230 Gallon Reef Tank.

[RRaquariums]

So I found a good deal on craiglsits for this 230 gallon starphire glass tank that I decided to set up instead of my 125 gallon.
It will fit on the same stand and I'm going to use the same set up idea but just with this bigger tank.
Because of the way my basement is set up the sump and refugium will be in the back room behind the tank so I will have more room.
I'm not sure how long it will take me to set this up but I'm chipping away at it and hopefully will have water in it soon.
But I decided to make this journal to track my progress and maybe give some tips to people wanting to build there own large reef set up.

 

[Dreamer03]

Woo!!!!

 

[Alasse]

Watching, gonna be awesome!

 

[sawickib]

Really excited about this!

 

[Brilly91]

Ohhhh looking forward to this!

 

[Dreamer03]

Damn for first time I think the yellow tang is too big for that tank. What a shame...

 

[RRaquariums]

Lol

 

[Brilly91]

Darn for first time I think the yellow tang is too big for that tank. What a shame...

 
No tang police here please!!!! lol

 

[Dreamer03]

Fine! But you have been warned... Lol

 

[RRaquariums]

So with the help of 5 people and a lot of time we got the tank down into my basement and on its stand.
Later tonight I will work on getting the rocks back in it and sand put down.

 

[Brilly91]

So with the help of 5 people and a lot of time we got the tank down into my basement and on its stand.
Later tonight I will work on getting the rocks back in it and sand put down.

 
Bet that was fun!!! I had a bad enough time getting my 120g upstairs with my brother lol

 

[RRaquariums]

Oh yes it was a blast lol.

 

[RRaquariums]

So with a tall ladder and some hard work It was onto the fun part. Aquascaping the tank!

I always lay down light diffuser/egg crate before putting any heavy rocks or drift wood in a tank this not only greatly reduces the chances of accidentally cracking the bottom piece of glass it's also a much more grippy surface then the glass which keeps the rocks from sliding around and once siliconed to the egg crate the rocks are virtually unmovable.


While adding the rocks I always try to make sure the inlets in the overflow towers are exposed enough for me to be able to clean them fairly easily as they will grow over with algae and moving the rocks isn't an option once the tank is full.


As I built these towers of rocks I've used 100% clear silicone to attach them to each other and the overflow towers so there is no chance of them being dislodged by fish or water currents. I personally chose to go with silicone instead of an aquarium cement or similar product because I'm doing all the aquascaping while dry and I wanted to secure the rocks but also have it be easy to remove a rock should need be.


Next I will add the sand and glue in the overflow pipes and bulkheads.

 

[sawickib]

Really cool looking giant rock set up right there! I like the crate idea, do you leave them in?
 
And dont mean to hijack the thread, but should i make my rock set up more like that in my 55 gallon tank? I cant necessarily get behind the rocks easily, but i dont have enough room to spread them out...

 

[RRaquariums]

Thanks for the positive input saw. I do leave the egg crate in the tank and in this big of a set up I've actully gone ahead and siliconed it to the bottom of the tank so there's no chance of it slipping around.
As for your tank set up it depends on a lot of things really. In my tank I hope to one day have a yellow tang and possibly some other fish that enjoy a lot of swimming space so I made sure to leave enough room in the front of my tank for them to do that. I also plan on a stocking that includes a lot of small rock dwelling fish that enjoy and need lots of caves and hiding places so I made sure to make those two.
My point is how you set up your rocks has everything to do with what you want to put in the tank so without knowing what you want to have I cant really say what you should do.
However if you do plan to stack the rocks make sure they are well secured because no matter how well you stack the rocks if you don't glue them with something or at the very least make sure they have a good base to sit on they will fall down and either crack the tank or kill fish and both aren't good things.
Ok got the rocks and the egg crate siliconed in and that dried so then I added the sand.
I probably will add more sand as I move forward and see where exactly it needs it.