The Jedi Temple

[jedimaster1138]

Well after a year and a half with my 50g mixed reef and my ~10g nano, it became time to get down to business and stretch my legs...you know what that means...UPGRADE !!! So...

The 120g Jedi Temple -- :Starwars:

It's going to be a mixed reef, heavy on the SPS, some chalices and acans along with some clams.

Thanks go out to our buddy Russ, aka Masterswimmer for getting me the tank and stand. It was a pleasure, as always, to work with him.

Full Equipment List:
Tank: Marineland/Perfecto 120g regular glass aquarium, dual corner overflows, each with a 1" drain and 3/4" return with split LocLine nozzles. Black silicone.
Stand: Marineland Monterey Stand, black.
Sump: custom sump designed by me, built by CustomKing*
Return pump: Eheim 1260
In-tank Flow: 2x Vortech MP40wES - mostly ReefCrest Random, randomized by Apex
Lighting: 2x Maxspect Razor, 27", 160 watt, 16000k
Controller: Neptune Apex with 2x EB8's, WXM, Breakout Box
Dosing: 3x BRS dosing pumps for BRS 2-part Ca, Mg, and Alkalinity
ATO: switches from autotopoff.com wired into the Apex BoB and custom code
Heat: 2x 150 watt Eheim Jaeger
UV: 25 watt Emperor Aquatics Smart UV, inline to return, with bypass.

*I'd be remiss in not mentioning CustomKing here. For starters, Jeff is a pleasure - a PLEASURE - to work with. We went back and forth on design, with pictures, several times and really got into details. He had some great suggestions. Second, his workmanship is superb. I cannot say enough about his precision, perfect welds, and how he over engineers things with thick acrylic and straight, smooth cuts and routing. He is a true artist and I don't think I'd ever buy a sump from anyone else.

Better pictures coming later, I promise! :snail:

 

[jedimaster1138]

The migration nightmare!

New tank has the pleasure of going where the existing one is. So that necessitated moving the existing one out of the way, well in advance of delivery of the new one. Uh...yay. Changing the tires on a moving car!

Good luck with the switch over - that is the worst part.

Truer words have never been spoken...


Basically I set up a 29g, 30" tank on the floor elsewhere in my apartment. Heater, thermometer, powerheads, mixed up plenty of new water, let it run in there for about a week in advance of d-day. Then on the day of truth, it began.

Special thanks to my buddy Kenny, aka SpecialK77 on here for his help in catching my fish and moving everything over. I apologize for all the saltwater on your shoes buddy.

Moved over the "top" pieces of LR...ie the ones with corals encrusted on them. Then I started the process of catching the fish. It was a mix of good and bad. Oddly enough...the firefish was one of the easiest to catch - once EVERYTHING was out of the tank at least. Kole Tang was by far the worst. Impossible to corner. Finally did nab her, but it was horrendous and took 2 people a good 20 minutes. Somewhere along the way she must have scraped her head. Had a nasty bruise. The really bad thing is that I guess an infection must have set in because a few days later she developed several other bruises on her sides, then died the following day. Sad panda :-(

I also lost my royal gramma, which was odd as he was fine for a solid week in the 29g tank. Maybe it was just his time, I don't know. I thought those fish were indestructible. A few corals didn't make it either, though nothing big ... except my big ORA Hammer Coral which just refuses to open now. I don't know what's up with it. Last night I took it out and scraped off a big sponge that had formed on it's main stalk. I'm hoping that improves things. My theory is that it was irritating it.

Anyway, I digress. After about a week's worth of very late nights plumbing the new tank and mixing water, everything is living is in the big, new, 120g now and hopefully all getting used to life. They've been there...a little less than a week now I think. The fish are still a little skittish and hidey, but they are adjusting, and most importantly eating. The firefish is actually loving life right now - he never got along with the Kole Tang, so he wasn't sad to see her go like I was.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

congrats looks great so far, looking foward to seeing the finished product...

 

[masterswimmer]

Joe, looking great. Very nice start. I'm excited to watch the transition.

Russ

 

[ZephNYC]

Did somebody say clams ?

 

[jedimaster1138]

Did somebody say clams ?

Careful, I might come over and steal some! Too bad Big Bertha wouldn't fit in this tank...

:fett:

 

[KathyC]

Nice tank/stand - go you on the great planning, I'm sure it will be a successful tank. Good luck with the switch over - that is the worst part.

 

[jackson6745]

Nice equipment list. I would suggest the 1262 return if it isn't too late.

 

[ZephNYC]

Careful, I might come over and steal some! Too bad Big Bertha wouldn't fit in this tank...

:fett:

HA! ....Big Bertha barely fits in her house anymore!!! Her mantle touches both front and rear panels of her 125. Another year and shes going in the 210.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Nice equipment list. I would suggest the 1262 return if it isn't too late.

Yeah I'd like a little more GPH out of my return, but I had a barely used (less than a month) 1260 in my closet, so I'm using it. So far it's fine, we'll see if it slows down over time due to gunk etc and necessitates an upgrade.

HA! ....Big Bertha barely fits in her house anymore!!! Her mantle touches both front and rear panels of her 125. Another year and shes going in the 210.

