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225 Gal Reef |
225 Tank Journal Home Our Tanks
Picture above shows the tank as it looks today
Pictures below show the tank shortly after setup in May '01
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| Left End |
Left Side |
Right Side | Right End |
This tank was setup in May '01. The saga and details of the setup can be found in the Big Tank Journal as well as additional photos and a monthly update on the tank and its progress.
The tank is 72"L x 30"W x 24"H, made of 1/2" thick acrylic and holds 225 gallons. The stand is a custom oak cabinet that stands 36" high. The goal was to setup a mixed tank with emphasis on SPS corals which was viewable from 3 sides.
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Here is a shot of the basic tank setup. Bookcase on the right holds all of my reef literature. Cage on the left barely visible houses a sugar glider which is a small marsupial from Australia that looks like a flying chipmunk. |
Lighting
Lighting in the tank is handled by 4 - 400W 10K metal halide
bulbs and 4 - 110W Actinic VHO fluorescents bulbs. This gives 2040W of
light over the tank. I decided to go with flat dimpled aluminum reflectors
instead of the spider type reflectors to prevent getting optically hot spots in
the tank.
Photoperiod:
Heating / Cooling
Heating is accomplished via 3 - 250W Ebo Jager submersible
heaters in the sump.
The tank has considerable heat build up due to all the lighting, pumps, etc. It is kept cool through the following means:
Kept in an air conditioned house set at 72F in the summer.
There are 4 fans mounted in the hood which blow air across
the water surface. 4 fans replaced by one large one.
There is a large fan over the sump which blows directly down on the sump and increases evaporation
The end hood and base doors are kept open to facilitate heat escaping
The tank normally stays in the 79 - 81 degree F range, but can get up to 84 in peak of summer.
Sump equipment
The sump is a 50 gallon glass tank which I have partitioned into
3 sections. The left section houses the skimmer and the tank return line.
The middle section houses the heaters, 2nd stage for the calcium reactor and
carbon. The right section houses the two MAG 9.5 return pumps.
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Part of the 50 gallon sump showing the Precision Marine Bullet 2 skimmer and a homemade 2nd stage for the calcium reactor |
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Shows the Precision Marine CR622 calcium reactor and CO2 system which powers it. |
Other equipment in the sump includes a Pinpoint pH monitor.
Water Motion
Water motion is accomplished two ways.
The first is two 3/4" Seaswirls which rotate the output of the two MAG 9.5's every minute. Each output carries about 750GPH of water for a total of 1500GPH through the sump each hour. They are mounted in the corners of the tank.
The second are 4 Maxijet 1200 powerheads which are mounted on the back of the tank and cycled on and off using a wavemaker. These powerheads pump about 300GPH each when they are on. This system is set to run from about 7AM to 1AM only. This provides calmer waters in the early morning hours and change the dynamic of the system.
Total system current at any given time is between 1500GPH and 2100GPH.
Substrate
Substrate consists of 80lbs of CaribSea Aragonite of medium
particle size and 120lbs of Nature's Ocean Aragonite which is a mixture of fine
to medium size particles. To this was added the sand from the 70 gallon
tank which is about 100lbs worth. This gives about 300lbs of sand which
provides a depth of 2"-3" in the tank.
Live Rock
206lbs of Fiji live rock was special ordered to get large size
pieces. The pieces weighed between 10-30lbs each. This allowed a
very open structure to be created. To this was added the 125lbs or so of
live rock from the 70.
Livestock:
This is the current livestock in the tank. Note: For complete descriptions and pictures of these and other specimens,
go to the Specimen Database. The date is
the date the the specimen was originally procured.
Fish
Mobile Invertebrates
Clams
SPS
LPS
Soft Corals
Gorgonians
Anemones
