My New 350 Build

[Reefme3]

Just wanted to give you guys a little update since my tank is about 2 weeks from arrival.

Well I am sad to report I abandoned the DIY 100W LED low spectrum Fuge lighting. One LED chip went bad after 3 weeks and I purchased another 10 dollar chip. By the time it came from China the other ended up getting extremely dim and burnt out shortly after installing the replacement.

It seems that salt creep would make its way between the chip and the lens. Even after dismantling and doing my best to silicone and seal them they still managed to get a very thin white layer of salt so I cut my loses short and abandon the idea. It was good while it lasted but I ultimately decided my time would be better spent enjoying or improving my tank rather than spending 30 minutes to replace a chip every other week.

So I bit the bullet and went with 2 Kessil H380 for the fuge. I should have gone for 3 but I wanted to see how 2 worked out 1st.

Since my cheapo approach with the DIY lights did not come out as planned, I also decided to return the Zetlight and go with Aquatic Life Hybrid and 6 Kessil A360.

Since I purchase 6 A360's for the Aquatic Life Hybrid fixtures, I went ahead and installed 1 Tuna A360 in the center of the Fuge temporarily to see the lighting spread. I will buy another H380 after my credit card billing cycle renews this month.

I finally placed the plywood over the top of the structure. I also received my APEX and I am beginning to test it out and program the outlets. With all the amperage draw I am starting to realize that 1 x 15amp circuit will not do the job. I will be running another 15 amp circuit to power a 2nd EB832 Energy Bar.

Here are some pictures of the build so far.

I took advantage of the LED DIY project fans and strapped them over the H380 AC/DC adapter package. Those things seem to get very warm by morning time after 10 hours of night duty.

Painted the back wall behind the tank Deep Ocean Blue and finally put the plywood over the structure.

Testing of lights.

Also does anyone know what that wired little worm looking thing is growing in the fuge sand is. I just want to make sure my condy and/or cleanup crew didn't bring some unwanted organism into the system.

 

[Reefer1991]

4 clowns will most likely not work and you'll be left with 2. Anemones usually need to be in an established tank/stable tank, I doubt it will last in a tank that was "cycled" with bio spira the night before. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Reefme3]

4 clowns will most likely not work and you'll be left with 2. Anemones usually need to be in an established tank/stable tank, I doubt it will last in a tank that was "cycled" with bio spira the night before. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Funny, that you post this. But it seems that as soon as I read it I began noticing aggression from 1 of the clownish. Looks like she turned female and she started going at it with the two black clowns.

I had to relocate them to the fuge. Although I have been studying the hobby and for 6 months now, I am still a newbie and learning things the hard way.

Freeking pet stores, why would they sell you 4 clowns. :headwally:

 

[Reefme3]

OK,

So tank arrived this past Wednesday, picked it up at the carriers on Friday and put it on the stand on Saturday. It took 12 guys to bring this monster in to the house.

I want to thank Lifetime Aquariums for all their help and patience in answering all my questions for the past 3 months while I impatiently waited for the tank. :lmao:

I was really concerned about getting this 700lbs behemoth into the house, but Bob at LA was very reassuring and the 12 suction cups made it very manageable. It was allot easier than I thought. :thumbsup: Thanks Bob and Lifetime Aquariums for making this possible. I have been bugging Bob with questions all this week and the customer service at LA can only be described as exceptional. I wont buy another tank from anyone else. They have earned by business for a Lifetime. :lol2::wavehand:

I had coffee and donuts waiting for all the guys at 8:00am. Everyone showed up by 8:45 and the tank was in its stand by 9:00am.

It took me all day to plumb the tank with help from a friend. We started shortly after 10:00am when everyone finished having breakfast and left. Thanks to all those that helped!!! Once everything is up and running I will invite everyone for a night of BBQ and Beers.

Now the fun begins.

Through the week I will be setting up the electronics, Apex (Settings), WAV Pumps, FMM (Leak & Flow Monitoring), light Aquatic Life w/ Kessils, Apex Controlled Heater, and much more I am sure.

I will be water testing the plumbing this weekend for leaks before filling it up.

Man I really hope there are no leaks, It was a pain in the :fish2: to get everything hard plumbed with PVC. I ran out of patience (and space behind the tank) when plumbing the emergency overflows and just used braided vinyl tubing. May not be as pretty, but man it was easy. If I need to setup another tank up against a wall, I will be doing it with braided vinyl without a question. Now if there is room to walk behind (Fish Room) I will hard plumb it.

Hopefully I will get to start aquascaping this weekend, but my wife told me we have plans this weekend to do a few things, so I will not be able to dedicate a full day to this project. Maybe a few hours in mornings and at night.

This is what it is looking like. :inlove:

 

[Reefme3]

I began my aquascape last night and I got wrapped up with my work and by the time I ran out of glue I looked at the time and it was 12:30am.:eek1:

I wanted to finish this up this weekend so I am buying more and having it shipped overnight so I can have it Friday night. I will get a good night sleep tonight and pull another long Friday night.

I would say I am about 70% complete. I believe the left side is complete. I still have about 60lbs of rock on the floor. These are all the smaller pieces to create ridges and bridges. I will start on the right side and work to the middle when the glue arrives.

I had laid the rock work out on a a 8' x 24" stand about a month ago and once I started gluing things in the tank last night I started changing a few things around and create more interesting shapes. The basic pattern and location of the large rock didn't change much but I was able to create more pronounced shapes and caves now that I am gluing things together.

What do you guys think of the work so far.