Garage1217's 225G starphire / led / awesome build!

[Roggio]

How is the noise? I have a the SRO 5000 skimmer, calcium reactor and a WB 5000 return. I have been racking my brain trying to think of a space to put these things other than the room the tank is. I have the skimmer up and running on a temporary 65g tank (haha) and I can hear a hum but nothing major.

The other concern is keeping a large enough auto top off reservoir. How much are you loosing to evaporation? I have a 14 gallon supply in my current blueprints. I'm hoping to have enough for two weeks at a time.

[Garage1217]

Been busy, sorry did not reply!
- Fire Urchin... I took lux readings long ago but no par as I did not get a meter in time. I need to do that soon.

- girlygears13... Much appreciated!

- Feh... Right on! Hope the cycle is going well! And yeah, the kids LOVE the tank which keeps my moral on the project up!

- Bellis31... No new additions. My biology has finally gotten to the point where the tank is consuming alk, ca and mag! That is a great sign. I am manually dosing in small qtys now and small feather dusters are all over the back wall and sump which is also a great sign! I figure in the next 2 weeks I will add my first corals. No hurry, just enjoying the heck out of my fishes!

[Garage1217]

Originally Posted by Blatzphemy

How is the noise? I have a the SRO 5000 skimmer, calcium reactor and a WB 5000 return. I have been racking my brain trying to think of a space to put these things other than the room the tank is. I have the skimmer up and running on a temporary 65g tank (haha) and I can hear a hum but nothing major.

The other concern is keeping a large enough auto top off reservoir. How much are you loosing to evaporation? I have a 14 gallon supply in my current blueprints. I'm hoping to have enough for two weeks at a time.

Noise is very low, especially with the siphon drain system. Only thing I can hear is the air being sucked into the skimmer and a tiny hum from it which is not loud at all.

I use a 20G top off tank which gets me 8-9 days of topoff or around 1/2G a day of evap. A fraction of what I used to have with my halides on my old setup which was much smaller!

[NateDawg]

Just found this build.... simply amazing. Are you noticing a drop in the chromis population over time?

[Garage1217]

Originally Posted by NateDawg

Just found this build.... simply amazing. Are you noticing a drop in the chromis population over time?

Thanks

Yes, I have 4 Chromis now which is common to loose some. Especially when they are purchased very small.

[Garage1217]

Time for corals finally. Has been a LONG journey! Will update pics in the next week or as the new additions arrive!

[bellis31]

Great news cant wait to see it!! Are you going LPS first or SPS first? or a mix of both?

[Garage1217]

Some of my latest SPS acquisitions. More pics tomorrow... Just turned on the lights for some photos which is the reason for no polyp extension. As with ALL corals in my tank. There will be NONE taken from the ocean. All of my corals are and will be from local farmers and at least 2nd generation frags. All are very healthy and happy. Corals in the photos are from a local - Jporter here on RC. Outstanding tank and a pleasure to have him in the area! Has has done a fantastic job with his SPS colonies.

Front - Tyree LE Seasons Greetings Monti
Right - Tyree Setosa
Left - ORA Red Planet... Not looking red or green but did in his tank. This frag was hidden down low so no coloration as of yet.


Left - Tyree Setosa
Center - ORA Purple Plasma
Right - ORA Pearlberry


Left - WWC Jedi Mind Trick Monti
Center - ORA Plumb Crazy
Right - The red planet


Mainly another shot of the Jedi mind trick. The micro frag was a small part that broke off the pearlberry. Have grown colonies from smaller so decided to give it a shot!


More pics to come tomorrow. As of right now, the coral stock list is as follows...
ORA Pearlberry Acro
ORA Plumb Crazy Acro
Tyree Setosa
Rainbow Montipora
ORA Red Planet acro
Vivids Ultimate Cap
ORA Purple Plasma acro
WWC Jedi Mind Trick monti
Tyree LE Seasons Greetings monti
Radioactive zoanthids
Eagle eye zoanthids
Cali Tort
1 green mushroom
4 red mushrooms
G1217 Commando Milli "My original beasty came back!"
Pink Birdsnest
Ponape Birdsnest
Unknown SPS at the moent
Green Slimer
Purple tip / neon green hammer

[Garage1217]

Updates:
Attending a frag auction this weekend. Plan to score a lot of nice corals!

New addition, a BEAST of a calcium reactor. A SRO-CR5000 with BB5000 pump. No worries on maxing my reactor any longer

Initial impressions of the reactor with a review to follow later located here..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...9#post19985639

Some people put soda cans next to their reactors to show size. Well a soda can just did not cut it. So I put a 5G bucket of Oceanic next to the reactor to show off its size!

