Dan H Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Actually, it was mostly because they produced a shimmer that in my mind looked the most authentic to what it's like in nature. We had halides on our old system, and I loved the shimmer. Kessils make a beautiful shimmer. Plus they seem to be designed really well. However, they seem to produce shadowing so I got the 5 12" 20k BMLs to help compensate. We've been dreaming of this system for over a decade. When we left the hobby, we said we weren't going to get back in until we could do it exactly how we dreamed. Of course, that meant we weren't going to do it until we could afford it... And this is why it took 10 years to get to now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Haha, so this is the accumulation of 10 years of pining over a new system. I fully understand and I'm impressed with the budget more so now. [emoji106] I'm still running old school halides for my tank for SPS so I'm always curious to see more LED-lit SPS tanks. I'm looking forward to seeing your build come together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Haha, so this is the accumulation of 10 years of pining over a new system. ... I'm looking forward to seeing your build come together! Exactly! We're looking forward to seeing it too! Now that everything is ordered, the wait it torture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I am getting exciting for u already, can't wait to see u put that baby on show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OU12004 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Thanks for the cost breakdown; I think it is good for people to see how expensive this hobby can be. I personally do not track what I spend because I need plausible deniability with my wife. You are going to have a lot of nice real estate to fill up so it looks like 15k is just the tip of the iceberg for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 We figure the livestock could easily be another 5-10k this year alone. We plan to stock slowly, so it's going to be less painful... And yes I plan to track those expenses too. As stuff starts to arrive I'll be sure to document it all. The hopeful plan is to actually have the system running by May, and cycled by July. That gives us plenty of time to source some nice livestock. And in the meantime, I'm going to meet some of y'all. I was sad the Feb meeting was cancelled. Hopefully there will be a March meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I'm tentatively slated to host the April Meeting for now. I'm a big believer in bribing people with spring rolls and eggrolls so don't miss out on that one. Just a thought with stocking plans, I'm not sure if I missed it but will you be setting up a QT tank? Have you decided on 2-part or a calcium reactor? Also, if you're a big SPS person, curious if you'll go the mariculture route or just start collecting small frags and growing them out? With my old tank, I made it a point to only collect 2" frags or smaller and had the satisfaction of watching them all grow into large colonies. When I made the jump to my 215-gallon, after losing a bunch of colonies in the transfer, I ended up opening it up to mariculture mini colonies to jump start my tank. I was chatting with ol' aggie, another SPS obsessed reefer on the club who just recently upgraded as well, and we both shared the appreciation of stocking with a bunch of mariculture and then filling in the gaps with some of the classics, Oregon tort, Hawkins echinata, pink lemonade, red planet, etc. It's hit or miss with maricultures, you either get the diamonds in the rough, an ugly brown stick tree, or it just dies on you. The new joy I found was not watching my tiny frags grow into colonies anymore, but watching mini mariculture colonies grow and possibly color up into something spectacular. Either way, excited to see the build go up! Sorry for the long post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 i have no CLUE what u r saying, Novelist Ty...but did i hear some eggrolls n spring rolls mentioned?.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Calcium reactor for sure. All that dosing stuff seems too prone to failure and annoyance. Once you dial in the calcium reactor you only have to add media and CO2 occasionally. Simple. Plus we had one on our old system and it worked wonders. I'm guessing we'll mostly do smaller frags and watch the grow. Afterall, we don't plan on moving for at least 15 years, if ever... So we've got time to see it grow from infancy to mature reef. Ok, Robert came up with a possible stand/canopy design change. It would make for a total of 80" (about 8.5" more than original design) of doors so easier access. Opinions if the new design looks better? I kinda like it better. Slighly cleaner lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I like it better... the smaller middle brace between the doors gives it cleaner lines. I may steal some ideas for my own stand reboot down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Lastly, to keep track of how much poorer I am... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v_v4H1K9l1mTGKa1PkBrgCIdi_b5cT7fzebUJx-3g_Y/edit?usp=sharing Ok that's depressing... I think I'd be divorced if I kept something like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 I thought your wife was into the hobby? Or is it that she's more a spectator than instigator? More photo fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 A few more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 You got some cool lights! What's the water line heater for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 I plan to run the RO line to an ATO container in the sump, along with a water change line. The RO and salt mixing tank will be in the kitchen area, and the tank is about 30 feet away in the living room. I determined the best option was to run them outside, so the heater is to prevent the lines from freezing. I'll take pictures when I install it, then it will make more sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I thought your wife was into the hobby? Or is it that she's more a spectator than instigator? LOL Yeah she is, but she's much more into coral and I haven't even put any in the display yet. She's not as patient as I am, so she's not really excited about a large FOWLR tank right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 UPS is loving me. More stuff today. External exhaust fan. Mixing pump CO2 tank and regulator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Progress on the stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOceanTraveler Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Wow, that is coming together nicely. Love all the photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Beefy stand. Looking good. Are you set on using live rock? You could save some money by using less LR and sub for dry rock. I know you won't get as much diversity, but you'll benefit from not having bad diversity (plus I have a lot of dry rock for sale if you are interested, and a big ol' CA RX as well.) Just a few thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yes, we're pretty set on 100% LR. Although I'm a big fan on saving money when possible, I think LR is not one of those areas to skimp on costs. I would be interested in the CA RX, but we already ordered one. I appreciate the offer though. Like I said, I like saving money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Exciting news today - The tank is WAY ahead of schedule! Lance from GPS Aquariums has been outstanding to work with! Just got off the phone with him and he described in detail how the build is coming, and shockingly he's about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. The tank should be done and ready to ship out next week!!! I'm gonna have to step up my plans. Also, a few more pictures from Robert with progress on the stand. I must say, if you ever want to have an incredible stand built by perhaps one of the nicest people on Earth, Robert is your guy. I swung by his place over the weekend and we were able to get some of the detailed measurements figured out. The sub-frame is basically complete so on to the facade and trim. We ended up deciding to go for broke and we're only using plyboard for the base of the facade. All of the trim and the doors will be made from solid walnut stock. It basically doubled the cost of materials, and added substantial labor, but from the start we wanted this to be a beautiful addition to the home. Robert and I going over the design Floor of the sump with trim added Another Robert doing his thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Following Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I'm following Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Finally have some tank PRoN for y'all. Also, more stand updates! I think so far we couldn't have chosen a better stand builder, nor a better tank builder. The attention to detail is outstanding! You definitely get what you pay for. Also got more deliveries today, but nothing exciting (salt, scraper, misc stuff). However one small snag in the plan. The manufacturer is temporarily not going to manufacture the skimmer model I purchased due to some design changes. So, I had to order the next bigger model. Shouldn't change much other than moar power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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