The Hall's 135G Mixed Reef Build

[mrshall1027]

I've made a HUGE mistake! I somehow got my husband addicted to the hobby and all h*ll has broken loose!!

Everything was going really well with our 75. Over the last two months, we've dedicated most of our time getting it just right and now that the time has come to sit back, relax and enjoy it all, my husband falls in love with a 135 another member had for sale! And, of course, I'm in love now too!!

So, we are starting a new build for the 135 and I'm really hoping we can sit with this one for a while. Below is the tank before. We have removed the plastic trim, plan to paint the bottom trim black and will add more bracing, probably eurobracing, to keep it from bowing. It's been filled in our garage for the last week and it hasn't bowed with the current center brace, but better safe than sorry.

[mrshall1027]

Livestock list:

White Cheek Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Yellow Tang
Blue Eye Golden Midas Blenny
3 x Purple Firefish
2 x Black Snowflake Ocellaris Clownfish
African Leopard Wrasse - Female
2 x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Cleanup Crew - Green Emerald Crab, Dwarf Ceriths, Nassarius Vibex, Florida Ceriths, and Assorted Hermits


Potential Livestock List:
2 x African Leopard Wrasse - Female

Orange Stripe Prawn Goby
Diamond Watchman Goby
Heniochus Black and White Butterflyfish
Kole Yellow Eye Tang

[mrshall1027]

<p>SPS:</p>

<p>Pearlberry Acropora</p>

<p>Green Slimer Acropora</p>

<p>Cali Blue Acropora </p>

<p>ORA Mint Pavona</p>

<p>Sour Apple Birdnest</p>

<p>German Blue Digi</p>

<p>Purple Digi</p>

<p>Green Montipora</p>

<p>Green with Purple Rim Montipora</p>

<p>Chili Pepper Montipora</p>

<p>Red Montipora</p>

<p>ASD Hot Mille</p>

<p>AAF Pink Mille</p>

<p>Purple Pink Loripes</p>

<p> </p>

<p>LPS:<br />

Christmas Favia ?<br />

Tyree War and Peace Favia<br />

Unknown Favia – Neon Green, Blue andPurple</p>

<p>Unknown Favia – Red, Yellow and Green</p>

<p>Unkmown Favia - Bright Blue, Dark Blue and Green</p>

<p>Aussie Pink Platygyra Favites</p>

<p>Hollywood Stunner Chalice</p>

<p>Unknown Australian Chalice - Blue with pink eyes</p>

<p>Unkown Australian Chalice - Blue  and Green</p>

<p>Aussie Neon Gold Tip Torch Euphyllia</p>

<p>Neon Green Hammer Euphyllia</p>

<p>Red with Blue Acans</p>

<p>Green Acans</p>

<p>Red with Teal Acans</p>

<p>Blue Bower Banki Acans</p>

<p>Purple Tipped Hammer Head</p>

<p>Peach Hammer Head</p>

<p>Blue Gorgonian</p>

<p>Thundercloud Alveopora</p>

<p>Blizzard Alveopora</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Zoas/Palys:</p>

<p>Green Galaxy Palys</p>

<p>Nuclear Green Palys</p>

<p>Purple Death Palys</p>

<p>Everlasting Gobstopper Palys</p>

<p>KO’s Nightmare Palys</p>

<p>Incredible Hulk Palys</p>

<p>Yellow Haze Palys</p>

<p>God Of War Palys</p>

<p>Blue Magician Palys</p>

<p>Utter Chaos Zoas</p>

<p>Dragon Eye Zoas</p>

<p>Nuclear Dragon Eye Zoas</p>

<p>Lunar Eclipse Zoas</p>

<p>Eye of Rah Zoas</p>

<p>Oxide Zoas</p>

<p>Rastas Zoas</p>

<p>Blue Organism Zoas</p>

<p>Fire and Ice Zoas</p>

<p>Eagle Eye Zoas</p>

<p>Alien Eye Zoas</p>

<p>Red Hornet Zoas</p>

<p>Paradise Zoas</p>

<p>Wham’n Watermelon Zoas</p>

<p>Peachy Keen Zoas</p>

<p>Soprano Zoas</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Mushrooms/Rics:</p>

