Mountain Madness - My full floor reno's with 300 gallon centrepiece.

Nice work! We've been dealing with a remodel of sorts thanks to mother nature's propensity to flood and it's been like having a 2nd job so kudos for the progress you've made. Before and after pictures don't show the amount of work and frustration that go into it!

Oh yea and the tank build looks awesome!

Sorry about the flood. :eek2:

It is a lot of work. I hope by showing what I have done, or what I am presently doing, it will inspire someone else.
 
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Painted and tiled fireplace.

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Installed the rack and stereo components. Music will better now that its not off my iPhone and mini speaker. :D

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Standing in what was the utility room looking at my two "inspectors". This will become a built in fridge.

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I built this cabinet section where the fridge was. In it's place will be a freezer drawer. The fridge does not have a freezer section, so there will be one inside the utility room, and a drawer out in the kitchen. The door for the utility room is now from the family room side.

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First plumbing through the wall into the fish room. I had a very small clearance to get through based on the stand and the studs in the wall. That is why it is so vertical.

I will clean up the hole with trim and insulation when I am done.

This will go to the sump that will be an open cabinet I will build. That way I can always see water levels etc when I walk in and out of the room. I am going to put a camera tied into the Apex in this room as well. When I am away, I can watch the sump, refugium, and quarantine tanks. If there is a problem I will be able too coach someone over the phone.

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I like the pipe work too. (I like rotts and German Sheps better. LOL)

Looks like you are needing some support for those pipes though. Right now there is no water but over time they might start to sag and you don't want pressure on those unions/pipe.
 
Love the build man! Love your dobies as well. Looking forward to everything taking shape!

Thanks from me and the Dobies! :wavehand:

Those are some sharp looking dobies. What kennel are they from?
Beautiful ear cropping job too. Not too many people can get those done right.

Thanks! They are two years apart from different breeders in Washington State. Dee Run Dobermans and Wingate. Tails and ears were done when we received both pups. The trick is keeping them taped straight until they stand on their own.

I like the pipe work too. (I like rotts and German Sheps better. LOL)

Looks like you are needing some support for those pipes though. Right now there is no water but over time they might start to sag and you don't want pressure on those unions/pipe.

I like Rotts and Sheps too!
It doesn't show it but they are anchored on the other side. When they are finished I will make sure to provide support. Even though I bought leak alarms for the Apex, I don't want to use them! :D
 
Mounted the counter tops and installed an extra deep stainless utility sink and commercial faucet.

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The new counter where the quarantine tank and refugium will go. As you can see the sump will be installed under it. Even though the sump has built in LED lighting, I will install under cabinet lighting as well.
All cabinets will be painted gloss white.

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Finished the new cabinet for the pull out freezer drawer. The freezer brand is Fisher Paykel.

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Finished the upper cabinet for the microwave as well. Sprayed the uppers with first coat of paint.

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I just purchased a Tradewinds Chiller. 1/3 HP (Super) Inline. - It is rated for 400 gallons.
I am debating whether it is enough or if I should go with the 1/2 HP? System volume will be 400 gallons but we don't have the heat and humidity here as many of you have. The worst I would expect for heat in Vancouver would be 95F. It will be plumbed in the garage beside the mixing stations to keep heat out of the house. I have not decided how to feed it. I have a Reef Dart that I can use although I don't like the idea of drilling into my sump. Perhaps a Vectra L1 or M1 will be used. It will keep noise to a minimum.

I like the idea of using this brand due to the ability of any HVAC technician being able to repair it in home.

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I haven't shared a full list of items I have bought (so far) or ordered and will be using.

Tank is going to be LPS, SPS, Acans and Zoas.

Tank
Custom made 300 gallon all glass tank.
  • 250 lbs of Real Reef Rock
  • 120 pounds Carib Sea Reef Sand

Sump
Royal Exclusive Dream Box
  • 5 litre Reactor
  • 2 litre Reactor
  • Vertex Alpha 250 Skimmer

Here is a picture of some items.

