acesq
Premium Member
Hi, I'm Art, welcome to my first ever build thread.
This is not my first build. I started way back in 1973 in Massachusetts and have kept a tank through all of my various moves. I moved to L.A. in 1986 and kept a tank in my various apartments and house. Unfortunately, since the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, my tanks have been banned from the house. Water and fish everywhere!
In 1995 I set up a 100 gallon reef in my office and kept that until 2010 when my firm moved. Next up was my current 120. I spend a good amount of time at the office working and an additional amount of time on the tank. To get me home more often, my wife was finally warming to the idea of setting up a tank in the guest room.
Then something dramatic happened. On January 21 we had a bad house fire. We lost a lot of stuff. But it was only stuff. All living creatures (four humans, two dogs, three horses and a tortoise) were fine. And we had good insurance coverage. So we take the roof off (it was an attic fire), rip the house down to the studs and rebuild.
Oh yeah, AND MY WIFE SUDDENLY LOVES THE IDEA OF BIG TANK WITH SEPARATE SUMP ROOM!! Silver lining? You becha!
The tank will be located in the wall between the entry and dining room. The sump room (sump closet, actually) is a 6'x10' room cut out of the garage. I pray I left enough room for two cars. My wife will be so mad if I make her park in the driveway. (Yeah, right. You know my car will be in the driveway)
The details:
Tank: 84x32x31 peninsula built by A.G.E. About 340 gallons. Three sides Starfire, acrylic eurobrace and PVC bottom. External Herbie overflow on one end. Because this will act as a room divider, I wanted the drama of a tall tank. I ordered the tank through my LFS "“ Vivid Aquariums. (Dave and his crew are awesome.) The tank was delivered last month, sat in the unfinished garage for another two weeks and was finally lifted onto the stand.
A pic of the stand showing where it will be situated in the house:
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The tank:
At AGE:
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After delivery:
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On the stand with the obligatory wife and daughter pic (the second daughter is away at college -- lucky girl):
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I started the plumbing of the drains and return this weekend. I also got the intakes of the closed loops done. I'll tackle the closed loop returns this week.
Progress!
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Lights: 3 x Orphek Atlantiks with 6 x 24" T5 supplemental all suspended from a light rack I made from 80/20 slotted aluminum. I'm going to build a light lifter to raise a lower the rack. Hopefully that will come together well.
Here is the rack so far:
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Circulation: Closed loop using 3 Blue Eco 240W DC pumps controlled by an Apex to create a gyre across the bottom and over the surface toward the overflow. (Padrino's build turned me on to these "“ thanks Rob). I was waiting to purchase a Royal Exclusiv 240W Red Dragon 3, but it looks like they won't be released for a bit. And I'm chomping at the bit to get this tank wet! One of the 3 pumps will discharge through a Moceans 3500 at one end of the tank toward the overflow at the opposite end. The other two pumps will discharge through 6 - 1" outlets drilled into the bottom of the tank pointed toward the end opposite the overflow. The sump return pump is a Laguna 2900. Since the sump is located a good 30' from the tank, I don't expect to get much more than 1800-2000gph at the tank. It will discharge through a Moceans 2000.
Drilling the bottom of the tank was not as easy as you might think. The PVC is 1" thick and melted into the drill bit. It took a minute or two to drill each hole and 20 "“ 30 minutes removing the plug from the drill bit!
Here are the bottom returns. They are intentionally spaced so that they fit around the rock structure.
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Calcium/Alk will be handled by a DaStaCo Extreme T3. After reading about them in all of the Ultimate Reef build threads, I had to have one. After paying for it, I wish I wasn't so impulsive. Let's hope its all its cracked up to be"¦
Here it is:
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Control: my trusty Apex with multiple power bars.
Skimmer: BK Super Marin 250.
Reef structure: I decided to go with ceramic rock. I bought a huge three piece structure from CeramEco at R.A.P. It fits the tank perfectly. I'll post a pic as soon as I have it in. I've had the biggest rock seeding in a Rubbermaid water trough for 4 weeks. I dose it daily with Zeo Start3 and a couple times a week with ZeoBak. Hopefully that will speed up my cycle. Here it is at the show:
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I'll also set up a water change station with automatic water changes using a dual head peristaltic pump.
