65g Reef Back is in Action!

robchuck

Active Member
For reasons discussed towards the end of this thread, I recently have been tearing down my 300g reef to convert it into a FW planted tank. I could never give up reefkeeping cold turkey, so I managed to find a way over the past few weeks to get my old 65g tank set back up as a reef.
All of the livestock in this "new" tank came out of the 300g (there's still TONS in there; AW2 will be picking it up soon, plus I couldn't net any of the fish that I'm moving over). And alot of the equipment was either from my stockpile or aquired through trades with local reefers.
I wanted to keep this tank very simple, so I decided to set it up without a sump. This decision made it difficult to choose equipment, but luckily I had a pair of Tunze Stream 6060 pumps laying around to provide circulation and found a Deltec MCE600 HOB skimmer at a great price. After setting the tank up, I found that both Tunzes running together were too much, and that one 6060 by itself provides about the perfect amount of flow throughout the tank.
Lighting was easy, as I simply moved my SLS 2x250W HQI MH setup w/ Phoenix 14,000K lamps over from the 300g. These are suspended from a rig I made and are hidden behind removable bamboo panels.
Ca/Alk are handled by a topoff system that starts via a Life Reef floatswitch that I've had in storage for 3 years, RO/DI gets pumped via an old peristaltic pump, and then passes through a MRC Nilsen Reactor.
I did make one splurge after IMAC this past weekend however. After seeing the Lighthouse Controller at the Premium Aquatics booth (a nice discount helped in the decision!), I decided that it would a good investment for the tank (and a cool toy!). I've got it running the HQI lights, heater, pH (in case the topoff goes nuts and tries adding too much kalkwasser), and also have it set up to cut off the MH lights if the tank's temp gets too high. It also measures and logs the tank's temp, pH, ORP, and even has a built-in webserver that will allow me to see graphs and such through the internet once I get it networked!
As it stands, the tank has about 60 lbs or so of LR right now on top of a 1-2" sandbed. I moved some zoanthids, a few mushrooms, and a few other large pieces from the 300g, along with several frags and other small corals that I've had growing in a frag tank. Two of my six LTA anemones also made the trip. I also planted several tufts of Halimeda throughout the tank. My Colt has been one of my favorite corals, but dominates most of the left side of the tank, so I'm not sure if it will stay or go.
Eventually, I'll also move the Multicolor Angel, Royal Gramma, pair of Neon Gobies, and pair of Clowns (once I can catch them all!).
Enough about the tank, how about some pics!
Here is what the 65g looked like when I last had it set up in the Summer of '04:
 

robchuck

Active Member
I hope for this back corner to grow into a Halimeda garden which will eventually hide the heater and provide an in-tank refugium area for 'pods and such:
 

robchuck

Active Member
I guess dyslexia got the best of me when typing out the title for the thread. It should read: "65g reef IS back in action".
 

moby

Member
Very nice, I really like the "hood" you created. Very resourceful and proves you can save money with a little ingenuity. :thinking:
I especially like the lighting change from the old lights used on the tank previously. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
Moby
 

robchuck

Active Member
Originally Posted by moby
Very nice, I really like the "hood" you created. Very resourceful and proves you can save money with a little ingenuity. :thinking:
I especially like the lighting change from the old lights used on the tank previously. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
Moby
I'm a fan of open top tanks, but not the light that they spill out into the room, so I wanted to come up with something to prevent that. And just by browsing the aisles at Home Depot one afternoon, I found the hardware to create the light rig, and the bamboo was originally a 36"x72" rollup window shade that I cut up into panels and placed some backerboard behind to prevent any light creep.
The original lighting from several years ago was 2x175W Coralvue 15,000K. I agree that it's a big difference going to the 250W 14,000K bulbs!
 

robchuck

Active Member
Thanks for the comments guys!
The tank has been going well, and I finally moved the last of the fish from the 300g over to the 65g tonight. (Over the course of the last month, I moved in the pair of ocellaris clowns - they were happy to reunite with their anemones, the multicolor angel, the sixline wrasse, the lone survivor from my pair of neon gobies, the yellow tang, and a copperband butterfly that I bought the other day.)
Here are a few pictures I snapped earlier this evening:





 
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