My First Reef Tank

Here are a couple of pics of my reef tank. I just finished the build and it's in the second week of the cycle. Here's a pic from when I was putting it together. I need to take some new pics of it complete with the sand.

Tank - Aquavim 93 gallon RR w/1" out and 3/4" in (both on same side)
Stand and Canopy supplied by Aquavim, in black cherry
Sump - 20x12x15 sectioned with light for refugium
Skimmer - AquaC EV-180
Pumps - 1 Mag 9.5, 1 Mag 12
UV - Aqua UV Classic 25 watt
Light - Coralife Aqualight Pro reto - 1x150w hqiMH, 2x 65w cf
Control - Neptune Aquacontrol Jr + DC8, Temp probe and pH probe
Power heads - 1 Ecotech MP40w
Heat - ViaAqua 300 watt titanium
Ground - titanium grounding probe
Testing - Aquarium Pharmaceuticals reefmaster and professional test kits, Hanna TDS meter, Pinpoint salinity monitor, pinpoint nitrate monitor, Hanna pH monitor
Water - purewaterclub 6 stage RO/DI system
ATO - dual switch system from autotopoff.com
Water storage - so far 1 55 gallon plastic garbage can with lid, will add 30 gallon for salt mix and ATO
Salt - Red Sea coral pro salt mix
Rock - 100 pounds Marco dry rock (+ 20 pounds live rubble)
Sand - 60 pounds live (to start with)

 

very nice start ms. its gonna look great when you get to add. have fun. lol

 

He has pic's

WTG!

Looking great. And your gear is sweet too.

For the salt mix tank you wanna add a heater+powerhead IMO.

From what i see and hear you have one pump for water movement right?

anyway nice going so far!

Thanks 4 Posting,
Mike

 

Mike, Thanks! So for the salt mix I need to get another heater. I had originally bought two K3 power heads for the tank, then switched to the Ecotech MP40. So I used one of those K3s for my ro/di tank, and I'll put the other one in the salt tank (when I set it up).

On the pump side, there's 1 Mag 9.5 for the skimmer, 1 Mag 12 for the return, and the Ecotech MP40 for wave/movement. I actually had to wick the MP40 down quite a bit, it was blowing stuff all over the place in there. If you haven't checked them out go look at their web page, it's an awesome (but a little expensive) little toy.

More pics soon!

 

Wow.. I really like that tank/stand... very nice!

 

Thanks. I really liked the idea of a bow front tank. The downside to it though is that you pretty much have to view things straight on. The corners, although cool looking, tend to distort what's in the tank. Someone who is very serious about the hobby would most likely want to avoid this type of tank.

 

wow real nice.

 

i know what you mean i have the 72 bow myself, i want a cube now

 

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Hydro, the bows can have their drawbacks. I'm going to live with mine for a while. The aesthetics of it are pretty nice, and if I want to really study fish and corals I'll just get right in front of it. My guess is that's most likely what I would do with any other tank. But who knows.

How long have you had yours? I'll have to see if I can look up some pics of it.

 

Ok, so my first real question:

The system has been set up and running for about a week and a half. The majority of that time it's had nothing in it but dry, pre-cycled rock from Marco, and salty water. My skimmer (Aquac Ev-180) is just now starting to produce foam, climbing up to the top of the tower but not dense enough to spill anything into the cup. Is the what I should expect from the skimmer at this point in the cycle? Thanks.