I've been dreaming............

[bogey]

I've been longing for a larger tank for several years and finally decided to get one. The new tank is a Perfecto 220 and with the help of some good friends, it will be in the basement on its new stand in a week. There is a lot of work to do before then. One frag tank has been emptied and because there will be no mushrooms, no anthelia, no zenia in the new tank, the whole lower tier of the 90 gallon tank was removed today.

The entire frag setup will be disassembled tomorrow, the rack will be moved, and the 90 gal display will become the new frag tank. The 220 will be an in-wall installation, so the stand and the wall opening will need to be ready in a week. The trim work can be finished later. No more canopy, Yeah! There will be an upper door on the front side of the tank which can be raised and lowered. That will allow direct access to all sides of the tank.

Both the 220 and the 90 will be plumbed as one system using the existing 75 gal sump. This will allow the calcium reactor to serve both tanks as it did with the previous frag tanks. The 220 will have three 400 watt 10K metal halides in Lumenarc mini III reflectors. I'm leaning towards T5s for actinics but have not reached a final decision yet. Anyone have any recomendation?

Thanks to everyone who took home frags. I'm sure they will be happy in their new homes. There are more left if anyone reading this is interested.

This is a picture of the 90 gal it will be replacing:

[shelleyo]

That's so exciting, Debbie! Thanks for the frags, they seem to be happy!

[Bloke]

I am excited hearing about it! I'm even more excited about the beer & pizza!

As far as lighting - you've seen my T5's and I think they work great. They give me plenty of color and are cheaper to replace than PCs or VHOs and they last longer too. You might talk to Josh (Fisherman) about his T5's since I think he runs a T5 only setup on one of his tanks. To add, I think Jennie is planning on running only T5's on her 180g inwall she's setting up.

I am not sure, but I think the initial costs of setting up your T5's will be higher in that you have to buy endcaps for each bulb and you will be running more bulbs than you would if you ran PCs. Again, I am not positive, but I think the highest wattage on a T5 is 54w and over 220g you're probably going to run perhaps 8 bulbs.

Again, Josh would have better insights. Perhaps he'll chime in. Good luck on the build - it sounds awesome!

Shane

[missile150]

After seeing the pics at Shane's house, I was finally convinced to do an inwall myself, Debbie. I wanted to do it with my 210, but got it after we had our basement finished. I finally convinced my wife to let me move it, and I will be started the stand for it today, and will, too, hopefully have it moved and a wall around it by the end of the month. Sorry to piggyback your post, but I hope to get some insight as to how yours is going and maybe we could help eachother.

Jim

[bogey]

Neat! Are you building the stand out of wood or are you going to use your existing stand? Here is the thread that inspired me to do the in-wall:

http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85076

And here is another that I'm in the middle of reading, very interesting:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...pagen umber=1

[Lynne]

You know.. I am excited too! Mostly for beer and pizza but watching the tank come together is cool too. I am so boring that moving a 220 sounds like fun on a Friday night if that tells you anything about my life.
Maybe you guys will inspire me to finally set up a tank at home someday. OR inspire Nathan to set up his 210??

[Moosejac]

um, I believe the beer and pizza was offered to those actually MOVING the tank...And as far as the 210, tell Liz to pick a freaking color for the living room...grrrrrrrrrr

[jennmac415]

Hey Deb...

Sorry we did not connect tonight... time got away from me...my little guy needed dinner(can you imagine?) and I had to eventually end up at home to get some stuff done...I still want the small frags if you have them...call me 519-2376... I am free the entire day tomorrow...

Thanks!
Jenni

[peanut95]

Thanks for the frags, they look great. Do you know if the blue/green one is a tort? And you can get V-ho T5s that are 85 watts. but still only 48 inch.

[Lynne]

I am sure my supervision and going "OH, WATCH OUT" will earn me a meager slice of pizza.

Some of us prefer brains to brawn..