The 110 level up.

[MKLKT]

Hello folks,

I actually started this transition at the beginning of the month but haven't had the time to post anything about it. I moved to a new house recently and took the opportunity to upgrade my tank from a 65 gallon to a 110 gallon x-tall. Spent the last few months getting equipment from all over (you guys know who you are!) I tried to take the opportunity to get the dream-team of gear, and it's been pretty successful.

Firstly, most of the gear and the new tank:



Picked up 2 AI SOLs off Martin at Modular LED and had two fixture rails made. The back of the tank stand was mostly open and only has about a 4" lip, I decided to drill the fixtures through the stand that so I could easily access the bolt for adjustments if I ever needed to (and it looks a lot cleaner too). Here was a progress shot and how it looks from inside:


I also installed a GFCI in the tank location.

Got an RO/DI from Aquasafe and installed that sucker in the laundry room, I've got a float valve drilled into a garbage can for a reservoir. Had a mix up with some of the parts when I bought it, contacted them and they're mailing me what I needed. Also the very first valve was missing an o-ring which caused me to wash the walls when I tried to flush the pre-filters.


Shot of my plumbing work (overflow and returns were already drilled, I did the work from the elbows/threaded unions down, I've since removed a few of the slip unions from previous owners as I wanted as little clutter as possible. Pretty good for my first real attempt at plumbing of any kind. Note my PVC spacers for the AI fixtures... because the support rail is so thin the weight of the lights + fixtures caused a bit of torque on the thin wood so I offset it with that creation.


The gate valve was recycled from the previous owner, tiny gap in the saved piece caused a hilarious whistle that I had to fix with some plumbing tape, it caused the herbie to oscillate as well.

Loading 'er up took a few days w/50GPD filter and 3 garbage cans, you can see in the background I got smart and started a siphon in multiple cans so I could fill them all up at the same time without switching anything around:


Luckily I had sold or given away a bunch of my livestock as the move was unfortunately stressful (only had my gf to assist and it was a super hot week with a couple days delay before I could get the tank fully running.) I lost my big toadstool and sinularia colonies and my foxface I think had a panic attack while in transport. I tore out all the invasive corals so I could start as fresh as possible. I went from almost no visible rock to the opposite. It sucks but there wasn't much I could do.

Old:


New:



I haven't hooked everything up yet, still mulling it over a bit. Sorry I couldn't pace out a follow along! It's been up a week, no signs of any cycling issues, etc.

Vitals:
110 gallon x-tall
40br sump
120 lbs select sand + 40lb top layer oolite (semi-regretting it, but got it for free from my buddy) and roughly 120lbs live rock mostly from my mature tank.
2x AI SOL Super Blue
6212 Wavebox
1x mp40w (junker koralia placeholder for 2nd one at the moment)
Eheim Compact 5000+ return
Vertex IN-180 Skimmer
Eheim 250W heater
BRS sock holder

I have but haven't set up:
25W UV
Neptune Apex
Dual chamber calc reactor
Osmolator ATO
TLF150 media chambers, also have a HOB fuge for something TBD.

Test SPS colony, got it cheap since it was browned out. We'll see how it does!