Fish tanks anyone

[MPHSystems]

This one has been running about 3 years or so…. Everything had died when I had covid the first time but it’s come back nicely.

My setup is pretty dang OG. Euroreef skimmer, 3X 250/400 20K Radium‘s in a Geismann Spectra and Apex classic, none of which has been sold for 7-15 years. The only modern equipment I’m running are 3X 6105’s, a echotech versa and L2, also 2 reefbrights for supplemental lighting. The tank is 24H X 36W X 72L (225 gal) star fire glass on a stand I build from 2X2 and 2X3 13 gauge square tube and had powder coated.

Some photos

 

[rivermobster]

Nice! Dig the Tang's.

 

[MPHSystems]

Nice! Dig the Tang's.

There’s a pair of purples who didn’t appear for the photo. The one PBT (powder blue) is a unicorn. Only about 1:10 survives 6 months in captivity and of those about 75% are such A-holes that you can’t keep other tangs with them. I’ve had that one 2-1/2 years and he’s a model citizen.


Edit: the purples came out to get photographed, they normally are all over the place but love to hide when the iPad camera comes out. I think they were begging for food

 

[rivermobster]

There’s a pair of purples who didn’t appear for the photo. The one PBT (powder blue) is a unicorn. Only about 1:10 survives 6 months in captivity and of those about 75% are such A-holes that you can’t keep other tangs with them. I’ve had that one 2-1/2 years and he’s a model citizen.

I kept Clowns with the one I had. They seemed to get along well.

 

[DaveH]

mph's chemistry skills make me wonder why he didnt go breaking bad many years ago.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

It would probably be cheaper to rip out the tank and replace it with a TV streaming a video of a fish tank.

As I can kill a plastic plant no way in hell will I own a fish tank.

They are a lot of work and yours looks nice.

 

[Mr. C]

Beautiful looking tank. Your effort and time shows.
My brother went from a 125 gallon salt to fresh just because of the upkeep I think.
It’s a memorizing view in person.

awesome.

 

[rivermobster]

When I was single...

I had a 150 salt tank next to my bed.

"Hey, you wanna come check out my fish tank?"

TOTALLY worth the effort.

 

[MPHSystems]

It would probably be cheaper to rip out the tank and replace it with a TV streaming a video of a fish tank.

As I can kill a plastic plant no way in hell will I own a fish tank.

They are a lot of work and yours looks nice.

Tv bores the hell out of me. The coral I grow are SPS, mostly acropora with a sprinkling of easier montipora millepora and digitata. Even an anemone that just had babies after 2+ years. I like the challenge. most every coral in my tank started out smaller than 1/2 of your pinkie finger some smaller than a chocolate chip. it takes years to grow a successful tank and just 1 mistake to kill it all.

Initially there is a fair amount of work but now it’s about an hour a month. I have a computer that maintains daily operations and redundant systems. All I do now is monitor chemistry and nudge it in the right directions and maintain Equipment that has worn out, broken or needs maintenance. Monthly water change takes maybe half an hour.

 

[MPHSystems]

Beautiful looking tank. Your effort and time shows.
My brother went from a 125 gallon salt to fresh just because of the upkeep I think.
It’s a memorizing view in person.

awesome.

It’s very relaxing. Seeing a half an inch of growth in one coral after a month is quite rewarding. I’m at the stage right now where, because some of these can be quite expensive, the less expensive coral get put in first. I am having to remove a significant portion less expensive corals so they don’t block out the more exotic ones. The good news I can sell them and it’s real money that you can get. In the thousands of dollars. But mostly I just give them away I’m not in the business of selling coral.

 

[v6toy4x]

Wow, that is a beautiful tank, your knowledge is impressive. Never knew fish tank "hardware" was that involved.

 

[BTR]

Here’s mine

 

[n2otoofast4u]

There’s an inmate here that took a shot in the face from a tank a few years ago and suffered SERIOUS injury. Be careful with that shit! I can appreciate a nice tank, but the shit I saw on here deters me!

