Storytime again for us fish nerds... Southern Japan and Guam dive/fish trip 2012 :)

[Haksar]

Amazing build and looking forward to moving all your prized live stock in there.

 

[Overboard]

Unbelievable! I bet those movers were having second thoughts when they saw the tank. And getting it down the stairs........ughh! Glad you got it in safe and sound. Those guys we probably saying "Where's the Advil?".

 

[wakeboardgeek]

I love angelfish and I love SPS!

I can't wait to see this build develop! Care to share any more details about your fish room?

 

[copps]

John, thats truly a dream house for a reefer ! just perfect.

and thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts which you have brought to life in this built with us. just the way u have set up the RO system and QT tanks and ... have given me and alot of others many good new Ideas on how to make the downside of this hobby easier ... carrying buckets and water and ...

about the UV, will you be using that in the main sump ? I thought u used to have dedicated UV for each tank in the old house ? might be mistaken, been a couple days since I read ure last TOTM article for the millionth time haha

My last system I added onto as it went along, which resulted in me having multiple AquaUV units throughout the system. These units worked well, but upkeep on them was tiresome with so many units... to change the bulbs and keep the sleeves clean... the Emperor Aquatics unit was a big step up in cost (over 3K), but is much more efficient and the maintenance could not be easier really... cleaning the sleeves and changing the bulbs takes minutes. Also, most all of my prized fish will be in the 1300 that are in this system... the 240 anemone tank will have one to two pairs of my three pairs of clowns (which can all be seen in my TOTM article from three years ago)... going to try and get my true perc pair with the latz in the 240, and the leuc pair in the 1300 in a magnifica anemone on a perched island in the center of the tank. With the gigantea carpets in the 240 it will be tough to place any uber rare or important fish of mine in there. The fish only I'm not concerned about, as keeping out, and dealing with, disease in a fish only is much easier.

I have to thank both my many friends through the years at the Waikiki Aquarium, and my good friend Kevin Kohen (Director of Live Aquaria), for excellent advice and real working knowledge of large UVs. The Waikiki Aquarium pulls water from a well for many of their exhibits, but for some exhibits they pull it straight from the ocean, where the water quality is better but they had continual problems with parasites including Crypto which were solved with proper UV. As many of us know Kevin Kohen is "the man" when it comes to so many things... he guided me right going with the Emperor Aquatics UV. We'll see...

also, did you use live rock ? or ?

As you could see from the pics most of the rock was Marco Rocks... I've had many beers with Marc at MACNAs through the years and he's a good guy... that's the first thing I look for when choosing a vendor... all good vendors in this hobby are driven by good people, whether that's Jeff from Fiberglass Specialties (who built the tank), Kevin at LA, Dan and Justin at Avast... the list goes on... but all of these people share one common thread... they are good people that share our passion... and not everyone in this industry is like that... I can tell pretty quick who the good guys are.

I wonder what's the Bench press for the guy on the right...

Crazy system, really amazing.

Thanks Vili, that's means a lot, especially from someone like you. I love the international aspect of this board and love the insight... we all argue sometimes but it's all in good fun!:beer: Oh and yes... that guy was built like an ox and was straining... he was a gentle giant though that showed more interest in my son's turtles than my reefs believe it or not... he was a turtle guy!

Awesome stuff as always John! Got some cool damsels in there! Looks like I spotted a Lepidozygus tapeinosoma, I've been trying to get my hands on some of those for a while now. If that's what they are I'm definitely curious to hear your experiences on them.

Yup you nailed it... Lepidozygus tapeinosoma... had a rough ride in QT but have settled in well once past that... seems like the typical hardy fish once settled but doesn't ship well... I'll be doing another round of them for sure... and I'll have a world record for sure on the number of Chrysiptera genus damsels in one tank... I love them! Damsels have been all but forgotten by many reefers, but there are good choices out there!

 

[copps]

Wow this is epic. Look forward to hearing what you have in place for all the moisture from 3,000 gallons of water...

