Some new stuff.......

[ryebread]

I only have one of the Cross's Damsel in there because I didn't want him getting wierd on me right away. Hopefully he will grow to be a nice addition to the tank........if not, out ya go! For now, he is in there for some nice color before the reef takes place.
As far as the ballast being located under the tank.......yep. I have it surrounded by Ceramic and I have been monitoring the heat given off of it.......hardly any. I only will run the halides for about four hours a day once the corals are added and I will see if it needs to be relocated. The ceramic actually makes a really nice barrier for it.

 

[ryebread]

Originally posted by j21kickster
my lord- i wish i had that kind of cash
Pffft! Me too! I shot photos of a couple of LFS for thier stores and thier websites to gather up store credit for as much as possible. Helped quite a bit with the Big tank money crunch.

 

[nm reef]

Ryan....nice to see somebody doing their homework...and then putting together a plan! Very nice/solid foundation you've developed there...congrads!
Keep us posted as it progresses...in time you'll no doubt have a sweet reef.

 

[overanalyzer]

I see you went with the in line UV sterilizer but you aren't running it ... gotta post on how that works out for you over time!

 

[saltynewbie]

so does the ceramic help dissipate the heat given off by the ballast??

 

[broomer5]

FANTASTIC !
Very nice Ryebread - you've got a great looking system so far.
Love that live rock too - large pieces it looks like too - and nice color/shapes !!!
I like everything I see.
I prefer to keep the ballasts out from under the tank, in case of a water leak/spray. That's just because I'm paranoid though.
I'm green with envy !!!
Sweet - keep us updated as things no doubt will progress nicely.

 

[rhomer]

I would agree that you should move the ballast out from under the tank, for many reasons, heat being one of them. The only other thing that I noticed is that you might think about some parabollic reflectors. You will get a lot more out of your lights if you put in some good reflectors (spider, reef optix,...)

 

[jim672]

Rye,
Tank is fabulous! Your pictures are, as always, incredible!! So the secret to talking your wife into okaying another tank is: "Honest Honey, I have soooo much store credit, I just have to use it or I'll lose it!"
Your DSB looks like very course particles. What is it?
Jim

 

[ryebread]

Thanks for the compliments everyone.
I guess I will be moving the ballast behind the tank for you paranoids.
I have been thinking about the reflectors for the halides and I have some time before mounting new ones if needed. Right now I turn them on and blind myself........ It was my first big DIY project and I was pretty happy with it.
The DSB is not a DSB at all. I don't like the look of DSBs and since I am an irresponsible hobbiest who is not concerned with additional filtration........I am using about 1" of large particle aragonite. I can't remember the exact name of it but, I can check at home later.