Derek's Custom 180G SPS Reef Tank

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spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
I was able to take some par readings last night as well on my display. I have mapped them out on one of my FTS. The lamps are about 7 months old now just to get an idea of what my fixture is pumping out. My supplement LED's are only running at 50% max right now. I am slowly trying to work up to 80% or so. If I jump too quickly, I definitely notice bleaching on some of my SPS.

I will take some par readings with the LEDs off completely to see how much par they add to the tank.
ParReadings_zps40051d71.jpg
 
S

spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
I got them from Eli at Fijireefrock.com It is VERY nice stuff. I used an old piece of shelf rock from my display as a base for the new tonga shelf rock. The large piece of Tonga rock was just placed on top of the old shelf piece and epoxyed into place. No doweling required as I was able to wedge the bottom in.

The piece on the left also hooked in into the base and just epoxyed that in place as well. The one on the right is just pushed tight to the base and the sandbed is holding it up. I did sandwich some epoxy between the base and this piece and just pushed it into place so it has some additional strength.

For curing, I gave the dry rock a vinegar bath for 3 days and then soaked it in RO/DI water for about a month with full water changes once or twice a week until I got a reading of 0.00 PO4. Once I got that reading, I let it soak for an additional week and re-tested. Still read 0.00 on my Hanna so I threw them in my tank.
 
S

spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
I was able to just email Eli and tell him what dimensions I was looking for. He found the pieces and then posted them on a thread on canreef for me to view. It worked very slick. I told him I wanted the shelf pieces with the stem on them and he found me exactly what I was looking for. He just told me the weights and I sent him an EMT. He shipped them out that day and I got them in the mail within 3 days.
 
Darryl_V

Darryl_V

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
Lets just call that frag tank display tank #2 now...hahah.  It looks great.

Nice par numbers on the display. 

You might want to move that my crazy to a larger disc so the rim doesnt start to grow under.  Im sure you are already thinking that though.
 
R

Reef Hero

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Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Lucan
Yea no kidding eh Darryl.... Where is this frag tank you are talking about Derek?? Lol

Kidding aside perhaps we can work out a deal/trade for that My Crazy and the UC palys?
Hopefully I still have a couple things you would be interested in....?
I'm trying not to "buy" anymore corals until atleast London fragfest because I need to get my own frag tank setup and we might actually have a "real" family on the way...
Great looking stuff Derek!!!! Keep the updates coming!!
 
Poseidon

Poseidon

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 15, 2012
Location
SW Ontario
Reef Hero link said:
Yea no kidding eh Darryl.... Where is this frag tank you are talking about Derek?? Lol

Kidding aside perhaps we can work out a deal/trade for that My Crazy and the UC palys?
Hopefully I still have a couple things you would be interested in....?
I'm trying not to \"buy\" anymore corals until atleast London fragfest because I need to get my own frag tank setup and we might actually have a \"real\" family on the way...
Great looking stuff Derek!!!! Keep the updates coming!!
Click to expand...


and you have no room in your tank to fit anything else haha
 
Bayinaung

Bayinaung

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Location
Tory Town (in more ways then one eh!)
spyd link said:
I got them from Eli at Fijireefrock.com It is VERY nice stuff. I used an old piece of shelf rock from my display as a base for the new tonga shelf rock. The large piece of Tonga rock was just placed on top of the old shelf piece and epoxyed into place. No doweling required as I was able to wedge the bottom in.

The piece on the left also hooked in into the base and just epoxyed that in place as well. The one on the right is just pushed tight to the base and the sandbed is holding it up. I did sandwich some epoxy between the base and this piece and just pushed it into place so it has some additional strength.

For curing, I gave the dry rock a vinegar bath for 3 days and then soaked it in RO/DI water for about a month with full water changes once or twice a week until I got a reading of 0.00 PO4. Once I got that reading, I let it soak for an additional week and re-tested. Still read 0.00 on my Hanna so I threw them in my tank.
Click to expand...

nice curing work! was there much nitrates or phosphates in there?  just curious.
 
S

spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
My fixture sits very low. I run it about 4" off the top of my tank. I just move it up when working on the tank. My lighting schedule is 12 hrs - Supplmental RB LEDs. They ramp up for 2 hrs and ramp down for 2 hours and run at a max 60%. For the T5's, I run 10 hrs 2 x Blue Plus then 5 1/2 hrs full lighting. I am slowly working my way up to 6 hrs of running time for full lighting. I just don't want to bleach my corals... I have some very finicky SPS.
 
S

spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Its an awesome unit and you can grow everything and anything under T5's IMO. Might not have the shimmer look and bulbs are expensive, but, it is a tried, tested and true light spectrum.
 
davesolo29

davesolo29

Super Active Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
reeferkeeper420 link said:
Amazing looking tank!! Whenever your ready to do frags of jawdropper and orange passion let me know :p.
Click to expand...
Get in line.  Lol.  I have my name in long ago. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
S

spyd

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
I know it has been a long time since I have updated this thread. My tank is maxed out in terms of coral and fish now. I am just letting everything grow in now and trying to keep up on the maintenance.

I have a sinking feeling, I am slowly falling out of the hobby. Hopefully, it is just the summer bug biting me and I will be back full swing in the fall, but, who knows... So little time and so much to do to keep my system maintained.

The tough part is I have not yet accomplished what I would like to with the tank. We will see where I go from here but it irks me to no end knowing that I am not paying enough attention to my tank as I tend to put high expectations on myself and have a problem not meeting them...

Tank is looking pretty good though. I need to clean up some aiptasia in my LPS tank. It has taken over quite a bit. The SPS tank has next to no aiptasia... Very odd. My guess is it is a flow thing as it is very low in my LPS tank.

I may just shut down the LPS tank and keep 1 tank going instead... Less hassle. LE LPS anyone??? ;)
 
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