 

[HTTP404]

There’s an inmate here that took a shot in the face from a tank a few years ago and suffered SERIOUS injury. Be careful with that shit! I can appreciate a nice tank, but the shit I saw on here deters me!

@BTR

 

[Orange Juice]

I had a 135 gallon 5/8th inch thick glass Fresh water tank for 15 years.

It was certainly the showcase in the living room.

 

[MPHSystems]

There’s an inmate here that took a shot in the face from a tank a few years ago and suffered SERIOUS injury. Be careful with that shit! I can appreciate a nice tank, but the shit I saw on here deters me!

I suppose you are talking about palytoxin and yea, that’s no joke. Palythoa and zonthus are gorgeous but I don’t keep any zoanthids. They aren’t all that challenging to keep. In fact, the real challenge is keeping them under control because they grow like weeds. As it is, every 6 months or so, I spend 1/2 day and usually pull a Home Depot bucket or 2 worth of acropora trimmings out for disposal. Zoa’s grow a lot faster. The stories I’ve heard are people fraging them and catch a squirt in the eye. If I deal with them, I’m wearing eye protection. There was a case where some gal in Texas boiled some rocks with paly’s on it and it aerosolized and made everyone in the house sick and even killed the dog or something.

 

[MPHSystems]

I had a 135 gallon 5/8th inch thick glass Fresh water tank for 15 years.

It was certainly the showcase in the living room.

5/8” on a 135 is pretty stout, I’m assuming it was a custom built tank. Mine is 1/2” glass eurobrased.

I was going to cut this tank into the garage wall but in an effort to detour me from building a bigger tank, my wife said “I want it here” which was a peninsula build in the foyer. Jackpot! Dream location. Normally with a 6’ tank against a wall you get 6’ of viewable tank + the sides. I have an honest 13’ of display. We had one neighbor ask how we got that with our house, she wanted one. I just LOLed. She thought it was an option from the builder.

 

[rrrr]

Those are beautiful tanks, guys. Your skills are impressive.

 

[MPHSystems]

Those are beautiful tanks, guys. Your skills are impressive.

It comes from decades of trial and error. Since before 1980, I doubt there's been more than 7 years that I didn't have a tank running.

 

[BTR]

I suppose you are talking about palytoxin and yea, that’s no joke. Palythoa and zonthus are gorgeous but I don’t keep any zoanthids. They aren’t all that challenging to keep. In fact, the real challenge is keeping them under control because they grow like weeds. As it is, every 6 months or so, I spend 1/2 day and usually pull a Home Depot bucket or 2 worth of acropora trimmings out for disposal. Zoa’s grow a lot faster. The stories I’ve heard are people fraging them and catch a squirt in the eye. If I deal with them, I’m wearing eye protection. There was a case where some gal in Texas boiled some rocks with paly’s on it and it aerosolized and made everyone in the house sick and even killed the dog or something.

That was me. No longer keep any soft corals. I was removing them safely under water and took out a birds nest coral to move it. Had a small paly on the base I didn’t see. Did not get my eye but rather my eyebrow. I instinctively wiped it away knowing the danger but something on my fingers got in. Melted the cornea in less than 3 days. Had to get a cornea transplant. Oops.

 

[MPHSystems]

That was me. No longer keep any soft corals. I was removing them safely under water and took out a birds nest coral to move it. Had a small paly on the base I didn’t see. Did not get my eye but rather my eyebrow. I instinctively wiped it away knowing the danger but something on my fingers got in. Melted the cornea in less than 3 days. Had to get a cornea transplant. Oops.

Dayum!


3 days?

 

[Boat211]

I have a 180 salt tank. It's super boring compared to the tanks on here. Just rock and fish. I need some color in there. I had a bout of Ick in there last year. Now I am nervous to add anything.

 

[BTR]

Dayum!


3 days?

