Basement Reno And In-wall 205g Reef

[teebone110]

400w MH and VHO sounds like a proven winning combo, great choice

 

[curiousphil]

400w MH and VHO sounds like a proven winning combo, great choice

Thanks Tyler. One of the things I'm trying to so this time around is not to break any new grounds... just stick to the tried and tested techniques of the many great SPS tanks that I have discovered and admired over the past couple of years.

Talk about planing ahead, great stuff Phil. How is your coral been doing, care to give use some pic of coral and grow.

Thanks Kevin. The corals are mostly doing great. I have had a few casualties since spring but all have been my fault and everything else has been doing great. I had a mille that got attacked and possibly killed by a brain coral last week, it's sitting on the frag rack to give it a chance to recover incase it isn't dead. There is a little bit of tissue left on it that may regrow... time will tell. Another coral was lost due to being knocked out of place by a rammy fish and falling deep into the rock work. And my final casualty was my purple lightsaber frag that I moved up too high.... the tissue burned right off but I didn't notice soon enough because the white skeleton was reflecting the 20k light and appeared to be only slightly lighter than it was before I moved it up. It was only when I picked up the frag with my fingers that I noticed that it wasn't "glowing," it was just reflecting.

I can try to put together some growth shots this week. Here's a couple random photos taken recently:

(burnt some tips of the red dragon a while back but the tissue is growing back over them now)

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Hows that Big Red acro doin you got from me??

 

[curiousphil]

Hows that Big Red acro doin you got from me??

It's now a "big green acro" rofl. I don't know why but stuff always seems to turn green in my tank. Sometimes the corals change colour again, and sometimes they stay green. The red convexa I got from Jordan turned green as soon as I put it into my tank, and now about 3-4 months later it's finally changing to red (slowly). It will be interesting to see what yours does!

 

[yveterinarian]

Looking good so far.

 

[curiousphil]

Installed the electrical outlets for the tank yesterday. I installed 4 GFCI outlets each on their own breaker. One breaker for the lights, one for the heater and chiller, one for all the pumps and other accessories, and then the fourth as an extra. Probably overkill but better safe than sorry. I know for sure that I couldn't run everything on one breaker because the lights alone will use about 12-14 amps and the 800 watt heater is another 4. The chiller is also 4 if I recall.

Today I'm going to clean out the tank with a shopvac and start on the plumbing. Depending how I make out, I may start rinsing and adding sand.

 

[curiousphil]

Installed the electrical outlets for the tank yesterday. I installed 4 GFCI outlets each on their own breaker. One breaker for the lights, one for the heater and chiller, one for all the pumps and other accessories, and then the fourth as an extra. Probably overkill but better safe than sorry. I know for sure that I couldn't run everything on one breaker because the lights alone will use about 12-14 amps and the 800 watt heater is another 4. The chiller is also 4 if I recall.

Today I'm going to clean out the tank with a shopvac and start on the plumbing. Depending how I make out, I may start rinsing and adding sand.

Or do none of the above because you get called to help someone replace a leaky sump. Yay lol. Tomorrow should be more productive with any luck.

 

[scubasteve]

Or do none of the above because you get called to help someone replace a leaky sump. Yay lol. Tomorrow should be more productive with any luck.

blame it on the slar flares your buddies leaky sump my mysteriouse cracking of tank lol

 

[derrick orosz]

what is the green plating sps in the second pic?

 

[curiousphil]

This one Derrick? It's a yellow efflo (Acropora efflorescens)

 

[curiousphil]

 

[curiousphil]

Slowly making progress. I thought I was going to have more time over the holidays to work on this project but have been busy with so many other things.

I have most of the plumbing dry fit now. I need to build the wall that goes on the other side of the tank so that I can brace the plumbing - it's so heavy that it is sagging under its own weight :$.

I also filled the tank with tap water to just below the overflow, in preparation for testing the plumbing sometime during the next day or two!

 

[curiousphil]

Another wall up. Now to secure the plumbing, start gluing it together, and seal the stand and floor seams.

 

[jroovers]

I can't believe how fast you are moving along, nicely done

 

[curiousphil]

Lol, it feels slow when I look at Bigshow's thread!

I've got the plumbing secured and am now gluing it together.

Also, my XM bulbs came in today... but they sent 15k instead of 20k :$. So I guess I'll give them a try!

 

[teebone110]

very impressive, nice progress

 

[curiousphil]

very impressive, nice progress

Thanks Tee. Been a while since we have seen an update on your build btw

 

[curiousphil]

Plumbing is all cemented together now.

 

[BIGSHOW]

Nice work Phil. Its coming along beautifully. Very clean

 

[curiousphil]

Thanks Dave!