Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[mr.wilson]

It is now 8:30 pm after a very very loooong day but he did it. The sump is in and for the moment it has not added anything unexpected to the system. In fact the fish room is eerily quiet. I cannot say enough positive things about Mr. Wilson. In my opinion he defines best practice when it comes to work ethic. No matter how tired, no matter what day it is, Mr. Wilson has only one expectation....do it right. I thank you Mr. Wilson from one professional to another.

Peter

Thank you for the kind words. Considering the source, these words of praise mean a lot.

Working on aquariums is a pleasure, but it certainly has it's frustrating moments. Everything has to come together exactly right for these things to work. Between the leaks, floods, cuts, head bumps, crawling under the tank, electrical shorts, malfunctions, drawings, re-drawings, bills, angry wives, over-cuts, under-cuts, no shortcuts, it has remained an honour to be involved in your aquarium project. To you sir, I give the highest customer award.

For those of you who have invested your time and energy into the thread, whether you have posted or you are just peaking through the curtain, we are approaching the end of the beginning of the aquarium. Peter and I will be writing up a summary of what we have found as best practices from our experiences here and beyond. We both have extensive experience in our respective fields, yet we have learned an incredible amount over the last year. For those who are just arriving to this epic thread, you will have the luxury of a pictorial summary of what has gone on over the past year.

This is where the real fun begins... we will now have time to properly evaluate the equipment we have and the way we have arranged it. The devil is in the details here. We will continue to adjust our lighting, try out new flow patterns with the pump controller, and most important of all... ADD CORAL! We have a blank canvas, now let's see some paint!

 

[muttley000]

Happy New Year to all. This thread is one of the positives for me from 2010. I think I have learned more from this thread than any other single source of reading, and not just about reef tanks. This thread is a reinforcement of how important it is to do things the right way, whether that happens the first time or not. And that no matter how big your resources (money or experience) that you must constantly be on guard for a better way, and not be afraid to admit it,turn back, and to implement the better solution. One of my goals in life is to continue to learn until they put me in a wood box, and this tank and thread have been a positive part of that. Here's to more of the same in 2011! Thank you Peter and team, and I hope that the stars align so that I can see this masterpiece some day!
Matt

 

[Bax]

Watching this project mature will certainly make 2011 a more interesting year!

Thanks Peter!!!

 

[biecacka]

this set up is truely amazing! peter and crew, thank you for allowing the rest of us to live vicariously thru you guys and your adventure! i cant wait to continue following this thread!
corey

 

[Chago09]

It is now 8:30 pm after a very very loooong day but he did it. The sump is in and for the moment it has not added anything unexpected to the system. In fact the fish room is eerily quiet. I cannot say enough positive things about Mr. Wilson. In my opinion he defines best practice when it comes to work ethic. No matter how tired, no matter what day it is, Mr. Wilson has only one expectation....do it right. I thank you Mr. Wilson from one professional to another.

To everyone else who has hung in through this long year I thank you. Many of you have materially impacted this build and for the better. I have pictures of todays process which if you can forgive me I will post tomorrow because if I don't join Judy and Molly soon I will not be able to post anything any time soon.

Happy New year everyone and thank you for a wonderful year!!!!


Peter

Peter your in breach of Reefcentral contract. You said you would post pics today and today is over in 20 minutes :frog:

 

[nineball]

Peter your in breach of Reefcentral contract. You said you would post pics today and today is over in 20 minutes :frog:

Ahhhh, verbal jousting with the water boy!!! Mr. Wilson and I discussed the next update and felt we wanted all the primary systems running. Perhaps in the next day. . .

Peter

 

[bufanyi]

hi what skimmer u used for u big tank can u give me a brand name and link i want make a 2000G tank do u have good idea for skimmer ? thx

 

[golf nut]

hi what skimmer u used for u big tank can u give me a brand name and link i want make a 2000G tank do u have good idea for skimmer ? thx

Rough Translation...

Hi Peter Shawn and crew, I am considering building a slightly larger tank than yours, I am a little too busy to read the whole thread but want you you tell me what skimmer you used and how you arrived at that conclusion.

 

[nineball]

hi what skimmer u used for u big tank can u give me a brand name and link i want make a 2000G tank do u have good idea for skimmer ? thx

I can't really give you a good recommendation yet bufanyi. The skimmer that I am using is an RK2 Skimmer model 25PE. I think it is great but Mr. Wilson still wants to modify it to improve it yet again. Also Mr. Wilson believes that there is a possible smaller unit available that is just as good but I will wait and see what the modification to this one will do. I should warn you however that there is no skimmer out there that you can just plug in and walk away, especially with a large tank. There is, I hope, a point where if you take your time and work with it, it will become a very useful piece of equipment that will almost run itself. The self cleaning feature is very very important to me and this seems to work well.

Peter

 

[bufanyi]

i see RK2? or MRC?

 

[nineball]

Rough Translation...

Hi Peter Shawn and crew, I am considering building a slightly larger tank than yours, I am a little too busy to read the whole thread but want you you tell me what skimmer you used and how you arrived at that conclusion.

I'm not exactly sure but I think it was the drugs!!!!! It certainly was NOT the manual....come to think of it, that was probably why I turned to drugs..........


Peter

 

[nineball]

i see RK2? or MRC?

For me it is the RK2 but you should wait for Mr. Wilson to comment.