Yes. Flushed eyes immediately and thought all was well. Woke up at 2 am in excruciating pain. Went to ER and got medically flushed and steroid eye drops. Pain never subsided and eye started clouding up and turning white. Went to eye doctor who looked at it for all of 30 seconds and said drive to Loma Linda immediately. Apparently it ate a hole through and inner eye fluid was beginning to leak out. Got a transplant later that evening. Heard the helicopter land with the deceased donator. Very surreal. They saved the eye but it got a cataract from the toxin in my tear ducts. Will get another surgery sometime down the road but good enough for now. Not like it ruined my professional sports career

 

[dread Pirate]

Always been afraid of salt being off grid. Losing an eye from coral? Holy shit!!!

Yeah I'm good with my African cichlids.

 

[SPYLIFE]

When I was single...

I had a 150 salt tank next to my bed.

"Hey, you wanna come check out my fish tank?"

TOTALLY worth the effort.

Had the same deal in my early 20's. I cut the shelf headboard off my waterbed frame, set a 125 gal on cinder blocks so it became the new headboard. Gals would come over and jump right on the bed to look at the fish.

Always thought at some point later in life I would setup that same deal in a guestroom only better funded as an adult. So far this not happened. I remember that tank being a pain in a**.

Had a 55 in an office some years ago with no fish, fake plants, and a bubble system. That one was easy to take care off.

 

[RaceTec]

You guys are making me miss my tanks! I bet it is a bunch easier with all of the automation and tech now! That system looks awesome with all of the dosing and stuff being handled. Show us your sump, do you have alternate light cycles and stuff going on?

 

[MPHSystems]

You guys are making me miss my tanks! I bet it is a bunch easier with all of the automation and tech now! That system looks awesome with all of the dosing and stuff being handled. Show us your sump, do you have alternate light cycles and stuff going on?

I'll post some pictures of the sump and control closet later on I just replaced most of the circulation pumps and didn't tidy up so control closet is a bit messy right now. the refugium is inverse lighting from the display tank to take the edge off the pH swings. saturate calcium hydroxide for 100% of evaperation makeup water helps with ph also.

 

[rivermobster]

Had the same deal in my early 20's. I cut the shelf headboard off my waterbed frame, set a 125 gal on cinder blocks so it became the new headboard. Gals would come over and jump right on the bed to look at the fish.

Always thought at some point later in life I would setup that same deal in a guestroom only better funded as an adult. So far this not happened. I remember that tank being a pain in a**.

Had a 55 in an office some years ago with no fish, fake plants, and a bubble system. That one was easy to take care off.

It was worth it back then.

 

[bonesfab]

I would love to have a tank. But I don't want to clean or maintain it. Beautiful tanks here. Youtube aquariums work for me.

 

[Boat211]

I'll post some pictures of the sump and control closet later on I just replaced most of the circulation pumps and didn't tidy up so control closet is a bit messy right now. the refugium is inverse lighting from the display tank to take the edge off the pH swings. saturate calcium hydroxide for 100% of evaperation makeup water helps with ph also.

 

[rrrr]

We've had this tank for years. It's hard work to keep it in balance, but worth the effort.

 

[MPHSystems]

My RBTA split 4 ways last month. Now the daughters are roaming around the tank staining whatever they come close to.

 

[Done-it-again]

Crazy how much work is involved in these tanks....

This is an engineers fish tank that I do work for. Has a separate room for his tank controls and water lines go through the wall.... He can control water transfers via phone app... NUTS....

 

[rrrr]

Dang! How much money did all that cost?

@BTR and @MPHSystems

Damn psycho engineers!

 

[dread Pirate]

Here are my humble tanks. Some very nice setups shown.

 

[BTR]

Dang! How much money did all that cost?

@BTR and @MPHSystems

Damn psycho engineers!

Initial investment for the tank and equipment was about $2500. Over the course of 7 years I’ve probably spent another $2000 on livestock, fish and coral. Some live and thrive, some don’t. Coral can be finicky and fish can be assholes killing new additions. Achieving a balance takes time.

