Hello all, My name is Brian, this thread is geared more toward people my age or lil older (im 33), simply cuz they know reef keeping is a "Hobby" we choose to do during LIFE! the heart of this thread is going to be my newly set up 220g..however i will admit now, sometimes i will post random things and pics that arent solely based on reef aquariums. as the thread goes on youll understand more. I will say usually when i post, i dont get much action anyway. so this is going to be more of something to throw out there since i havent participated lately, due to some things that will come up. I want this thread to be more about the hobby reef keeping experience during life, rather then look at my tankkk LOL
As we all know, reef keeping can have its ups and downs..as we also all know so does life. I started off my converting my 125 fresh water into a mixed reef. yuuuup bought all the worst equipment, cheap equipment, useless and nonsense equipment....Then i was steered towards this site. thennn it all came together. i did a yr and a half of research and revamped my system. had a couple of nanos along the way. i believe i had a 2.5g, 5.5g, 20L, 29g, 40B, and of course the 125. the big tank was always my pride and joy, especially when i started having success with the overall system.
ive been reef keepign for about 11yrs now, and never lost the itch, always want this or that, always tinkering. thats just my hobby..the past couple yrs, life wasnt very nice to me. Had a nice lil run up bad luck, wrong timing, or just stupid $hit would happen to me. By nature im a very positive, out going guy. so i always took the negative in stride wit life. what else could i do..? nada, right,,,,ok boo hoo, enough haha thats life, again ups and downs...So a couple yrs ago i had allll of my family move to PA. For yrs they have been pressing me to join them, im born a raised on the jersey shore, so going country was never inviting to me, i like the city, fast pace life style. So for past lets say year i have been researching pet places for fish and coral around their areas, learning more about RO/DI systems, what salts etc etc.
Suddenly i realized after ending a 10yr relationship and i was at a dead end job for the last 14yrs, that i had nothign holding me back from CHANGE, sometimes change is good and needed..Shocked i was to find my self actually thinking about moving out there. More research followed, figured learn what i can before throwing myself in that position.
i will be posting several pics of old systems that i have had (just to have extra pics in the thread, ppl like pics). i do my best reef keeping with a mixed reef. cant tackle a full SPS tank yet. dosing and all that still gets the best of me. i know i know, dosing pumps. blah blah blah,,,no SPS for me yet, lol, ill stay in my lane for now. i had trouble keeping anemones for a lil while, until i started learning more about them and their true requirements and behavior patterns..but biggest dang nemises right now is a powder blue tang, ive had 7 yr old systems that couldnt keep them alive, they would be only tang in tank, nope didnt work. id have some SPS colonies, LPS colonies, and tons of softys, but nope, no powder blue for this guy!. grrr...usually we all have that one thing we want but just dont work out, either fish or coral wise..
when it comes to planning my reef systems. i like to work from the heart then the appearance, meaning the equipment = heart, then worry about how the rock, fish, coral look = appearance...i always went with good quiality equipment equated to a happy reef regardless of live stock..but since i liked changing tanks so much, more so the nano obviosusly speaking, and planned on upgrading my 125, i tended to purchase equipment that could transfer over for me and just by new bulbs to say, rather then a whole new lighting system. i upgraded my skimmer from time to time in prep for a bigger tank upgrade......so Research and Prepping are key for this beautiful hobby..
So with all this said, heres where we start to catch up to todays time, so no girlfriend, dead end job, no fam around, flirting of thoughts of moving. then end of the month started to approach. So i asked a friend, what do you have planned wit the wife and kids for Halloween, he replied depends on this storm! i was like huh? *** u mean storm? so we went back and forth for a couple mins, to my shock i found out we had a hurricane on path for Jersey. so when i got home i turned on the tv. sure as $hit, hurricane sandy was approaching. and approaching strong. with having a beautiful thriving 125g and 40B, i was honestly tooken back, i even had a lil back and forth chatter on this site about this topic, im not a big tv guy,
so i truly didnt hear about it until coworkers started worring about it. this was like 3 days before the storm happened. ok no biggie right, last yr hurricane irene wasnt bad this shouldnt be bad either. so the did the mandatory evacuation of the town, but i was willing to stay it out. last time i left for no reason. ill move my car in land more and ride it out, lets gooo....suddenly i got a phone call from a friend i grew up with that became a cop in my home town that i lived in. hey wuts up buddy, he replied ur lights are on in your house, i said yea im home, he said i know im outside. i looked and he was walking to my house. we talked for a couple mins, and ive been
in this town for 30yrs, and nothing terrible has happened. he responded, weve never seen something like this Bri....which made this such a reality for ppl reading this. i lived on the beach, my back door was less then 150ft from the beach, nothing behind me but sand dune and water..so i advised him and took what he said seriously and left. went to my cousings house in northern jersey. well when i was able to return to my house, it wasnt how i left it!