This was the biggest concern and unknown for me, so I overcompensated. Our home has two zones of with dedicated air conditioners, which I had upgraded to the highest SEER units available. I also added a third unit just for the fish room... a 1 1/2 ton minisplit AC/heater. If I want to, I could isolate the fish room off from the house... in the winter though, the humidity helps the house to a point. I also installed a 105 pint per day dehumidifier, which will keep the humidity so far at anything I set it at... we'll see in the summer. On top of all that, I installed a variable speed exhaust fan that ducts outside from the room, so that I could pull air from the house, through the fish room, and outside, rather than the other way around. I haven't used that yet, as there is no sense in ducting heat outside when it's 10 degrees outside (yes... in Virginia!) As I said above... we'll see. Oh, and the system itself has two redundant 3 HP chiller/heating units... one through each of the return pumps to the 1300, so that if I lose a return pump or a chiller it's no big deal.

So glad this thread has been resurrected :spin1:
John, can't wait to see how this tank progresses - it's going to be EPIC!
Has your family moved yet? When do you plan to start filling it?
I saw you'd posted a few pics from Izu - I've often thought about stopping there to dive en-route to diving in warmer waters. Since Fukushima happened this idea was temporarily put on hold, but I think I'll give it a shot next time I'm out that way. Were they your pictures?

You need to go back a couple pages... we are in and the tank is filled! All of the photos are mine... diving up north you won't see as much reef development, but if you are a fishhead like me it's worth it!

Copps, thanks for these updates. It's threads like these that keep us motivated/dedicated to this wonderful hobby. Will you do an official build thread or continue to update this thread?

Thanks... it really is an absolute pleasure to share... I'm so caught up in the details that I look back at these photos seeing what you guys are seeing and think "Wow!"... only to realize this is my creation right in front of me... When I was speaking to air conditioning techs about hetaing and chilling this whole project the guys were scratching their heads... and more than one said "Why don't you consult with the company that installed this huge thing?"... only to hear the answer that "I" was the company... and not a company... just a crazed hobbyist.

Oh, and I've decided that I will do a dedicated build thread soon... I'm getting pressured from too many people. As most of you know I am a LIVESTOCK guy... from the looks of this build you'd think I was into all of this hardware... I'm not... I do it solely for the purpose of doing the best job at keeping a beautiful reef system that is at the tip of the spear in the progress this hobby has made, and doing it with the long term thoughts in mind... I was willing to put in up front hard work to add ease of maintenance down the line... after being motivated by my last system I built over ten years ago, which I also put together pre-construction...

 

[jnc914]

Out of curiosity, have you also purchased your own power plant? Your systems will be taxing the East coast power grids...

 

[copps]

Hey John,

Thanks so much for the updates to this thread. Congratulations on the new home and set up, truly a dream for most of us here. I know you are a busy guy, but i'd be interested in seeing the "guts" of the system, filtration, sump, etc.

I am slowly setting up a 240 and really want to keep some tilefish. Do you think your sand method would allow for that? I had planned to go bare bottom and just wasn't going to keep any. Any solutions for burrowing fish? My tank is a fowlr and not a reef so the pristine conditions are not as critical.

Thanks... I will share more details in time. I don't see why my methods would not work... who honestly prefers the "look" of bare bottom... maybe people who have never dived a real reef! With this method you get the best of both worlds, and only have to put in some elbow grease every few months to keep the sandbed clean.

Wow it looks great BUT i think its off center by about 1/2" to an 1" inch. So you should scoot it over a little

For real though it looks amazing. Great planning is paying off.

That funny you say that... I planned the size of the tank down to the inch, so that it would fit in my house... but the major problem was that the tank was built before the house, so this required planning in advance. The tank just squeaked in the house, as planned... my father asked me why I didn't make it a bit smaller so that it would get in the house easier... are you kidding!? You guys know my answer to that.

The one thing I didn't plan for was inching the tank into place. The tank got up on to the stand, but there was no inching this thing into place... it either moved a foot or not at all... the movers were getting frustrated and then what happened was what my Sicilian grandparents would call "divine intervention"... with a heave they moved it EXACTLY into place... it was seriously perfect, whereas the previous few tries were not even within three inches!

Unbelievable! I bet those movers were having second thoughts when they saw the tank. And getting it down the stairs........ughh! Glad you got it in safe and sound. Those guys we probably saying "Where's the Advil?".

Actually they were pretty amazed and kind of excited, except for the stairs part... which was also my most nervous time... it was either going to go smoothly, or go crashing down the stairs. Having kids and a busy life I don't drink that much anymore... but after that I needed a drink for sure!

More to come...

Copps

 

[fishkid6692]

Unbelievable john, i can't wait to see this monster system come along, even more so for what will be swimming in it. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Eville]

I really love the idea of the damsels coming in and out of the rocks with the bigger fish swimming freely. I think it correlates with actual reefs in the ocean and cannot wait to see this aquarium full of corals.

