The Beginning of the 240
In 2002 we decided to open a Thai restaurant in Washington state and decided that a reef tank would be a great centerpiece for the restaurant. We had no prior experience in reefkeeping and had no idea what it would take. The initial plan was to simply create a fish-only tank with live rock, but we all know how our plans can change and expand over time.
We went out and bought a 180-gallon tank and had the tank up and running quickly but did not know enough to successfully maintain a fish-only with live rock system. Sadly, the first fish we bought died within the first few months. At this point we realized we did not know enough about reefkeeping to be successful, so we bought a ton of books and started reading while we left the tank empty, allowing it to cycle and mature.
A few months later with our new found knowledge we started adding both fish and soft coral to the tank once again. From this point on we rapidly became hooked on the hobby and within a year-and-a-half we started changing the tank to small-polyped stony corals. Our first coral was a pink Stylophora. From that point on we were buying more and more SPS and replacing the softies in the system. Eventually, the tank became a full-blown reef tank dominated with SPS with many pieces that are still my prized corals today.
In 2004 we bought what became my two largest show pieces; one was the Oregon Tort (a gift from Oregonreef.com - as seen in my system today in the center of the tank and in the next picture), and the other is what I like to call a Tamarind tort (as seen in my system today to the left of the Oregon tort and in the second picture below). The system flourished and so did our passion for the hobby, but it was inevitable that we would eventually sell the restaurant and have to move to our reef to its new (and current) location; its transfer was one of the conditions of the sale.
Tank Info
The tank measures 72” long x 24” wide x 32” tall and has two corner overflows. The glass is 5/8” thick all the way around and is viewable from three sides. We have approximately 230 pounds of live rock in the tank, and it has about 200 pounds of sand, creating a sand bed about 2 - 2 ½” deep.