OMFG's SPS Solana Tank

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

After some research, and free time, I have decided to break down the 24g Aquapod and upgrade to a 34g Current Solana system. I've heard great things about these tanks, and I love the look. I had it special ordered to my LFS yesterday, and today they got it - Tank and Stand for $500.

 

Here is what I'll be running:

 

TUNZE NANO DOC PROTEIN SKIMMER 9002

JBJ AUTOMATIC TOP OFF (ATO) SYSTEM

1/15HP PRIME CHILLER W/ DUAL THERMO

24IN OUTER ORBIT 1X250W 10K HQI-MH W/ 4X24W T5 HO & 12 LUNAR LIGHTS

TUNZE TURBELLE NANOSTREAM 6025 2x

CORAL PRO SALT MIX 55GAL

AquaCJR Controller from Reefgeeks.net with serial port and temp probe (opted out of the ph probe and now wish I got it)

25lb Cured Live Rock from my Aquapod System Acquired orginally from sealifeinc.

 

 

These items are meant to be shipped to my house by tomorrow so I took the day off from work. Hopefully they all come in one piece. One thing I am looking to add is a Korallin Ca Reactor. I am still reading more into them, but will definitely look to some automated calcium reactor running off my pH.

 

It will remain empty as I am in the process of moving (upstairs one floor - currently going through renovations). When the bedroom is ready, I will fill the tank up and add the salt mix, test for leaks and basically run the live rock upstairs and into the tank so that it will remain cured with little to no cycle.

 

I will be running it barebottom in hopes of getting an SPS tank so I'm skeptical as to what I am giong to do with my BSJF =( Maybe I will see if he can adjust to a barebottom if I can create some sort of home for him using PVC pipes. More to come later, but for now, here are the pics as of late:

 

 

 

 

 

More later...

 

- Tony

[Matty1124]

looking good!! cant wait to see it started... bare bottom sps tanks are killer just make sure you point one of the nanostreams at the bottom to keep deterius off the bottom of the tank

 

i love those tanks, great dimentions on them

[PodRod]

Hey Tony - why didn't you buy my chiller? Just kidding . Can't wait to see how the new tank comes along and I'm real interested in how you position the skimmer. I think you'll really like this tank - I sure do.

 

That is the first pic I've seen of the stand in a color other than black and I REALLY like it.

[Biocube14GAL]

lets see that tunze skimmer in action

[dtfleming]

I would also consider dose kalk also with a stirrer or adding it to your topoff if your planning on an all sps tank.

[archx]

you got that quick. looks really nice and I like the stand's color...matches your floor. did you check for leaks already?

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

Hey Tony - why didn't you buy my chiller? Just kidding . Can't wait to see how the new tank comes along and I'm real interested in how you position the skimmer. I think you'll really like this tank - I sure do.

 

That is the first pic I've seen of the stand in a color other than black and I REALLY like it.

 

Thanks, I really like the color as well, but the floor upstairs is a little lighter in color, but still nice. Wanted to stay away from dark furniture.

 

In regards to your chiller, it's because you sold me out!!!!! (no pun intended)

 

 

lets see that tunze skimmer in action

 

I'm going to be cutting that magnet off tomorrow for a good hour. =( Watch me break it. lol

 

 

I would also consider dose kalk also with a stirrer or adding it to your topoff if your planning on an all sps tank.

 

I was thinking of having the korallin hooked up to my ACJR, having it turn on when the ph drops below 8, and a simple aqualifter to some kalk kick in then the pH goes above 8.2. We shall see... More info to follow once I do enough research.

 

you got that quick. looks really nice and I like the stand's color...matches your floor. did you check for leaks already?

 

Didn't check for leaks yet. I did get it fast, I was suprised myself. With my luck it's probably a leaker =D

 

I hope not though. Not going to test it for leaks until another week or at least I can get the OK to start moving things up from the contractors...

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

I'm in the process of adding water, modding the tunze's, and I notice my solana is leaking on the back left corner. The water creeps out very slowly as I can see one small drop of wet spot getting bigger and bigger very slowly on the stand. I tracked down the leak easily and will resort to aquarium silicon and see the results of that... more later... =(

[121a]

i'm sorry but i have to laugh at the travel size shampoo container they call an auto top off.

 

Hope to see it running soon!

[archx]

I'm in the process of adding water, modding the tunze's, and I notice my solana is leaking on the back left corner. The water creeps out very slowly as I can see one small drop of wet spot getting bigger and bigger very slowly on the stand. I tracked down the leak easily and will resort to aquarium silicon and see the results of that... more later... =(

 

Dang! good luck with the silicone. However, I think another poster experienced the same problem and he was recommended to exchange it. Since it'll be awhile before you can move it upstairs, might be worthwhile to see if you can get another one

[UWW]

just so you know the tank is 20" long so I would hang the light if I was you.

 

I have the solana and love it

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

Dang! good luck with the silicone. However, I think another poster experienced the same problem and he was recommended to exchange it. Since it'll be awhile before you can move it upstairs, might be worthwhile to see if you can get another one

 

I know but it's already upstairs now, and with 30% water filled. Got the OK to have that area for the tank. Since it's my day off (and I seldom get days off, I took the op of xfering it today, or at least trying to). It's hard to give candy back once you get it. The water spot stops growing after a while, so I assume it stops "leaking".

 

just so you know the tank is 20" long so I would hang the light if I was you.

 

I have the solana and love it

 

I have seen people with great success using the outer orbit resting on top of the solana. Shouldn't be too bad, although now that I see it, it does look big.

[archx]

I know but it's already upstairs now, and with 30% water filled. Got the OK to have that area for the tank. Since it's my day off (and I seldom get days off, I took the op of xfering it today, or at least trying to). It's hard to give candy back once you get it. The water spot stops growing after a while, so I assume it stops "leaking".

