Matt's 125 Peninsula Build

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Well, as I said it won Tank of the Month on another forum and I have posted it before in a couple of threads. (I'm kinda proud of it):D

Thanks for the input. Hope you find it interesting.
 
Here's some pics of the plumbing, Red Dragons, UV Sterilizer- I wasn't kidding when I said i had ZERO room - Bubble King Mini 200 Skimmer and sorry excuse for a Refugium:clown:

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The plumbing would have been cleaner but I had plumbed the Blueline pumps in completely before I realized how loud they were. The Red Dragons are completely different. this was the best I could do without starting from scratch - which was NOT an option!
 
Now, on to the aquascaping. My initial plan was to make two islands around each return, however, I bought some amazing Florida dry rock. I put 4 pieces together to make a couple of archways and put it in the center between the two returns. I drilled two of the pieces for the center structure and used an acrylic rod to attach them together. Then zip ties on two of the joints and D-D Aquascape 2 part putty to make it stick – pun intended.

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Then I made a “Zoa Tree” in one corner near the pillar and a “Montipora Plateau” in the other corner. Then, the rock from the old tank will go up against the overflow in hopefully an interesting manner. I’m not a big fan of the ‘vegetable cart” style of scaping. My first tank was great for the space I had, but this time I wanted something more interesting, especially being viewed from both sides.

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Just curious, but what do you have setup so when you shut your pumps off, the water in the tank won't drain back into the sump from the returns you have coming up thru the bottom of the tank?
 
ccCapt, those returns are on my closed loop. There is an intake going to the pump then out to those retina, bypassing the sump. The returns for the sump come through the overflow at the top.
 
Now, remember I said I had some hiccups and problems? I finally got the tank to the point where I can FINALLY turn the return pump on and start cycling, getting things moving ahead. I bought Carib Sea Floor special Reef Sand. Of course, I rinsed it well – so I thought – a few handfuls at a time with a strainer. Poured the sand into the saltwater I had mixed in the tank for a day or two, left circulating to ensure a good mix. And…..MILKSHAKE! Now, I was prepared for it to be cloudy. My first tank was white, but in a few hours it was almost completely clear. After 24 hours…..MILKSHAKE! I cold not clear the tank up. I had the skimmer running, I hooked my Ehiem canister with floss – changed every day – put floss in the sump, tried everything! No good. So, I drained the tank and filled it again – with R/O, of course. Ran all the filters, etc, still no good. I thought I had rinsed it well, but apparently you need to rinse this for a few days ☺ So, I drained the tank AGAIN. Took out all the sane. Used a shop vac to get all the milky water out. Rinse the **** out of the sand and put it back in FIRST. Then, fill with water, slowly. Still cloudy, but this time it cleared up. I have NEVER experienced this before. So….I’m all good, no worries now, right? hehe

Well, here’s the part that killed me. 12 hours after I started the new tank running, my old tank CRASHES! The temp went to 93 degrees and boiled almost everything. It was soup! I lost 18 of my 21 corals – some exquisite pieces – all my shrimp, my gorgeous Purple Firefish, all the snails, etc. - at least $800 worth of livestock. Of course, the only thing I could do to try to save anything was to take it out of the old tank and put it in the new tank. I literally grabbed what I could and dumped it in. Thank the powers that be that the new tank was good to go or I would have lost everything.

Fortunately, the live rock had the bacteria in it to handle more than the fish that were left, so I had very little – if any real cycle. What made it? My two clownfish (Bozo and Bubbles) my Ornate Leopard Wrasse, my Serpent Star and 3 corals. ☹ I was devastated. Nothing like a little drama to test the blood pressure!

So, two weeks later, all my paramters are perfect. Nites, Trates, Phates, Ammonia, etc. All ‘0’. Had it tested for me to double check. The scaping is done and I’m ready to go. Gonna let it set for a while, obviously, then move ahead and try to forget the losses.

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So, here's the finished reno of my Tv/Office/Studio Room:band: Sorry for the crappy pics. Camera is not working with me. The french door is to my vocal recording booth. The mural in the third pic is airbrushed. VERY cool! You should have seen the room before. it was disgusting. I'm happy with it now. I live in this room and I get to see my tank every day! :multi:

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Sorry to hear about your loss, it is horrible that you were getting this set up done and then the old tank crashes like that.

Time to look to the future, great looking room and tank!
 
Thanks Smitty,

I have to admit, I have gotten very little work done since the tank was up and running. The tank looks amazing from the couch. it's at the perfect height and angle - all planned of course.

Now i just want to go out and buy every fish and coral i want and fill it up!

Hope to put a Regal Angel in there soon, then a couple more fish over the next couple of months or so.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to do the corals i want right now, but there is always time. I think i may do more frags this time around. i had full colonies in the last tank. it was expensive and they pretty much out grew the tank in a few months. So, frags may be more fun.

Cheers
 
Well, I decided to improve my flow. I have the Red Dragon 8.2 on my closed loop with two returns split to 2 outputs each. That was good, but I still found I needed more. So, I put my Koralia 4 on the end near the top facing the over flow.

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That was fine, but it is big and ugly and very narrow flow. So........I bought a Vortech MP20. Got it from ORG for s sweet price %20 off! Now, i always thought the Vortechs were way over priced. I mean, come on, $400 for a power head? Crazy! Well, I had no idea how good they were and the 'modes' are fantastic. Nice random, widely dispersed flow. It very nice and SOOO much nicer looking in the tank.

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Now, there is fantastic flow everywhere in the tank and crap stays suspended in the tank so it gets to the overflow.

Money CAN buy happiness!
 
This is just awesome. It being there must make it easy for maintenance. Awesome job man.
 
Sohal Tang, Clown Tang, Sailfin Tang, Grouper, couple of sharks.........:rolleyes:

Haha, just kidding. I already have 2 Clowns, a couple of Firefish and a Leopard Wrasse. The fish i want are a Blue and Yellow tang (or maybe a Blond Naso instead), a Blue Leopard Wrasse and a Lineatus Fairy Wrasse. "Maybe" a couple of Bengai Cardinals and, of course, a Goby/Blennie. In a year or so, I may consider a Mandarin, but only a tank raised one trained to eat prepared foods.
 
With your goby/blenny I recommend Neon Gobies. They are a cleaner fish also so they are quite useful and bright. They have two neon blue stripes down their body on their backs. The rest is jet black. Nice little fish. Get a mated pair and spawning happens easily enough. :)
 
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