FutureInterest
01-03-2008, 10:00 PM
Introduction
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/4451/misc21xi8.jpg
First of all I would like to thank the Atlanta Reef Club for showcasing my tank as the tank of the month. I must express my gratitude for allowing me to be a part of such a great club and for featuring my tank as its first. How did it all begin? Well like most other people with a 10 cent feeder goldfish and $5 fish bowl from walmart. I have had fish since I was a teenager, and it wasn’t until I was eighteen and had a job so that I could fund my hobby that I got into saltwater fish. I will never forget the day I moved to Atlanta and found a local fish store around the corner from me- “picies pet” although no longer open it was a reefers heaven. Ever since I walked into that store the gates have never let me leave..
I have had a number of tanks over the last 12 years, the one I have now being the longest run. Because of college and medical school I moved frequently living in Miami, the Bahamas and New York for some time before finally moving back home to Georgia. I had always had tanks with me, but I have to say the best fish tank I had was the warm Caribbean ocean where I could snorkel in the reefs every day. Since then I have always tried to incorporate what I saw so frequently in the open waters into my tank.. I mostly had 50 gallon tanks while I was in school, but when I was finally done and brought a house I wanted something big.
Planning the 300 gallon in wall Starfire
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j9.jpg
Starting with the floor plans my house was constructed with the premise that the tank would be the centerpiece of the house. It was built on a crawl space so that I could run pipes under the house from the main tank to my remote sump in the garage. The floor of the house under the tank was reinforced with concrete blocks to support the weight of the tank as it was in the center of the house so the floor would not bow. I had a drain installed under the tank so that water could be drained directly from the tank into the septic system with the simple turn of a valve.. There is a foacet under the tank to feed my ro/di unit. I knew the easier I made things for water changes the more likely I would do them. Plus as a resident my time was very limited to take care of chores.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/misc_3.jpghttp://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j3.jpg
The Display
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j8.jpg
The tanks dimensions are 96 inches long, 24 inches deep and 30 inched high approximately 300 gallons. Both viewing panes are made with starfire glass. There are two 2 inch overflows located on each end of the tank. As it is a see-through tank I had limited choices on how to configure things. As such, I wanted the look to be clean and unobstructed in any way which limited my access points for piping and wires to the sides of the tank. Once the tank was in place, custom trim was placed around the tank. Access panels on the dining room side of the tank were made to look like the French panels that went around the wall of the dining room, so it would blend in and no visible entry point could be seen.
I chose this tank because I always have wanted an “in wall” tank., with the construction of the house and my wifes blessings I decided to go a step extra and make the tank into a room divider where you could see right through it. I originally had a 300 gallon acrylic tank at first but after having to scape both panes weekly tediously not to scratch it I changed over to a starfire glass tank and could not be happier.. The tank and design had been in planning stages for over 4 months as me and the builders tediously worked out all the bugs in making the system complete.
There is about 300 pounds of live rock in the main tank..All the pieces are 12 inch plus in size. As the tank is viewable from both sides I could not stack rocks against the back, plus I do not like the look of piles of rock on top of each other. Keeping with the reefs I saw everyday in the Caribbean, I wanted a tank with loosely stacked rock, with plenty of caverns and caves, so that fish and water could freely flow in between. All the rock is stacked in the center of the tank with epoxy holding it together. There is a 6 inch deep sand bed in the tank.
Peripheral Equipment
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/misc_1.jpg
The sump is a 50 gallon tank, where the overflow from the tank dumps into. The sump is where an asm 5 skimmer sits. There is also a valve and drain on the sump to drain it completely of debris and water, which makes water changes a breeze. I simply turn off the main return pump, drain the 50 gallon sump, an refill it with freshly made water from the 100 gallon sump I have in my attic. If things get real dirty I can take the hosepipe from the yard and blast the sump with water before filling it again with fresh saltwater. Something i could not do if this was sitting under the tank in the living room.
From the sump the water drains into my 120 gallon refugium. I have this full of live rock, cheato algae and a 8 inch deep sand bed. This also acts as my feeding source for my seahorses in the refugium and manderins in my main tank.
There is a feed pump that takes water from my fuge up to my chiller and then into my 120 frag tank which is currently empty right now. Water from here drains back in to my main refugium. Water from the refugium is pumped back to the main tank with a dolphin ampmaster pump. So in total there probably is a little over 600 gallons in my whole system
Skimmer/Lights/Flow
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j5.jpg
I run a ASM 5 skimmer with 2 sedra 900 pumps.. I always used an asm as a broke student and continue to use them now as they have provided flawless service.
