Tim's New 150 Gallon

[mcdonaldtj]

Hi Everyone.

With the purchase of a new house and a perfect place to put it, I decided on a 150 gallon 60" x 24" x 24" tank.

I decided to go with a custom stand and cabinet from a local store here in Temecula and a standard 150 with 2 6" cross braces and center trapezoid overflow. I am using the same equipment that I had in the 40 gallon moved over to this tank

2 DIY LED from Rapid LED (will need more)
20 gallon Long sump
SWC Extreme 160 cone skimmer
Rio HF 10 return pump (looking for an Eheim 1262)
1 MP40 (will need 1 more)
1 Korila 3

On with the Pictures

After first being set up (This tank was heavy lol)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/IMG_0275.jpg

After the live rock move (will probably get more and put sand in)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/IMG_0276.jpg

Closer look
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/IMG_0277.jpg

Left rocks
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/IMG_0279.jpg

Right Rocks
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/IMG_0278.jpg

Thanks everyone for looking, will be doing more aquascaping after I get more rocks.

V/Tim

[ensiferum321]

Wow very nice tank! You live here in temecula now? what part? what store did you buy it from?

[jt_milstead]

Very nice...watch out for the Heni...

[Nick_Kun]

Congrats Tim!

[jessegarcia28]

WOW!Congrats on the new house and the new tank.Looks awesome and great start

[skratchiechan]

Nice Tim! congrats on the house and new tank... and again thank you for all of your advice!

[LotsaFishies]

Very good to see you around again Tim!

Congrats on the new house and tank - both look gorgeous!

Beautiful stand/canopy, I love that stain.

[Allan12]

Double gratz Tim, very nice tank.

[unbereefable]

Lookin good. Do you have anymore room for a larger sump?

[Jarederaj]

Its like a nicer and newer version of mine lol, I wish mine was that nice of wood! Good luck on it!

[mcdonaldtj]

Wow very nice tank! You live here in temecula now? what part? what store did you buy it from?
Thank you very much, I am right accross the street from Pechanga, I ordered everything from Gills Marine here in Temecula, he has a cabinet place that he goes to for any stand and canopy work. They did an outstanding job.


Very nice...watch out for the Heni...
Thanks JT have to learn to aquascape like you can :), what are the specifics about the Heni that I have to look out for other than picking at SPS and Zoo's?


Congrats Tim!
Thanks Nick I was inspired by your new Nano LOL.


WOW!Congrats on the new house and the new tank.Looks awesome and great start
Thanks Jesse, the space was perfert for the tank.


Nice Tim! congrats on the house and new tank... and again thank you for all of your advice!
Thank you very much, and any time.


Very good to see you around again Tim!
Thank you, I bought the sump tank from you, I think that I am going to have to go bigger tank for the sump just for power outage space.

Congrats on the new house and tank - both look gorgeous!
Thank you very much I am stoked about both. :)

Beautiful stand/canopy, I love that stain.
Thank I am too, my wife thinks it is too dark though.


Double gratz Tim, very nice tank.
Thanks Allan cant match your tank though :)


Lookin good. Do you have anymore room for a larger sump?
Thank you very much, Yep sure do, I made the stand 36" tall to have plenty of room. I am looking to get a bigger one but would need the bigger return pump first :), one step at a time LOL.


Its like a nicer and newer version of mine lol, I wish mine was that nice of wood! Good luck on it!
:) Thanks I love it too.

[jt_milstead]

Nick is the scaping guru....You know about him nipping then..lol

[mcdonaldtj]

Nick is the scaping guru....You know about him nipping then..lol

HEHEHE Yep caught him nipping at some paly's but it is those invasive blue ones that I cant seem to get rid of so I am actually pretty happy if he knocks those out though LOL.

V/Tim

[ensiferum321]

I see, very nice! Jeff is a great guy. Welcome to the neighborhood


Thank you very much, I am right accross the street from Pechanga, I ordered everything from Gills Marine here in Temecula, he has a cabinet place that he goes to for any stand and canopy work. They did an outstanding job.

[mcdonaldtj]

So I have a test going on in my tank, I dont have enough LED's currently so I decided to put my 4 x 39 watt t-5 on one side and my LED's on the other. I am going to see if there is a difference in the way that the corals behave. The T-5 is definitely dimmer but I need to change out 2 of the bulbs for ATI blue plus bulb and see how that changes it.

V/Tim

[nanoreefbro]

Great job Tim, glad to see your still in the hobby! Are you going to keep it bb?

[jt_milstead]

Hey Tim try this one....

http://www.marinedepot.com/Eheim_Compact%2b_Pump_Aquarium_Powerheads_Compact_ Pumps-Eheim-EH11036-FIPHCP-vi.html

[NickSDC]

Congrats on the house Tim! The cabinetry is gorgeous.

[mcdonaldtj]

Congrats on the house Tim! The cabinetry is gorgeous.

Thanks Nick I appreciate it, I am going to take more pics tomorrow :).

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

Great job Tim, glad to see your still in the hobby! Are you going to keep it bb?

Thanks brother, I dont think that I would ever get out completely. Now I have to make the baffles to put into my 40 gallon for a new sump.

V/Tim

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

Hey Tim try this one....

http://www.marinedepot.com/Eheim_Compact%2b_Pump_Aquarium_Powerheads_Compact_ Pumps-Eheim-EH11036-FIPHCP-vi.html

I was looking for a 1262 after I put the baffles in my 40 gallon for a new sump.

