300 Gallon Tank Build - Most likely my last upgrade

Good job fun to watch:) The clock next to the stand was a nice touch. The new tank looks great.....lots of room to grow now! I have a 300 gallon TruVu with my build also but mine is 30" tall and 24" wide.......like your size better:)
 
Good job fun to watch:) The clock next to the stand was a nice touch. The new tank looks great.....lots of room to grow now! I have a 300 gallon TruVu with my build also but mine is 30" tall and 24" wide.......like your size better:)

Very nice, I like the width and height as well.
Aquatron, I thought the exact same thing about his dimensions, I have the 240 version.
 
Great video, and you did it all by yourself.

It truly was a very long day. I've moved that tank 4 different times over the 13 years of it's life. Never in one day like this.

The tank was the only thing remaining at the old home, so my day started with a 30 minute drive back to the old home just to start the process of the tank tear down.
There was also a certain time pressure, as this was the last day the "old" house was ours. After 4 hours of tearing down the tank, it was 30 minutes back to the new home
where everything from the tank was temporarily put in an 80 gallon tank except for the cup coral. ( the 80 gallon tank later became the sump for the 300 gallon tank )

The cup coral has grown so large over the 12 years I've had it, that I had to have an over sized top opening cut into new 300 gallon tank so it would fit.
It would not have fit into the 300 gallon tank had I not ordered the larger opening. Beside being about 18" in diameter, the coral is also about 8" deep.
After lots of "fun" getting everything into their temporary home and an unexpected purchase of 40 gallons of saltwater, it was time to make a final trip back to the old house and remove the tank, tank stand and remaining items.

Around 8pm and after loading the SUV for about a half hour, I realized the SUV was 95% full but I had only loaded 90% of the stuff. Another round trip would take at least
an extra hour and a half, so it was time to take much of the remaining stuff out of the SUV and pack it tighter. The repack did the trick, and I was able to remove the last items from the home in a very full SUV.

It was a very, very long day that I never hope to repeat.

Here's a photo of tank in it's more pristine condition.

http://ksimonian.com/Blog/2007/04/23/fisheye-lens-for-the-fish/
 
Wow, that was one incredible day. Being under pressure doesn't help matters at all. You did an amazing job and the tank looks great.
 
Here's the most recent photo of the tank. Still plan on making some changes inside the tank.
This is the final lighting set up. I've had so many different temp setups.
I've blown all the sand from the front of tank, like the look for now.

300G-Fishtank.jpg
 
Looks great... I'm moving soon myself. I dread moving my tank. I do plan on upgrading while I'm at it. I really like your tank dimensions.
 
What is that huge coral on the far left?

As was mentioned already, it is a cup coral. I have had it for about 14 years.
I think it was about 6" wide when I purchased it.
Just measured it. 21" wide, 18" front to back, 12" from top to bottom.

I had to have one of the openings in the top of the tank cut larger so it would fit in.

It is raised off the tank floor by a pvc stand I built.
 
Time for an update.

I decided to switch to a different skimmer as the old one was louder than a jet engine. I decided to go with a RLSS R10-i as it uses a DC drive pump which is much quieter.
A couple weeks before I had switched out my Mag Drive return pumps and replaced them with Jecod/Jebao DCT 4000's. One of the 4000's runs a full power, the other at 40%.
These pumps are much quieter than the Mag 12 and Mag 7 they replaced.

While the DC pumps are quieter, they also run cooler. The pumps run 1 or 2 degrees cooler than the Mags. This means there will be more Winter heating,
but running cooler in the summer means no worries about over heating or running the house AC to cool the tank.

Because of the size of the old skimmer and the new skimmer, I have to take the sump out from underneath the tank to remove and install them.
This can only be done by sliding the sump to the left and then progressively lifting the sump up to vertical so it fits out between the tank and the wall.
The sump is an 80 gallon 4' tank display tank that I purchased for $80 from a local fish store that went out of business.

The skimmer seems to be running just fine, but I did lose the heat from the skimmer pumps, so now the tank runs even cooler. By replacing the the return pumps and skimmer pumps,
I have lowered the 24/7 energy usage by about 100 watts. Now the new skimmer is so quiet, I have to replace one of the older LED lights as the fans are now quite noticeable.

Sump-March-2018.jpg
 
As was mentioned already, it is a cup coral. I have had it for about 14 years.
I think it was about 6" wide when I purchased it.
Just measured it. 21" wide, 18" front to back, 12" from top to bottom.

I had to have one of the openings in the top of the tank cut larger so it would fit in.

It is raised off the tank floor by a pvc stand I built.

2018 Update.

Now I've had the Cup Coral for about 18 years and it measures 24 inches wide by 23 inches deep and 15 inches high.
I don't think it would now fit through the over sized opening in the top of the tank that was used to get it in.
I will try and get a decent photo showing it's current size.
 
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