redtops 360g plywood adventure

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I wont get into all the details of building my tank,but I'll kinda hit the high spots and post plenty of pics LOL

360g plywood 96"longx36"widex27"deep,water level is 24" deep..with about 60g plywood sump,20g chaeto fuge....
2 sets of Odyssea MH/PC lights...(upgrading in the next few days)
little giant return pump(1325ghp)on a SCWD...
4 modded MJ 1200s on a wave maker...
DIY pvc recirculating skimmer,powered by 2 sedra 5000 nw pumps and fed with an Eheim 1262...(upgrading in the next few days)
about 400lbs of rock and too much sand...

pair of mandarins
pair of black/white clowns
flame angel
pj cardinal
6 line wrasse
pair of clown gobies
yellow tang
naso tang
hippo tang
RBTA
GBTA
all kinds of other stuff for the CUC

not much on coral yet but

cabbage leather
several different kinds of mushrooms
several ricordia
colt coral or 3
orange cap
red brain
gsp

I'm trying to get this thing ready for SPS,the reason for the light and skimmer upgrades

and after the fiberglass

 

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heres the glass test fit

here its propped up so I could install the bumpers and silicon

here is the little bumpers 12" apart

here is silicon oozing out

 

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I temporarily installed my top to make sure everything stays square until the silicon sets,thin I'll mount it permanently

 

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my sump

 

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my daughter mermaiding LOL

 

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not sure what's going on with the sand sifting stars but it looks kinky :lol:

 

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more about the skimmer upgrade now.....

thanks to my ol' buddy Tom,I got me one of these babies on the way...

should be here Wednesday if FedEx doesn't let me down :smile:

ReeFlo ORCA 250 Needle Wheel Skimmer

Watt Draw: 120 watts
Skimmer height: 32�
Footprint: 16�x20�
Rate: 200-900 gallons
Comes with dart gold NW

http://socaltropicalfishoutlet.com/catalog/reeflo-orca-p-136.html

 

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and about the light upgrade....I got 2 Tek T5 retro kits with ATI blue plus bulbs to replace my PCs with.....

and I'll have 4 lumatek ballasts on lumenbrite reflectors with Phoenix 250w 14k DE bulbs

http://www.thesaltwaterstore.com//c...eef.html?sid=cb926785a2068ecd7b6bd96677214f25

http://www.thesaltwaterstore.com//l...eef.html?sid=cb926785a2068ecd7b6bd96677214f25

 

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if there's any one who has doubts that T5s are brighter than PCs...take a look at this

left side is 2x54w T5 HO with ATI Blue Plus (new bulbs)...on the right side is 4x65w PC with UVL super actinic (2 new,2 are 6 months old)

 

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the T5s have really brought out the color in my coral...check these pics out

I'm not sure what setting I used on my camera,the pics are darker than they should be,the tank is much brighter in person and the glow is more intense but the coral looks awesome so I ran with it :lol:

 

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and that's where I'm at today on it,it's still a work in progress...it's going on 2 years old and doing great

 

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found a few old pics of my hippo tang when I first got her,in this pic,she was about 1.5" long...

now she's about 5" long..

 

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here's a video of my chaeto factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swLeG-NsLg