Jim's(bubbletip) 156g SPS Dominant Tank

[JR Aquatics]

Lets see some more picks....Jim

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I'll second that!
How are the rocks coming along?

[bubbletip]

I will definitely get some pics up soon guys. Hold on to your panties, Jeremy Let's see what you got brewing up in the meantime,Jeremy. Heard the tank setup went really well.

Hey Jeff,
The rock is doing really well. Surprisingly the majority of the purple coraline algae did not bleach. I was not expecting this at all. Typically the coraline will bleach out and especially under 400w bulbs. The green coraline algae did not stay however. I am interested to see if it returns.

I have probably reaqauscaped this tank ten times already. I always think it is the final display until I have to move a coral around and then feel the need for a change. Hopefully I can pin this down soon so I can start glueing the colonies in their final resting places.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Originally Posted by bubbletip

...in their final resting places.

That sounds so... I dunno... final! How about their happy sitting places. LOL.

But that's good to hear about your rocks! When I get my tank going I think I'm gonna set it up like how you did! Bare bottom first.

Have you added sand yet? Or are you going bare bottom?

[bubbletip]

I did add a 50lb bag of ESV sand("Fine Grade" Ultra-White Calcium Carbonate Reef Substrate) and a 40lb bag of Ocean Direct. I really feel I have too much sand and will likely take out 20lbs or so over the next couple months. It came out to about 3 inches of sand throughout the tank. The sand bed calculator on RC does not factor into account the rock structure so I would not recommend basing your sand purchasing on that. I actually have another bag of Ocean Direct just sitting here as it would have been way too much to add to this 24 inch deep tank.

The main problem I am having right now is keeping the sand in place with only one Vortech pump, the Dart return and a MJmod. The Vortech is an awesome pump for a tank this size but it is just tricky to place in a way that keeps the sand down. Oceanic makes a 30 inch tank(178g) with the same foot print and I wish I would have went this route to make it easier to work the pumps and keep the sand still.

What I do to make sure that I have a cloudless tank when adding the sand is using a drink pitcher. I rinsed the ESV sand off about seven times in 10lb increments in a 5lb bucket to wash a lot of the dust away. I then scoop out as much as will fill up in the pitcher. I then slowly lower the pitcher in the water so the sand stays in the pitcher. I then lower it down to the bottom and slowly shimmy it out onto the bottom of the tank. I continued this until all of the sand was place din the tank. I did not rinse the Ocean Direct sand. In about 3 hours my tank was completely clear.