Last November I drove up to Detroit and picked up this new setup. I wanted a 6' tank but 125s are too narrow and 180s too high. I wanted a short tank so I could work on it without a step ladder. I found this 150 that is 6' x 2' x 20"high. It came with a custom sump (around 65 gallons) and custom ato tank that holds about 20 gallons - both fit under the stand (another must). You can see to the right of the tank is a setup to get ro/di water right next to the tank to fill up the ato and for water changes. I bought a 3x150watt metal halide plus 4x96watt pc outer orbit light fixture. Right now, I'm thinking of an Octo Extreme 200 for a skimmer. I still need to figure out what pumps I'm going to use for flow. 2 mp40s?



and here's a pic of a passed out cat

Man if divorces weren't so expensive I would go buy a tank like that tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see you get it going.

WOW!


just WOW!

that's a 125 BTW

150

6x12=72
2x12=24
20 is already in inches
24x72x20=34560
34560 / 231 = 149.6

Nope, its 2' wide, not 18". 150 is right.


Awesome tank! Welcome to the 6' club. You'll like it here. I just joined the 2' wide ranks myself. The 180 is damn tall, but I'd need the step ladder even with the 150 long, my stand is 36" tall.

2 mp40s would be awesome. I have Koralia 4s.

I can vouch for the RO Extreme 200, it's an excellent skimmer for the money.

I'll be following along, good luck!

Isn't it widely known that Bubble Magus is pretty much the best thing going now for the money?

Nope. Everything I'm reading is saying it's a toss-up between the Extreme and the Magus. Can't really go wrong with either. I went with the Extreme.

I've owned 2 Octopus skimmers that I've been happy with - I'll check out the Bubble Magus.

Sweet setup, now get some water in there!

getting a Vertex tomorrow....i'll keep everyone posted

Best aquarium dimensions ever (not including the DD series)?


I think so.....

whats that water hose thing i see on the back? used in your tank or no?

Nanoty - The dimensions are what sold me on the tank.

Steve - Connected to that spicket is a hose that you would find connected to a washing machine. It's not used in the tank. My ro/di water runs out of it. I was making sure it was long enough to reach the ato reservoir.

I seriously think you just found me my next tank.

Dual MP40s would be nice. Any thoughts on doing a CL for it?

Also, what are your stocking plans? Personally I am becoming a fan of minimal liverock and a few large colonies of SPS or LPS but that's just me.

I'm becoming a fan of this look myself.

Following along.

I'm with you guys, I'm not a fan of the "fruit stand" look with a ton of frags. I am planning on a mixed reef but with an emphasis on anemones and lps (love acans and fungia). I am also thinking of adding my first clam(s) - been in the hobby almost 5 years and have never had one. What I really have no clue about is which fish for this tank. I've always concentrated on the corals and anemones with fish being an after thought. Right now I have a pair of b&w clowns, a ywg and a falco hawkfish. Lately, I've been reading a lot of horror stories about anemones eating folk's fish, so I'll need to be careful.

I too am "guilty" of forgetting about the fish. Personally I like the look of multiple fish in a tank but REALLY like how less stress seems to be on the entire reef with an extremely low bioload.

Anemones and LPS would be sweet. Are you thinking BTAs or carpets? I've heard lots of horror stories of carpets snatching fish but not so much with BTAs (not that it doesnt happen). Just get cheap fish and it won't matter

I am in the process (will be this weekend) of thinning out my huge pile of LR and some of my colonies into a simpler, more random aquascape.

Ordered 2 x mp40s last night. Hopefully that will be it for flow, but if not I think I will replace my current loc-line returns with these flow accelerators - http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=19714

Now down to skimmers - Here's my short list:
Octo Extreme 200
Octopus Super Reef 3000
SWC Xtreme 200
Bubble Magus BMP200P
Vertex IN250

They range in price from $290 - $400
Of course, I'm leaning towards the most expensive one - the Octopus Super Reef because of the bubble blaster pump and I love that the skimmer has an integrated gate valve - http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...ory_Code=oct-sr

I really need to find some sand - I like about 1.5 - 2 inches of a sand bed. I was looking at the Marco Rocks sand but I think it might be too fine for the vortechs.

Any thoughts are welcomed.

bubble magus BMP200_P

Holly hell!!! That is one sexay tank!!!

Following for sure!!!

DO SOMETHING!!!!

I'm just about done assembling the hardware - I'm going to order the octopus super reef skimmer later today - http://reefwarehouse.com/Protein%20skimmer-p-4466.html

Just need to give the tank, sump and ato reservoir a quick clean. Finish up a little plumbing and then I'm ready for water. The Vortechs should be here tomorrow. I have some rock left over from my old 50 but I need some more and I still need some sand.

Here's another pic with the cabinet doors open - to the left is the ato reservoir and the sump is on the right.

Is that two tanks inside the cabinet?

Looking good, watching this one.........don't screw it up

Nice dimensions!! I wish my 125 was just a little wider...

Sweet set up! Following along.

FWIW, I tried the Marcorock sand and I am not a fan. Very fine. Corals lacked any PE due to being constantly covered in dust.