The house, the block, and most of the town was destroyed..our area was devasted by this storm...it legit looked like scenes from tv with hurricane katrina in new orleans..total lose..only two house on my block survived only due to new construction and the way they were built. i had a beautiful 125g thriving reef. gone, but my house gone, gone. so i lifted the chin and decided, now is a time more then ever to make a change a see what happens on this next chapter of life. now moving to PA was easy choice for me, my mother had had health issues lately and lives alone on 10 acres. so i remodeld her basement and one of the rooms upstairs for allowing me to move in during this streesful time.im looking at like 2 yrs before my hold house is rebuilt. the landlord owned several other beach front properties so its a waiting game to go back. so for the time being, i dont mind being a 32yr living in moms basement lol so cliche,,this is were the older crowd would understand. sometimes life happens for a reason and opens doors that sometimes you mite not have been able to open on your own..so this too im taking in stride.
so where is all this rambling going. when cleaning out the house and throwing EVERYTHING out, i was concerned for the tank, even though it was a complete lost, i wanted to start back up as soon as possible. i guess thats the husbandry part of it, i wanted a new system up so i could take care of it..when remodeling the basement, i had plans of this and that. but realized i was complicating things cuz of eveything else i was dealing with cuz of the storm and life. so i took a step back, and started game planning. again all equipment was ready for a bigger sized tank anyway. so instead of my traditional stand and canopy look, i went with in wall this time for the
220g build. well it paid off big time, the patience and hard work, blood sweat and tears, allllll worth it everyone. i luv this hobby...but i hate the waiting game,nice diatiom outbreak as the cycle has started..
here are some specs of the system:::
-220g marineland RR aquarium
-i made all 4 ports drilled in the overflow boxes as drains
-125g marineland aquarium-sump
-Mag18 as return pump split with two rotating water eductors coming up over the back of tank
-Koralia wavemaker with two mag8 controllable pumps
-BRS GFO/carbon dual reactor
-octo extreme 200 with stock cup, BB3000 pump upgrade, gate valve mod, micro bubble mod
(i know this is under sized for this total gallon system, but for the next yr say yr and a half, this skimmer will do just fine for this system)
-2x 300w heaters
-375lbs of fiji/tonga rock split between the display and sump
-260-275ish punds in the display and 100-115ish pounds in rubble rock in the fuge/ skimmer section in the sump
-300lbs total of fiji pink sand between the display and sump
-180lbs in the display and a 120lbs in the fuge/DSB section in the sump
sump:
-again 125g split with 3 chambers....left side has lots of rubble rock for pod reproduction, skimmer, filter sock, BRS dual reactor, center has mag18 and heaters, right side has filter sock and a 6.5" DSB as the fuge
-Left chamnber is 36"x18" center chamber 12"x18" Right chamber 24"x18",,,,so each left and right chamber have their own direct feed from the main display tank
-long with the DSB im also going to but chaeto in to also house pods. this will be lit with a 60w 65k bulb sitting over the sand bed
Lighting. this is the brains of the operation. everything is on timers for total sunrise to sunset affect with lunar lights...
-3x hamilton tech cabo pendants
-3x 250w Ushio 14k bulbs
-4x 72" 160W VHO bulbs
-4x LED lunar lights
Lighting cycle goes..
-12pm VHO set #1 actinics turn on- 1xsuper actinic
1x 454
-2pm VHO set #2 mid day turn on - 1xindigo sun
1x 75/25
the koralia wavemaker also turns on
-3pm MH turn on 3x 14k
-9pm MH off
-10 VHO Set #2 off, along with koralias off
-12am VHO set#1 off
-1201am 4x blue LED lunars come on
ive read alot about LEDS and T5s, but MH plus VHOs have always yeilded great success wit me. so i kept to this pattern. the two sets of vhos i currently run,
hads down give me the best look ive ever liked in any of my systems. obviously you get full spectrum when MH turn on, but for using the VHO for actinics and dusk
dawn affect, pfff me likie alottttt..