[mcdonaldtj]

So another slight change, The 4x 39 watt was defininately not enough so I moved the led's to each side and put in 3 x 80 watt T-5's 1 ATI Blue +, 1 ATI Coral + bulb, and 1 ATI Purple +. I love the color so much more with the T-5's I will do some adjustments to my LED's with different color's at a later time. Right now I love the color as is.

Here is an Iphone Video that really doesnt show the colors that well.

http://youtu.be/cZORtXH66Pk

Thanks for looking.

V/Tim

[skratchiechan]

Nice Tim cant wait til that thing is stocked up!

[bbandu]

Very nice

[mcdonaldtj]

Thanks all, I am fighting hair algae right now, I didnt check my filters and realized that my tds rose to 13ppm and I have no idea how long it was like that. I am still drying out my sand from the 40 after good cleaning and I will put a small layer down. I dont think that I want to much but to me the bare botom is ugly.

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

So I thought that I would take some more pictures, got some more live rock from Cris awesome guy, changed out the sump to a custom acrylic sump from Fish King (this thing is built like a tank), added some anthias and removed the heni (ate my palys). Here are the pictures

FTS

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/150FTSTank23Feb.jpg

Left Side

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/150LTside23Feb.jpg
Right Side
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/150RTside23Feb.jpg
New Sump
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/150Sump2.jpg

Still trying to get rid of some Hair Algea (I probably should test for PHOS LOL)

[mcdonaldtj]

Oh I forgot the picture of the lights.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/150lights.jpg

[mcdonaldtj]

Well just thought I would update with a few pics, it is so hard to get the correct color with the LED's, This is close though.

FTS
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/P1010011.jpg
Left Side
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/P1010010.jpg
Right Side
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/150%20gallon/P1010009.jpg

I will try to get some individual coral pics tommorow

Tim

[naso tang]

very nice looking tank tim, the LED built looks really nice!! Definitely looks better with sand...

[nanoreefbro]

Awesome tank Tim, congrats! Sent you a pm...

[seareef]

Very nice Tim :thrasher:

[mcdonaldtj]

thanks everyone things are finally starting to come together now.

V/Tim

[davocean]

Looks really nice, I like your scape and the color you're getting out of that bulb combo.
That cabinet looks really nice too, nice finish.
I like it w/ sand best too.

[mcdonaldtj]

Very nice Tim :thrasher:

Thanks Chad I am trying to catch up to your system.

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

Looks really nice, I like your scape and the color you're getting out of that bulb combo.
That cabinet looks really nice too, nice finish.
I like it w/ sand best too.

Thanks Dave, I am definitely liking the colors as well, and I think that the corals like the different type of lights as well.

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

very nice looking tank tim, the LED built looks really nice!! Definitely looks better with sand...

Your corals love my tank, The tri-color is awesome.

V/Tim

[mcdonaldtj]

So after many changes I thought I would update this thread.

1. Stopped Dosing and added a GEO calcium reactor
2. Completely changed the DIY LED light, first went back to T-5 and after dealing with Power and heat decided to do a full spectrum LED setup and APEX controller.

Tank is doing OK because new job has kept me from changing the water as much as I would like (last water change was 2 months), I created a pillar style rock work on the left and middle of the tank but the RBTA's have kept me from doing it on the left ( I have 3 of them now)

Well here is the updated pictures.

Full tank shot
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/5d6ff3bd7d43e77192c5c64b0c70d78d.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/5d6ff3bd7d43e77192c5c64b0c70d78d.jpg.html)

Right Side


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/79de293a674ddacb084066c15b2429cb.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/79de293a674ddacb084066c15b2429cb.jpg.html)

Left side
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/0091c5a6d2847179f9ac26c059e12a40.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/0091c5a6d2847179f9ac26c059e12a40.jpg.html)
Misc Coral Shots
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/93298c1eafdf276d0e23a7470a215651.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/93298c1eafdf276d0e23a7470a215651.jpg.html)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/57ce687c90959bd793ac24105da04ab0.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/57ce687c90959bd793ac24105da04ab0.jpg.html)

[mcdonaldtj]

More
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/a6b3d5761d91886a6653b57e8c1f35b0.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/a6b3d5761d91886a6653b57e8c1f35b0.jpg.html)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/4b37292dc81b18f7e74d35735d825c09.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/4b37292dc81b18f7e74d35735d825c09.jpg.html)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/1557395db6d10273cbcdd53355188de9.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/1557395db6d10273cbcdd53355188de9.jpg.html)

[mcdonaldtj]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/43a668c3591e3ce4ed8a9ef45fbf5ec8.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/43a668c3591e3ce4ed8a9ef45fbf5ec8.jpg.html)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/1fda93b10046cabc6c29d8c3d4790caf.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/1fda93b10046cabc6c29d8c3d4790caf.jpg.html)http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/0f925c5d2055fe7675222a2bc1b14cd7.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/0f925c5d2055fe7675222a2bc1b14cd7.jpg.html)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/mcdonaldtj/c892ceea83b9336f7454dcd2e89ba2e8.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/mcdonaldtj/media/c892ceea83b9336f7454dcd2e89ba2e8.jpg.html)

Taking pictures with the LED's is difficult and I haven't had the time to learn it completely yet so the pictures turned out quite blue (much more than in person but I though I would update everyone

V/Tim

[naso tang]

Lookin good tim. Lots of open space! To get rid of the led blue I've been shooting in raw format and using the dropper tool in photoshop, works pretty good as long as you are shooting with the whites on...

[Vince]

Looks great love the three yellows

[SteveParkinson]

Nice update, the tank looks really good Tim!

Steve