Streetjudge's 170 gallon build thread..sneak peek

[streetjudge79]

170 gallon, dimensions are 60x22x30. It's nearly finished being built. The back will be painted brilliant blue to match the prefilter cover box. The cabinet and canopy are nearly done,hopefully will have photos next week. The sump is a 40 gallon breeder with a g2 series skimmer and a refugium. I'll have the big vortech pump on there for circulation. Lighting will be 3 x 250 watt MH with 2 96 watt actinics. Here's a few sneak peeks with the proud papa.
Rick Ruiz from Aquariumart in Miami is doing the entire build.

 

[streetjudge79]

Ok guys, update time. Rick arrived yesterday with my baby. Here's some shots of it being set up.
The rock I had from BRS. Used most of this as the foundation.

The Live Rock from Rick

The Canopy having the lighting installed, 3 250 watt MH 15k bulbs and 2- 96 watt PC actinics. The exhaust fan was placed on top of the canopy so it cannot be seen. There is also an exhaust fan being placed at the back of the stand to draw out more unwanted heat since I'm not using a chiller.

40 gallon breeder for the sump with the G2 Protein skimmer,25 watt UV going in, Titanium heater with separate remote control for it.

The return

 

[streetjudge79]

More pics

More pics

The master at work!

The finished aquascape, tons of ledges,caves,etc.. Rick did an amazing job with this.

The finished product.It has 2 returns and a vortech so the flow should be great. The vortech battery backup was also installed yesterday under the cabinet. I have a water line running from my kitchen where the R.O. was installed, around the bottom of my baseboards and into the sump for the ATO. No more manual top offs!! I'll post more photos soon of it being filled and the halides on. My wife thinks I'm nuts for staying up most of last night staring at an empty tank..lol.

 

[brians4671]

far cry from a 37g. loving the woodwork. safe to say you will be attending the next frag swap huh. ive been in that store a couple times and Rick seems like a standup kinda guy.

 

[streetjudge79]

Rick's the best. One of the most honest guys I've met.

 

[Husky_1]

Very nice...What do you plan on keeping in the tank? SPS/LPS?

 

[streetjudge79]

Mixed reef. Little bit of everything . And as far as fish, I plan on mostly tangs,a moorish idol or 2 and a red sea Regal angel.

 

[drpo21]

beatiful tank and stand!

hmm, i wonder if the g2 will be enough for your size tank. I have a g2 on my 112 and honestly, I hate it, it just doesn't perform the way i want it to. I looking into getting an octo/msx extreme. you'll notice the underpower of the sedra 3500 pump. but other than that, very nice. Love'n the rock work, your fish will have a blast swimming in there.

 

[ReefWreak]

Very nice setup for sure! I can't wait to see this thing full!

Only suggestion is 1. as mentioned before, the skimmer will be a bit undersized, especially with a bioload you mentioned you want to keep above. 2. would be those bioballs in the sump. I know they quiet the water down and aerate the water, but they'll collect crap from the display when the water pours down, and they'll act as nitrate factories because they're opened to so much oxygenated water. I would remove the ones in front and the ones in back as well, before you have to start dealing with high nitrates.

Otherwise this is definitely coming up to be a fantastic setup. ATO, vortech, lots of light... Should be exciting

 

[gasman059]

Well buddy its up congrats!

 

[streetjudge79]

Some more pics with the lights on...also the plumbing was completed today. Only thing left to do is install the ATO pump and a few small things.

 

[streetjudge79]

The plumbing,vortech backup battery,Heater controller,vortech controller,etc. Nice and neat!

 

[streetjudge79]

pic

pic

 

[Reefbox]

Nice setup. I really like the aquascaping.

Is the aquascaping siliconed together or held together by anything? Could you get some close ups of the rockwork?

Thanks

 

[streetjudge79]

Nothing is holding them together, but it is VERY secure. Rick really knows what he's doing to avoid collapses.He tests the rocks before final placement to see if they will move. I'll shoot more pics of it Sunday for you. Right now the rock is all covered with wet newspaper until it's filled up.

 

[MR PALM BEACH]

Looking good and excellent job on the aquascaping. One thing to think about and IMO I would trade the bio balls and filter floss In for 2 large filter socks. The one thing that really comes to mind Is Its not going to trap alot of misc garbage coming down, and next I could see the excess garbage overflowing back into the skimmer chamber leading you to be constantly cleaning out the skimmer pump and It may not be able to run at Its best. Just somthing to give thought to, anyways looks like your ready to fill her up, well good luck with the build, going to tag along.

 

[rocknreef]

streetjudge79


I hope you are not just relying on that check valve to keep your sump from overflowing in a power outage.

Did you add some siphon break holes in your main return?

I had a check valve on my old system without any siphon break holes and it failed only to have water overflow my sump.


Just a heads up

Scott


Oh BTW your tank looks great

Looking forward to more pics once it is stocked

 

[jejton]

Really nice work but I would caution plumbing your RO directly into the sump, even with a float valve. If the valve fails you can dilute your water and flood your floor before catching it.

 

[streetjudge79]

Well, I have no other option regarding plumbing the RO into the sump and Rick has 17 years experience doing this for a living so I trust his expertise.What would you suggest? I have no room for a top off tank anywhere, this was my only option. As far as the check valve, the sump is big enough to where it won't overflow. The return nozzles will be placed close to the top of the water line so not much will drain down into the sump. It's a 40 gallon sump so there is plenty of room in there. It might fill up 3/4 of the way and that's it, so not really a concern there.

 

[PaulieWalnuts]

looks verrrrryyyy niiiiiiceeee....only think is i would not use the bio balls...hear lots of bad things about them....maybe some rubble or something...but love the set up and the lights look cool how they are facing out...and the vortech is nice...you have me thinking of putting mine on the back wall.