That thing is insanely awesome. I need to come by with the girl one day soon. PS - come get your sump before said girl murders me about all the extra stuff laying around

PS - how is the Copperband doing in that reef? Any nipping at your corals, polyps, clams etc?

 

[empire]

Nice start! What light are you thinking of using? Are your vortechs on sync or anti sync?

 

[jedimaster1138]

Nice start! What light are you thinking of using? Are your vortechs on sync or anti sync?

Thanks! I just updated my first post Going to try to keep the equipment list up to date as I fill in.

I just got 2x Maxspect Razors yesterday. 160w, 27", 16000k ones. So far they are very nice. Slick design. Less than an inch thick. I have them VERY low powered right now so I don't bbq anything. I'll be slowly ramping up over the next few weeks.

Are your vortechs on sync or anti sync?

The MP40's are in ReefCrest Random with anti-sync. I actually just got them tied into the Apex last night. I decided to utilize the Apex to flip things around and keep it random. So I have a 12 hour flip. From midnight to high noon, I have the left mp40 as master, the right anti-sync. Then from noon -> midnight, the reverse. I figure that sorta simulates tidal shifts, or something.

I'm thinking about working in some mode changes too, just to keep things crazy and random, but I haven't decided what modes to utilize just yet. ReefCrest has always given me the best polyp extension when used full time, so I might just stick with that.

 

[ZephNYC]

Yeah I'd like a little more GPH out of my return, but I had a barely used (less than a month) 1260 in my closet, so I'm using it. So far it's fine, we'll see if it slows down over time due to gunk etc and necessitates an upgrade.




That thing is insanely awesome. I need to come by with the girl one day soon. PS - come get your sump before said girl murders me about all the extra stuff laying around

PS - how is the Copperband doing in that reef? Any nipping at your corals, polyps, clams etc?

I will definitely pick it up by the end of the weekend, I want to get my nano started already. The CCB is doing perfect and not even noticing my clams. Not yet anyway. He's really cleaned up my reef in a hurry. Ive started growing out aptasias in a 10 gal to feed him in the future.

 

[CancerverO]

Oh no you did not !!!! Lol man congrats .. This tank is looking amazing dude !!

Can't wait to see when it matures

I am subscribing to this ;0)

 

[jedimaster1138]

I will definitely pick it up by the end of the weekend, I want to get my nano started already. The CCB is doing perfect and not even noticing my clams. Not yet anyway. He's really cleaned up my reef in a hurry. Ive started growing out aptasias in a 10 gal to feed him in the future.

Neat. I used to have hundreds of feather dusters in my old tank, he woulda had a good time. CHOMP CHOMP.

Oh no you did not !!!! Lol man congrats .. This tank is looking amazing dude !!

Can't wait to see when it matures

I am subscribing to this ;0)

Yes. Yes I did Thanks buddy. The kids are staying in the nano as I think they will murder my orange ocellaris, but yeah, this one is going to be a party as well.

I need to get my lights hung tonight. Also figure out my slightly out of level issue. I made sure I was good before I filled the tank, but now I'm slightly off kilter to the point where the right hand drain is draining faster than the left. bugger. I might have to bang more shims into the front right side. Stupid floor.

 

[rookie07]

HA! ....Big Bertha barely fits in her house anymore!!! Her mantle touches both front and rear panels of her 125. Another year and shes going in the 210.

That is crazy!!!
How big is the clam???

 

[jedimaster1138]

Here's a photo dump of some of the construction process.

The empty space...waiting...waiting... you can see my nano on the left. DIY lights too Hawaii photos all taken by me. That one right above is from a helicopter over the spot where the lava meets the sea and makes the Big Island uh, bigger! The one on the right is the north coast of Maui.

Empty tank and stand arrive! This is also after 2 coats of black semi-gloss latex paint on the back of the tank. Came out perfectly. Painting on glass is easy -- use a foam roller and it's cake.

This is less than half of my supplies...

Yeah, that's a lightsaber on the window sill next to Mariano Rivera. Did you expect anything less from me? If you can figure out whose saber that is without looking it up, I'll respect you more

This is what my dining room table looked like for several days while aquascaping the tank.

And here is the sorta dry rock result, after about 2 days of VERY late nights.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Here's a decent shot with the lights up, hanging, finally. They are pretty dim at this point because it was late in the evening, but you get the idea.

And here's a profile shot...you can really get a feel for the Razor's thin-ness.

Hanna told me my PO4 levels were unacceptable the other night, so I had to get the GFO reactor running. I'm determined to nuke these levels to the right amount, IE 0.

Using the BRS reactor, for now. Without the foam pads the GFO is tumbling fine, so I guess, so far, go good. I guess I missed BRS's instructions that if you are running their reactor with ONLY GFO, you don't use the foam pads, IE the clogger uppers.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Been insanely busy, but here's a slightly better and updated FTS. Also, most everything except the summer cooling fans are hooked up. And, thanks to GFO...po4 has gone from .16, to 0. Weeeee.

 

[jedimaster1138]

New arrival - a farm raised blue squamosa from Diver's Den. Trust me when I say that the picture (and my horrendous photography skills) don't come anywhere near close enough to do this little guy justice. the colors are INSANE.

And a couple fish shots that for once came out ok. :fish: