mhowe9's 245G Display and Fish Room

[mhowe9]

In early May this year, my wife and I made the unexpected decision to move. This was just after I completed a project that include a new breeding room and dual in-wall tanks (245G and 180G). The tanks had been up for about six months when we decided to move. The move allowed both of us to cut a significant amount of drive time off of our commutes each day. We ended up moving to the new house in the first week of July. In the process of getting ready to move and actually moving I ended losing quite a bit of livestock.

Once we got settled into the new house, I turned my plans to getting both a display tank and breeding system up and running. Here was the plan that I came up with.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Fish-Room-Design-2-1.jpg


I ended up start building in October. I didn't get take many build pictures since I was too busy building. I am happy to have both the breeding set up and display tanks back up and running. Below are some pictures and some descriptions of the both of the systems as they stand today

In wall display tank (245G). Still need to finish trimming it out
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/FTS.jpg

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/FTS2.jpg

Sump for the display with a ASM G6 skimmer, carbon reactor, and live rock

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Display-Sump.jpg

Breeding setup. When it is all complete it will hold 23 tanks.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Breeding-Setup-4.jpg

Left racks

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Breeding-Setup-2.jpg

Right Racks including the sump with a ATI skimmer, Reeflo Dart Return Pump, carbor reactor, and live rock.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Breeding-Setup-3.jpg

Quarantine Sytems (2 22G tanks and a 29G cube)

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/QT-System.jpg

[AJ :)]

Man you must have put in a ton of work to get that all setup during the holidays!

The display looks great.
I'm looking forward to updates!

[larryandlaura]

Amazing job that is a awesome setup! Hats off to you.

[mhowe9]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I am glad that it is done and that I get to do the fun part of this hobby now.

[jimsflies]

Wow that's quite a project!

That is one grungy looking skimmer! :thumbsup:

[mhowe9]

Thanks for all the comments. The skimmer has been used quite a bit over the last couples. Here is the final display tank all trimmed out. My daughter wanted the purple wall so we did the purple trim to match.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Trimmed-out-display.jpg

[Sir Patrick]

Very nice!!!

Glad to see ya settled in, and doing it all over again. Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do with the big tank.

[AJ :)]

That looks real nice Mike!

[mhowe9]

Thanks for the comments guys.

[bluwc]

Not so sure about the purple lol but everything looks awesome! That will be nice to just sit back and watch and a great center piece for any room. I plan on doing something similar in my basement minus the breeding tanksand purple

[mhowe9]

Here is the latest video of the display tank. There is also a Pearlscale Butterfly that was camera shy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-IT7pXVNkY&feature=BFa&list=UU4HqyqGoFbTk9-66Y-x1CQw&lf=plcp

[BEETLE60]

Good job Mike ,we are looking forward to building a new large tank in the near future and seeing tanks being built on CR is a great source of inspiration

[mhowe9]

Thanks Bruce for the comments!

[thepanfish]

Just an FYI, they have a pair of those butterflyfish from 0:09in the video above at an LFS near me. Picked up a pair of pearlscales from them.
Thought you might be interested, tank is looking good Mike.

[mhowe9]

Here is the latest on the tank in the last couple of months. I have done 2 major updates:

This first update was that I bought a MARS unit which allowed me to eliminate the back section breeding setup (which I will later used for larval rearing and other stuff). I spent parts of this weekend plumbing the remaining breeding set up into the sump that was part of the MARS unit. I purchased a Super Reef Octopus 5000 External Skimmer that should be here this week to complete the breeding setup. This allowed me to move the 180G that was the sump in the breeding system and using that as the sump for the display tank along with the ATI 3000 skimmer that was in that system. Here are pics of how the system look now.

180 Gallon sump ( Divided into cryptic zone --> Refugium with DSB --> Skimmer and Return
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Display-Sump-1.jpg

Full fish room shot looking from the back of the tank

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/mhowe9/Fish-Room-1.jpg

The second is that updated the lighting and flow on the display. I purchased a Vortec MP60 and upgraded my MP20s with the wireless module (so now they are basically MP40s). I also go rid of my T5 lights and am running 3 Apollo dimmable fixtures. So far I have been very happy with both. Here is current video of the tank

100 0046 - YouTube

[Captain]

THAT IS DOPE! Really nice job!

[MizTanks]

Wow just thinking about all the work involved has ME overwhelmed-lol. Totally awesome job!!

[mhowe9]

Thanks all for the comments

[binford4000]

Nicely done !!! Love the sound track. :thumbsup:

[mhowe9]

Thanks binford!