 

Ok. sounds good to me. enjoy that puppy!

 

 

I have seen people with great success using the outer orbit resting on top of the solana. Shouldn't be too bad, although now that I see it, it does look big.

 

I had the tank running and the light sitting in the closet because I wanted to sell it and get another fixture. Since I wasn't getting any bites, I decided to try it out especially since I was cycling and needed some lighting. Although it's a bit wide, once you get the lunars, T5s and MH running, it looks awesome on the tank.

 

It's one heavy fixture though, but the edges of the tank and legs will hold it with no problem.

[UWW]

I'd love to see pics

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

Love to show you what I have. The day didn't turn out as I had planned. It seems that the two back corners where the false wall begins have SMALLLLLL very small leaks. The LFS guy told me it may happen often enough that no one realizes it since it's very small (and it is because when I emptied it, I lifted it, and there was like mL's of drops. I went out to get some AGA silicon since it's black and came back to find out I had to empty out the water I had in it. I quickly siphoned it out, dried up the two corners and applied the silicon. 24-48 hours must go by for me to add water. So I worked on the mods...

 

I modded my tunze nanostream, for those who have trouble finding the mods (like I did) here it is quick and easy. If you pop the cap off, you remove the tube there fore allowing more water to pass through rather than it being limited by the tube

 

 

Next I removed the magnet, didn't take too long since I brute forced the hell out of it, thanks to arch's link for the easy visual:

 

 

Here is a picture of the Solana with the fixture. Since it's 250w it has a ballast which I find pretty annoying, but I'll make do.

 

 

 

And finally the chiller that I didn't even open yet as well as the JBJ that I didn't bother looking at yet

 

 

 

This Saturday is the day I plan on continuing the project. Hopefully by then I wil have my rocks xfered. I contacted my LFS and told them about my BSJF and told me they woudl credit me on future purchases if I decide to drop it off.

 

Regarding the leak (i hate saying the word leak cuz I feel it isn't) if it continues on Saturday, I will just ignore it or use some sort of Under water gel.

 

Tony

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

After fixing the leak (finally) I was able to transfer my live stock (live rock, snails, and whatever corals I decided to not give away) to my new Solana.

 

The ACJR is working great, and I (Finally) got it to function. Thanks to Podrod for the great help. I don't know how many times I almost flooded the house while setting up the chiller but I finally got it done, and neatly. The only project that remains to be attended to is the JBJ ATO. The sensors are a bit confusing because I don't know how they work. Does it start when the sensor reaches the very minimum? Or begin when it goes below the maximum... I think I think too hard.

 

I will also try to integrate a place for my filter floss and chemical filtration because the water is a litle dusty (I feel it's due to the work that is still being done on the area since it's being renovated). Also, I'll be planning on finding a place to put some chaeto, but don't know how important it will be in a high flowing SPS tank.

 

Lastly, I'll be needing to save up for a calcium reactor - probably the korallin. If anyone has experience with this, I'd love to recieve any tips/suggestions. Till then, here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

[PodRod]

Hey Tony - it's looking good! I'm still thinking about the tunze skimmer, but I REALLY like my filter plate. It seems to polish the water and catch all the extra floaties. I assume the tunze skimmer will not fit in the left chamber - correct?

 

Let me know how it works for you and keep the pics coming!

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

Hey Tony - it's looking good! I'm still thinking about the tunze skimmer, but I REALLY like my filter plate. It seems to polish the water and catch all the extra floaties. I assume the tunze skimmer will not fit in the left chamber - correct?

 

Let me know how it works for you and keep the pics coming!

 

That's a good question, I'm wondering if the two side chambers could fit the tunze since I'd like to use the filter plate and put some chemical filtration there but havne't been able to look into it much.

[dailydriven911]

Looking good omfg! Look like alot of nice equipment! I'm also thinking of going the chiller route to keep my temp a bit more stable.

[PodRod]

How's the thank coming along? Got any updated pics or added anything new? I followed your lead and got the tunze skimmer - it should be here on Friday. Like I said before, I wanted to keep the skimmer in the first chamber so I could still use the filter plate. Thanks to StevieT, I can do that! He's made a collection cup that fits the tunze skimmer, but shaped like the cup that comes with the original skimmer. I can't wait to try it. Now if I could just figure out how to hide the chaeto I'd be all set.

 

Happy 4th!

[revaltion131]

Hey, I saw you commenting about leaks in the tank in another thread and I wanted to comment that it seemed like mine did something similar for a few days. It happened about a month after I had the tank set up with LR and seemed like it was coming from the seams on the corners. I was getting ready to call the LFS I bought it from and see if the owner could make a house-call to fix it for me when it stopped on its own. I don't know if sand got crammed into the leak to make it water proof or if salt creep maybe did it. Either way, it was really, really strange and hasn't leaked since.

 

Overall, I love all the extra goodies on your tank so far. I'm going pretty much the same direction with a bunch of technical upgrades I'm working on right now. I'm really interested in keeping an eye on how that chiller works for you over time in conjunction with the light.

[archx]

so how's the tank doing?

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

Hey all I've been missing in action for some time. The tank is doing graet. I've been very busy at work because summer time it's crazy! I've been taking a bunch of pics but I just havne' thad time to post any up. HOpefully tonight since it seems like this week will be more quiet. STay tuned.

[oh my fraggin gosh!]

So....

 

In a turn of events, I was forced to tear down the tank - long story short, I will probably be putting some stuff up in the classifieds. It's really unfortanate but the tank was just creating too much problems in the house (electric bills, and etc)

 

SIGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AdriftQuasar]

That really sucks.