A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

[Floyd R Turbo]

Dustin that is a great concept. I built a sump insert for a local tank that basically mimicked the function of many stock sumps, but it cost a lot less. I just put it in a 40 Breeder. A lot cheaper than building a custom sump, especially since the 40B was $40 at Petco during one of their sales

Oh yeah here is my rock build in this tank, in case you are looking for any other ideas - I went by the "golden ratio"

 

[Dustin1300]

Bud, I like the design for a tank that is confined for space!

For rockwork, I'm moving along and worked on it a couple hours again last night, followed by a round of mortar and letting that dry. I've got all the main structures built, just have another few hours of tying new rocks on the underside and hope that I can post pictures Saturday. Should be able to wrap up the bulk of the rockwork tonight and tomorrow but have not had the spare time the past couple of days.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Since I have alot of time on my hands now I cant wait to see the final finish for the ETOTM with rock pics.

 

[milonedp]

Worked on the Sketchup design of filter sock tray, have made a couple modifications and trying to get the order in today so I can get this rolling!

Added float switch place as well as a way to channel to flow directly into the socks.

Dustin where are you having this built if you don't mind my asking I need to create something similar but for a 150 rubbermaid stock tank. I hate what i have now.

If i could find someone to build it that's be great.

 

[Dustin1300]

Dustin where are you having this built if you don't mind my asking I need to create something similar but for a 150 rubbermaid stock tank. I hate what i have now.

If i could find someone to build it that's be great.

Building it myself!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[milonedp]

Ah, I thought it was odd when you said "get the order in today", no I get it, you meant for the parts...

Interested to how you do it, maybe this would be a good first acrylic project for me...

 

[Dustin1300]

I'll post pictures of the process, I'm sure Just put order into BRS to upgrade my RO/DI unit to a 300 GPD unit so I can prepare myself to fill the tank!!!!

 

[milonedp]

Exciting!

 

[Dustin1300]

Well...I've got 4400 pictures of aquascaping and decided to stop taking picture as the last two times I've set it to take pictures not much is really happening as I'm just filling places where I see PVC with rock/mortar. I'm on second round of trying to compress using Virtual Dub so hopefully file does not show as corrupted next time. If anyone has a recommendation on a good freeware for timelapse let me know!

Working on wrapping up the rock today and once my new membranes and fresh set of filters arrive Tuesday hope to start filling the tank Friday night!!!!!!!!!!!!! (This could all be derailed if the wife goes into labor...My worst case scenario I keep going through is I have a leak and then wife goes into labor.)

 

[worm5406]

My camera has the time lapse in it.

Jump over to photography section and see what they say.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Oh yea this month is the BIG month.

 

[dca22anderson]

Can't wait to see the finished rock stack! Crossing my fingers your wife can hold out till you get to the point of filling the tank! :thumbsup:

 

[laugh]

4400 pics and you can't post one?

 

[Dustin1300]

Come on guys, mario land takes a while to build. Attempt two failed....Think third times the charm. Also just had the cabinet dropped by so I'll share a picture of that too!!!!

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

So will that be 4401 pictures?


Sent from my iPhone using Siri and Tapatalk.

 

[wesleyforbes2]

I got nothing done today looking at this build! Now I have piles of clean laundry that needs to be folded that will have to wait until tomorrow because I found this thread, thanks a lot!

Excellent build by the way!

 

[Dustin1300]

I got nothing done today looking at this build! Now I have piles of clean laundry that needs to be folded that will have to wait until tomorrow because I found this thread, thanks a lot!

Excellent build by the way!

Glad I could make you so productive. :spin2:

 

[Dustin1300]

Aquascaped Tank?

Aquascaped Tank?

Ok, figured out a good option on the DSLR time lapse of the aquascaping and fairly happy with the results. Made a rookie mistake on manually setting the white balance so hope no one is epileptic! Again, to reiterate the method....I used a method Paul Whitby outlines in the following three articles:

Aesthetics of Aquascaping

Aesthetics of Aquascaping II

Aesthetics of Aquascaping III

Below is YouTube video of the process, sorry for mooning the camera a few times but not exactly the most comfortable positions in a tank aquascaping! :facepalm:

 

[Dustin1300]

Aquascaped Tank? - Cont'd

Aquascaped Tank? - Cont'd

For those that don't want to view the video, I'll post a few pics of the process...

First I started off by studying Paul's articles, then picked up my rocks from Marco Rocks. Great rock for the price and wanted dry so I could tweak the aquascaping and not feel rushed as I would with live rock. The prime cuts made for a great change and the platforms and shadowing it will have will be nice.

Materials used:
- 200# of Marco Rock
- 125# of Single Cut Rock
- 125# of Double Cut Rock
- 2 X Mortar Kits from Marco
- PVC frame using 3/4" pipe and fittings glued
- PVC closed loop fed from 1.5" pipe down back wall, then 10+ 3/4" sea swirl outputs
- Lots of drilling, cutting, breaking up rock, and zip ties throughout the process

Frame in garage on footprint of tank:

Frame/closed loop installed in tank (Ended up making arch and platforms shorter as it was too tall:

Prep Work included getting rocks drilled (earlier outlined) and drilling for zip ties to secure to the frame. Once these rocks are secured via zip ties to the structure, I'd go in with mortar to secure them together and fill in holes where you could see PVC which also helped strengthen the structures:

Zip tied on:

Mortar Kit:

2 Part Kit (I measured it out and every 1.5 cups of mortar to the liquid was 4 oz.) I made smaller portions as the mortar became unusable 15-20 mins after mixed so I did not waste much product.

Mixing:

Mixed:

Mortared and zip tied. Structure is very solid at this point. Next step I took small pieces of rock that were small could be mortared into small holes here and there to solidify the structure.

After that long process, this is the final product.

 

[SPotter]

Wow Dustin!!!!! Absolutely amazing!!! Your attention to detail thru out this entire process has been amazing.