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16ANA 240G starfire mixed reef (1 Viewer)

Next task on hand was to keep the livestock we introced earlier out of the tank, to help with this I resumed working on the canopy. following the same principles as the stand, its geometrical and will easily adapt to a peninsula setup.

From prior experience I decided early on that ease of access would be the primary design driver. This was more relevant now than before as I needed to reach farther than before due to the tank being deeper (front to back). so the canopy is designed to open half the way up full length and this is possible from both sides

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chemsol said:
Looks Great! Congrats on getting it filled!
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Thanks!

Its a lot pressure relieved; being the first tank I built myself.. I was very concerned as to how it would turn out. But now I am happy with the result. being a perfectionist I was expecting a better result out of this venture but this will do for now.

there's very few things I would change in tank countruction if I did again
- get new glass for the sides also
- have the right tools for the job, although the silicone turned out very nice and straight, I would like it cleaner. I would use black silicone all over again though, cant beat the look
- Plan the rig for the tank a little better; although it did the job, it was only on the second try.
 
I added 3 bags of special grade aragonite from SWE, plus one fine fiji pink that I had sitting with me. Spent sometime aquascaping and started to fill the tank with saltwater. I knew what I wanted for the aquascape so the first attempt turned out very nice. my wife immediately approved with the standard disclaimer that it could be better ;)

In my previous setups the rock was all stacked, although it was very stable and had lot of open spaces, swimming room and prime real estate for use at night by the fishes to hide/sleep it was lot of work. This time around I decided to do a mix of plain stacking and drilling/supported by acrlic rods.

Much of this was based on what I saw during our trip to the Key west. So I expanded further on the aquascape ideas from my previous tank. It needed to be open with enough spots for fish to hide, especially in the event lights failed to turn off, they could hide in the shadows and not get stressed too much. Equipment failure in the past has caused lights to remain on for more than the planned duration, and as it happens to most people, it was when no one was around to notice the failure.

I used the stacking approach for low level, flat type rocks. for the towers I used the drilling/stacking approach. No glue was used at all when building the towers or stacking them.

Since I was busy aquascaping and trying to keep the kids out of harms way (actually my tank out of harms way ;)) not many pics were taken. here's the only one I could find ~

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In the pic above, you will notice the tank sits on a layer of plywood and insulation foam. The ply is 3/4" thick and so is the foam. Although I used the stronger "pink" insulation foam, it is not recommended. To serve its main purpose the foam should be rigid but not so rigid. The foam should spread/even out under the weight of the tank, the white "pop corn" foam does this; this is also the foam that most manufacturers would recommend including Miracles.

In my case I had used it during the tank construction and it kind of stayed with it, so I decided not take it out since the tank was already level with the more rigid foam.
 
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Once I was half way through this, I was informed that I need to travel for work... this created complications as I was using water from my holding tank to fill up the display... so I scrambled to put the plumbing together... just enough to keep the tank running while not causing a flood. Moved coral in a hurry as the holding tank was practically shut down already; although by this time I had another 65gallons fresh RODI ready.. I was hesitant to add more fresh saltwater to the system. I think it turned to out to be a good decision.

See here for more info - http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39237
 
Not a lot of progress, but some progress on pics :beerchug:


After dark, no flash
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finished the aquascape, added fish and corals, succesfully incorporated a leak so I can have something to fix later ;)

view from the right side glass
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view from the left side glass
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Left half of the tank
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right half of the tank
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FTS
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Aiptasia :biggthumpup:
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LEAK for later :nuts:
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We will be using the white wall as a background, this is how I've had my earlier tanks and for while joined the mainstream to add a black or themed background. Now I'm going back to my original taste with no background.

The view offered by having a opaque/dark background offered a "closed" view in this peice of ocean, the view without a dark/opaque backgrounds adds depth and makes the tank appear to have no end beyond... like a reef facing the deeper ocean.

For the times where a background is needed, pro foto sessions maybe.. I will use a matt finish pvc board that will easily slide on the outside back of the glass.
 
Already added cabinet doors to the stand, turned out ok except for one door that stands out due to the stain looking quite different from the rest. I hope time will fix it :beerchug:

the plan for the weekend is to start cleaning up the mess and if time permits start on re-doing the filtration/frag/dosing setup in the basement to make it more organized and efficient. The tank is running without a controller at the moment and it is one of the higher priorities.

Some observations about intank flow -

Vortechs MP40's in my opinion do not work very well in a 6footer that is more than 24" deep front to back. I'm having to supplement with large tunze pumps to make this work. In the near future once the basement setup is redone and plumbing finalized I intend to play around with powerhead placement to get better coverage.
 
How about two MP60's, I think they would get the job done. Although they are $600 each.:biggthumpup:

Looking great by the way....wow
 
Timmy77 said:
How about two MP60's, I think they would get the job done. Although they are $600 each.:biggthumpup:

Looking great by the way....wow
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Too spendy for my blood at the moment, I could however get two more MP40's :)

I have a plan though that wont cost a fortune :beerchug:
 
Sweet build! What are the dimensions? I think my next build will be a 240 (8 feet long, 2 feet deep, 2 feet tall).
 
Its 72" L x 24" T x 34" D; if there's a chance I would very much suggest going 30" or more front to back. I would've loved to have the tank taller than 24" but maintenance would become a challenge.
 
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