My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[techreef]

wow. You have serious planning and project management chops to pull off this kind of tank move in such a tight window of time. I am in awe. In all seriousness, do you do event planning or engineering as your profession? The thought of having a 480G tank in transit to a home I still didn't officially own makes me break out in a cold sweat. Or maybe that's the fatalist Murphy-driven Jersey resident in me talking.

This is a terrific thread, and I'm learning a lot from your description of your thought processes regarding upgrading everything. Thanks!

 

[slief]

wow. You have serious planning and project management chops to pull off this kind of tank move in such a tight window of time. I am in awe. In all seriousness, do you do event planning or engineering as your profession? The thought of having a 480G tank in transit to a home I still didn't officially own makes me break out in a cold sweat. Or maybe that's the fatalist Murphy-driven Jersey resident in me talking.

This is a terrific thread, and I'm learning a lot from your description of your thought processes regarding upgrading everything. Thanks!

The move was only a few blocks. It was timed to coincide with the closing of escrow. The company that built the tank was close by as well so they were able to pick it up from the old house, polish it and and bring it to the new house within a pre determined time frame. Since the system was already setup at the old place, it was simply a matter of transferring everything and reconnecting it all. The biggest burden was on my carpinter but we had that all figured out in advance as it was planned out during escrow.

Im a technology guy. I run a computer and data storage business that caters to film and post as well as military and aerospace. My primary focus is on system design. Our systems are very high end and range from around $10K up to well over $50K. In the film and post side they are used for visual effect and color grading of uncompressed high resolution (2K & 4K) content. We pack them full of all kinds of expenive stuff.. The graphics cards alone are several thousand dollars. Everything is custom starting with the chassis. Movies such as Flags of Our Fathers, Superman returns, SpiderMan, Speed Racer, Transformers and many more used our hardware in conjunction with 3rd party software in various part of the finishing process.

Here are a couple pictures of some of my chassis designs. Due to the size of some of these cards and the number of cards that go into some of these systems, I designed our chassis with 10 card slots so we can relocate cards. We even use sealed liquid cooling on some of the systems to free up space inside.

I think I damn near derailed my own topic..

Stay tuned. The sumps will be done soon. I plan on laying them out on my floor, taping off the floor to mark where walls and studs would be under the tank. I will build the plumbing for the new sumps using the taped of area on my floor for reference. This will all be done prior to installing them. The morning this will go down, I will shut the return pump, skimmer pump and recirc pump off, remove the pumps and sump and let the carpinter do his job. The plan will be as little downtime as possible when we swap the new sumps in. Again, the biggest burden will fall on my carpinter as I am having him remove the drywall under the tank. It will be replaced with sound proof drywall. A pond liner on the floor which will go up the wall and then we will add a layer of FRP to finish it off. All that will need to be done within a handful of hours so the sumps can go in the same day. Everything will be on hand and ready to go in advance to insure that it goes without a hitch. The goal is 8 hours from start to finish. The sumps and plumbing will be the easy part since it will all be layed out and ready to install well in advance.

 

[slief]

Just stopped by the tank mfg. The sumps are going together. They had the perimeters built and curing. I took these with my phone so they aren't great. Tomorrow the insides will start to come together. I should have more pics then. They are on my way home from work so its all to convenient to stop by. Fortunately I know them well (20 years now) as they do some work for my business as well as my tank hobby so they put up with me, my constant changes and my impromptu visits.

 

[Untamed12]

Vlamingis over a foot in a year. I hope not!! That would be way to big. From my experience with other large fish such as sharks, the enviornment has a bit to do with the size potential of the fish.. I will admit that these are my first vlamingis so I dont really have any experience with them. My hope would be that the tank will help to keep them from growing too big to fast. Granted my tank is big by most standards but its not like they have a whole reef to them selves. The tank they came out of had them in it for a year or so and they didnt grow that much in that system but it was a much smaller footprint too.

