Chaloupa's 10 foot build

[Chaloupa]

bit of an "overdue" update.

Sump has arrived and is plumbed. Will have pics tomorrow. It's HUGE..no really it's LARGE. I wanted to be sure that I'd never have to worry about a power failure and having the sump overflow so I sorta over-compensated. Will post more details to go with the pic tomorrow...but it's about 175-180 gallons. We first used a Quiet One 9000 for the return pump as we wanted an in sump instead of outside sump....let me tell you...there is nothing QUIET about that pump. Sounds like you're running a chainsaw in the front of the store. UGH.....so next, after talking to Jeff at J&L and expressing our extreme displeasure....we hooked up 2 Quiet One 6000...and it's a fraction of the noise..I'm happy, staff is thrilled and I'm sure the animals close to the tank are happy too!!! We've run the tank a bit strange but it works. One side we kept the closed loop on, the other is the side that drains into the sump and has the return on. Again pics tomorrow. I have a large refugium area, great skimmer zone, and the return zone is perfect...and hey, no microbubbles!!!!

Lights....we hummed and hawed over the lights. I like my SPS tank at home, but really does "Joe Blo" actually appreciate the ORA Pearlberry that has grown a quarter of an inch in the last 3 months as we do? NO. They want to see a "flowy" reef with movement. Not to say I won't have SOME SPS (as I mean, really, what's a tank without some good SPS) but it will also have some coral movement to accompany it! So the lights went from 5 250w halides with T5's supplementing to, after much discussion and discussions with other reefers (whom I am very thankful for their input)...we have 2 4 foot 8 bulb T5 fixtures (that arrived YESTERDAY WOOT, WOOT) and in the centre of the tank we will have either a 400w halide pendant or a 250w halide pendant. I've just put the 250w over one of the store tanks and it looks fantastic so I'm thinkin it's the 400w. We just picked up the Oak plywood and made our first cuts for building the canopy. Our builder never did show up so my Dad and I are building it.... I also went with T5's as I don't want the heat issues that 5 halides would have put out. My BC Hydro bill is high enough! We will be moving the LED's I have on my tank at home to this tank so that we have some "moonlights" on the tank....

Skimmer is something I'm still not sure of. I've spent some time talking with the Skimmer Hore, Thanks Mike!, but am still not too sure what we want. We're looking at the SWC 250 1A from Oceanic Corals and a Bubble Magus 220CS from Sask. I don't know which one as of yet.....as I will have quite a few fish in the tank....and I do like to feed as do my staff. Still any input will be valuable here...Mike has been a big help but still not quite sure.

Fish...oops...sorta added a couple of fish.....and some rock. So, should decide on the final skimmer choice ASAP! I added a GORGEOUS Blonde Naso we got in at the store which has tons of personality....a teeny Earspot Tang, a small Tennenti Tang and 2 little Long Fin Wrasses.....that's it now until we get the proper skimmer. Can't really add more rock until the lights are on the tank....all my home tank rock is going into this tank....and can't add more fish until we have a skimmer. Phew, you really can't rush a reef tank! LOL

[lastlight]

Don't get me wrong this all sounds SPLENDID but here's the problem with not postings pics.

Now we ALL have to wait until tomorrow when you could have posted this tomorrow and there'd only be ONE person waiting. You! Lol. Just kidding but dangit I wanna see!

[Skimmerking]

Brett I will back you up too PIC's please

[Chaloupa]

WOW, I really suck at keeping this up to date....a "few" changes to the tank

We bought a Bubble King skimmer from a reefer here and WOW that is an AWESOME skimmer! Easy to use, easy to clean (I have one staff member who is VERY VERY dedicated to cleaning it, and it's NOT ME! YAY)

We have the following fish now;

Blonde Naso Tang (really THE tang of the tank!)
Vlamingii Tang (when they say these grow quickly, they're really NOT KIDDING)
Tennenti Tang (the NASTIEST tang of the tank)
Orange Shoulder Tang
Ear Spot Tang
4 Yellow Tangs
2 Long Fin Fairy Wrasses (1 Dominant Male, and a submissive Male)
Breeding Pair of Banggai Cardinals
Spotted Mandarin Dragonette (Male) we lost our female while taking down the 150g
Golden Dwarf Moray Eel
Trio of Picasso Clowns
Hector's Goby
Potter's Angel (who truly tried it's hardest to die in the store, and finally after 2 months decided food was a good thing)
Sand Sifting Goby

AND...just yesterday we added a Trio of Hawaiian Flame Wrasses. The Longfin dominant male was NOT happy and tried his hardest to push them all around. Today, most are out and swimming around normally.

Tomorrow we are considering adding;

McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
Exquisite Wrasse
and one other that for the life of me I can't remember!

WISH LIST; We have a few tangs that we would still like to add but will give it careful consideration before we add as we have quite a few already, however they all get along EXCEPT the Tennenti and Orange Shoulder;

Black Longnose Tang
Achilles Tang
Atlantic Blue Tang
Chevron Tang

So without further delay...here are some pics!

[Chaloupa]

Sump; (it's about 175 gallons full...so running capacity is around 140)



Bubble King



Most of the tangs;



Centre

[Chaloupa]

Green Brain from CUBEMAN with of course, the Tennenti. It's either the Tennenti or the Naso that's in all the pictures, all the time!



Frogspawn...one of the many corals I still have to get pics of....yes, I know, you WON'T hold your breathe. Good thing, many of you would have perished LONG AGO



Orange Shoulder and friends...

[Chaloupa]

As you can see, there is still a few projects to be completed. We just had the bottom of the stand "fixed" by a local carpenter/customer. It was very very poorly done. So, will take a couple shots of it, and it is much improved.

We also still have to build the "cabinet" around the sump. Too many kids with things in their hands that could drop, walk by the tank daily...so better safe than sorry. On the refugium side, there will be a window in front and possibly overhead to view the animals we hope to have in there.

The refugium side of the sump is FAR from completed. We still have to add sand, live rock, macro algaes, lighting, and then in several months we "hope" to add a couple of seahorses to it. Maybe, maybe not. We built it with that in mind so we'll see.

We have a few powerheads and a wavebox still to add, and some LED nightlights, my controller from home and a few other things...plus I need to lower the lights. The lights are still quite high over the tank so I can get in there and play around still. AND of course have room to add fish.

Fish additions; those will happen over the next 6 months. We really screwed up when we added an unhealthy fish in the beginning so now we are taking our time, and really, it's soooo incredible looking already, that it's really not something we're going to get bored with quickly. We will add a couple more gobies of different types, wrasses, maybe/maybe not some tangs, Sargassum Trigger is a hopeful addition as well, maybe some Wyoming White Clownfish if we can, and who knows what else. We have a gorgeous Powder Blue Tang in the store that would look amazing in this tank, however I have one JERK tang, don't know that I want to add another that I know will be nasty!!!

Coral Additions;

LPS will be added as it comes in. I've been very lucky to have a few local reefers have corals outgrow their tanks, and been traded in....YAY for me! And Zoanthids will always be added when I get them...always collecting!!! I will add some SPS to the tank as I love it, but for general public viewing the tank, they like seeing coral moving around, and don't get the excitement behind "look at the polyp extension on that Bali Tri Color"......