Mr Bojangles 450g upgrade...................

[Mr Bojangles]

well after almost 7 years, its time for me to move on to bigger and better things, a 450g acrylic tank

that's 96x36x30. My wife made me do it, and its on like donkey kong! AS for this tank, I plan on keeping mostly soft corals, LPS, zoos, and fish. I am going to stay away from SPS due to most of them die, they take lost of care and time, and I just don't have the time anymore with school, kids, family, and other hobbies. So I have a much better reefing experience without them, so they won't be there.



So this is what I have now"¦"¦"¦"¦.. (old pics)

And this is what I am going to"¦"¦..(bad camera pics)

As of now its freshwater, and I have to change it all over, but its something I can do!



For this setup I plan on the following"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦

75g refugium

44g Sump

Calcium reactor

Kalk reactor

Carbon reactor

Sulfur denitrator

DIY auto top off

Reef Octopus SUPER SRO 5000EXT External Protein Skimmer

12 48" T5's in a 6x6 pattern

Closed loop circulation system



I have most of these already since I bought or made them with the ability to upgrade, or just got them bigger. The only thing I am taking a gamble on is the T5's due to the water depth. But I can easily upgrade them later if needed.



The goals I have for this tank is:

To take everything I have learned over these 10 years and use it

Make the plumbing and electrical as clean as possible

Have no wires in the tank (powerheads)

Dump tons of money and time into the tank

Oh and my wife wants it done in time for our holiday party

 

[Mr Bojangles]

tank clean up day went well, we were there for about 2 to 3 hours and got everything out of the house but the tank, stand, canopy, and RO system. Ben and his brother came over to help with the tear down, and the hardest part was the rocks, some of them were 30+ lbs and when you have to get in the tank from a ladder on your stomach, it can be hard. Here are some pics for you all...............



Full.....................

empty!..........................

Attempting to capture some of the cichlid babies for Ben's niece............

Done................

This is all of the stuff that I wound up taking home that day................

Pumps...........

Rock anyone?

 

[Mr Bojangles]

Well the tank move went a little to well. Thanks again to Ben, Ed, and steve for coming over to help. Now the new problem I have is now that steve and ed planted the seed of a fish room since the tank is so big.

Getting ready to roll

Finally on the trailer

Cutting a brace to get the sump in

A bad cellphone pic of the tanks

 

[Mr Bojangles]

well the wife and I decided , and we are making a fish room! Now I can start getting stuff ready! empty wallet here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did get to go inside and play today, I filled up my little shopvac with so much junk, and got a good amount of stuff cleaned. Now I just need to start to polish the tank and get it ready, and I am going to start plumbing.

I also managed to bust my refugium while moving it outside to work on it, so I was very ticked off, but I got me a new one

I have also been making some large DIY rocks for some arches and such

The plumbing on the drain said is 90% complete, so here are the pics of them, and I did get the CL done, and then realized I got the wrong pipe for the return, so I am off to HD again! I am tired of going there

 

[scubasteve06]

Looking good! I wish my GF understood what makes me tick for tanks And to think she got mad at me today for being on time to the movies, but I messed up telling her that I went to get SW before I got there!!! She said, "So SW is more important than being early for the movie so we could of gotten better seats?" Yea I had to make up for that with 25 dollar surf and turf after the movie at Outback

 

[mrstihl]

You must have a huge dog!!!

sorry couldn't help myself. Things are looking great.

 

[Mr Bojangles]

You must have a huge dog!!!

sorry couldn't help myself. Things are looking great.

nope, I keep dinosaurs around the house

 

[Mr Bojangles]

well I finally got my ro/di, skimmer, denitrator, and so on stand made, once the paint drys, its going in!

 

[djmurray]

Looks good man!

 

[Mr Bojangles]

man I am tired, I have started my light rack, started to plumb up the return, gotten the skimmer up and almost ready to rock, the sulfur denitrator built and drying. To much!

 

[dzfish17]

I just broke down my 600g that was FW and Im planning a FOWLR. There is nothing more fun than setting up a new tank. Looks like youre on a roll.

Have fun, Dave

 

[Mr Bojangles]

ok, well I got ALOT done this weekend, got some of the light rack done, 85% of the plumbing, sulfur dentrator is complete I got the tank of a canopy and lighting made for my refugium. So its getting there.............................



Here is the skimmer candy!

Some of the plumbing and toy shots.......

 

[Mr Bojangles]

ok, well all of the plumbing is just about done. All I have left to do is the calcium reactor, ATO, and the plumbing inside the tank for the closed loop. then its lights, and finish buffing. I hope mid next week I can start to water test.

Here are some bad pics, but you can see my water filling system, with timer, and valves, and the monster fuge hood..............