The little Red Sea 170 that could
 

Well, I'm bored.

Since i picked up the aquarium late last year, i've been working at slowly collecting and building what i hope to be the perfect little system with nothing over-looked. I didn't think about a build thread until just this morning. so hopefully i can get some constructive criticism helping me towards my end goal.

Last year i shut down and sold off my 95 gallon in anticipation to sell my townhouse and move. but with the market and now everything else going on in the world, i've decided to stay put and downsize. That being said, this is now my 5th set up and i realized with the last one that there was a laundry list of things i wanted to do differently. Now that i've downsized to the 170 i'm going to focus on attention to detail to hopefully limit the constant tinkering i did with the 95.

The tank still isn't wet, but hope to get there in the next week or two. For now, Here's one of the last photos of my old aquarium, and one of the new 170 in place

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=105649
^^build thread that i slacked off on with the 95

Enjoy:mrgreen:

https://i.imgur.com/J6YGA2A.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/0EKbgb0.jpg?1

Great time to be sitting at home working on a tank:mrgreen:

How did your yellow tang do in your 95? I'm looking at tang options for my 110 tall.

i had a blue and a yellow tang at first, and ill be the first to admit...not the best decision. the blue tang was survived by the yellow. About a year later i picked up a bristletooth because i couldn't let go the idea of having two tangs... probably not the greatest decision either in hindsight, but it ended up working!

i had to put a piece of egg crate down the middle of the tank for the first week or so and feed a variety of food off multiple algae clips. The yellow was definitely the more aggressive of the two in the beginning, but they were happy up until the shutdown and sell off.

One would be fine IMO, if you attempt more i would recommend they are the same size and introduced at the same time. even still you may encounter some issues.

Before i get to far ahead of myself, whats the verdict on wether or not to remove the black vinyl on either side of the overflow on the 170's?



not my photo
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1818/...033912aa_h.jpg

Leave the back black. Helps hide your powerheads too. Plus makes the colors in the tank pop more. And it hides the algae build up better so you can have lazy weeks and not scrub the back of the tank haha

All good points, thanks and i think you are right. i suppose if i do change my mind i would have an opportunity to slide the tank out a tiny bit in the future if i did a massive water change.

Update time. Long weekend means get water in the tank, right?

wrong.

i posted in the aquascaping thread some advice so ill offer up mine that i completed a week ago. Made a mock 170 out of the cardboard box the tank came in and mulled over every move i made for a few days before i set it all together. Hacking the box up into a tank also helped me consider things like flow and space between glass and structure.

For people who like to glue or cement their rock work together, i highly recommend the Aquaforest Stone fix cement. I was able to lift and shake so i was confident it wasn't coming apart midway through the lift into the tank.

https://i.imgur.com/niQIut5.jpg?2
https://i.imgur.com/FnFuvuG.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/j5CN9QH.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/o6pXk9e.jpg?1

Step #1 to less future tinkering

Automatic water changes. Yesterday i went to town pulling water lines up from the basement (more on downstairs later)

I pulled 3 lines. ATO which will sit downstairs, NSW from mixing bin downstairs, and a discarded SW line that runs to drain in utility room. I also pulled a USB for Apex so i can have an FMM with optical sensors, my apex DOS downstairs, and 12/2 Lumex for a dedicated receptacle.

https://i.imgur.com/JVTgjKT.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/WU0JnR8.jpg?1

Lookin good dude. Is that the Walt Smith rock, or some equivalent?

Sweet, following along!