450 Gallon Reef, 780 Gallon System

[oxx155]

Been asking questions for the last month or so getting ready for my 450 Gallon Reef, thanks for everyone's help and now I am going to share.

Tank: 450 Gallon, 120"length, 36" width, 24" height, 3/4" Acrylic, the overflows are built at an angle so as to help waterflow around the tank, 4 - 1-1/2" Drain Lines

Refugium: 180 Gallon Acrylic, 72"length, 24" width, 24" height, one side of the main tank will drain into here, 2 - 1-1/2" bulkheads will drain into the sump

Sump: 180 Gallon Poly Stock, 72"length, 24"width, 24"height, this will house most of the equipment and has 4 flow pumps connected

Lighting: 4 - 250 Watt HQI 14k Phoenix Metal Halides, 4 - 110 Watt Super Actinic T12 Fluorescent, 3 - 75 Watt 10K Aquasun T12 Fluorescent, 20" box fan on both ends
48" Odyssea HQI 175 watt system over the Refugium
72 LED Moonlight system

Flow: Sequence Reeflo Dart for main waterflow running 1-1/2" lines directly into the tank, Iwaki 100 will connect to three 1" Sea Swirls and other lines, Iwaki 75 and Iwaki 55 will run all equipment and any extra flow needed, two Tunze 6000's and two Tunze 6200's, I am thinking about adding a tunze wavebox or homemade wavemakers (upside down tri-sprinklers)

Calcium: Geo 624 Calcium Reactor, Ph Probe will go directly into chamber, modified with JBJ bubble counter

Skimmer: ASM G-6 Recirculating Protein Skimmer, modified with three Sedra 9000's, 48" tall, 12" diameter

Other Filtration: 36" Lifegard Fluidized Sand Bed Filter, 24" Lifegard Fluidized Rowaphos Phosphate Filter

Kalk: 24" Kalk Stirrer by Fishbowl Innovations

RO/DI: 6 Stage PureWater RO/DI 75 gallons a day

Monitors: Phosphate, Alk, Calcium, Salinity (I think they are all Milwaukee)

Here are some pics I have now, more to come later. I get the tank next Monday and will post those pics soon after.

Any comments would be great.
Thanks for looking!

 

[Elliott]

very nice, is that the tank opening and stand I'm looking at? is there enough support for that stand? your equipment is looking great, should be a solid setup!

 

[oxx155]

First pic is from the front (Living Room) and second pic is from the back.
I used to have a 125 Gallon Reef and 240 Gallon Fish Only on the stand with only 4X4's and very little bracing. I have now upgraded to 4X6's and 2X6 bracing. It should be plenty strong. Oh, and the plywood is 1".
I really did my homework with this one and want it to be the best it can, maybe one day TOTM.

 

[Elliott]

I'd say you're off to a good start, look forward to seeing it come together

 

[bag151]

Looks good, Who's making the tank?

 

[oxx155]

Acrylic Creations in AZ is making the tank and the refugium.
$2,800 for both.
I am on about 10 weeks now waiting. Which is not bad because I had to sell the previous tanks (a 125 gallon and 240 gallon) and redo the room for the new tank.
It would have been nice though if I got the tank this week, ah well.

 

[oxx155]

Next week I have 500 pounds of Live Sand and 500 Pounds of Live Rock coming in for the tank.
I have also compiled the following fish list
2 - Lawnmower Blennies
2 - Scooter Blennies
Red Scooter Blenny
Copperband Butterfly
Longnose Yellow Butterfly
8 - Pajama Cardinalfish
2 - Percula Clownfish
2 - Peach Skunk Clownfish
2 - Tomato Clownfish
Mandarin Green Goby
Spotted Mandarin Goby
Hippo Blue Tang
Blue Atlantic Tang
Naso Tang
Purple Tang
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
5 - Yellow Tang
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
15 - Green Chromis
Fairy Wrasse
Six Line Wrasse
I have had most of these fish in the past and I believe all of them will get along together, if you see anything different please let me know.
Also, could anyone recommend a good cleaner crew for this tank?

Thanks

 

[oxx155]

Oh, and to beat out the people that will mention this

Yes, I am going to wait to get the fish, at least 2 months. I need the tank to cycle and the system to completely clear itself out.

I am also working on building a 75 gallon quarantine tank that will combine with a 25 gallon sump to also be my water change system.

 

[ricks]

Looks like fun...

By my count that's 51 fish. Seems like a large bioload.

I have 4 tangs in my 500 and they get along fine. tangs need plenty of room to grow. I have a blue that's almost 10". My total fish count is 20 and I thought that was too many..

For SPS you will need lots of flow, lighting, and filtration..

Can't wait for updates.

Happy Reefing

 

[oxx155]

I have the 450 gallon main tank, the 180 gallon refugium and now a 75 gallon quarantine to split the fish between.
I know its a lot of fish, but I think having them between the 3 tanks should be plenty fine.
All the tangs will not be in one tank.
I will have more updates soon.

 

[oxx155]

I have decided to add the 75 Gallon Tank into the system.
I will plumb it so that it will circulate will all the rest of the water, then once a week I will close it off, drain it, refill it with RODI water and circulate it for a day or two to get it to the right parameters, then open the valves and connect it with the system again.
This seems like the easiest way to do a weekly water change.
And it will make the total system gallons 885.

 

[thor32766]

wow sounds like this is going to be a sweet tank. Good luck with it and keep the updates coming.

 

[oxx155]

Update:
The sand and rock arrived a day before the tank, so unfortunately it had to wait outside under a tarp.

 

[oxx155]

The tank and refugium arrived in great condition. Unfortunately the suction cups I purchased weren't working properly so I added to call in some more friends for more man power, it went easier than I thought.

The stand needed a little modification for the overflows, but it was easy and quick and the tank went on to the stand perfectly.

We put the sand and rock in as quickly as possible. I already cut up some plastic milk-crate boxes to help support the higher rock (and allow for more swimming room for the fish). You can still see some of the blue boxes through the rock, but I imagine it will dissapear fairly quick as coraline grows.

Filling went easy and took almost 5 buckets of Instant Ocean Salt.
Plumbing is almost finished and is turning out much easier than I thought it would be.
The Sequence Dart is going right to the back of the tank to a T, so it will shoot the water to either end.
The Iwaki 100 is flowing to three 1" Sea Swirl's (two in front and one in back).

I will have more pics later, but now we are going to cycle the tank for two months and work out all the equipment.
The total system volume is now 855 Gallons.
Most of the equipment is new to me (Calcium Reactor, Fluidized Bed Filters, all Monitors) so it will take me the two months to get used to those.