Jacob

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Love the insight John. Its nice to see another guy with a healthy love for UV. I suppose that comes with a healthy working knowledge of UV though.

 

[r-balljunkie]

... this trip was actually with five star accommodations on your neighbor to the north (Ebeye)!

i think you mean 0.5 stars....man oh man. kinda good you didnt make the trip.

if/when you do ever venture out, shoot me a PM and we can work out more hospitable accommodations.

back to your thread. i just threw up in my mouth. your new system is redonkulous.

absolutely speechless.


c

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this come together! Heck, I may even go visit in person some day!

 

[the808state]

Your attention to detail is scary, but admirable. As a good friend, I expected nothing less from the infamous copps. Beautiful work !

I look forward to helping you stock this beast, and maybe if you can come to Ebeye with me you can catch your own fish and grab a BIG anemone for the center piece
The accommodations weren't that bad.. lol

Look forward to seeing more pics, and hurry up with a dedicated thread already. I've been asking for months!

 

[mayjong]

just found this, read the whole thing, and WOW

 

[Allmost]

thank you John for taking the time to teach us more

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Jon, are any of the club members helping you out with this? I've been away from the club for a while and recently rejoined.

 

[RJT]

Thank you for sharing your amazing system.

Your enthusiasm for this hobby makes it a joy to read your post.

After you add your current collection, clowns and some more damsels, what do you plan to add next fish wise?

 

[copps]

Out of curiosity, have you also purchased your own power plant? Your systems will be taxing the East coast power grids...

Actually it's not that bad at all... all of my pumps are DC... including on the skimmer... all of my water flow pumps are Vortechs... including six MP60s on the display... where only three run at a time consuming about 150 watts... refugiums and fish only are all LED... yes I run many halides but unlike pumps those only run for a fraction of the day... by lighting the frag tanks and refugium overnight and controlling the temp of the room my 3 HP chiller/heaters are not even turning on during the winter... the initial start up costs are one thing... but the electric bill is seen every month by my better half, so I've put thought into this!

I really love the idea of the damsels coming in and out of the rocks with the bigger fish swimming freely. I think it correlates with actual reefs in the ocean and cannot wait to see this aquarium full of corals.

Jacob

Well over 90% of the fish in the tank will be small and in high numbers... making it look like a piece of reef... no giant Naso or Acanthurus tangs... no crosshatch triggers... or other toy submarines... I like the look of a peaceful reef that is scaled appropriately...

i think you mean 0.5 stars....man oh man. kinda good you didnt make the trip.

if/when you do ever venture out, shoot me a PM and we can work out more hospitable accommodations.

back to your thread. i just threw up in my mouth. your new system is redonkulous.

absolutely speechless.


c

Thanks for the offer... underwater accommodations are much more important to me though, and our hosts are on Ebeye... they've redone the hotel also... much closer now to the Kwaj Lodge!

 

[copps]

Your attention to detail is scary, but admirable. As a good friend, I expected nothing less from the infamous copps. Beautiful work !

I look forward to helping you stock this beast, and maybe if you can come to Ebeye with me you can catch your own fish and grab a BIG anemone for the center piece
The accommodations weren't that bad.. lol

Look forward to seeing more pics, and hurry up with a dedicated thread already. I've been asking for months!

Thanks! It sucked having to bail on the Kwaj trip, but as always we had fun on Oahu... through my travels I've found that I enjoy diving more with the people that go to destinations with crappy accommodations... many of the divers that stay in five star resorts wear their fancy BC or 20K camera rig like a status symbol, yet 95% of the people in my local reef club know more than them about reefs...

And enough about the build thread... stop being the bad type of PIA... and be the good PIA... the company you've built years after we met... and by the way add yourself to the list of great people behind a great company that help make my reefs successful!

Jon, are any of the club members helping you out with this? I've been away from the club for a while and recently rejoined.

I got help from my friends in the club initially when I had my tanks delivered, and then again when we brought them into the house... and all of the stands and cabinetry I built... which included most of the officers of the club, including our past, current, and future President! While I used movers for the 1300, me and the WAMAS friends were able to muscle the fish only, which is 3/4" Starphire glass and weighed about a thousand pounds!

Go Wamas!


Copps

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Awesome! I can't even imagine trying to muscle something that big into the house.