Hi guys,?I have been in the hobby off and on for the better part of 20 years. ?I had to take my last tank down 2 years ago do to my job shifting into a traveling consulting situation. ?I hated to do it, especially growing all my sps corals from small frags. ?I remember my wife walking by it with her friends saying, "My husband has a very blue thumb and he grew all of that from little bitty frags". ?Now that I have moved back home to Texas from the east coast I plan on setting up my 120, eventually. ?I am probably going to drag out the build as I am waiting to move this summer into a bigger home for my family and then take my time feeling out the new job, as I am supporting global operations. ?Hopefully with very little travel. ?This time around, I am going with with high end and or custom built stuff. ?I have had so much trouble (maybe its just my luck) with usual run of the mill or budget equipment. ?I remember on my last tank I went thru 3 skimmers in 18 months only to still end up with an ok skimmer (which is where I think My bryopsis issue stemmed from until the final skimmer was settled into my tank). ?The time and money amounted to me getting a bubble king without actually getting one. ?The sump I got was the best sump that could fit the small 24 ?x 24 space and it wasn't the best, plus it bowed out badly. ?Not a great feeling. ?I bought an LED light fixture that is a very popular budget model but died shortly after the warranty period so I had to break out my Halide setup. ?Nothing is a hundred percent, but I am going with high end quality stuff and or have it made to my preferences to increase my chances of the equipment living and performing well. ?To date, here is what I have collected so far1. 120 DAS aquarium 48" x 24" x 24". Made in Waxahachie Texas, Woo Hoo!!2. Custom built 40" tall stand that is very heavily built with matching canopy. ?I didn't want a chip board type stand or a simple solid wood stand that I see around the Metro area for sale including the higher quality wood stands. ?This is a nice and very pretty stand with lots of heavy molding at the base of stand, top of stand, top of canopy, nice canted front corners with fancy mill work, and some ginger bread on the canopy. ?Its white, nice and elegant. ?I will probably coat it in polyurethane to protect it from the salt water. ?Maybe some epoxy paint on the inside too. ?Made Locally in DFW-Woohoo!!3. Bubble King 200 double cone with DC Red Dragon pump. ?Yea, I know there are really great cheaper options out there, but I wanted a Bubble King. ?Its funny, there is a lot of detail in the skimmer that is not necessary and adds to the cost-like the intake pipe leading into the injection chamber below the bubble plate. ?It has been machined to have threads to screw into the (threaded) injection chamber. ?It would have been fine to have a sliding pipe. ?The wedge pipe is also machined where it goes into the base fitting. ?I am on the same page as Jeff Macare where you get the biggest skimmer you can afford and build your sump around it. ?Its extra nice as this is a controllable DC pump so I can tune it to the aquarium needs. ?With the large body there is more dwell time / area for the bubbles and waste to interact. ?From my experiences, if the skimmer strips out the organics and goes idle, until the organics build back up, its OK. But still, I can tune the skimmer to match tank load. ?Even tho its not made in USA, its made in Germany (German's make good stuff, especially the pharma equipment I deal with-its top shelf), where my Pops family is from-WooHoo!!4. Aqualund Proteus 200 recirculating Biopellet reactor. ?Its a nice design, well built, and everything can be disassembled including the reactor floor for cleaning. ?It comes with a quiet one pump, which I have had no prior experience with, but if I don't like it, it is very easily modified to put on a sicce or ehiem if I so choose later. ?Same design approach to the defunct Reef Dynamics reactors (which is what I originally wanted). ?Independent control of biopellet flow and independent control of effluent exiting the reactor. ?I believe a lot of the tank crashes associated with biopellet reactors are due to lack of control and the microbes strip everything out of the water column. ?This set up, I believe, can prevent that provided diligent monitoring is performed to ensure the reactor is kept in tune with nutrient levels. ?For what I understand, a very small amount of?phosphate and nitrate in the water is needed for calcification. ?So i can keep enough flow to keep the pellets tumbling to reduce the chances of dead zones being created and spoiling the pellets and adjust the intake and discharge of effluent to match what I will need in nutrient levels. ?Made in Wisconsin USA, it isn't Texas or Germany, but its still the good ole USA by Steve Lund-Woohoo!!5. ?I have bought and built 2 Avast Marine MR5 reactors for carbon and Phosphate. ?These reactors are very reasonably priced, very thick acrylic for the tube and flanges. ?I plan on running these off a manifold to minimize heat from more electric pumps. ?kit made in Virginia and built in my house in TX-Woohoo!!6. ?Trigger Systems is building me a custom sump using a modified design of the??ruby series 36S. ?The internal chambers will be moved around to accommodate the big skimmer and the width will be increased to 18 inches. ?They have been extremely easy to work with and would use them again when I decide to upgrade to a bigger size in a few years. Not only in Texas, but DFW-Woohoo!!The boss (wife) told me to cool it for now. ?So I will be on another spending spree in the spring. ?Looking to get a good DC pump (maybe a Vectra M1?), DHL Dosing pumps (master and slave - I need 7 channels for what I am going to do in regards for dosing), Maybe I will buy a set of Radions or Kessil AP700s (not sure yet). ?When I get bored this week, i will take pics and post for everyone to see. ?
