New Tank
by
, 07-21-2010 at 07:43 PM (5052 Views)
Well I finally got to pick up my new tank this last weekend, bought it from Dallas North Aquariums. I've been meaning to post a couple pictures here but we had an unexpected emergency in the family over the weekend also, so it had to wait, my girlfriend's mom passed away in the Philippines so I had to get her and our son to California, then on to the Philippines as soon as I could.
Now for the tank:
It's a 60"X18.5"X19" tank, I guess about 90 gal, they are calling it a 100 gal tank. I'm going to build a different stand for it, this one isn't quite tall enough, only 27" tall and only 18.5" wide. The new stand will be 34" tall and 22" front to back so I can put the Melev sump and MSX200 skimmer under the tank. As you can see in the picture I have already picked up 2 Koralia 3 and 1 Koralia 4 pumps, will get at least 1 more Koralia 4 and I already have a Mag 12 pump for the return that will go into the sump.
For lighting I'm thinking about building a top that will allow me to slide the bulbs out (like a drawer) to change bulbs when needed and will also lift up so I can access the tank. Inside the top I'm thinking of a 6 bulb T5 setup, 2 48" and 4 60" Icecap retrofit kits from ReefGeeks. Any suggestions on how far above the water line I should have will be greatly appreciated.
Next is plumbing, I have never plumbed a tank before so will need a lot of guidence here, as you can see it only has a single weir on the right side and is drilled for a 1"drain and 3/4" return, I believe.
I probably won't have water in it before the end of the year, but when I do I'm planning on about 120 lbs of rock plus the 25 lbs I have in my nano tank. Thinking of going with either 2 or 3 islands, 2 large islands on the outside, towards the back of the tank and a smaller island in the center, towards the front of the tank. Here is a shot of the nano.
As always since this is a work in progress so please feel free to offer any suggestions that you feel will help make this a better reef. I have already learned alot from reading the discussions in here and some of the other sites but I'm also aware that I have only scratched the surface on what I need to learn to be successful with this, so thank you all in advance and I promise, going forward, I will update my progress here with lots of pictures.