To give an idea of how fine, I found I could "suspend" a 3/4 full 5g bucket of sand topped up with water.just mixing by hand for a short while. I wound up adding some Fiji pink and it helped keep the dust and fines down.

JME.

Good luck with this one. I agree, awesome dimensions.

Yes there are, the brace is blocking the view in the pic.


I'm a large tank noob so


That is exactly what I was thinking when I went looking for a large tank - 6' but wider than 18"


I've been reading the same thing about the marcorock sand, so I just ordered some sand from the good Drs.. Thanks for the review and following along.

After aquascaping my first 24" wide tank last night...I'll never go back. I can't wait to see my results once the sand is settled tonight.

When do you think you'll have water in yours?

Your 180 already looks good. I can't imagine how much work that took.

I'd like to start this week/weekend - it's going to take me a good week to fill due to work and the limited output of my ro/di.

Thanks. It was a lot of work, but well worth it now that I'm close to the end result.

I would be in trouble if I were waiting on my RO unit, too. Free filtered NSW, ftw. I actually went at lunch and grabbed 30 gallons. Tomorrow I'll go get the rest of what I'll need.

i approve of this thread


oh, and that aquarium is hawt

Thanks j5c077 - Frodo is good cat (most of the time).


Short Update:

I ended up ordering the octopus super reef 3000 for a protein skimmer. I like that the pump has a 3 year warranty and the skimmer also has an integrated gate valve to control the water level. I need to finish up a little plumbing - 2 connections. The sand just came yesterday so that needs rinsing. The Vortechs need to go on the tank. The light fixture is still in the box so I was thinking of getting that out and seeing if the acjr that I have running my biocube is going to handle the lights plus what I need it to on this new tank or if I need to add a new controller to my equipment list.

So the plan right now is to have this up and running by next weekend. I need to find more rock and get the tank cycled. I leave for a week's vacation in March and when I get back I think I will be ready to move over the biocube - my mixed reef tank and then after that gets settled I still have the 25 gallon anemone tank to move over.

Getting there. Finished the plumbing, added the mp40s and set up the sump. Every day I'm adding about 40 gallons of ro/di. Here's some pics:


New skimmer - cat and bucket for size comparison

Please hurry and set this tank up already.........and then let me come live with you.

Sure - if you can cook and clean - my wife would allow it for sure!! You must like snow too!!


Tank is almost full of water now. Last night I started to add salt and got the mp40s going. Tonight I think I'm going to add the dry rock I have. It needs a good scrubbing because it was covered with caulerpa when I pulled it out. I did have a problem with my new stealth heater - as soon as I plugged it in it began sending out bubbles and smelled like it was burning up. I called marineland and they are sending out a new one.

.....and I'm out.....

Well, she's finally up and running. Still waiting on the new heater - the one I'm using can't get the tank up past 72. Still need to set up the fuge, ato and I haven't turned the skimmer on yet either. I could use some more rock - hoping I can find some local but if not I think I'll go with marco rocks.

Hell yeah, well worth the wait!

OMG, I want to do things to your tank. Don't put too much rock, it'll ruin the tank. Like too much ice in whiskey.

Looking great. That is my next tank.

Nicee lookin' tank! What kind of substrate are you using?

WATER!!

Looks good. I'm with nanoty, don't add too much.

I won't add that much more rock - I just need enough for the anemones to attach too. Most of the real estate I want to be sand that I can place acans and fungia on.


The bottom layer is a 30lb bag of carib sea aragonite sugar sized sand. Then I added two 40lb bags of the carib sea seaflor special grade reef sand. It is really a nice sized sand.

I am disappointed that the moon lights are white and not blue on this light fixture. I love the blue moon lights that are on my sunpod. Eventually, I am going to buy some supplemental blue led moon lights. I was thinking of 3 or 4 of these - http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/prod...fm?pcatid=12760

The Aragonite Special Grade is nice sand for sure. I have 3 of those moon lights over my 125. They work well.

Update:
Getting ready to do my first water change. My first batch of rock seems to have cycled already, no ammonia or nitrite, just nitrate. Rocks are a little hairy and some diatoms on the sand. I'm waiting for 50lbs of dry rock that I'm getting from John at reefcleaners. Some of the rock will go into the display and the rest will go into the fuge.

In other news, my bta took out a nice flower anemone that I got from sealifeinc. When I got this bta a year ago he was bleached out and half-dollar sized. Now he's about 10" across, green with pink tips. I just added a pair of b&w clowns to him and now he won't display any bubble tips. That's right he did have bubble tips without the clowns and now he doesn't. Here's a pic:

Bta are weird, i have one with no bubbles and one with bubbles and the clownfish host both back and forth.
I took a clone of the one with bubbles and put it in a separate tank, and now it has no bubbles.

I gave up trying to figure the whole bubble thing out..

Well my rock came today, the box is totaled. It looks like they dropped it about a hundred times. I don't have the heart to bring it inside and open it. I just barely picked it up and could tell it's now just rubble.

I am happy to report that despite the box's condition, the rock seems to have made it surprisingly well. Just a small amount of rubble. There are four nice pieces that will be in the display and the rest can go into the fuge. I thought for sure that the rock was all rubble, glad I was wrong. Thanks John at reefcleaners.