Some of you have been following a different thread about this project. It's time to give it it's own place on the forum.
I'll do a full bio some other time, for now know that my experience is extensive. In the hobby for 59 years and exclusively salt for the last 38.
The tank is a used 135 gal Acrylic with an overflow on one end. It was a clear back until I painted it blue. It has a few minor scratchs. What used tank doesn't? I built a stand out of 2 x 6s, plywood and screwed it together instead of nailing. I think the screws are more secure. I finished the plumbing 2/24/06 and filled it with water for testing. Good test, no leaks and the flow rate looks good. Of course it will be different when I switch it to salt in a few days. Right now I have a Mag 24 (2400
gph at 0 head) may go to Mag36 or different brand if these prove not to be sufficient. A 1" Sea Swirl and a UV sterilizer have been ordered.
Here's a pic showing the tank with the stand I built.
Here's a pic of the plumbing before the test.
This is where the project is as of this morning. The tank is standing silently waiting to be drained, cleaned up and refilled with
RO/DI water and salt.
I subscribe to the
DSB filtering methodology. I've used it successfully for years. There are critics of the
DSB but, it works for me because I do something different than the traditional or standard
DSB. I recently described it on TalkingReef and rather than repeat it, you can read it here -
DSB thread.
You can see a trickle filter under the tank.
It is temporary. This will be replaced with a
sump/refugium shortly. I didn't want to wait for a
sump to be built. I removed the bio balls and will replace with
LR and
aragonite sand in
sump area. Trickle filters have no place in a reef set-up,
IMHO.
My idea is to create a mixed reef with SPS, LPS corals, some Ricordia, zoos, clams, other neat things I can't think of right now, the usual sand bed stirrers and a few fish.
I will update when there is something to add. Any questions?
