Hey people. some of you may know me but for those who don’t, my name is Doug. i am currently breaking down a 195 gallon in-wall, and have recently completed my latest tank which is a 96 x 24 x 17tall shallow reef.
it’s hard to get a shot of the entire tank, but it’s very easy to get photos of the inhabitants.
the tank is an acrylic tank that was a 240 that was cracked at the top that someone cut down to 17".
i ordered a pair of custom overflows and drilled the back.
currently it’s plumbed in with the 195, and a 30 breeder, into a standard 125 that i converted to a sump with refugium.
the skimmer i use is an MSX 300.
over the tank right now are 4 x 150 watt halides in coralife clip on fixtures. i’m not sure this will be enough for the large amount of sps i have currently, but it’s certainly enough for the lps. i have some backup ballasts and reflectors if need be.
returning water right now is a tiny mag5. believe it or not i may stick with it, and sell the mag24 that is currently returning water to the 195.
a tunze 6080, and 2 seio prop pumps. are all that is used for flow right now. i’m pretty happy with the results thus far.
probably not then. i’m going to the ncpars one which i believe is the 30th at that fish place. that’s usually a pretty big one. i’m only allowed 1 hobby thing a month… :-(" lol.
Very nice tank! I think shallow tanks are amazing. The blue-green tort and the huge acan colony are beautiful!
Thank you for sharing!
I forget when, i think Logan can chime in.
Yes, next month the meeting is on January 25 at William Penn High School. With the exception of January and Februrary our meeting are always held on the third monday of every month at 7pm. January and February will be on the fourth monday because of MLK and President’s Day.
thanks. no clams at the moment. i’ve been getting by without a reactor so far, and i think clams would push me over the edge. maybe if i get a calcium reactor cheap enough, i’ll pick up a few.
yes, i was at the ECA swap.
here i am at the swap-
was i the guy you bought coral from?
Gordonious- i chose the coralife clip on because they seem to be fairly common and there are alot of used ones available. i purchased them all second hand.
ok so u have 3 tanks connected to 1 125 gallon sump? are they all ran by the msx 300 skimmer? does the msx have the 2 sicces or the askoll? also i believe they make an extended neck that is really a great upgrade, especcialy if u are gonna use the askoll or coravues new bubbleblaster pumps(which are GREAT) if so i have to say WOW, how do u keep the nutrients low with that much volume? not alot of fish? msx skimmers are awsome but ur running over 300 gallons through a skimmer that is rated for 300 gallons, which is really 200 or so. also how old is the skimmer? fairly recently msx released a new reducer for the sicce pumps that will add a few SCFH on the airdraw for the pumps. i could go on and on with equipment.
also the mag 5 isnt so bad as a return for the tank. it should fit with the waterflow through on the skimmer pretty well, u probbably are skimming more water than wat is being returned. i would say a mag 9.5 may fit a little nicer. what kind of water flow in the tank? what kind of powerheads do u have?
as for the lights, i wouldn’t think the light spread on the coralife fixtures would be enough for the width of the tank. u may be better off using the ballast with some lumenarcs or something similar. do u have any heating issues with the fixtures that close to the water? got any frags for sale :D?
ok…let me try to tackle those questions in order:
yes, right now i have 3 tanks connected to a common sump. the 150 shallow, the 195, and the 30 breeder.
they are all using the msx skimmer. the msx has the sicce pumps. the marine solutions website claims the msx 300 is rated for a heavy bio load of 365 gallons, a medium bio load of 475 gallons, and a light bio load of 690 gallons.
without LPS feedings, i believe i have a medium to low bio load. 1 large tang(5"), 1 large maroon clown(4.5") and a 3" purple tang. the rest (6) are tiny fish.
i don’t think i have the reducer that you are speaking of. this skimmer is about 1-1.5 years old now.
i have a single tunze 6080 and a pair of seio prop pumps in the tank as of now. i think it’s working out well. i did send an inquiry about a used mp40, so i might get that and replace the tunze with it.
the light spread seems acceptable for me. i have alot of lps towards the outer areas of the light spreads. they are getting enough. it’s just the sps. i took this photo when i was at MACNA, stating about how much light corals need, and the PAR at the bottom of the tank directly under these 150’s is about 54.
not enough according to this chart.
i was thinking about the lumenbrite pendants if i was going to switch out the coralife clip ons. we’ll see. i do have a 250 watt SLS galaxy ballast here with a SLS reef optix pendant i can use if need be.
