Phlounder's 140

phlounder · #1 (**permalink**) 05-17-2007, 12:20 PM

After over a year of this tank sitting in my living room dry, I am at last making some progress. Some of you have seen and heard bits and pieces of this story before, but I never really started a thread until now. So let me get everyone up to speed.

In Sept 05, I (like many of my friends down here in Louisiana) lost my reef to the after effects of Hurricane Rita. I had a 75 mixed reef that I have posted pics of in the past. When it went down, I pretty much thought that I was done with the hobby and cleaned it all up and sold the tank & stand.

After a few months with no tank to tend to, I decided that I really couldn't be without a tank. So, I started looking for a new tank to start all over again. Went down to the LFS and picked out an Oceanic 140 and had a custom stand built by a local cabinet shop. I was rolling along pretty well.

I then decided to order a LifeReef sump, skimmer and calcium reactor. After a couple of months, I had all of that stuff. I continued collecting equipment and then decided I didn't want the tank where the old one was, because it was a little bigger and wouldn't look right there. So, I moved it across the room and decided that I really should have tile under the tank. So, we installed tile over half the house. I then had to have a couple of 20 amp dedicated circuits run to the new location. All of this took time and extra money - which is why it took time.

The tank will have a closed loop system with a Sequence Dart and an OceansMotions 4Way valve. The lighting will be 2 250 watt MH lamps and 4 48" VHO actinic03 bulbs. I may put one or two daylight bulbs in the mix, but right now just plan on heavy actinic lighting to supplement the MH.

I will have a 20 gallon refugium (also made by LifeReef). The sump holds about 30 gallons and was custom made to my specs (which may not have been the smartest thing I ever did). The return pump at present time is a Mag 12, but I thik I will step down to a Mag 9.5, as there is too much turbulence in the sump and I am getting some micro bubbles in the tank. Not too bad, so the smaller pump and getting the refugium on-line to use some of that extra flow should calm things down a good bit.

I will be using the Premium Aquatics Lighthouse controller for lights, heater and monitoring pH & ORP. I have a LifeReef calcium reactor and a GEO kalk reactor. I will have an auto top off system, using a 16 gallon reservoir and the Reef Fanatic dual stage level controller. I will also be running separate PhosBan and carbon reactors.

Last Friday, with all the tile and electrical work done, I had had enough waiting and went ahead and really started moving on the project. I had saved some of my old dead rock from the 75, which had been bleached and soaked in RO/DI water for months. I installed the sand bed (going with a 4" DSB) and put some of the old rock in the tank for base rock.

I have a couple of boxes of live rock (Tonga Kaelini & Fusion Rock), which should be here tomorrow, and then I can really get going on my aquascaping. I like the fancy names they market rock under nowadays.

That brings us up to present and where I will start the new thread.

Here are a few pics of what I have so far.

The tank: 140 Oceanic Reef Ready

Custom stand & canopy

Stand open. Some of the equipment. The switch box and fresh water reservoir have been moved to the back of the tank.

Lights. 2x 250 watt Aqualine Bushke 10K MH & 4 48" VHO. Also installing dimmable moon light system, which is not pictured here.

The LifeReef sump. I designed it and they built it. They didn't build the bubble trap like I had drawn it up, so we will see what happens.

LifeReef skimmer

Equipment area. The switch and controller have been moved.

The OceansMotions 4Way mounted behind the tank.

The closed loop system. Pardon my mess!

This is the base rock I will be using that came out of my 75. I have another 100 pounds of live rock on the way. This was scaped dry and is only a semblance of what the final scape will look like. I built the arch from several pieces of base rock. Also note the returns on the bottom in the front of the tank. Those were covered with rock rubble and hot glue.

Back side of the arch after I put it together.

Finally filled with salt water and waiting for the dust storm to settle down.

So, this is where we are today. I will be posting more as things develop.

**L.Baldrey** · #2 (**permalink**) 05-17-2007, 12:55 PM

Gary, I am such a big fan of your resurrection reef and Im gonna be watching this thread closely...Im sure gonna learn something out of this thread...