 

[HTTP404]

I have a small fresh water setup. I have some algae issues right now.

 

[HTTP404]

 

[MPHSystems]

Dang! How much money did all that cost?

@BTR and @MPHSystems

Damn psycho engineers!

That’s like asking a degenerate gambler how much he blew in vegas last weekend, he probably doesn’t know.

I don’t buy coral. There are several of us who “bank” coral in each other’s tanks I did split a “getting out of the hobby sale” with a friend $200 for my “starter coral and 1/2 my fish. Then I bought another lot of “getting out of the hobby“ fish for $350 but I had to sell a yellow tang who started getting beat up after a year -$150 so $400 in livestock. Typicly you would spend $3-4K on livestock for a tank like mine

lighting for this tank would run roughly $7k, 6X XR30 @ $900 + racking. I use metal halide, it’s getting really hard to find but I bought a German made fixture for $650 added e ballests + 3 backup ballests and lamps to last 10+ years. Probably $1,500

I got a quote for my tank and stand (no sump) $5K + shipping + sump =$7,500. I bought a used one (no stand) for $1,200 and sold the sump for $400 so $800 + $700 for steel and powder coating and welded it up myself. I got a really nice $2k sump from a friend for $1k so $2,500 for tank stand and sump

Flow in the tank 3X 6105 = $1k. These pumps wear out so used isn’t really a deal

And appropriate calcium reactor is going to cost $800 + $600 = $1,400 for regulator and tank I bought a used German build nitrate reactor $20, drilled and tapped it for a probe holder about $200 so $800

Typical control system runs about $3-4k. I’m using old APEX classic. I have a hot spare cloned brain and power bar + the working system probably $1,200

An appropriate protine skimmer would run ~$800, I traded for a 15 year old euroreef + modified $100 jebao pump.

Return pump, heaters sch80 plumbing various little pumps probably $2k


Gawd, I hope my wife never checks up on my posts on RDP but it looks like I’m in it $10k. Smart retail, buying deals would be roughly $25k. If I decided to quit and sell it all, I’d be hard pressed to get $5k, probably $3,500


On the flip side, if I wanted to start selling frags shipping and inviting people into my house, $2k/month would not be a stretch at all. I really enjoy showing off my tank and typically if someone comes by to buy some coral they will drop $250. I hand the cash right to my wife, I’m trying to developer a Pavlovian response.


Maybe when I retire and the kids are grown, I’ll start actively selling but I just don’t have the time to do all the packing and shipping and meetings and customer service.

 

[RaceTec]

Yeah the "getting out of the hobby" sales kick ass until it is yourself getting out of the hobby! I probably had over $15k in mine and got a few thousand. Part of that was deals to friends and stuff too... It always amazes me how many of us "hobby" people build their own stuff. I was in the very beginning of LED for reefs and we were buying and building very custom fixtures and custom made LEDs. It was fun but crazy and expensive with 12 channel LED panels and stuff.

 

[MPHSystems]

Yeah the "getting out of the hobby" sales kick ass until it is yourself getting out of the hobby! I probably had over $15k in mine and got a few thousand. Part of that was deals to friends and stuff too... It always amazes me how many of us "hobby" people build their own stuff. I was in the very beginning of LED for reefs and we were buying and building very custom fixtures and custom made LEDs. It was fun but crazy and expensive with 12 channel LED panels and stuff.

People started fires with LEDs. You’d think it’s only 12V, how much heat can it make? It’s not hot like Halides!


Welp, 500 wats is 500 wats. if it’s LED or halide or a space heater, it’s still 500 watts.

 

[MPHSystems]

Sump maintenance Today, maby I’ll snap a few photos after it’s alll wiped down too but need to calibrate probes and clean / service reactors. 3- 6 month intervals

 

[welldigger00]

I’ve finally got mine running right