Nate213

Did Garret sell you a controller too? Without a doubt that has been my single best purchase.

Ecotech Vortechs may not give you a stroke, but you will be surprised.

Sounds like you have the other equipment mostly figured out. What are you going to do for flow?

I bet. Those are sweet tanks. Did you get the stand too? Or going custom?

Nice Jenna. Marineland Deep Dimension?

Should be fine. I have them over a 24" deep tank.

X2. I have bought the eBay bulbs several times and have had numerous problems. QC stinks and the colors aren't always the same. My corals start to lose color and die off and algae goes nuts. Change the bulbs back to Pheonix and my problems go away. I know there are tons of other variables, but I'm confident some of my issues were bulb related.

Where are you located?

You can keep alive in QT that hasn't been cycled but you will need to check ammonia daily and be prepared to do 50% water changes if ammonia levels increase. About five years ago I did hypo treatment in un-cycled 40B with two angels, one large tang and two clowns, but it was a huge pain. Due to the load, I was doing 50% water changes every day for about three weeks. I also treated with Amquel plus to help detoxify the ammonia. You will also need to buffer the water to keep PH up with lower salinity.

I have some, but gas to drive up this far might be more than the 40 lb bag. If you are up this way for something else let me know.

I dose 60 ml per day of each using BRS 2-part. Lightly stocked 150g display plus 40g sump.

I like how SWF has a sign up that says if prices are negotiated, then no 14 day guarantee. I never negotiate prices at retail shops, but I think that is a fair approach for someone who wants too. This isn't a cheap hobby, but it is funny how people spend thousands of dollars on their equipment and want to knock $10 off a $20 fish. For me it is about the quality and health of the livestock. If a LFS or online store has nice healthy fish, then it really doesn't matter what they cost. I would absolutely pay double or triple the cost if I know the long term survival is guaranteed. (I don't want my money back if it dies, i just want to know that it will live for an extended period of time) I think there is a big market for more Diver's Den types of stores, where the fish are properly acclimated, treated for parasites and proven eaters before they are sold. I know this isn't practical for most LFS, but there is a need for this type of business. How many of us have purchased fish that have been bagged and shipped 2-3x within the week, to only have them perish a few days or weeks later? How many have bought fish that are infested with parasites like flukes or ich and nuked the entire rest of the tank, because we didn't QT at all or didnt QT long enough? I have certainly made these mistakes. It is frustrating for me to buy new livestock because their is a high probability that the fish will not survive even if I do everything correctly.

Here are a couple of recent photos. Had a bryopsis outbreak, so magnesium is up over 1500. It is dying back pretty quickly, but it is still covering some of the rocks in these photos.

Here is an updated photo. White balance is still a bit off, but fairly close. I tried taking photos with my wife's DSLR and couldn't get the color right.

The Kessil A350 is a better deal than (2 )A150s. I have an A350w and it covers a 40B pretty well at only 8-9 inches over the water. If I raised it up, it would have even better coverage. I'm sure it would provide more than enough light for a Biocube. I agree that the DIY are a good way to save some cash, but I haven't seen one yet that had the fit and finish of the Kessil. The Kessils look very nice and clean mounted over a tank. If you are going to hide it in a hood, then save the money and make a custom setup.

You and I are on the same page. Lighting will definitely be LEDs. Bought 4 Sols this weekend. I know that won't be enough, so I will add more units or some Vegas when I'm that far. Flow will be mostly MP40s and maybe an MP60 or two if I go with the longer tank. I had planned for a coast to coast overflow on the back (long side) with Bean Animal. Why would you do two? Symmetrical would be better, but the boss lady thinks they look too big that way. It has been easier to convince her for something closer to 300 DD footprint. As for access, I will probably have it like Steve's setup. I really like how he had his tanks, even though it may be inconvenient at times. I will build up a working platform that is just below the bottom of the tank so I can lean over and have better reach. It is also very important to me to keep the humidity and noise out of the house. I think this will be easier if I seal off the front. Thanks for the suggestions.

I had originally mocked up a 60" x 60" x 24" build in sketchup for a visual. My wife said something like "sorry but I don't want a tank that big in our house. Ever...". I thought it looked great though. Here are some images of the mockup: I'm going to modify the size down to something like 36" x 72" x 28" and see if I can get the green light.

Ok here are some photos of the corner where I want to put the new tank:

I've been planning an upgrade for quite a while now. I had a location picked out but it had some issues. Originally I was going to do an in wall in our basement. The problems with this were that I didn't have easy access to drain lines and i was worried about ventilation. I had figured out how to make it work, but I wasn't really excited about it. Also the location wouldn't be in a prime spot for viewing. A few months ago my wife suggested that I do a corner build in our upstairs dining room area. After thinking about it a while I decided that was the perfect location. It has great viewing from our living room, dining room and kitchen. But the best part is the wall backs up to the garage, so I can build a fish room and have real easy access to water and drain lines. Also I can easily exhaust the fish room air outside and not have all the humidity in our house. (the wife was most pleased about that) Enough of the rambling. I started this thread to document the build and get help with the planning stages. Warning: progress may be slow as I like to over analyze and engineer things. I am going to try and avoid as many mistakes as possible and want a nice clean build.

150 gallon 30"wide x 48"long x 24" tall. New tank will be roughly 36"x 72"x 28". I haven't finalized the size yet. Wanted to go 60"x60"x24" but wife thought that was too large.

I picked up 4 Sols yesterday. I dont really have time for the DIY, but it is very intriguing. 4 Sols probably won't be enough for my new build, but I can add more later or a few Vegas. Or maybe I will find some time to play with some custom DIY setup to supplement the Sols. Having so many options is a good and bad thing.

I was waiting for the Vega also, but it sounds like they won't be as powerful because of the spread. So for a deeper tank you will need just as many or more units than with the Sol. The price of the Sol has already dropped in preparation for the Vega release so I doubt it will drop much more. The Vega added reds, greens and UVs, but I don't see much difference from the Radion (except price). I also don't expect many people to dump their Sols for the Vega, because those people already dumped them for Radions. There are supposed to be upgrades available for the Sol, but I'm not sure what they are. That may make the decision easier for those on the fence. If I can get the Sols for less and could upgrade a couple of units that may be the ticket. I have also considered adding T5s to supplement the color.

I have an idea. Could probably be even better if we could arrange a group buy for a bunch of units.