paulthomas' 400 Gallon Reef Build

[paulthomas]

Well, there's been a hiccup in my build. The morning after I got the tank, when I inspected it thoroughly in daylight, I saw ~ a 3" white, smudge-like mark in the seam at the top of the front panel. It was first thought to be a portion of the black silicone, still curing. No one is sure why it's there. But I followed Miracles' instructions and it hasn't changed in appearance. Derek believes it's purely cosmetic, but gave me the option of getting a new tank. I felt very guilty about taking Miracles up on the offer, but Derek insisted that I not feel bad about it. He said that I paid good money for the tank and that he wanted me to be completely happy with it. How can one argue with incredible customer service like that?

Derek and his partner are reputable business men with true integrity. They're also VERY nice guys. I honestly cannot say enough great things about them and Miracles as a whole. :smokin:

Regards,
Paul

 

[summer6]

Just read through your build, and it's going to be really nice. The tank's going to great in the room, I'm sure your wife will love it!
The BK looks very impressive. Did you mention breaking it in on the old system? I'd love to have one of those, but for now, the BM250 is holding up - but I don't like the finicky pumps.
Using the pond liner for a sump is a great idea, that's going to be fantastic for the overall system.
Look forward to tagging along and seeing the Miracles tank when it arrives.

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14675488#post14675488 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by summer6
Just read through your build, and it's going to be really nice. The tank's going to great in the room, I'm sure your wife will love it!
The BK looks very impressive. Did you mention breaking it in on the old system? I'd love to have one of those, but for now, the BM250 is holding up - but I don't like the finicky pumps.
Using the pond liner for a sump is a great idea, that's going to be fantastic for the overall system.
Look forward to tagging along and seeing the Miracles tank when it arrives.

Thanks for the kind words Lisa. I'm looking forward to getting the new tank. But I told Derek not to rush it on my account. He assured me that I need not worry. He just wanted to get it going. I get the feeling he wants me out of his hair already.

I did use the BK, but not for very long. I'm probably going to really break it in on my RM sump with Marco Rock in a couple weeks.

The liner looks good. But I'm still on the fence about it. It likely will only have compartments for my BK, live rock, plumbed return section and possibly a fuge. In the future, I'll probably use a seperate shallow tank for frags. If I go the 100 gallon RM sump route, I'd need tanks to house the BK, possible fuge and have them spill into the sump with live rock and plumb it for the Tarpon.

 

[Justan]

Tank looks great.
I would really like to know where your build is at cause I would love some feed back on some of the stuff your using. I am looking at the Giesemann Infiniti Moonlight 72".
I am hoping it will light up an 84" tank and not give me any reflector glare when I am sitting, with my eyes at 48" height, in front looking at it with the fixture just above at about 70" height Giesmann assured me everything would be ok. What do you think so far?

I have also just starting to talk to Derek at Miracles about the 84"x36"x25" tank, he seems quite helpful.

I also, would like to avoid a closed loop and go with the MP40W Vortech set-up. Do you feel three of them are enough for your tank so far?
Are you going for a SPS or LPS and sofie style tank?

 

[buddie]

Paul sorry about the tank issue but as you said Derek is great to deal with and in the long run you will be happy you got a new one. btw how will this work out on your build bet

 

[dougie]

looks like this will be a awesome build, good luck!

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14677962#post14677962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justan
Tank looks great.
I would really like to know where your build is at cause I would love some feed back on some of the stuff your using. I am looking at the Giesemann Infiniti Moonlight 72".
I am hoping it will light up an 84" tank and not give me any reflector glare when I am sitting, with my eyes at 48" height, in front looking at it with the fixture just above at about 70" height Giesmann assured me everything would be ok. What do you think so far?

I have also just starting to talk to Derek at Miracles about the 84"x36"x25" tank, he seems quite helpful.

I also, would like to avoid a closed loop and go with the MP40W Vortech set-up. Do you feel three of them are enough for your tank so far?
Are you going for a SPS or LPS and sofie style tank?

Hi Justan,

I can't give you any performance feedback about the Giesemann fixture other than it seems pretty well made. Maybe summer6 can. She's the only other person on this site that I know of who has one. I've only fired mine up on my dining room table. But the issues I have with it are that the mogul sockets aren't aligned properly and that one of the side panel hex screws was so tight that my friend stripped it while trying to remove it. So now that side panel is a swivelling one until I can get it off without scratching the paint job. But as a general rule of thumb, you should plan on efficiently lighting a 24" x 24" space with one MH reflector. At 84" x 36", you'd have 6" on either end and front to back of your fixture if you centered it over your tank. From what I was told, those 6" outside of the light of the reflector will gradually get darker toward the edges. You may not notice it much with the nekkid eye. But light intensive corals and a camera would, which isn't the end of the world. You could put LPSs and such on the edges and still have that additional foot of real estate and fish swimming room. In hindsight, I would've gone with 84" in length. But I'll see how this tank goes and maybe go to a 96"er if I don't throw in the towel somewhere down the road.

Paul

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14678977#post14678977 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buddie
Paul sorry about the tank issue but as you said Derek is great to deal with and in the long run you will be happy you got a new one. btw how will this work out on your build bet

Thanks Buddie. As far as I know, "The paulthomas Built Bet" is off... unless of course Marc wants to amend it.

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14679028#post14679028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dougie
looks like this will be a awesome build, good luck!