Whew! That's a start. I'll try to update as things progress.
This is not my first build. I started way back in 1973 in Massachusetts and have kept a tank through all of my various moves. I moved to L.A. in 1986 and kept a tank in my various apartments and house. Unfortunately, since the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake, my tanks have been banned from the house. Water and fish everywhere!
In 1995 I set up a 100 gallon reef in my office and kept that until 2010 when my firm moved. Next up was my current 120. I spend a good amount of time at the office working and an additional amount of time on the tank. To get me home more often, my wife was finally warming to the idea of setting up a tank in the guest room.
Then something dramatic happened. On January 21 we had a bad house fire. We lost a lot of stuff. But it was only stuff. All living creatures (four humans, two dogs, three horses and a tortoise) were fine. And we had good insurance coverage. So we take the roof off (it was an attic fire), rip the house down to the studs and rebuild.
Oh yeah, AND MY WIFE SUDDENLY LOVES THE IDEA OF BIG TANK WITH SEPARATE SUMP ROOM!! Silver lining? You becha!
The tank will be located in the wall between the entry and dining room. The sump room (sump closet, actually) is a 6'x10' room cut out of the garage. I pray I left enough room for two cars. My wife will be so mad if I make her park in the driveway. (Yeah, right. You know my car will be in the driveway)
The details:
Tank: 84x32x31 peninsula built by A.G.E. About 340 gallons. Three sides Starfire, acrylic eurobrace and PVC bottom. External Herbie overflow on one end. Because this will act as a room divider, I wanted the drama of a tall tank. I ordered the tank through my LFS "“ Vivid Aquariums. (Dave and his crew are awesome.) The tank was delivered last month, sat in the unfinished garage for another two weeks and was finally lifted onto the stand.
A pic of the stand showing where it will be situated in the house:
The tank:
At AGE:
After delivery:
On the stand with the obligatory wife and daughter pic (the second daughter is away at college -- lucky girl):
I started the plumbing of the drains and return this weekend. I also got the intakes of the closed loops done. I'll tackle the closed loop returns this week.
Progress!
Lights: 3 x Orphek Atlantiks with 6 x 24" T5 supplemental all suspended from a light rack I made from 80/20 slotted aluminum. I'm going to build a light lifter to raise a lower the rack. Hopefully that will come together well.
Here is the rack so far:
Circulation: Closed loop using 3 Blue Eco 240W DC pumps controlled by an Apex to create a gyre across the bottom and over the surface toward the overflow. (Padrino's build turned me on to these "“ thanks Rob). I was waiting to purchase a Royal Exclusiv 240W Red Dragon 3, but it looks like they won't be released for a bit. And I'm chomping at the bit to get this tank wet! One of the 3 pumps will discharge through a Moceans 3500 at one end of the tank toward the overflow at the opposite end. The other two pumps will discharge through 6 - 1" outlets drilled into the bottom of the tank pointed toward the end opposite the overflow. The sump return pump is a Laguna 2900. Since the sump is located a good 30' from the tank, I don't expect to get much more than 1800-2000gph at the tank. It will discharge through a Moceans 2000.
Drilling the bottom of the tank was not as easy as you might think. The PVC is 1" thick and melted into the drill bit. It took a minute or two to drill each hole and 20 "“ 30 minutes removing the plug from the drill bit!
Here are the bottom returns. They are intentionally spaced so that they fit around the rock structure.
Calcium/Alk will be handled by a DaStaCo Extreme T3. After reading about them in all of the Ultimate Reef build threads, I had to have one. After paying for it, I wish I wasn't so impulsive. Let's hope its all its cracked up to be"¦
Here it is:
Control: my trusty Apex with multiple power bars.
Skimmer: BK Super Marin 250.
Reef structure: I decided to go with ceramic rock. I bought a huge three piece structure from CeramEco at R.A.P. It fits the tank perfectly. I'll post a pic as soon as I have it in. I've had the biggest rock seeding in a Rubbermaid water trough for 4 weeks. I dose it daily with Zeo Start3 and a couple times a week with ZeoBak. Hopefully that will speed up my cycle. Here it is at the show:
I'll also set up a water change station with automatic water changes using a dual head peristaltic pump.
Whew! That's a start. I'll try to update as things progress.
