steves slow 700

S

skanderson

New member
hi my name is steve and this is my build thread for my 700 gallon reef. the slow is in the title because this tank was installed in 2011 and filled at that time. shortly after getting the live rock in the tank but before I scaped it I tore my right acl which made working in the tank impossible for a few months. during that time I got a bit distracted. I got into dart frogs and built 7 different vivariums including my 1600 gallon one that is next to my reef. then I did a bit of gardening and lastly I redid my old 300 gallon reef as a west African biotypic freshwater display. now that the other indoor projects are under control and on cruise control and the weather is too cold for outdoor projects I am back on track with my reef build. first some pictures of the area the tank went into and what is in my fish room.
the first shot just shows my sink and isolation system as it looked when first set up.

the next 2 shots are through the wall where the 700 will be placed showing my frag tank up against the back wall. the frag tank is around a 100 gallons at 30x90x12 inches.


the next pics are the tank on the stand in its final position.

 
the next pic is the obligatory in tank picture with my daughter.

now there will be a almost 3 year break as I cant find all the pictures I had of placing the marco rock, doing the plumbing, setting all the sumps, building the light rack, etc....
 
the good news is that wait is over and the new pictures are better than the old ones although the tank didn't look good after almost 3 years of complete neglect. amazingly enough I did have 2 survivors of the time. one lithophyton coral and a cyphastrea meteor shower. oh and about 1000000 aptasia that must have come in on a piece of new live rock. errrr.



the lighting during the restart was a mix of various 250 watt mh bulds from my old 300 reef.
 
in the next couple days I will try to go through the equiptment room and take some pics and detail how im planning on running the tank and with what equiptment. also I will go over the current stock list and what I am looking to add to it. I will also be trying to get in a correctly arrange all the liverock. while I have grown somewhat fond of the angled shelves I do plan on making up a few short towers to open up the look a bit. the angled liverock reminds me of a reef off of playa del Carmen I dove on a few years ago where the big elkhorn liverock was all angled due to a recent hurricane.
 
i absolutely love the angled shelves of rock. Really dont see that too often on peoples setups. Very unique. Ill be following along for sure.
 
I agree, that is unique aquascape. Something about it looks natural to me. I have dove reefs that have a similar. I like the angled shelf rock. I like your idea of opening it up a bit too. Gonna get a little crowded when coral start going in. I am anxious to see your progress. Keep the pictures coming.
 
130x36x36. the depth is the reason i have been putting off the rock arranging for so long. i have my mask and snorkle on my desk next to the tank now so no excuses.
 
the tank is from glass cages. it is braced around the top and the bottom and has 5 cross braces. it is 3/4 inch with the exposed side and front being starphire glass. it is my second glass cages tank. I have had my 300 for 5 or 6 years now and it is still running well. the 300 arrived with messy silicone work but was structurally sound and has held up well. the 700 arrive with nice looking silicone work and has been full of water for over 3 years now. I have already scratched the glass in a couple places which will drive me crazy. I also somehow managed to cause a precipitation event when topping off from my calcium stirrer. after that happened all the areas that had previously had coralline algae on them became frosted white. im assuming that the glass was etched my the coralline and the the ca+ precipitated onto it. I have had a hard time removing the white areas. I am going to try using magic eraser pads and see if they do the trick. my cleaning magnet pad doesn't seem to do anything to these areas and I really need to get them removed.
 
equipment storage and sink

the view behind the reef. the tank on the ground is one of 3 180 gallon linked sumps. the frag tank on the right is 30x90x12

water mixing station. 2 linked 100 gallon containers.

more storage and reactors. eventually may add a surge tank up here and a auto frozen food feeder.

close up of reactors. left to right biopellet, phosphate remover, carbon with the ca reactor in front.

back of tank showing the shadow boxes, the return rotators, and the light rack.

 
Awesome tank! Have you had any problems with the wood behind it. I feel I'm over killing by primering and painting everything no matter where it sets.
 
moved all the rock around last weekend. not quite happy with all the layout, although I do like the tangle of large branches on the right. the near vertical shelf rock isn't right but I cant decide what to do with this area. on the left I need to move one midsize shelf piece and do a little tweaking to the layout. also I had a calcium snowstorm a couple weeks ago and had calcium deposit out on the glass on areas that I assume were etched by coralline algae when the tank was fallow. any suggestions on scaping or getting rid of the white off the glass would be appreciated.








 
I would really appreciate feedback on the scape. I know it isn't right but I just don't know what I should do to improve it. criticism is welcome as well as any thoughts on removing those calcium spots.
 
Frankly the plates and branches really set it off. I like the way it looks.

It might help to pull some in the center back or angle them some to allow more light in that area. The area to the right of center that is.

What have you tried for the calcium? Is it glass or acrylic?

To me it looks just like a bottom.

How are the lights set? It looks to be different colors or the lights in the center are more white.
 
thanks for the feedback. the tank is low iron glass and I have managed to clear a small bit using a magic eraser so just about 100 more hours of scrubbing and I should have it. I know the lights don't match. im still trying to figure out what kind of bulb I will be using. I don't want it to be too blue, but lights 2 and 4 out of 5 are too yellow. its amazing how different they are but they are the same bulb manufacturer and model. I have replaced them with new 14k reeflux bulbs. I am running the adjustable electric ballasts so I am considering just trying 20 radiums as im told they are a nice white. I will try to move around the big upright plate and shift a few of the small pieces on the lowest level and see if I can get it more appealing.
 
I am no expert since I do not have a Large Reef myself, but from an outsiders eye I would agree with worm. The 'scape looks very much like the area right off of a reef shelf. If you want something more aesthetically pleasing I would also go with what worm said, pull some stuff in the middle.

Keep in mind the 3:5 rule. It is just one of those naturally pleasing ratios. Pick a side and go a little heavier and consider an swimming space somewhere that isn't quite in the dead center.
 
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