I got the Vlamingis about a month ago. They certainly do have personality. They are very sociable. They will follow you around the tank and love to be hand fed. Then again, most of my other fish will follow you around too. In the system they came out of, they would come to the surface and let you pet them!

If that is true, your vlamingis may have been slightly growth stunted in their previous tank because they will easily achieve 1 foot in less than a year. Mine might be 16" or more now and he is at 2 years.

While they all get called "unicorn fishes", that third one doesn't look like N. unicornis (Blue Spine Unicorn). I don't know quite what that third one is, but it will also get LARGE.

 

[slief]

If that is true, your vlamingis may have been slightly growth stunted in their previous tank because they will easily achieve 1 foot in less than a year. Mine might be 16" or more now and he is at 2 years.

While they all get called "unicorn fishes", that third one doesn't look like N. unicornis (Blue Spine Unicorn). I don't know quite what that third one is, but it will also get LARGE.

Thanks for the info! I hope they are growth stunted! Pygmy vlamingis wouldnt be so horrible!! The biggest 2 are around 6-7" or so now. I would love to see pics of your fish! Feel free to post it here! A 16" tang is a monster!

I googled unicorn tang and that was the closest fit I could find picture wise. It definately didnt look like like many of the pics I saw but it did look like some which is what brought me to my conclusion. If its not a uni, I would love to identify it. Perhaps thats a subject for another thread.

 

[Untamed12]

Sure..here are my three boys.

Freckles is the largest (2 yrs). His streamers have developed a lot since this photo was taken 4 months ago.

Lance is gaining fast and is the youngest (1.5yrs):

Moe is the oldest at almost 3yrs, but the other two have already passed him in size.

 

[slief]

Untamed,
Those are abosultely beautiful!! Great pictures too! I really need a better camera and some better photo skills! Thanks for posting the pics!!

 

[Crazy One]

You said that you were turning off the return pump and skimmers for 8 hours.
Are you going to keep some type of flow going inside the tank maybe drop a powerhead in there with an air stone or something? Just askin?

 

[Crazy One]

Sure..here are my three boys.

Freckles is the largest (2 yrs). His streamers have developed a lot since this photo was taken 4 months ago.

Lance is gaining fast and is the youngest (1.5yrs):

Moe is the oldest at almost 3yrs, but the other two have already passed him in size.

Those are some awsome pictures, I wish my Valimngi had those vibrant colors.

 

[bullitr]

i had a 13" vlamingi and 11" dussumeir tang from a friend but it was too big for my tank and basically give it away although he have it on 150 FOLWR with a lot more big fish without problem but i don't think its good to have this guys if you have a lot of corals and live rock.

ps post a picture of your other hobby

 

[slief]

You said that you were turning off the return pump and skimmers for 8 hours.
Are you going to keep some type of flow going inside the tank maybe drop a powerhead in there with an air stone or something? Just askin?

I have 2 Koralia 3's and one Koralia 4 in there which will remain on during the retrofit. Its likely that there will also be another 2 Koralia 4's that will be added between now and next week. I have been holding off on those as the Koralia has new pumps coming out which are what I want. Worst case, I will hang a couple power heads in the tank just for safe measures.

 

[slief]

i had a 13" vlamingi and 11" dussumeir tang from a friend but it was too big for my tank and basically give it away although he have it on 150 FOLWR with a lot more big fish without problem but i don't think its good to have this guys if you have a lot of corals and live rock.

ps post a picture of your other hobby

I am sure you dont want to see my fishing or boating pics..
Other hobby (c6 vert) is in the shop right now as some yahoo ran into me on Topanga.. Should be done early next week. I ended up going with an aftermarket hood with a low profile cowl with clearance for a super charger (maybe in the future) and a Z06 front bumper that was made to fit a standard c6. I will post a picture next week when its done.

 

[Untamed12]

Untamed,
Those are abosultely beautiful!! Great pictures too! I really need a better camera and some better photo skills! Thanks for posting the pics!!

Thanks...those pics are taken with a $149 Kodak point and shoot.