As we all know, reef keeping can have its ups and downs..as we also all know so does life. I started off my converting my 125 fresh water into a mixed reef. yuuuup bought all the worst equipment, cheap equipment, useless and nonsense equipment....Then i was steered towards this site. thennn it all came together. i did a yr and a half of research and revamped my system. had a couple of nanos along the way. i believe i had a 2.5g, 5.5g, 20L, 29g, 40B, and of course the 125. the big tank was always my pride and joy, especially when i started having success with the overall system.
ive been reef keepign for about 11yrs now, and never lost the itch, always want this or that, always tinkering. thats just my hobby..the past couple yrs, life wasnt very nice to me. Had a nice lil run up bad luck, wrong timing, or just stupid $hit would happen to me. By nature im a very positive, out going guy. so i always took the negative in stride wit life. what else could i do..? nada, right,,,,ok boo hoo, enough haha thats life, again ups and downs...So a couple yrs ago i had allll of my family move to PA. For yrs they have been pressing me to join them, im born a raised on the jersey shore, so going country was never inviting to me, i like the city, fast pace life style. So for past lets say year i have been researching pet places for fish and coral around their areas, learning more about RO/DI systems, what salts etc etc.
Suddenly i realized after ending a 10yr relationship and i was at a dead end job for the last 14yrs, that i had nothign holding me back from CHANGE, sometimes change is good and needed..Shocked i was to find my self actually thinking about moving out there. More research followed, figured learn what i can before throwing myself in that position.
i will be posting several pics of old systems that i have had (just to have extra pics in the thread, ppl like pics). i do my best reef keeping with a mixed reef. cant tackle a full SPS tank yet. dosing and all that still gets the best of me. i know i know, dosing pumps. blah blah blah,,,no SPS for me yet, lol, ill stay in my lane for now. i had trouble keeping anemones for a lil while, until i started learning more about them and their true requirements and behavior patterns..but biggest dang nemises right now is a powder blue tang, ive had 7 yr old systems that couldnt keep them alive, they would be only tang in tank, nope didnt work. id have some SPS colonies, LPS colonies, and tons of softys, but nope, no powder blue for this guy!. grrr...usually we all have that one thing we want but just dont work out, either fish or coral wise..
when it comes to planning my reef systems. i like to work from the heart then the appearance, meaning the equipment = heart, then worry about how the rock, fish, coral look = appearance...i always went with good quiality equipment equated to a happy reef regardless of live stock..but since i liked changing tanks so much, more so the nano obviosusly speaking, and planned on upgrading my 125, i tended to purchase equipment that could transfer over for me and just by new bulbs to say, rather then a whole new lighting system. i upgraded my skimmer from time to time in prep for a bigger tank upgrade......so Research and Prepping are key for this beautiful hobby..
So with all this said, heres where we start to catch up to todays time, so no girlfriend, dead end job, no fam around, flirting of thoughts of moving. then end of the month started to approach. So i asked a friend, what do you have planned wit the wife and kids for Halloween, he replied depends on this storm! i was like huh? *** u mean storm? so we went back and forth for a couple mins, to my shock i found out we had a hurricane on path for Jersey. so when i got home i turned on the tv. sure as $hit, hurricane sandy was approaching. and approaching strong. with having a beautiful thriving 125g and 40B, i was honestly tooken back, i even had a lil back and forth chatter on this site about this topic, im not a big tv guy,
so i truly didnt hear about it until coworkers started worring about it. this was like 3 days before the storm happened. ok no biggie right, last yr hurricane irene wasnt bad this shouldnt be bad either. so the did the mandatory evacuation of the town, but i was willing to stay it out. last time i left for no reason. ill move my car in land more and ride it out, lets gooo....suddenly i got a phone call from a friend i grew up with that became a cop in my home town that i lived in. hey wuts up buddy, he replied ur lights are on in your house, i said yea im home, he said i know im outside. i looked and he was walking to my house. we talked for a couple mins, and ive been
in this town for 30yrs, and nothing terrible has happened. he responded, weve never seen something like this Bri....which made this such a reality for ppl reading this. i lived on the beach, my back door was less then 150ft from the beach, nothing behind me but sand dune and water..so i advised him and took what he said seriously and left. went to my cousings house in northern jersey. well when i was able to return to my house, it wasnt how i left it!