My main tank has three 400 watt 10k mh single ended xm bulbs over it with 4 6ft uri vho actinics for supplement. All my lights are run with icecap ballasts.I started off the tank with t5’s but never liked the way they looked so I went back with what I knew. My frag tank now benefits from the unused t5’s the metal halides turn on one by one at fifteen minute intervals from east to west and turn off the same way. The actinics turn on an hour before the first metal halides turn on and turn off an hour after the last metal halide turns off. The lights over the refugium are on a reverse light cycle and turn on once the metal halides are all off.
The flow in the tank is comprised of 2 tunze wavebox’s and 4 tunze 6100’s run off a 7095 multi controller. The wave created by the waveboxs is almost 1 ½ inches high. So much so that I have about a 2 millimeter give before the water spills over the top of the tank. The multicontroller is set for random flow. This ensures that debris is constantly kept in the water column and skimmed over the overflows.
Maintenance/Feeding
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/coral_6.jpg
I use ozone constantly injected through the skimmer when it is on. I have for the past couple of months stopped using my skimmer 24/7 instead only turning it on twice a week for 24 hours. I am a big fan of the pappone or coral blu method and have noticed dramatic effects doing so.I feed the tank pappone every night 1 hour before the actinics go out. This ensures that every fish has a choice of what to eat and it makes sure the coral are fed also. A sheet of nori is fed every day for all the tangs in the tank, and is supplemented with an early morning feeding of formula one pellets.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_9.jpg
As water changes are so easy I try to do a 50 gallon water change every week. Mostly this is a hands off tank. As my time is limited as a resident I tried to make this a self sustained tank. The ac3 makes this task a lot easier. It keeps the parameters in check and lets me know when there not. It virtually controls everything, from the lights , ph, calcium reactor, kalk reactor, and even my garage exhaust fan and attic gable exhaust fan. I think one of my success’s with the tank is that I rarely place my hands in the tank.
Fish
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j6.jpg
List of fish:Sail fin tang, Naso tang, Purple tang, Regal tang, Sohel tang, Yellow tangs, Percula clowns, Barlett anthias, Spotted mandarin, Tomato clowns, Yellow goby
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_1-1.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_6.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_4.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_2.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_3.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_5.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_10.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_7.jpg
My favorite fish is my tomato clown. I’ve had him for 8 years. He was a 1 inch in size when I got him but now is the size of my hand.. he undoubtedly is king of the tank, so much so I had to banish him to my refugium and even got him a little girlfriend to play with.
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/4451/misc21xi8.jpg
First of all I would like to thank the Atlanta Reef Club for showcasing my tank as the tank of the month. I must express my gratitude for allowing me to be a part of such a great club and for featuring my tank as its first. How did it all begin? Well like most other people with a 10 cent feeder goldfish and $5 fish bowl from walmart. I have had fish since I was a teenager, and it wasn’t until I was eighteen and had a job so that I could fund my hobby that I got into saltwater fish. I will never forget the day I moved to Atlanta and found a local fish store around the corner from me- “picies pet” although no longer open it was a reefers heaven. Ever since I walked into that store the gates have never let me leave..
I have had a number of tanks over the last 12 years, the one I have now being the longest run. Because of college and medical school I moved frequently living in Miami, the Bahamas and New York for some time before finally moving back home to Georgia. I had always had tanks with me, but I have to say the best fish tank I had was the warm Caribbean ocean where I could snorkel in the reefs every day. Since then I have always tried to incorporate what I saw so frequently in the open waters into my tank.. I mostly had 50 gallon tanks while I was in school, but when I was finally done and brought a house I wanted something big.
Planning the 300 gallon in wall Starfire
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j9.jpg
Starting with the floor plans my house was constructed with the premise that the tank would be the centerpiece of the house. It was built on a crawl space so that I could run pipes under the house from the main tank to my remote sump in the garage. The floor of the house under the tank was reinforced with concrete blocks to support the weight of the tank as it was in the center of the house so the floor would not bow. I had a drain installed under the tank so that water could be drained directly from the tank into the septic system with the simple turn of a valve.. There is a foacet under the tank to feed my ro/di unit. I knew the easier I made things for water changes the more likely I would do them. Plus as a resident my time was very limited to take care of chores.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/misc_3.jpghttp://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j3.jpg
The Display
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j8.jpg
The tanks dimensions are 96 inches long, 24 inches deep and 30 inched high approximately 300 gallons. Both viewing panes are made with starfire glass. There are two 2 inch overflows located on each end of the tank. As it is a see-through tank I had limited choices on how to configure things. As such, I wanted the look to be clean and unobstructed in any way which limited my access points for piping and wires to the sides of the tank. Once the tank was in place, custom trim was placed around the tank. Access panels on the dining room side of the tank were made to look like the French panels that went around the wall of the dining room, so it would blend in and no visible entry point could be seen.
