# mikes 65 gallons of bliss.



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Well I got the deal of a lifetime on a complete 65 gallon reef setup that I just couldn't refuse. I absolutely love my solana but who doesn't want to go bigger? I got the package real cheap because the tank leaks. So today I resealed the tank, pics included.








































Waiting patiently for it to cure. Wish I could keep all three  but solana has to go says the boss.


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## Shoryureppa (Jul 1, 2011)

Sweet tank dude! are you going with a sump on this one?


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*awesome*

i have always loved the 65 gal tank ,cant wait to see it in action yes you need to get rid of the solena so u can concentrate on the 65.
cant wait to see more , and by the way great silicone job.
cheers 
tom


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Maybe down the road, it did come with a Rio 1100 which I was told was the sump return before. Rated at 375gph should be sufficient for a tank this size. On my 90 I had a 475gph return which was fine for that volume.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

tom g said:


> i have always loved the 65 gal tank ,cant wait to see it in action yes you need to get rid of the solena so u can concentrate on the 65.
> cant wait to see more , and by the way great silicone job.
> cheers
> tom


Thanks buddy, I've had more experience with caulking then a person should. I must have gone through 10000 tubes of silicone and caulking. If anyone needs there tank resealed don't hesitate to contact me.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

I think 3 tanks in row will look much better than a two 

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## zk4444 (Mar 8, 2012)

cablemike said:


> ..did come with a Rio 1100 which I was told was the sump return before. Rated at *375gph should be sufficient* for a tank this size.


Powerful enough according to this: Sump/display turnover rate eek

Nice silicone job!


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## WiseGuyPhil (Jun 15, 2011)

Very nice job Mike! Can't wait to see this thing going!


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Solana has been emptied and cleaned for sale. 








Everything except sand moved to 15 gallon, I feel bad for my tang but its only for two days.








I had the sand in a rubbermade container where I washed it out with freshly mixed saltwater, but its impossible to get it clean. After a leak test I dumped in the sand and began the tedious process of filling it. I only had 25 gallons of mixed ro water on hand so I used conditioner and tap for the remaining 30 gallons. I almost ran out of salt too. As I has the solana I only bought 50gallon bags of salt and I had just enough. Tomorrow I'll test the parameters to make sure all is good since as you can see its a cloud right now and it was a deep sand bed that got seriously disturbed but with 50 gallons of fresh mixed water and several passes at cleaning the argonite I'm sure it will be fine. I've done this before with nothing more then a mini cycle and diatom bloom.








This light that came with the tank is crazy bright, its the current nova extreme pro 6x 39 watt t5ho with individual reflectors and cooling fans. That pic is with just two actinics turned on. I'm questioning if I should sell it. I love my led from my solana but damn this is bright. I put my Galileo on top also and it was able to give the tank crazy shimmer even with all 6 t5s running. If I keep the current light I will change a couple bulbs, two much white..


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Complete cycling and switch to 120G. It is time already. you are even faster than me 

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## WiseGuyPhil (Jun 15, 2011)

With 6 T5s on there you could grow anything. If your happy with it, I would just change the bulbs and keep it.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

sig said:


> Complete cycling and switch to 120G. It is time already. you are even faster than me


You want me to be homeless? Wife is already pissed 
Already complaining about hydro bill from the solana. This will do just fine. I didn't even want a new tank but the price was too good to turn down.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Everything kinda just thrown in for now. Corals on right, live rock on left. It doesn't look like much now. Hopefully when I scape tonight I can have a nice island on one side.IM gonna have two islands. I'm gonna try to keep it off the back glass as well for better flow. My fish haven't stopped swimming, they look so happy, especially the tang. The clowns never really swam in the solana after I got the tang, they just sat in the back corner. I guess he scared them but now the tang swims along the back and the clowns swim along the front. The six line darts around randomly .


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

I can see why you didn't need the Fluval Specs anymore


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

GaryC said:


> I can see why you didn't need the Fluval Specs anymore


I wanted them but my wife would have, well, you know. It wouldn't be easy keeping the corals alive living on the streets


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

everything remains the same I'm not going to touch it until the weekend I figure I should give the fish and corals a few days to get rid of some of the stress. mind you the corals are happier than ever sitting on the sand bed and the fish seem to like the big pile of rubble.
shall I go for a new kind of aqua scaping will call it le' earthquake.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

I think I'm going to keep the lights I miss the shimmer but this is the first time I can see the purple on my X Men zoos. under the halides and LED's they just look brown in the middle.
I'll probably buy an LED bar to go across the top just to give me the shimmer. I tried to put the Galloway on the top but the 2 lights are just too big I have to take 1 off every time I want to feed the fish but wow did it ever look nice.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

right now I just have the standard 3 actinic and 3 10k current bulbs. I need more pop.. I can buy two bulbs right now.. what should I get? I figure one 10k has to go and maybe an actinic.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm thinking of scaping the tank like this, what do you guys think? This or rock wall?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Well my buddy conix showed up tonight with a bucket of rock he pulled from his tank a while back. Great guy, I really owe you buddy. He didn't think he brought much but I could see the possibilities when I saw the bucket full of rock. So I started to play with the pile on the ground. After about 20 minutes of moving rocks around I found it. I then pulled my existing rock out and stacked it. After an hour I saw the scape. So another hour passes and this is what I end up with. No rock on the back glass, flow will be awesome and I can place corals on all sides. Hope you like it.. coral placement isn't permanent I just had to put them all somewhere.. the pics are cloudy but I will post more when it clears.








Right side








left side 








Side shots
















Again conix, thanks bud.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

If I ever here someone say something negative about a sea clone skimmer again, I'm gonna have to make them drink this.








