150 Gallon SPS build.
 

I started this a while back on Reef2Reef and thought I would cross post it here. If canreef is looking for traffic hopefully this will do my part. I will try to update here as well when I update the main thread on Reef2Reef.

Like the title says the tank will be 150 gallons. This will be an ikea style tank, some assembly required, and a slow build. I have said that in the past but this time I truly think it will be a slow steady race, especially when it comes time to seed the rock.



Winter of 2018/2019 I had something in my tank that slowly killed all of my SPS. It was like STN but took months to go. A bunch of local hobbyists got it as well as a few of the larger coral guys importers here in Canada. Noone really figured it out but we were thinking a bacterial infection. Either way I watched my prizes collection of acros melt away from january to June one colony at a time. Nothing I did worked and it was pretty heart breaking. I took the summer and fall off, mostly just feeding the fish and keeping the glass clean. December rolled around, it was time to restart and get my hands wet again.



So I used this overhaul as an oppritunity to get a new and larger tank. I ordered glass from Concept Aquariums in Calgary Alberta. Big shout out to Ashley there for helping with some designs, answering a ton of questions, and making the transaction super smooth!



Dimensions: 48"L x 30"D x 24"H

Specifications:

- 10mm Float Glass on the side walls and Euro Brace

- Bracing is 3" wide all around the tank.

- 2x 3/4" Returns will come over the top through the Euro Brace

- Weir style overflow through the back panel of glass.

- Black Acrylic on the entire back wall with slots cut out for the overflow.

- At this time I am trying to decide if I want to use a Starboard bottom or go bare glass.

- Drains will be 4x 1" pipes and I am thinking a Herbie style but may do a Durso as it's what I usually do. One of the drains will have a gate valve to control flow to the refugium.



Sump Specifications: 30"L x 24"D x 16"H

- Sump is a shrunk down version of the Melevs Ref design.has a refugium that runs the length of the sump and will be 6" wide.

- 3 baffles will separate the skimmer section from the return. The idea behind this was sumper simple.

- At this time no socks or fleece rollers will be used on this tank. Heavy skimming, refugium, and Chaeto reactor will be employed to control nutrients.



Equipment:

- Return Pump will be an Ehiem 1262

- Skimmer is a Vertex Alpha 160

- Water Movement will be handled by a Jebao PP-8 across the back wall and 2x MP40's on either side wall. Gyres or another pair of MP40s will be added when corals start to grow in.

- A 48" Tek 8 bulb fixture will light the tank. ATI bulbs will be used but am unsure of which I will use. Most likely a mix of Blue Plus, Coral Plus, and maybe a couple ABS or True Actinic.

- Heater will be 2x 250w Ehiem Jager submersibles.

The build started last week when a local hobbyist and Carpenter stopped by to lay tile where the tank was going. One thing that worried me was water under the stand in the carpet if there was ever a spill or a bucket tipped over.

So shout out to Chad for getting this build under way. Now its onto getting the transition pieces put down, nail the trim back on the wall, and it will be onto building the stand next weekend.

Well that was short lived. Not only is it a pain in the butt to upload photos but it seems anything I do to resize them isnt good enough and they are too big.

Uploading is super easy on R2R and I wont be updating here until canreef makes it easier to do. Sorry guys.

For those who want to follow along here is the link.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/15...-build.684337/

Great Progress!! Lookin' good! Love that sump design. I've wanted to to that design for a while now.

Thank Mike! Jeff and I have both done the design so we will see how it goes. I'm itching to get that Tek light over this tank and fire it up! I have been debating picking up an additional 4 bulb fixture to get more spread.

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Looking forward to seeing this go. Build threads are what keeps me in the forums more often than anything else.

:popcorn:

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Another update posted in the Reef2Reef build thread.

As long as the temperature is up to where it needs to be I will be adding salt today!!