Thanks Dougie. Do you have a build thread going? I'd love to see your progress.

Paul

 

[paulthomas]

Sorry Justan. I just realized that I didn't finish answering your questions.

I agree. Derek is very helpful and he's easy to work with. It's almost comfortable. If you know what I mean? With Derek, I never felt pressured or uneasy. I never felt as though I was asking a stupid question. Although some may have been, like "can I put a baby great white shaaahk in there?" He wants to hear your input and ideas and he makes suggestions from there. With some other builders, especially over the phone, I didn't get that sense.

I'm planning on an open scape and ~ 80% SPSs in my tank. I think that three Vortechs will be fine until they start to really fill in. I'll probably get a fourth when that happens.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Justan]

Thanks Paul, that is pretty much what I expected to hear from you and that's a good thing.
I am going to message Summer and see how the glare from her fixture is. I think she is using the Spectra, which is the SE bulb and 4" wider fixture. The Infiniti Moonlight is a DE bulb so there will probably be some difference. I am obviously concerned about lighting the tank properly but also the space in between the fixture and the tank and getting an eyeful of glaring light when I look at my tank.
I put a post regarding the Giesemann fixture and Treg responded saying that my tank would have some hot and cool spots, which makes sense. If I could have an SPS, LPS and softie tank I would but that would be like having and eating my cake.
I was on melev.com and he actually had a light sensor on a meter which would be interesting for me to do once I get mine set-up but maybe that is going a little far, if that is possible.
Thanks for info and make sure to put some pics up when your is up and running.

 

[paulthomas]

Doh. I just realized that you're looking at the Infinity, not the Spectra. Sorry 'bout that. Sleep deprivation is not a good thing. I imagine there are quite a few people on RC with the Infinity. You should be able to get good info here.

I'll be sure to post pics.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Justan]

If you're anything like me it is not true sleep deprivation so much as obsessiveness.....

 

[paulthomas]

I've got two kids. It's deprivation. :lol2:

 

[paulthomas]

Well, thanks to some local reefers who helped me inspect, plan and install, I've got the living floor where the tank is to go supported properly. I hope. HeHe. We beefed up the existing floor joists with 3 and 8' lengths of 1 3/4" x 7 1/4" LVLs. I'm going to support the end of the LVL on the left side of the I-beam with a lally column. I should be getting that at HD today.

The black beam in the middle is a 4" x 10", IIRC, steel I-beam. The tank will be pretty close to centered over it. There are also two permanent lally columns under each of the two 8' sections of I-beam(4 columns total under 64 sq. ft.).

There's a total of 22' of LVL bracing sistered next to the joists (~ 4000+ lbs. of support added), which is probably overkill. But it makes me feel better.

 

[paulthomas]

And I had an electrician install three dedicated 20 amp outlets. One is in the living room with a weather resistant cover and the other two are in the basement. He also installed three lights in the basement. One outlet is where the tank will be in the living room. It has a GFCI switch in the panel box.

The second outlet, which is not a GFCI, is in the basement near where the sump will be. I'll plug my ACIII, Tarpon, BK and reactors into it. The third is several feet away and it also has a GFCI switch in the panel box. I'll use it for the QT and miscellaneous stuff.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Justan]

Are your original floor joists running parallel or perpendicular to how your tank will be sitting?

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14688821#post14688821 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justan
Are your original floor joists running parallel or perpendicular to how your tank will be sitting?

Unfortunately, they'll be running parallel to the length of my tank, which is why I added the LVLs. The tank will be sitting over both sistered joists and the load will be dispersed primarily over one steel I-beam and partially over the other one as well. The I-beams run the length of the house and are supported by permanent lally columns throughout. One of the local reefers, who helped me in the planning, is an architect. He guessed I'd be able to support way more weight (2-3X) because of the two I-beams in the floor.

 

[Justan]

Maybe that's why I shouldn't always go with what I think is "ok".
I was just going to sister up my floor joists to reinforce, like you did, and then put up 3 or 4 cross beams, perpendicular to the floor joists, spaced every couple of feet supported by some screw jacks.
That is what I would still like to do but after looking at what you did, it would be like me trying to use a potatoe as a battery back-up when you have a guardian home generator.LOL

 

[paulthomas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14689074#post14689074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justan
Maybe that's why I shouldn't always go with what I think is "ok".
I was just going to sister up my floor joists to reinforce, like you did, and then put up 3 or 4 cross beams, perpendicular to the floor joists, spaced every couple of feet supported by some screw jacks.
That is what I would still like to do but after looking at what you did, it would be like me trying to use a potatoe as a battery back-up when you have a guardian home generator.LOL

:lol: I wouldn't go that far. :lol:

I was going to use regular lumber for sistering, but opted for the LVLs. Will your tank run parallel or perpindicular to your joists? I don't know if it's necessary in your case, but you could always use LVLs for sistering. Then use the scrap LVL pieces (if they work) or 4' x 4's, 4 x 8's, etc. for the cross beam supports. Look at how Reefbum (current TOTM) supported his floor.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-03/totm/index.php

Just be sure to put something between the top and bottom plate of your jack(s). I'm going to use scrap LVL pieces for my jack.

BTW, I paid ~ $32 per 10' of 1 3/4" x 7 1/4" LVL. I used three total with some to spare. Not bad when you consider that one 8' section is good for ~ 2000 lbs.