[kmooresf]

LOL! SWEET!! THAT'S a reactor!! Congrats.

[Garage1217]

New SRO CR5000 Calcium Reactor is all in, plumbed and running! It is a MONSTER. If one takes notice, I removed the center divider in the stand for a cleaner look. This was NOT structural. Was just a divider for the doors. As I looked at it, I thought it would look better if the doors, when closed, looked almost like a solid piece of glass. Got the hinges on for the doors today as well

[Garage1217]

Pics to come soon, the collection is starting NEVER ENOUGH!

ORA Pearlberry Acro
ORA Plumb Crazy Acro
Tyree Setosa
Rainbow Montipora
ORA Red Planet acro
Vivids Ultimate Cap
ORA Purple Plasma acro
WWC Jedi Mind Trick monti
Tyree LE Seasons Greetings monti
Radioactive zoanthids
Eagle eye zoanthids
Cali Tort
1 green mushroom
4 red mushrooms
G1217 Commando Milli
Pink Birdsnest
Ponape Birdsnest
Bennett Tort
Acropora Yongi from Steve Garretts
Purple tip / neon green hammer
2 Welsos / Rescues
Montipora Stallata
Flashlight Acro
ORA Purple Stylo
Maybe Suharsonoi?
Miyagi Tort
AOG Sister
RPE
Orange with green skirt zoa
Mint Chocolate Chip Zoa
Neon Green Toadstool, my org
ORA Purple Tip Indo Stag
Purple and green Favia
Orange Cap
Red Trachaphelia
Orange / green rics 3qty
Tiffs Hot Pink Milli
Unknown acro / milli looking thing
ORA pink / blue tip milli
Cali Tort
Strawberry Shortcake
Flash Acro
LA Lakers Monti
Mystic Monti
Pockerstar Monti
Blueberry Ice Acropora
Unreal Undata

[Garage1217]

One of the most interesting parts of this build to me is how the rock has come back to being live rock. It has taken a LONG time but it is finally getting there! Also the water chemistry went through a lot of phases as well with the rock.... The big cycles I observed...
- The start was a green bloom throughout the tank, as in a pea soup bloom! Skimmer had a hard time keeping up.
- Once that was cleared, the rockwork turned brown and nasty looking for awhile
- Then came the Dinos, turned the whole tank into a dino nightmare with a little cyano
- Dinos cleared up 100% and the rockwork looked like the day I acid washed it, clean and clear.
- Then early last month, the rockwork took on a green hue. Just a surface algae of some type. Sand was clear and white, rocks were green. No hair algae.
- Finally, PURPLE coraline is poping up all over the rocks! Some patches as big as an inch. The green is fading and the rock is starting to take on the gray / purple hue.

[aquaph8]

sounds like things are coming around nicely. Thats a nice collection already, you may need two tanks, LOL. Everythings looking really nice and clean, good work man.

[mseepman]

Any updates on this tank...for sure one of my favorites. Hoping to see all those frags starting to grow out throughout the tank! Maybe a FTS?

[rucker32]

can you explain your ATS plumbing? how are you getting the water back into your system?

[GQuinn]

I think he is taking this tank down. I enjoyed this build.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2204339

[Garage1217]

Thanks guys, unfortunately a work situation has come up and my international travel has increased drastically. Also I will be having to move because of this. Was not planned and really, really sucks as I planned to stay in this house and have this tank for many, many, many years. Thanks for all of your support. Thinks will settle down in a few years and I will get right back on another. Just one of those chapters in ones life in which I want to tear the pages out. So much work and effort.

[usefulidiot213]

Man that sucks. I totally dug this build. Good luck Garage.

[sirreal63]

I understand the pain, I moved 5 times in 5 years because of work, and tried dragging a tank with me, it was tough to do. Things will settle down and you will be hard at it again. Good luck and be safe.

[mseepman]

What a shame! One of the truly great builds on RC!

[Aquatron]

You are a nice addition to RC i hope you stay in contact with the forum

Best of Luck!

[Garage1217]

Well... it has been 5 years and work travel insanity is no more. Finally settled in my new home and will not be moving again for the foreseeable future! So it is time to get my arse back in gear and build something new.

While the new house is twice the size of the old, my kids have grown a lot and space is tighter. So my new build will not be nearly as large and awesome as the old, but it will be fun. Unless another spot is identified in the house, I will be locked into a 120G. However the cool part is, behind the wall for the tank sits my guest bathroom. There is a recessed wall that will be perfect for a fuge and frag system. And with the sink, I will have water and drainage just behind the tank for rodi. Cannot work out any better. Stay tuned if anyone is still around! Will not be all the DIY insanity as before but the OCD levels will be the same

[qfrisco]

Welcome back! Will definitely enjoy following along again!