<p>Orange Rim Neon Green Mouth Ricordia</p>

<p>Neon Orange Ricordia</p>

<p>Neon Green Ricordia</p>

<p>Blue Ricordia</p>

<p>Superman Rhodactis Mushroom</p>

<p>Yellow Spotted Mushroom</p>

<p>Blue Mushroom</p>

<p>Green Striped Mushroom</p>

<p>Discosoma Mushroom</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Clams:</p>

<p>Blue Crocea</p>

<br />

<p>Other:<br />

Sherman Rose Anemone</p>

[mrshall1027]

Reserved for equipment list

Basics:

Rimless Standard 135 Gallon Tank

Custom Stand and Canopy

Sump:

Custom Sump/Refugium - 30"x18"x14" with AQUA R-Series Large LED Refugium Bulb

Coralife 150 Cone Protein Skimmer

Coralview Reef Octopus 6.5" OCT-CR140 Calcium Reactor with 10# CO2 Cylinder with pH controller/probe, solenoid valve and bubble counter

BRS Dual Chamber Reactor with GFO and Carbon

300W Heater

External Return:

Reeflo Dart/Snapper Hybrid Pump (using the snapper impeller)

DT Flow:

EcoTech VorTech MP40w ES x 2

Controller:

Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper Lite

3 x PC4

1 x SL2

pH Probe (sump)

Temp (sump)

Dual Auto Top Off float valves, aqualifter, with 5gal RODI Jug

Lighting:

3 x Aqua Illumination Sol Blue LED's with Controller

Misc:

260lbs Live Rock

85lbs CaribSea Aragamax Select Sand

[sifuentes31]

Excellent!! Love new builds......

[+brian.srock]

Congrats. It's an expensive enough hobby as it is but as you 2 being newlyweds this is the perfect hobby to share. My wife likes to always pick the fish that are way out of my price range or not compatible with my current system which is why I got the ok to upgrade.

[mrshall1027]

I'm glad that he's into it now. At first, it was almost like pulling teeth! But, now he's always tinkering with this or that and I'm really glad that he enjoys it as much as I do. It's always much easier to spend money when your spouse wants to spend money on the same things

[+Jakedoza]

good luck with any shrimp with having any kind of wrasse..

[mrshall1027]

A few updates:

Tonight we finished our saltwater mixing station We are pretty excited about how it all came out! This is a pretty popular design and works perfectly.

The tank was drilled two weekends ago (many thanks to Bio3) and all plumbing parts have been purchased. We purchased a 1800GPH overflow and are going with three 1" drains and two 3/4" returns 5" from the top of the tank. The locline is curved up to about 1" below water level to allow for a higher siphon break. We are going with a Reeflo Dart Snapper Hybrid external pump for return and may manifold it for additional equipment.

The back has been painted black and the oak trim is now a nice and clean black as well. Excuse the mess in the background; the painting was done tonight.

Tomorrow, we are picking up the acrylic from Austin Plastic Supply to build our sump. You can see the design here.

Another AI Sol is being delivered later this week to add to the two that we already had for our old 75G.

Still a lot to do, but it's getting there!

[Pailines]

Great set up! Keep us updated!!

If you dont mind me asking, is that acrylic cell cast? Cause i heard that only cell cast is durable enough for aquarium use. But cell cast can run expansive quickly in large sheets.

[mrshall1027]

I don't believe so. I ordered one 4' x 8' sheet. The sump is going to be 14" tall and my understanding is it's safe to use extruded acrylic up to 12". Also with all the baffles and compartments, it will be plenty durable. If needed, I can eurobrace it.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[mrshall1027]

Quick update:

Got a lot of the plumbing done this weekend and we are having issues with the pump returning water faster then the overflows can drain into the sump. Originally, we had 1" durso stand pipes, but we are going to switch to 1.5" and hopefully that will fix it. If not, then we'll probably have to switch out the impeller to lower the return rate on the pump. Hoping to switch over to the 1.5" pipes in the next couple of days.

