polywise's reef system

[polywise]

I have been in the hobby for quite some time,
and have had various saltwater aquariums since the mid 1980's.
With that being said, if you were in the game back then (before the internet) you might remember some of these stores that I readily visited and bought stuff from: sand to sea, house of fins, pet plaza, elmsford aquarium, reef and fin.

At first I had some easier to maintain reefs that were mostly fish and then softies but over time was drawn to the beauty of SPS coral, and the desire to learn how to keep them in a captive system.

Here are 2 videos and a few pictures of a 280 gallon system that I kept at my office from 2003 to 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lpOL1hESWU&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9x9turuaRk&feature=youtu.be

 

[usctom]

Wow. If I had a tank like that at work I wouldn't get anything done.

 

[polywise]

As the system grew, so did the amount of gadgets. It became evident that I really needed to have the reef running at my house vs. the office, to allow me to have more access to the tank, other than during working hours.

Fall of 2009 I took on the endeavor.
I chose a section of my basement to dedicate to the new fish room for all of the gadgets and supporting equipment. My plan was to buy a 300DD for my living room, and have everything else down stairs in the fish room. Here are a few pictures during the construction.

 

[trinimaddness]

Stop teasing!!! More pics

 

[polywise]

The room is sealed off from the house, and has (2) fresh air supply lines coming from out doors, and (1) that is connected to a control device that exhausts the air at different speeds based on temperature and humidity settings.

 

[polywise]

The plywood on the floor is the footprint of a 150 gallon rimless 4 sided starfire tank that is used for recovering coral, and grow out.

 

[polywise]

my sump

 

[polywise]

I bought a custom 3 sided starfire, center overflow, 300DD tank. I sent it to my craftstman to have a custom cherry wood stand and canopy made

 

[SanmanReefer]

Nice! Will definitely follow this one.. Good luck with the build!

 

[polywise]

set up the tank in my house (too messy = unhappy wife), but I got it done
I have 750 pounds of liverock, of which I used about 400 in the tank. The rest is kept in my sump.

 

[jackson6745]

That is serious dedication! Very nice.

 

[polywise]

I have skimmed over alot of what had happened, and details of what was done.
I'm just showing what has been done to date.
I still have to install the lighting on the 300DD, and transfer some of the coral I have been growing in my growout tank. I Hope to have that done before Thanksgiving


Remember - This has all happened since fall of 2009 - it has been a rather slow build for me, but I am just about there.

more to come .........

 

[piranhapat]

Jim,I remember I was over your house I think 3 years ago and pick up red cap and other coral. You told me about 300gal in making. I saw jim's caveman fish room in his basement. Really nice set up.He also grew some big pieces in that system. It may of took you a long time. But your work is perfect. .

 

[polywise]

when you visited I had 2 caps, you picked up one, well, this is the other one
video was taken Feb 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjNCAi9Z1L0

 

[Arnaldo24]

150 rimless tank for grow out and recovery ???. Wow thats my hopefully soon display tank. Awesome.!!!!! Keep the pics coming. Gd luck

 

[Jim]

Wow Jim, it looks like you're getting close. I'd love to see it when you're up and running. Let me know if you need help.

 

[thirty6]

Awesome, your son looks like he's into it as well, makes it that much better

 

[polywise]

Jim-- it's going to be soon. I even was able to catch and transfer the four fish that were in my grow out tank. They are loving the extra space...

thirty6-- yes, my son is involved in the hobby. He is learning about husbandry, and from time to time helps me frag some coral.

 

[polywise]

here is a video of my grow out tank taken in Feb 2013 things have filled in a bunch since this was taken. Since this video I have bought 3 coral
I bought two nice colonies from DD Aussie blue tenuius, and spathulata.
and as a birthday treat I bought a purple digitata from coral theory in brooklyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJMaUdeyYnk

 

[polywise]

Jim,
BTW you know you already helped me out