Thought we would share our slice of reef with everyone here as we have been lurking for so long.
This tank is 12x4x2.5 with a 9x3x18" sump & replaces our 10ft. Tank has been wet for about 12 weeks but the first corals were transferred over about 10 weeks ago. All of the livestock came from our 10ft which had been running for 4yrs with a 18hr tear down / reset when we moved house 2yrs ago.
It was a bit of a mission to get everything timed with removing the 10ft & getting the 12ft inside. Holding tanks for fish & corals was another matter. All up it was all of August to tear down, install & get wet. After a hectic few months setting up, cleaning up, waiting for the Dino's to settle the tank is starting to take shape. Still have the tail end of the Dino's but another few weeks & they should be sorted.
We have a full build thread in our local forums so this will just show a condensed version lol. I do prattle on so if you like a good read, not sure if I'm allowed to post a link in here tho. This is a much larger forum & we would love to hear your thoughts & views about the build so far. We know it's a big tank so don't need to hear that anymore If you have any thoughts on what we did wrong, what we did right, what we could add, things we haven't thought of that would be great. The setup is nowhere near completed & still a very active build.
This is the 14ft stand we started with, 75 x 75 x 5mm SHS
Stand was fully lined with MDF, then covered with 6mm white acrylic & all joins sealed with white silicone.
The sump was the first piece of glass to turn up.
The next bit to turn up was the skimmer, a huge Bubble King 500 Internal
Once the stand was lined we married the sump, skimmer & stand
The 10ft was dismantled over a couple of days, last pic ever taken of the 10ft
Ended up being the holding tank for a few weeks on the floor
Moving day, long day but all went well taking the stand out of the garage & into the lounge.
DT ready for pick up, 4hr round trip to pick up, & then the install
Back home
In place ready to go
Filling & rock work
Started dropping corals in until the Dino's showed up
Once the algae showed up I lost interest & started playing down below
Return pump controls mounted
Trial fit of DIY reactors
All power supply units mounted, Tunze plugs accessible which is a bonus
Wave maker controls mounted
The worst of the algae after being lazy & letting it get away
That's about where we are up to now. The front electrical panel above is still a work in progress, it will be finished off in white acrylic to match the rest of the stand. The next week is back to finishing off the reactors, syphon out the last of the algae & then start moving our corals up from the frag sections in the sump.
So how are we looking to you? Thoughts, questions or ideas required
This tank is 12x4x2.5 with a 9x3x18" sump & replaces our 10ft. Tank has been wet for about 12 weeks but the first corals were transferred over about 10 weeks ago. All of the livestock came from our 10ft which had been running for 4yrs with a 18hr tear down / reset when we moved house 2yrs ago.
It was a bit of a mission to get everything timed with removing the 10ft & getting the 12ft inside. Holding tanks for fish & corals was another matter. All up it was all of August to tear down, install & get wet. After a hectic few months setting up, cleaning up, waiting for the Dino's to settle the tank is starting to take shape. Still have the tail end of the Dino's but another few weeks & they should be sorted.
We have a full build thread in our local forums so this will just show a condensed version lol. I do prattle on so if you like a good read, not sure if I'm allowed to post a link in here tho. This is a much larger forum & we would love to hear your thoughts & views about the build so far. We know it's a big tank so don't need to hear that anymore If you have any thoughts on what we did wrong, what we did right, what we could add, things we haven't thought of that would be great. The setup is nowhere near completed & still a very active build.
This is the 14ft stand we started with, 75 x 75 x 5mm SHS
Stand was fully lined with MDF, then covered with 6mm white acrylic & all joins sealed with white silicone.
The sump was the first piece of glass to turn up.
The next bit to turn up was the skimmer, a huge Bubble King 500 Internal
Once the stand was lined we married the sump, skimmer & stand
The 10ft was dismantled over a couple of days, last pic ever taken of the 10ft
Ended up being the holding tank for a few weeks on the floor
Moving day, long day but all went well taking the stand out of the garage & into the lounge.
DT ready for pick up, 4hr round trip to pick up, & then the install
Back home
In place ready to go
Filling & rock work
Started dropping corals in until the Dino's showed up
Once the algae showed up I lost interest & started playing down below
Return pump controls mounted
Trial fit of DIY reactors
All power supply units mounted, Tunze plugs accessible which is a bonus
Wave maker controls mounted
The worst of the algae after being lazy & letting it get away
That's about where we are up to now. The front electrical panel above is still a work in progress, it will be finished off in white acrylic to match the rest of the stand. The next week is back to finishing off the reactors, syphon out the last of the algae & then start moving our corals up from the frag sections in the sump.
So how are we looking to you? Thoughts, questions or ideas required