My new reef set up

[andrew catling]

Hi all,

At long last i'm nearly there!
Trying to get everything sorted in time for xmas was a big task and I failed with honours.
On Christmas day my living room looked like a aquarium warehouse Luckily I have an very understanding wife who likes fish, although the kids were'nt impressed.
Anyway, the tank and cabinet have been delivered plus all the other bits i've bought so i'm currently putting everything together.
Will post some pics soon.

 

[Navarre]

Sounds great! Looking forward to the photos

 

[Great Lakes]

Luckily I have an very understanding wife who likes fish

It started that way for me too, but now even she is giving me funny looks...

GL

 

[andrew catling]

Here's my reef rack,

It's black filter grid with an acrylic strip at the front, moulded to shape with a hot air gun.
The spray bar is running behind the rack powered by a 1100 ltr p/h powerhead.

 

[andrew catling]

The sump is in along with the fresh water auto top up.

I'm running a natural system with miracle mud, mangroves and algae, no skimmer!

 

[andrew catling]

My house gets very hot in the summer, my Discus tank would hit 84 degrees in the summer without heaters so I decided to put in a chiller (bloody expensive)
All hard plumbing now complete

 

[Navarre]

Very impressive!
The building blocks of a fantastic sytem im willing to bet!

 

[jflowers]

Looking good, what size tank is that, 75g?

Can't wait to see the next pics. Are you going to take us through it stage by stage? That would be very good.

Jon

 

[andrew catling]

Thanks for the supportive comments guys.

jflowers, I will post pics as I progress.

Cheers.

 

[andrew catling]

Phew!!! huge sigh of relief wet run was successful with no leaks in hard plumbing
Ran tank for 24 hours just to be sure.
I've now added salt and substrate, rock going in tomorrow

 

[RamJet]

Wow, nice set up. I wish my wife was that understanding. She is way visting relatives and I was thinking I might try to push my luck and get a shark tank, but every time I get to the LFS I get cold feet. Sharks are cool and all, but not as cool as staying married. Man O man I like your set up. I have been trying to come up with what I could say to her when she gets home. So far all I have is "But Darling, you want the other kids to think I am cool, don't you?" or "I am researching a cure for fungusamongus, this could make us rich some day." She often complanes that our home smells like the LFS, I wonder if one more tank would reverse that or make it worse?

 

[Navarre]

I would think the hardest part is convincing her to allow a tank of suitable size to be placed in the house! My 220 gallon 7ft monster is nowhere near large enough and if i asked for a larger tank im sure she would bury me with it

 

[RamJet]

LOL, my dream is to have a 4000 gal. salt water pond indoors. But I know that about the time I got the hole in the ground, she whould fill it back in with me in it. So, looks like I am going to have to wait. Wives dont live forever right? Knowing my luck she will, just to pi$$ me off. Just kidding, I do love her dearly.

 

[andrew catling]

Ramjet,

That's a very nice looking tank you have, can only hope mine looks as good in time.
Went to STM today in sevenoaks Kent, very nice shop.
Purchased my live rock 30 kg £280 but who cares this hobby grabs you by the B#### and does'nt let go.
Even with my small set up I've spent a small fortune.

Navarre big is beautiful... filling that tank with LR is gonna hurt

If only I was rich...

 

[jflowers]

Went to STM today in sevenoaks Kent, very nice shop.
Purchased my live rock 30 kg £280 but who cares this hobby grabs you by the B#### and does'nt let go.
Even with my small set up I've spent a small fortune.

Just worked out that my LR cost me £246 for 17kg so you got a good deal, spose it pays to buy it all at once. I got mine in 5kg steps with the extra 2kg being odd bits I picked up here and there.

Jon