As promised, here are some updates

[Doug1]

Looks Good Jay, Asia seems to have a wet thumb, now take care of yourself and get better

[Alice]

Jay, tell Asia she gets a gold star! The tank is looking great; thanks for the pics.

[thefatman]

yeah, funny how the growth and spreading takes place after i have a heart attack and asia takes over maintenance

[cath]

Wooo Hoooo, Asia!!!! You're takin' care of Dad and his tank!!!

Looking good, Jay

[tangcrazy]

great pictures, great tank, I love your tunnel idea, get well and take care of your future reef keeper.

[alaskaknucklehead]

AWESOME!!!

[Geoff]

Originally posted by thefatman
yeah, funny how the growth and spreading takes place after i have a heart attack and asia takes over maintenance

Well Yaaa! you are not sticking you silly hand in there every hour trying to find that perfect spot for that one zoa that came loose.

Looking good Jay and Asia!!

Asia-keep up the good work.

Jay-get your butt back in bed and rest up.

G~

[thefatman]

thanks for the compliments everyone. and i'll be sure to pass them on to asia as well

i notice a lot of new names around here!!! and i have to tell you for those who dont know me. i started my FIRST reeftank on february 27th. that was a 20l (which is now my fuge) that lasted a whole month, then i setup a new one, with an old 55g i found in my garage, that lasted i think a month, before is tarted construction of the new tank

i spent, i think 4 or 5 months building this tank (the stand and plumbing) before i brought it in the hosue and transferred everything from the 55 to the 75.

i now have a 75 with a 45g sump (i built the sump) a 20L fuge, and a 10g fw holding resivoir for top off ( i built that as well) i did all the plumbing, did everything on the stand, and wired in all the lights.

EVERYTHING i learned about keeping a reef came from the folks here at TRT

i'll post a few quick equipment pics, then i'm gettin my butt back in bed

[thefatman]

this is my 20g fuge, placed below the main tank, viewable through the stand. it hosues a few random hermits that were cuaght picking at corals, and also houses a blue damsel, that i couldnt bear to get rid of, but everyone warned me not to put it in the main tank so he went in the fuge, and got his own apartment.

the fuge looks horrible and really needs to be cleaned! it has all sorts of algae. green stuff and even some cyano. but NONE in the main tank, so i guess the fuge is doing its job ! lol.. it also has tons of sand fauna growing in it, and is a pretty good detritus trap as it has a slower flow through it, but has a powerhead inside for circulation.

it is lighted by a 50/50 noflo light.

[thefatman]

this is my fw holding tank. i made this it was my second acrylic project.

it's jsut slightly over 10 gallons and sits above the sump, next to the tank. it feeds water into my kalkwasser reactor, which then feeds top off water into the sump.

the plumbing you see is my external durso for the main tank, and is actually behind the holding tank. in the back yo ucan barely see the ball valves and pump for my closed loop system.

dont be alarmed by the cheap test kits in front. the good kits are in baggies and hang on the door to the cabinet

[thefatman]

and here is my sump and other equipment.

on the right is my combo reactor. i have the kalkwasser side setup and working, supplying kalk dosed top off water to replace daily evaporation, its running on a float switch, and is fed from the fw holding tank above it.

the calcium side is not setup yet, but i did finally get a 20pound c02 tank (christmas present form one of my sisters), now i jsut have to get a recirculation pump and a a regulator/guages and i can set that up.

on the left in the back is my precision marine skimmer that i got from casey

and in the front is my skimmate colelction cup. i made that, and the white pvc on top of it, holds a sponge and a bag of activated carbon... no more smells

the nof course, holding it all together is the 45g sump i made. that was my first acrylic project, and of course, the birth of the ugly sump

pay no attention to the blue airhoses and air pump. that was a auto dosing chemical project i was trying, that didnt quite work out, and i've been too lazy to pull the hoses and pump back out and tidy up the area again lolol

at the top you can see how i split my drain pipe form the main tank ( the external durso) into two pipes. one goes directly to the sump, the other to the fuge. that way i could have slower flow through the fuge. then the fuge drains to the sump. it all gets skimmed and pumped back to the tank.

i get NO BUBBLES and dont use any sort of sponge or filter media. jsut good (lucky) placement of the weirs, and i get a good slow flow through the sump, so the water can be skimmed, and it also is an excellant detritus trap as well.

and, as yo ucan see on the left, i get some good dark green skimmate

[dwall174]

Jay it looks like you & the tank are in good hands! Hang in there & take it easy.

[thefatman]

ok, last picture, and i PROMISE i'm going to bed

just wanted to post a pic of what the stand looks like, not only for the newer folks, but also so the rest of you can see that i finally did finish mounting all the handles and knobs on the doors

you can jsut barely notice the red night lights in the display

[alaskaknucklehead]

wow, that is one nice set up!
Every time I see a set up like yours, I am sure to share it with my spouse, "I need one of those.... and I should have two of those..... and Im gonna have to do that and this and......see we need that too"

[adrianleewelch]

That is a great setup, Im hoping to achieve the same type, once I get time to do it all, I love the cave and experimented with the aquascaping to try to get a similar effect but my rocks were all too bizarre in shape, anyway, Hope you get feeling better, thanks for the great pics and ideas