This is from 2 days.


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Delicious! 

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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

The water cleared.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Finished organizing everything and setup canister running gfo and bio media. Its looks nice and clean now.. corals are extending nicely. Can't believe this is scaped less then 24 hours ago. Tank looks like it been running for months.








I'm very happy with it.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

tank looks great mike . has so much potential.if u ever find a piece of live rock to bridge the two colums togeather ,it would look sweet and fill up the upper space of the tank and still give u the space behind the colums .but thats just my opinion other than that i LIKE it ,love the tank 
cheers 
tom


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

a bridge across the 2 would look cool but my actual plans to have 1 side with all Lps and soft corals and the o ther side with all SPS. the corals on the right side are just there to fill it in so it doesn't look so empty but they will all be moved over to the left side once I get some SPS.
I just figured it would be better to keep them separate this time Less chemical warfare.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

no worries ,like i said it was just my opinion to fill in the space but if u have a plan its all good.we all have ideas that we want to see fulfilled i am sure it will look amazing when u do the final placement of things
cheers 
tom


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## Pointy (Oct 1, 2012)

this might be a rookie question.... but how do you organize your live rocks so perfectly.... they look like its on big piece on either side it looks great, how do you know they won't fall over? how many pieces is/are there? 

Ryan


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

LOL it's practice! I used to suck at it 

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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Pointy said:


> this might be a rookie question.... but how do you organize your live rocks so perfectly.... they look like its on big piece on either side it looks great, how do you know they won't fall over? how many pieces is/are there?
> 
> Ryan


Years and years of experience. The right side is around 12 pieces, and left about 15. You have to find a way where they lock together and lean into each other for stability. Rock scaping and coral placement is my favorite part of this hobby.
Ever seen my old tank? My wife spent many night alone as I was up till the wee hours of the morning getting things just right, only to tear it apart the next weekend and do it all over. But now I have the experience and k ow where I'm headed early on.
Here's my last big tank, 90 gallons of pure obsession.


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## WiseGuyPhil (Jun 15, 2011)

I still love that pic mike! New tank is looking great!


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## Pointy (Oct 1, 2012)

Wow that tank is beautiful!!!


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Well I've gone and replaced 5 of the 6 bulbs. I was so used to the led I had on the solana I couldn't stand the blah colours I was getting with the standard current usa bulbs. So I bought 2 marineglo, one powerglo, one kz 14k, one kz super actinic and now my tank pops.
I'm actually seeing colours I didn't know some corals had.
Current bulbs 3 x 10k and 3 x actinic.








New bulbs.


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

what a difference, looking awesome I may add


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Random shots.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Replaced final bulb, got rid of 10k with aquatic life purple. Now I love my tanks colors 








Right to left. Right being front.

1. Marineglo
2. KZ super blue
3. Powerglo
4. KZ 14k 
5. Aquatic life purple
6. Marineglo


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Coral growth has exploded 
Tank is going through a cycle, algae and Cyrano. Read that addind dead rock causes this as its loaded with phosphates and has to leech out. I added phosban to my canister. Bought several new frags, started my sps garden on right side thanks to wiseguyphil and 50. And added some new leathers and a Rbta as I've always wanted one.


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## WiseGuyPhil (Jun 15, 2011)

Looking better and better everyday.

I see what you mean about zoas. I forgot how much they do help fill up the tank with colour. As my tank is most LPS/SPS and Softies I might ad some zoas to try out.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

I haven't posted an update in a few weeks, tanks doing great finally. All my base rock is covered in coraline algae and looks great. Tank is maturing very fast.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

way to go T5s. you see all colors. nice setup and beautiful anemone

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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks bud, I won't get rid of the t5s ever. I've had all the different lights and t5s always give me best results. I did add some LEDs for shimmer and my wife got me two par38s but I don't get those until Christmas. They are for more shimmer and more pop. They are 8 actinic and 4 14k Leds in each par38. Though I'm worried it will be too much. Just adding the two 6700k fog lights each at 12 watts is bleaching some of my corals as you can see in the pics soi may nuke the tank with the other lights combined. Mind you I got the par38s with 90 degree lenses so par won't be high but spread will me awesome. That Rbta was a loonie size when I bought it off a fellow GTA member for only 25.00 and now its the size of a baseball. Its a true Rbta not like most which have green in them. I really don't like the way the sps side looks though. I may have to add a hammer coral and a torch to give it color and movement until the sps frags grow.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

had a horrible last few months with the tank. ph swings, hair algae bloom from hell, and finally the cyano outbreak. Every rock in my tank was covered in hair algae and a few corals got smothered to death. I decided to tear it down. I put all live rock and fish in a 37 gallon tank, all corals in a 15 gallon, and all sand in a Rubbermaid container. the corals bounced back quick. I waited a month on the live rock but hairalgae slowly died but was replaced with cyano.

Rock in quarantine








Tank now
















Tank before problems








I decided to bite the bullet and just buy new live rock. I found a guy selling his mature rock for $2.00 a pound so I bought 50 pounds. set back up my 65 with new rock and old sand and let it run a week, it cycled in two days. I then added the fish and left it alone for three weeks. I did a massive water change on the tank with the old live rock and after a week the cyano was gone but I still had hair algae everywhere.
I went and bought two urchins and threw them in. with in a week most hair algae was gone. I moved rocks I wanted to transfer to the main display in the 15 gallon where a few corals were still recovering, it was well lit so I figured if any hair algae remained on the rock it would sprout back up quickly. after three weeks of this i moved the recovered rock to the display tank andn after three weeks still no hair algae.


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