We are pretty excited how the sump turned out! It's the perfect size and has plenty of room in the event of a power outage.

Here's a pic with the 1" pipes.

[+Jakedoza]

Where did you get the lids for the 55gal drums?

[mrshall1027]

Where did you get the lids for the 55gal drums?

We picked them up at the local Grainger for ~$10 each.

[mrshall1027]

Between kids, work, and catching up on Walking Dead, we finally have the tank in the house! Not 100% up yet, but it should be tonight. Because we had to drill on the back glass and didn't want all the plumbing to show, we built an extension on the stand that we previously made for our old 75 gallon. Now it sits against the wall and hides all the plumbing.

We could have had it all filled up last night, but while mixing that second batch of saltwater, one of the heaters broke and we had to dump about 50 gallons of water. Luckily, we had enough to get the rock underwater. And it was so much easier this time around! A 50ft hose running from our saltwater mixing station to the tank makes the job so much nicer.

Tonight's mission is to finish the floating canopy and get the lights up. I'll also try to get better pictures of our aquascaping - we really like the way it came out. Plenty of little caves and holes for fish to swim through. We used hydraulic cement to adhere the unstable rocks together, and we highly recommend it. We have a ton left over if anyone wants to pick some up. We were sure we'd have some rock left over but ended up using all of it - 260lbs! The sand bed ended up being pretty deep with just 55lbs and we may add just a bit more. I want to get a leopard wrasse or two eventually.

Next big purchase will be two MP40's! Can't wait!! In the meantime we are using a couple of old powerheads so we can start cycling the tank. We hope it won't take long since all the rock was kept live in holding tanks while we were building the tank and stand. Also plan on adding Seachem's Stability. We hope to add fish by the end of the month.

[mrshall1027]

Last night we finished building and laminating the canopy. Tonight we ran the wiring through the wall and mounted the canopy. We are really happy with how it turned out and matches our style and the rest of the house perfectly. The only wires showing are from the temporary powerheads which are being replaced by MP40's next week. However those wires will run along the side of the tank a few inches so hopefully won't be too noticeable.

We are thinking about making the rockscape a little taller, but overall very happy with it. There are a lot of caves and hiding places; its difficult to get a good picture of them. Opinions?

Next we are adding a top to the back attachment so the durso pipes are not visible but it will have velcro holding it down so we can access the pipes if needed. And then finish hooking up all the equipment below. I'll post pics of all those goodies once that's done.

[+Capt. Obvious]

I don't believe so. I ordered one 4' x 8' sheet. The sump is going to be 14" tall and my understanding is it's safe to use extruded acrylic up to 12". Also with all the baffles and compartments, it will be plenty durable. If needed, I can eurobrace it.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

It will probably be fine, extruded crazes super-fast and looks like &$&&($;/ after a while, cell cast holds up better

[Planeden]

Wow. That canopy looks great.

[+Capt. Obvious]

How high are your lights from the water line? Have you checked par yet?

[+Capt. Obvious]

Wow. That canopy looks great.

+1

[mrshall1027]

How high are your lights from the water line? Have you checked par yet?

Yes its 12", so the total depth from lights is 33"

According to aqua illumination it will suit tanks up to 36" deep, so I think we're ok.

Edit: I haven't used a meter to check par yet. If anyone has one we can borrow, that would be great?

[sifuentes31]

Love that canopy. Great idea!!!

[+Capt. Obvious]

How high are your lights from the water line? Have you checked par yet?

Yes its 12", so the total depth from lights is 33"

According to aqua illumination it will suit tanks up to 36" deep, so I think we're ok.

Edit: I haven't used a meter to check par yet. If anyone has one we can borrow, that would be great?

I wasn't trying to suggest that it wasn't okay. I was simply curious.

Is it adjustable in anyway? Or easily removable in case you need to do some in tank work?

[mrshall1027]

It would still be nice to measure the par, just to see what we are working with.

The canopy can be removed if the need arises, but we kept maintenance in mind when designing it. It's not as wide as the tank, so we have some room to work with, and it helps being only 5' tall!

[mrshall1027]

Just ordered the first batch of fish! They will be QT'd until the big tank is ready.