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5 Radion XRW30 Pros - Possibly a couple Kessils added in for increased shimmer effect. I am building an automated remote control lift with actuators for the aluminum rack.

Monitoring and Control
Apex Gold with the following.
  • DOS
  • DDR
  • Lab Grade PH
  • ORP
  • Temp
  • Conductivity with 2nd Temp sensor
  • Auto Feed
  • ALD
  • WXM - Vortech Control

Ecotech Reeflink

Seneye Reef with Web server
  • Mainly for being alerted for Ammonia spikes. Should there be a death that I don't notice, I want to be alerted for any issues.

Water movement
  • Ecotech Vectra LI - Return to tank.
  • Ecotech Vectra M1 - Reactors
  • Ecotech MPQ40
  • Maxspect Gyre 280

Water makeup

  • Spectrapure RO/DI
  • Reef Genesis with:
  • Storm
  • Renew



Additional:
Coraline Turbo Twist 36 watt UV Sterilizer

20 gallon refugium above sump. It will allow removal of a small amount of nutrients by harvesting Chaeto. Its main role, will be to allow a large pod population to grow and replenish the tank. I know I could benefit from a marge larger one but that requires putting it in the crawlspace below. I am not sure I want to do this.

Backup Power - Honeywell Generator 22kw with auto transfer.

Notes
  • If the Two part gets too expensive (which would be a sign of good things) I will opt for a reactor and save the DOS and DDR for other dosing.
  • I wonder if I should purchase the Vortech MPQ60 and use it or use it with the 40.

I am sure I have missed some so I will update this list as I remember.

Any feedback is welcome. :beer:
 
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More pics.

Moved some furniture back in and taped a plastic barrier between kitchen and family room while kitchen is being worked on. The door for the fish room can be closed now.
The tank still needs a door up top. I will get that finished shortly.

There are some Polk Audio (higher end of their line) speakers in the walls and ceiling throughout. On the topic of ceiling, I forgot to take a pic before the drywall went up, but I ran ducting from the center of the tank, all the way to the exterior of the house to handle humidity over the tank.

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The bar cabinets have been altered, painted and a new granite top and a tiled backsplash installed. I cut and polished the granite countertop myself with a grinder and several discs ranging from a diamond cutting wheel, 100 - 3000 grit discs and a final buff disc. I will put some cool wine racks on the left and right walls of the bar space.
Installed a Kitchen Aid wine fridge. So quiet you can not even hear it when its on. Amazing.

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Fish room looking out. Backside of the stereo closet. New door will get built over it as well.

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New cabinets for the new washer and dryer. I bought the pantry unfinished and built the counter/cabinet for the washer dryer. Wife picked out the blue. They are quite nice looking compared to the old ones we had.

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As long as you keep your house at a reasonable temperature, that chiller will be adequate. Manufacturers need to rate these assuming the system is running metal halide lighting and power hungry pumps. The more important metric which the manufacturer should be able to provide is the chillers drop down ability. Let's say your equipment room runs at 80f ambient. With the equipment you've selected, I doubt your tank would run much above 85. As long as your chillers drop down of your systems overall volume is greater than say, 10f, it'll have no problem keeping you at 78-79.

I'm looking at aqua logics delta star product info and their 1/3hp (4050btu) can drop 389 gallons 10 degrees. 778 gallons 5 degrees. You won't need more chill down more than that unless something is wrong, and then your non essential heat sources should be shutting down as well, keeping the tanks natural temp closer to ambient.

If you go with a larger chiller, you then take on a small amount of risk in the other direction - if the chiller fails on (and I've seen this happen a few times) it can drive your tank temp lower and at a faster rate, giving you less time to react.

Hope this helps
 
With that equipment list, unless you're running really high wattage halides I don't think you'll need the chiller much. To give you an idea, I lived in Florida for 11 years and never needed a chiller on my tanks.
 
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