440 Gallon Custom Drop-Off Reef Tank

The electrician and his apprentice just left here, and I've got to say I'm absolutely THRILLED with the quality of their work, their awesome price, and the speed with which it was all done. In less than an hour they had run the conduit outside, run the new circuits through the ceiling, into the wall, and installed the boxes and faceplates (I'm WAY oversimplifying all they had to do in order to get the circuits run). So, I now have all the electrical I should need for the tank (three dedicated 20amp circuits), woohoo! One step closer!

Now, if we could only find a couch and drapes we like for the room...
 
Okay, so one change to the overall design and specification of the tank... I've decided to go with the Reef Angel controller. Why, you ask? Well, let's see: DIY LED control... check. Vortech ES control... check (well, on the way). Dosing pump controls (and dosing pumps)... check. Open source for tinkering and really cool $#!*... check. Oh, AND it's cheaper than 99% of the other controllers out there? Yup, count me in!
 
Oh, and on a (semi-) side note, if you're ever looking for a good primer when painting a room, Kilz is it. We used Kilz2 in the fish room, but then figured we'd just use the Valspar primer for our daughter's room, since we're not worried about any moisture in there. Bad idea. Coverage with the Valspar (which is actually a very highly-rated primer) is about 1/2 that of the Kilz. From now on, whether the room will see moisture or not, we're going to use Kilz for our priming needs.

Just opened up the vinyl plank flooring we special ordered from Lowe's and it's PERFECT. Looks great in the room, we can't wait to get the carpet up and put the "wood" down!
 
I'm having the stand and frame made by a local metal fab shop that does a lot of tight-tolerance medical and military equipment, the glass is coming from glasscages (I'm buying it slightly oversized, then) cut to exact size (+/- .003" LOL) with a CNC waterjet by the shop that's doing the metal fab work.
 
Some work in progress pics:

The room as it stands tonight. Got the photo print from Kodak today (20"x30" Pro-Print on metallic paper), got the materials to put together the frame and matting, and put it all together and hung it. We still need to get the smaller frames, possibly tomorrow. Pardon the mess, like I said, it's still a work in progress.
Fishroomlarge3.png


Some of the vinyl planks. Don't worry about the drips on the floorboards, they're all getting torn up and replaced when we put down the new flooring.
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The photo lit by the LED light fixture. Looks fantastic (much better than in the photo) in person, almost 3D in appearance. Definitely glad we sprung for the metallic printing.
Fishroomlarge.png


We also FINALLY (as you can tell from the first pic) found some drapes we liked. Just need to get the steamer out and steam out the wrinkles and we'll be set as far as that goes. Slowly but surely, the room is coming together...
 
I wish I would have seen this post earlier so I could tell you how much I HATE this floor in my house! Scrathes very easy, and shows scuff marks like crazy. Best advice I can give you is make sure the subfloor is perfectly smooth below it because it shows every little bump!
 
Thanks, mjhall85, we sure think so.

Mikep503, thanks for the heads up. We're only using this room for my wife and I to relax in with the tank (kids are banned from the room, LOL) and we're not going to be wearing shoes in the room, so I think we'll be okay, but we'll definitely be careful with it. Thanks again for the warning.

MaxxII, we still haven't decided on which ones for the smaller photos. We'll decide sometime later on this week.
 
Looks great! I'm only on the first page but wanted to put this out there in case its worth anything. Someone may have mentioned it already. Have you thought about the possibility of detritus collecting in the lower portion? It would seem that if the mp40's were strong enough the keep everything suspended high enough for the overflow to catch it, the mp60's with stronger flow would push it right back down. Maybe some flow at the bottom of the lower half pointed upwards? Definitely tagging along.
 
So, as the title says, finally got the floor done and super pleased with how it turns out. Wendy grew up in the flooring business (her parents owned a flooring company) and even she was amazed with how it looks. Now to just find some baseboard I like and put that in, and the room portion of the build is done!
Fishroomlarge31.png

Fishroomlarge32.png

Fishroomlarge33.png


Now, on a (semi) side note... Wendy and I have been talking about putting together a little pico/nano for our son Tito's room. I played around with the idea, and thought, "Hey, why not make a scale version of the big tank?" So, voila!
SmallTank.jpg

Just need to pick up some 1"x2" for the stand and some 1/4" acrylic for the rest, and we're in business. Hopefully I can put it together this weekend, or at least start on it. I found some great little LED strips that will work perfectly for lighting it, and a great DIY for a pico skimmer, and Hydor makes some great little nano pumps and powerheads that will fit perfectly. Overall size (including stand) is 24"L x 12"W x 18"H.
 
FINALLY got the floor done... and now got one MORE project to tackle... LOL

FINALLY got the floor done... and now got one MORE project to tackle... LOL

So, as the title says, finally got the floor done and super pleased with how it turns out. Wendy grew up in the flooring business (her parents owned a flooring company) and even she was amazed with how it looks. Now to just find some baseboard I like and put that in, and the room portion of the build is done!
Fishroomlarge31.png

Fishroomlarge32.png

Fishroomlarge33.png


Now, on a (semi) side note... Wendy and I have been talking about putting together a little pico/nano for our son Tito's room. I played around with the idea, and thought, "Hey, why not make a scale version of the big tank?" So, voila!
SmallTank.jpg

Just need to pick up some 1"x2" for the stand and some 1/4" acrylic for the rest, and we're in business. Hopefully I can put it together this weekend, or at least start on it. I found some great little LED strips that will work perfectly for lighting it, and a great DIY for a pico skimmer, and Hydor makes some great little nano pumps and powerheads that will fit perfectly. Overall size (including stand) is 24"L x 12"W x 18"H.
 
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