 

[bullitr]

I am sure you dont want to see my fishing or boating pics..
Other hobby (c6 vert) is in the shop right now as some yahoo ran into me on Topanga.. Should be done early next week. I ended up going with an aftermarket hood with a low profile cowl with clearance for a super charger (maybe in the future) and a Z06 front bumper that was made to fit a standard c6. I will post a picture next week when its done.

just get the grand sport vert we can have a group buy. lol
i have mine for 3.5 years 2007 z51 daily driver
with only corsa extreme and vararam air intake everything else is cosmetic
planning to have a headers and super charger later on after the warranty is over.

 

[slief]

Thanks...those pics are taken with a $149 Kodak point and shoot.

Clearly I lack good photo skills! Maybe I need to try a tripod. The lights make it difficult to get the right colors and the flash just seems to reflect back in the glass.

just get the grand sport vert we can have a group buy. lol
i have mine for 3.5 years 2007 z51 daily driver
with only corsa extreme and vararam air intake everything else is cosmetic
planning to have a headers and super charger later on after the warranty is over.

Mines an 07 daily driver too. Coming up on 3 years with mine. Got the Vararam also but left everything else stock as it was a lease. I think I will be keeping it though and adding my personal touches in the near future.. Lease is up in May. Headers, exhaust will be first then maybe the SC.. Money of course permitting.

We definately should get together. I live in Simi but my office is in Chatsworth. I dont mind taking run up the hill to meet you and I would love to see your tank as well as hear the corsas. Also, if you in the valley area, we could meet up as well.

 

[Untamed12]

Clearly I lack good photo skills! Maybe I need to try a tripod. The lights make it difficult to get the right colors and the flash just seems to reflect back in the glass.

Depends what you are taking pics of...for fish I go up to 400ISO, set the camera to "high colour", and white balance to "open shade", and underexpose by -.7 (Sometimes I'll use the flash, then crop out the bounce back)

Coral doesn't move much, so I use 100 or 200ISO, high colour, open shade, no flash and underexpose by -.7. Usually need "close up" focus as well.

 

[slief]

Depends what you are taking pics of...for fish I go up to 400ISO, set the camera to "high colour", and white balance to "open shade", and underexpose by -.7 (Sometimes I'll use the flash, then crop out the bounce back)

Coral doesn't move much, so I use 100 or 200ISO, high colour, open shade, no flash and underexpose by -.7. Usually need "close up" focus as well.

Thanks for the help! I never knew about some of the options though until you mentioned that. I went through my settings and my options are a bit different. There is an ISO mode on my camera. Under white balance, daylight seems a bit better but there is no open shade. I dont have a high color option. When in ISO, flash isnt an option. Its disabled. I always got sony cameras for their simplicity but I have often wished I had a better camera and some experience to know what I was doing with it.

 

[bullitr]

Clearly I lack good photo skills! Maybe I need to try a tripod. The lights make it difficult to get the right colors and the flash just seems to reflect back in the glass.



Mines an 07 daily driver too. Coming up on 3 years with mine. Got the Vararam also but left everything else stock as it was a lease. I think I will be keeping it though and adding my personal touches in the near future.. Lease is up in May. Headers, exhaust will be first then maybe the SC.. Money of course permitting.

We definately should get together. I live in Simi but my office is in Chatsworth. I dont mind taking run up the hill to meet you and I would love to see your tank as well as hear the corsas. Also, if you in the valley area, we could meet up as well.

i will pm you my number

 

[KingwoodMarcia]

Very nice!!!

 

[sarmo]

this is a great re-build thread. i also have a 500 gallon display. i started with Africian Cichlids in '95 and changed to SW in about 2003 or 4. i sure wish i had known about Reefcentral back then. planning would have haved me a ton of $$$$$. great job with your photo documentation.
do you know how old your banner fish is? i've been considering adding a couple to my display and was wondering about their size and if they are reef safe? would you get another one or do you like the fish?

thanks and keep the pics coming, i'm subscribed!!