Peter

 

[scbauer]

Peter, et al.,

Let me start by saying (as many others have) how truly impressed I am with your attention to detail and willingness to admit defeat and start over when something does not meet your standards. The ecosystem you have built in Peter's basement is definitely the most inspiring build I have seen in a long time.

Now let me say how much I hate your build thread for one reason and one reason only… 239+ pages! I stumbled upon your build thread early last week and have literally spent a few hours each day reading page after page of posts filled with great information. My wife is already well aware of this and probably knows more about your tank than mine. My boss, however, should probably be kept out of the loop on this one as I don’t want him to know exactly why my productivity was so low this past week. I’m assuming he’ll just chalk it up to “the week between Christmas and New Years Eve is always unproductive.”

One quick question for both you and Mr. Wilson: Did you guys consider going back to ATM for the sump build?

On a side note, but related to my question, I live in Vegas and actually live about 1 minute away from ATM’s office/workshop. I stopped by the other day and was excited to see their manufacturing process. They had some more HUGE tanks being built. While I was there, I was told that they were going to start filming a new reality TV show this week. I don’t know anything more about it except that it will be airing on the “Animal Planet” channel here in the US, not sure if that channel is broadcast up north.

Once again, thanks for an inspiring build and keep the updates coming.

-Scott

 

[mr.wilson]

One quick question for both you and Mr. Wilson: Did you guys consider going back to ATM for the sump build?

-Scott

I tried ATM, but the price was high and the delivery date was too late for our time line.

 

[mr.wilson]

hi what skimmer u used for u big tank can u give me a brand name and link i want make a 2000G tank do u have good idea for skimmer ? thx

We used an RK2 skimmer, but I would recommend a more modern needle wheel skimmer.

 

[nineball]

Peter, et al.,

Let me start by saying (as many others have) how truly impressed I am with your attention to detail and willingness to admit defeat and start over when something does not meet your standards. The ecosystem you have built in Peter's basement is definitely the most inspiring build I have seen in a long time.

Now let me say how much I hate your build thread for one reason and one reason only"¦ 239+ pages! I stumbled upon your build thread early last week and have literally spent a few hours each day reading page after page of posts filled with great information. My wife is already well aware of this and probably knows more about your tank than mine. My boss, however, should probably be kept out of the loop on this one as I don't want him to know exactly why my productivity was so low this past week. I'm assuming he'll just chalk it up to "œthe week between Christmas and New Years Eve is always unproductive."

One quick question for both you and Mr. Wilson: Did you guys consider going back to ATM for the sump build?

On a side note, but related to my question, I live in Vegas and actually live about 1 minute away from ATM's office/workshop. I stopped by the other day and was excited to see their manufacturing process. They had some more HUGE tanks being built. While I was there, I was told that they were going to start filming a new reality TV show this week. I don't know anything more about it except that it will be airing on the "œAnimal Planet" channel here in the US, not sure if that channel is broadcast up north.

Once again, thanks for an inspiring build and keep the updates coming.

-Scott

Finally, someone who really lives in Las Vegas. Thank you very much for your eloquent support. I continue to marvel at folks who really make an effort to get caught up on this thread. It really is huge and challenging to get through. I'm also very pleased when spouses also are able to share in the journey especially when its this long. We talked about trying to distill it but to be honest the value is in the detail.

Our current plan is to do a mid term review focusing on the best practices that we have been discover with a brief picture update at the same time. We just have to fix our Skimmer controller, mount the second mangrove wall unit and establish the basic operating parameters for the Profilux control program. I have the pictures of the recent upgrades to the fish room but Mr. Wilson and I have agreed that these last few tasks should be completed before we post the update.

Please excuse Mr Wilson's short answer to your question. I must say that in the main my experience with acrylic manufacturers is that they are generally terrible about customer service. The larger organizations for the greater part deal only with third party service providers so the culture really isn't geared to enhancing the customer experience. Also if the service provider is not competent its a recipe designed to disappoint. Having said that, I can say that I am pleased with with ATM's display tank and would not hesitate to do it again.......just with a different service provider.

Finally, welcome to our community Scott and please tell your wife she is especially welcome as well.

Peter

 

[ENTMogul]

The new show ATM is doing is called "Tank"... should be very cool.

Looking forward to pictures Peter. Great build and I can tell you are truly dedicated to perfecting this hobby.

Keep it up and Happy New Year! :beer:

 

[nineball]

The new show ATM is doing is called "Tank"... should be very cool.

Looking forward to pictures Peter. Great build and I can tell you are truly dedicated to perfecting this hobby.

Keep it up and Happy New Year! :beer:

Thank you Sir, clearly you are a scholar and a gentleman to boot!!!! I look forward to checking out the new show..........somehow it almost feels like I've been on one for the past year.

Peter

 

[arctictwist]

Peter, AMAZING build. Ive been skimming for days trying to get it all in. I couldnt read it straight through day by day because i was so excited to see how far youve come! I cant believe what you and your team have put together!

I saw something a while back about a book my Mr. Wilson. Is that a joke or is he really writing/did he write one? From everything ive read here, it seems like hed write one worth the read! I havent really seen much out there thats actually a good read.

 

[mr.wilson]

The new show ATM is doing is called "Tank"... should be very cool.

Looking forward to pictures Peter. Great build and I can tell you are truly dedicated to perfecting this hobby.

Keep it up and Happy New Year! :beer:

The ATM TV show will be a good one. The subject is interesting and the characters are equally as colourful as the other reality shows out there.