Sinister Reef 120 gallon

[SinisterLou]

As my sig says, I am going from a 55 standard tank to a 4x2x2 custom drilled tank. I'm not sure of the tanks brand, but I fell in love with it. I was fortunate to pick up the tank from my cousin's shop Phenomenal Aquatics "shameless plug" and that is why we all get to see the picture with his feet in it. Moving on, I also was able to pick up a used tank, stand, and canopy from a maast member for a great bargain. I only needed the woodwork from this buy. Even though it was old and worn out, it was just perfect for me. A little sanding and painting had to be done. I also went a head and ripped out the side panels and converted it to a 4 door stand with 2 side doors for easy access to equipment. Made some mounts for my reactors and reinforced the stand as well. I also went a head and built an elevated stand for my sump.

[SinisterLou]

Scored some nice pukani rock for this tank. I let the sun do it's thing then I let it sit in a brute in freshwater with a pump for a few days to leech out any phosphates. After this it then cycled in tank water change water.

[350gt]

What you have planned as far as lighting and such?

[SinisterLou]

Well Tony for lighting I have 4 ecoray 60d's but I only have 2 on as of now. I know they are not as fancy as AI's but I saw how my coral transformed in color and even texture coming from t5 using them. I think 3 will do the tank just fine, 4 would probably be overkill.

[350gt]

Well they are proven to work.... Why change it up...

hey do you have a reefkeeper?

[SinisterLou]

Having fun with friends Eric and Mikey. I had the tank drilled with 1.5 inch drains and 1 inch returns. Then Eric took it home and did the custom acrylic overflows complete with built in frag racks and rubble box, thanks Eric. Two mag 5's for returns.

[SinisterLou]

I have 2 reefkeeper lites but could use some more pc4's

[SinisterLou]

Water in the tank

[Mr Cob]

looking good Louie!

[reefreak]

When I seen this tank at pa I fell in love with it! Good luck with build.

[SinisterLou]

Thanks Rob and Jeremy.

[SinisterLou]

Got a 4th Ecoray to put over the tank to start the life cycle.

[SinisterLou]

Some shots of the sump and filter equipment. I'm no where near to completing this build so I promise it will get some better organization down here. I still have to add more rock rubble under the bio balls. I'm also gonna run a two little fishy reactor and my brs one. One for gfo and the other for rox carbon

[FireWater]

Looks like you are off to a good start.

[koa25]

Nice Lou, Looks good. About time you started a build thread on this thing. Looking good buddy. Definitely following along.

[electricrcplane]

Looks great Lou

[SinisterLou]

Thanks John. Eric and Mike, you guys are great, and major contributers to this project. More updates to come as the tank progresses forward.

[Fishstix@JewelsOfTheSea]

Good job so far, looking great. I'm in the process of setting up another tank and will post as well. It's always refreshing to see more and bigger tanks going up, keep up the good work and can't wait to see it finished. Are you going for a mixed reef or doing something specific with yours? LMK

[SinisterLou]

Good job so far, looking great. I'm in the process of setting up another tank and will post as well. It's always refreshing to see more and bigger tanks going up, keep up the good work and can't wait to see it finished. Are you going for a mixed reef or doing something specific with yours? LMK
Thanks Dan, leaning towards a mixed reef but with mostly stony coral and a few nice softies. Right now I'm hooked on acros and acans:hypnotyized:

[lt1z28]

Looks good! I would ditch the bioballs. I remember reading on reefcentral that bioballs don't complete the nitrogen cycle. They convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates. They cannot convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas which leads to a buildup of nitrates whereas the liverock can.

[SinisterLou]

Looks good! I would ditch the bioballs. I remember reading on reefcentral that bioballs don't complete the nitrogen cycle. They convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates. They cannot convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas which leads to a buildup of nitrates whereas the liverock can.I know bio balls are temporary for now. Ive used them before and I cleaned 1/3 of them in water-change water every so often to keep them from becoming nitrate factries. Thanks for the input Bernie, appreciate the advice.