constructive critic if I may... I will add some rocks to the top of your rock formation just to give it hight and later on put some nice SPS with high light demands on those rocks.

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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nice, I whish I could do the same set up, but I already have a finished basement. Looks very nice., one constructive critic if I may... I will add some rocks to the top of your rock formation just to give it hight and later on put some nice SPS with high light demands on those rocks.

 

 

Thanks for the advice:

 

I was actually thinkging the same thing. I have about 130lbs of LR in there now and it's alot less than I thought it would be. I'm planning to put in an order with www.Hirocks.com or for about another 60lbs.

 

My plan is to eventually have several large hammer, torch, and Frogspawn colonies in the tank.

 

I keep telling myself I won't be putting any SPS in the tank but you know how that goes :-)

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quazi Grandmaster Reefer

quazi

I Would add a lot more light than just 3 110 VHOs. I would go with T5s and probably 5 or 6 or more. They use less juice, and put out less heat, and look great.

 

I have 2 110 VHOs on my55 tank and 2 T5 58 watt. This is a good amount of light for my tank. My SPS are growing well. I have the VHOs because I have not upgraded to all T5s. The T5s look the best, IMHO.

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rocko918 Oracle Reefer

rocko918

I agree with Quazi, If you were thinking of going to the VHO's you might as well just setup t5's. More light, less heat , smaller, less on the electric bill. You could get a nice retro set with 4 bulbs and be set for a while. Well worth it and you can get some high light corals like sps. With the 3 vhos you will have problems with corals that require more light.

 

Just thinking down the road.

 

Tank looks great! Keep it up! :D

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Charlie97L Grandmaster Reefer

Charlie97L

I agree with Quazi, If you were thinking of going to the VHO's you might as well just setup t5's. More light, less heat , smaller, less on the electric bill. You could get a nice retro set with 4 bulbs and be set for a while. Well worth it and you can get some high light corals like sps. With the 3 vhos you will have problems with corals that require more light.

 

Just thinking down the road.

 

Tank looks great! Keep it up! :D

 

looks awesome man! :) brave guy, putting those damsels in there. haha.

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Yeah I wish I had brought the damsels back to the lfs when I moved everything over from my 20. I will prabably take them out of there soon but they're not bothering anything right now.

 

I already bought the VHO setup. I'm still undecided on if I should add more VHO's or t5's or if I should get a pair of 250W mh and keep the VHO's for actinics.

 

As of now I don't plan on keeping SPS my main interest is in things like Zoo's, ricordeas, Frogspawn and torch corals.

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Before I spend too much on lighting and extra live rock I really need to increase the amount of flow in the tank.

 

Right now I have a mag 9.5 return pump and a 29G sump/refugium and for additiional flow in the tank I have 2 MJ 1200's which is not nearly enough flow for this tank.

 

I'm going to set up a 55G as my sump and turn the entire 29g into my refugium. what should I use as my return pump?

 

Howard suggested using one very big pump to run everything and I like that idea. I have an Aqua-c EV-180 skimmer so I need the pump to be big enough to run the skimmer and still have enough flow for a return.

 

In order to handle the extra flow I will need to drill a few additional holes in the tank. I have a holesaw to drill 1.5" bulkeads. How many holes should I drill?

 

Thanks,

Chris

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rocko918 Oracle Reefer

rocko918

Yeah I wish I had brought the damsels back to the lfs when I moved everything over from my 20. I will prabably take them out of there soon but they're not bothering anything right now.

 

I already bought the VHO setup. I'm still undecided on if I should add more VHO's or t5's or if I should get a pair of 250W mh and keep the VHO's for actinics.

 

As of now I don't plan on keeping SPS my main interest is in things like Zoo's, ricordeas, Frogspawn and torch corals.

 

 

You could add 2 54 w t5's 10ks and keep the vhos for actinics and a daylight. I know Grav has all vhos on his 120 and had great coral growth. I think it's a 120 or 150?

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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You could add 2 54 w t5's 10ks and keep the vhos for actinics and a daylight. I know Grav has all vhos on his 120 and had great coral growth. I think it's a 120 or 150?

 

That sounds like a good combo since I've already bought the vho's and maybe i will upgrade to all t5 later.

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rocko918 Oracle Reefer

rocko918

Depending on what ballast you bought you can run t5's off of it. So when the vhos are ready to be changed out you can just buy the endcaps, reflectors and blubs. T5's are even cheaper than vho bulbs.

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Depending on what ballast you bought you can run t5's off of it. So when the vhos are ready to be changed out you can just buy the endcaps, reflectors and blubs. T5's are even cheaper than vho bulbs.

 

The ballast to run one bulb is a Workhorse 5 will this one run a t5?

The one to run the other 2 is an ARO 220W

 

Hellolights says the ARO will run t5's but it is not reccomended.

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  • 1 month later...
cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Here's an updated pic

 

I upgraded from 260W PC's to 330W VHO on it and will be adding 2 more 110W VHO's very soon for a total of 550W

I re aquascaped the tank and added about 30lbs of additional live rock. I'm starting to see coralline on all my rocks and it's getting tough to tell the difference between the live rock and the stuff from hirocks :)

 

NewAquascape.gif

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emissary Grandmaster Reefer

emissary

Nice! Makes me look forward to my own in-wall setup. Hey -- ditch the kent barebones RO and get a real one :) The one I saw in the picture I used to have ... didn't work out too well for me. I mean, it was *okay* ... but TDS was reading something like 30-50 ...

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Guest alex wlazlak

Guest alex wlazlak

i second that. spend 130 on ebay and get an aqua-safe 6 stage unit. it works great and its cheap. your tank is looking awsome. keep it up.

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Thanks

 

I just put new membranes in it because tds was at 70.

 

I was planning on getting a new RO later this year because 10GPD is just not enough for a tank this size.

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  • 4 months later...
cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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Update:

 

I have reaquascaped several times and it's still not exactly what I was hoping for but I'm going to leave it alone for now.

 

Over the course of the last 6 months I have upgraded from 2x65w PC to 440W VHO to 2 110W VHO and 2 250W Halides. I should have just listened to everyone and gone with the halides in the first place. :why:

 

gallery_234_23_34601.jpg

Shroom-1.gif

Hairyredmushroom.gif

GreenToadstool.gif

Sinularia.gif

GreenElephantEar.gif

Torch.gif

red_blue_mushrooms_2.gif

Zoos2.gif

ClownFrogspawn.gif

 

 

Gorg.gif

gallery_234_23_54122.jpg

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cbashaw Master Reefer

cbashaw

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looks awesome chris!

 

is that 2nd pic the colt/sinularia i gave ya? :)

 

what's that last pic, the blue/red mushrooms?

 

 

It is the One I got from you. It's been fragged a few times :)

 

I got the blue red mushrooms from DR Mac's about a year ago and they have not multiplied at all. They're looking better under the MH than they ever have before though so with some luck I may get some growth.

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Guest alex wlazlak

Guest alex wlazlak

the shrooms you have in the second picture are awsome! i have the same kind. do you know what theyre called? your look better than mine though, but i only have 4 65w PC's... nice setup.

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