I chose this tank because I always have wanted an “in wall” tank., with the construction of the house and my wifes blessings I decided to go a step extra and make the tank into a room divider where you could see right through it. I originally had a 300 gallon acrylic tank at first but after having to scape both panes weekly tediously not to scratch it I changed over to a starfire glass tank and could not be happier.. The tank and design had been in planning stages for over 4 months as me and the builders tediously worked out all the bugs in making the system complete.
There is about 300 pounds of live rock in the main tank..All the pieces are 12 inch plus in size. As the tank is viewable from both sides I could not stack rocks against the back, plus I do not like the look of piles of rock on top of each other. Keeping with the reefs I saw everyday in the Caribbean, I wanted a tank with loosely stacked rock, with plenty of caverns and caves, so that fish and water could freely flow in between. All the rock is stacked in the center of the tank with epoxy holding it together. There is a 6 inch deep sand bed in the tank.
Peripheral Equipment
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/misc_1.jpg
The sump is a 50 gallon tank, where the overflow from the tank dumps into. The sump is where an asm 5 skimmer sits. There is also a valve and drain on the sump to drain it completely of debris and water, which makes water changes a breeze. I simply turn off the main return pump, drain the 50 gallon sump, an refill it with freshly made water from the 100 gallon sump I have in my attic. If things get real dirty I can take the hosepipe from the yard and blast the sump with water before filling it again with fresh saltwater. Something i could not do if this was sitting under the tank in the living room.
From the sump the water drains into my 120 gallon refugium. I have this full of live rock, cheato algae and a 8 inch deep sand bed. This also acts as my feeding source for my seahorses in the refugium and manderins in my main tank.
There is a feed pump that takes water from my fuge up to my chiller and then into my 120 frag tank which is currently empty right now. Water from here drains back in to my main refugium. Water from the refugium is pumped back to the main tank with a dolphin ampmaster pump. So in total there probably is a little over 600 gallons in my whole system
Skimmer/Lights/Flow
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j5.jpg
I run a ASM 5 skimmer with 2 sedra 900 pumps.. I always used an asm as a broke student and continue to use them now as they have provided flawless service.
My main tank has three 400 watt 10k mh single ended xm bulbs over it with 4 6ft uri vho actinics for supplement. All my lights are run with icecap ballasts.I started off the tank with t5’s but never liked the way they looked so I went back with what I knew. My frag tank now benefits from the unused t5’s the metal halides turn on one by one at fifteen minute intervals from east to west and turn off the same way. The actinics turn on an hour before the first metal halides turn on and turn off an hour after the last metal halide turns off. The lights over the refugium are on a reverse light cycle and turn on once the metal halides are all off.
The flow in the tank is comprised of 2 tunze wavebox’s and 4 tunze 6100’s run off a 7095 multi controller. The wave created by the waveboxs is almost 1 ½ inches high. So much so that I have about a 2 millimeter give before the water spills over the top of the tank. The multicontroller is set for random flow. This ensures that debris is constantly kept in the water column and skimmed over the overflows.
Maintenance/Feeding
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/coral_6.jpg
I use ozone constantly injected through the skimmer when it is on. I have for the past couple of months stopped using my skimmer 24/7 instead only turning it on twice a week for 24 hours. I am a big fan of the pappone or coral blu method and have noticed dramatic effects doing so.I feed the tank pappone every night 1 hour before the actinics go out. This ensures that every fish has a choice of what to eat and it makes sure the coral are fed also. A sheet of nori is fed every day for all the tangs in the tank, and is supplemented with an early morning feeding of formula one pellets.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_9.jpg
As water changes are so easy I try to do a 50 gallon water change every week. Mostly this is a hands off tank. As my time is limited as a resident I tried to make this a self sustained tank. The ac3 makes this task a lot easier. It keeps the parameters in check and lets me know when there not. It virtually controls everything, from the lights , ph, calcium reactor, kalk reactor, and even my garage exhaust fan and attic gable exhaust fan. I think one of my success’s with the tank is that I rarely place my hands in the tank.
Fish
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/j6.jpg
List of fish:Sail fin tang, Naso tang, Purple tang, Regal tang, Sohel tang, Yellow tangs, Percula clowns, Barlett anthias, Spotted mandarin, Tomato clowns, Yellow goby
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_1-1.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_6.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_4.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_2.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_3.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_5.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_10.jpg http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc204/FutureInterest/fish_7.jpg
My favorite fish is my tomato clown. I’ve had him for 8 years. He was a 1 inch in size when I got him but now is the size of my hand.. he undoubtedly is king of the tank, so much so I had to banish him to my refugium and even got him a little girlfriend to play with.