The house, the block, and most of the town was destroyed..our area was devasted by this storm...it legit looked like scenes from tv with hurricane katrina in new orleans..total lose..only two house on my block survived only due to new construction and the way they were built. i had a beautiful 125g thriving reef. gone, but my house gone, gone. so i lifted the chin and decided, now is a time more then ever to make a change a see what happens on this next chapter of life. now moving to PA was easy choice for me, my mother had had health issues lately and lives alone on 10 acres. so i remodeld her basement and one of the rooms upstairs for allowing me to move in during this streesful time.im looking at like 2 yrs before my hold house is rebuilt. the landlord owned several other beach front properties so its a waiting game to go back. so for the time being, i dont mind being a 32yr living in moms basement lol so cliche,,this is were the older crowd would understand. sometimes life happens for a reason and opens doors that sometimes you mite not have been able to open on your own..so this too im taking in stride.
so where is all this rambling going. when cleaning out the house and throwing EVERYTHING out, i was concerned for the tank, even though it was a complete lost, i wanted to start back up as soon as possible. i guess thats the husbandry part of it, i wanted a new system up so i could take care of it..when remodeling the basement, i had plans of this and that. but realized i was complicating things cuz of eveything else i was dealing with cuz of the storm and life. so i took a step back, and started game planning. again all equipment was ready for a bigger sized tank anyway. so instead of my traditional stand and canopy look, i went with in wall this time for the
220g build. well it paid off big time, the patience and hard work, blood sweat and tears, allllll worth it everyone. i luv this hobby...but i hate the waiting game,nice diatiom outbreak as the cycle has started..
here are some specs of the system:::
-220g marineland RR aquarium
-i made all 4 ports drilled in the overflow boxes as drains
-125g marineland aquarium-sump
-Mag18 as return pump split with two rotating water eductors coming up over the back of tank
-Koralia wavemaker with two mag8 controllable pumps
-BRS GFO/carbon dual reactor
-octo extreme 200 with stock cup, BB3000 pump upgrade, gate valve mod, micro bubble mod
(i know this is under sized for this total gallon system, but for the next yr say yr and a half, this skimmer will do just fine for this system)
-2x 300w heaters
-375lbs of fiji/tonga rock split between the display and sump
-260-275ish punds in the display and 100-115ish pounds in rubble rock in the fuge/ skimmer section in the sump
-300lbs total of fiji pink sand between the display and sump
-180lbs in the display and a 120lbs in the fuge/DSB section in the sump
sump:
-again 125g split with 3 chambers....left side has lots of rubble rock for pod reproduction, skimmer, filter sock, BRS dual reactor, center has mag18 and heaters, right side has filter sock and a 6.5" DSB as the fuge
-Left chamnber is 36"x18" center chamber 12"x18" Right chamber 24"x18",,,,so each left and right chamber have their own direct feed from the main display tank
-long with the DSB im also going to but chaeto in to also house pods. this will be lit with a 60w 65k bulb sitting over the sand bed
Lighting. this is the brains of the operation. everything is on timers for total sunrise to sunset affect with lunar lights...
-3x hamilton tech cabo pendants
-3x 250w Ushio 14k bulbs
-4x 72" 160W VHO bulbs
-4x LED lunar lights
Lighting cycle goes..
-12pm VHO set #1 actinics turn on- 1xsuper actinic
1x 454
-2pm VHO set #2 mid day turn on - 1xindigo sun
1x 75/25
the koralia wavemaker also turns on
-3pm MH turn on 3x 14k
-9pm MH off
-10 VHO Set #2 off, along with koralias off
-12am VHO set#1 off
-1201am 4x blue LED lunars come on
ive read alot about LEDS and T5s, but MH plus VHOs have always yeilded great success wit me. so i kept to this pattern. the two sets of vhos i currently run,
hads down give me the best look ive ever liked in any of my systems. obviously you get full spectrum when MH turn on, but for using the VHO for actinics and dusk
dawn affect, pfff me likie alottttt..
