Sky's Newest 120g Adventure (pic heavy)

[skywhitney]

As some of you know in March of this year I sold off my 70g reef and moved the few corals I wanted to keep into my 8g nano. Well I made it 4 months before I decided it was time to have my reef back....and then some I've had this setup for a few months now but I ran into some snags while refurbishing the stand, The original tank I got was really scratched up so I sold that and was able to get a brand new tank in it's place (that's probably the last brand new tank I'll ever buy, they're flipping expensive. God bless craigslist and the petco $1/gal sale lol). I love tanks that have a lot of front to back depth so I was super stoked when I found a tank with a 48"x24"x24" footprint.

This will be a LPS and softs dominated tank with some SPS thrown in. I have two other smaller reefs that I'll be combining into this setup. I'm being much more selective with the corals that are going into this tank than I was with my 70g.

Here is a quick rundown of the system

Hardware:

• 120g Drilled with dual overflow tank
• 40g sump
• Bubble-Magus Curve 5 Skimmer
• Fluval 300w heater
• Marineland 1300gph return pump
• MP40
• two Taotronic like LED units

Corals (as of right now):

• Frogspawn
• Toxic Frogspawn
• Green Tip Torch
• Aussie Golden Torch
• Blue Lobo
• Green/blue Lobo
• Red/orange/blue Acan
• Green Finger Leather
• Blue Ridge
• Multiple Zoas
• Multiple Ricordeas/Yumas
• Blue, Green, and Metallic Orange Mushrooms

Fish:

• Ocellaris Clownfish
• Yellow Watchman Goby
• More to come, just not sure what yet.

Without further ado here is a bunch of pictures to bring this current!

Original setup (nasty tank and stand)

Original look to the stand (I hated it)

New Tank

Refurbished stand

Stand/tank installed (I still have to build new doors for the stand)

 

[skywhitney]

Sump

The sump didn't have a sock holder so I made one.

Skimmer

 

[skywhitney]

The system has passed a leak test so I added all the sand and the rock. I figured I'll probably change my scape 3 or 4 times pretty quickly so I decided not to refill the tank quite yet. The rock from the other two tanks will be going into the new tank too so I tried to leave some room in the scape for that.

Feedback would be very welcome!

These are the two reefs (8g and 30g) that will be combined into the new tank.

8g

30g

A couple of the Euphyllias

 

[severum mama]

This is going to be awesome... I really like what you've done with the stand, and your corals look great!

 

[bmarine]

This is gonna be sweet! Looking forward to seeing all this progress!!

 

[skywhitney]

Thanks guys, I'm pretty stoked to finally get this tank up and going.

I'm not 100% that I like the scape, It might just be that the rock isn't high enough (it barely comes above halfway up the tank). But then again i'm not sure if I really want to do an "island" look in this tank.

 

[bmarine]

Thanks guys, I'm pretty stoked to finally get this tank up and going. I'm not 100% that I like the scape, It might just be that the rock isn't high enough (it barely comes above halfway up the tank). But then again i'm not sure if I really want to do an "island" look in this tank.

I think it looks pretty good! Corals will make it a little taller, plus then they can have some top swimming room.

 

[skywhitney]

If you know me I'm sure you were expecting this...I tore down and redid the scape lol. I think its closer to what I want the end product to look like than the islands. I also picked up some luve rock today that I'll add to the scape when I fill the tank.

Let me know what you think!



Shot from the top to show how cavernous the structure is.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

I like that scape better than your islands scape you had. Looks like a fun project. I like how you did the matching rack coming up from the stand (assuming to hang your lights from?). Very clever

 

[skywhitney]

I like that scape better than your islands scape you had. Looks like a fun project. I like how you did the matching rack coming up from the stand (assuming to hang your lights from?). Very clever

Thank you. I like it how it is now, all the caves are interconnected as well so there is no loss of flow throughout the structure which is going to be a benefit too.

The top piece is indeed for my lights. I wasn't about to drill into the ceiling again (last time was a nightmare) so I figured that this would be a good way to hang them. I just need to get some carabiners that will fit over the dowel and I'll be good to go.

 

[skywhitney]

I filled the tank about 3/4 of the way tonight, should have it completely up and running tomorrow night. Once it's up completely and the water clears I'll post some new full scape pics.

I also replaced the bearings on my MP40 dry side tonight, I now have a whisper silent powerhead

 

[huma-huma]

see I don't understand that about Vortechs powerheads. ive heard everything from replacing them once a year to replacing them every 3 years. how am I expected, as a money-conscious customer, supposed to buy a nearly $500 powerhead, only to have to replace bearings in it? my $40 Koralia Evo powerheads don't need parts replaced. so why does the Mp's?

 

[Oscarr19]

Following along always fun to see others ideas and use them to come up with your own.

 

[skywhitney]

see I don't understand that about Vortechs powerheads. ive heard everything from replacing them once a year to replacing them every 3 years. how am I expected, as a money-conscious customer, supposed to buy a nearly $500 powerhead, only to have to replace bearings in it? my $40 Koralia Evo powerheads don't need parts replaced. so why does the Mp's?

Well the good news is that I got it off of Cragslist for pretty cheap. Apparently at some point the previous owner had gotten the dry side wet so there were rust issues and the bearings gave out because of it. I now have some new sealed and shielded bearings in there so I don't foresee me having to replace them again anytime soon, if ever. My MP10 is a few years old and has never had to have the bearings changed.

I do think that for the price that these powerheads cost they should be almost bulletproof or at least have a lifetime warranty but oh well, I guess they're probably glad I don't have a say in that matter.

You can see the rust on the right bearing.

 

[skywhitney]

Well the tank will be completely full and running by the end of the night. Here is a picture of the "final" (I use this word lightly) scape. Let me know what you think.



I also picked up a new McCosker's Fairy Wrasse today (not sure why the picture is sideways)

 

[Oscarr19]

Well the tank will be completely full and running by the end of the night. Here is a picture of the "final" (I use this word lightly) scape. Let me know what you think. I also picked up a new McCosker's Fairy Wrasse today (not sure why the picture is sideways)

It's look great! I much prefer this look over the island look, I think it makes a tank look fuller.

 

[skywhitney]

It's look great! I much prefer this look over the island look, I think it makes a tank look fuller.

Thanks! I think the same, It also feels a little beefier which is a good thing. I don't want to have to worry about rock collapses or the like.

 

[skywhitney]

The tank is 100% up and running now! This tank is starting out with close to 50lbs of live rock so I won't have to worry about the cycle since the only bioload that I have right now is the clown, watchman goby, and the fairy wrasse, all of which are under 1.5", maybe by tomorrow I can have inhabitants in this tank! We shall see how the parameter test out and go from there.

I had a couple minor leaks in the drain hoses that were the result of the hose clamps not being secure enough on the bulkhead barbed fittings so water was pushing it's way though. I re-positioned hose clamps and no more leaks!

 

[bob mccoy]

im impressed buddy, great job

 

[bob mccoy]

i have a 70 just like that and im going to dismantel it and rescape it for angels.