loganj
Aquarium Advice Addict
Here are some pics of a tank I set up at the local hospital. It's a Glasscages 180g reef ready glass tank with twin overflows. It's been running for about a month and a half counting cycle time and fish/corals are being added slowly. Lighting is 3x250w MH pendants from CoralVue using 14k bulbs. This tank is set up to be as automated as possible because I'm not there every day to take care of it. It has an Ecosystem 3616 mud sump with two Blueline 40HDX return pumps (1270gph each). One of these feeds the UV unit, the calcium reactor, and the phosphate canister with the remainder being returned to the tank via a 1" Sea Swirl. The other pump feeds a SQWD and goes to opposite ends of the tank. An auto top off unit from Aqua FX handles FW top off from the RO unit. There is a 5.5 gallon acrylic tank on the right end of the tank that is set up as a surge device using the flush valve method. It's plumbed with 1.5" line and makes a good wave when it dumps. There is another 5.5 gallon acrylic tank on the back of the main tank with a 1.5" U tube run into the main tank. This little tank houses 4 MaxiJet 1200's (295gph each). 3 of them are on a wavemaker circuit controlled by the ReefKeeper 2 while the 4th one feeds the surge tank. Although this tank doesn't have a huge amount of flow based on gph vs tank size, the way the flow is set up causes amazing amounts of turbulence in the tank. I have seen whirlpools form that reach 2/3 of the way to the sand at times. Skimmer is an Aqua C EV240 powered by a Blueline 30HD pump. The tank was set up with 150lbs of base rock and capped with 80lbs of LR. As soon as the cycle completed and nitrite was 0, a mix of about 250 hermits and snails of different varieties from Florida Pets was added. Current livestock is a Kole tang, 2 clowns, watchman goby, 5 yellow tail damsels, and a coral banded shrimp. Automatic feeders dispense pellets 3 times a day and a staff member adds some frozen food once a day. Nori is also kept available for the tang. Corals include a couple of varieties of clavularia, xenia, capnella, a plating montipora, and assorted polyps and shrooms. I have ozone injection set up on the tank, but ORP hasn't fallen below 385 since I started measuring it so I don't think the ozone generator has ever come on. UV is only run at night. Most of the pumps shut down at night. pH stays between 8.15 and 8.2 depending on when you check it. I'll probably add a hippo tang, a rabbitfish, and maybe a rainbow psuedochromis later as well as more corals as time goes on. I may try a coral beauty too. I've learned a lot setting this tank up...a few things that work really well...many things that didn't work AT ALL...some of which ended up with me, the floor, walls, ect covered in water. I'll post some better pics later when I have more time.
