Travis and Jessica's 400G Build

worm5406 said:
Ahhh Nice pictures!!

I see you were not too tired after the move, afterall.

That looks good!

Ready to start the plumbing now?
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Thanks! Nope, the move was quick and painless, plenty of energy to play afterward lol. Big thanks to Wayne for recommending the appliance dollies, I grabbed 2 and my neighbor also had 1. With three dollies we tipped it right off the crate on onto the dollies and rolled it right into the house in front of the stand. Had to lift each end to get over the front door jamb with the dollies but that was it. We tipped it back right side up when we got to the stand, threw the suction cups on (after letting it warm and wiping condensation for about 5-10 mins) and muscled it right on the stand. One funny side note, the only suction cup that lost its grip was one of mine :eek1::crazy1:!!! At least I was the only one that needed to change their shorts afterward I guess :lmao: !! Good thing we had 12 separate suction cups, the one loosing grip didn't even phase the lift. I hustled to re-attach it as fast as possible and we kept on rolling.

The plumbing is coming very very soon. I figure as soon as we do the electric, sheetrock, and paint/epoxy we will be ready to move forward and onto the plumbing. In reality I would really like to be plumbing it out this weekend, but that will be a tough deadline with mudding the sheetrock and paint. We will see what happens.
 
sarens said:
very cool, looks bigger than dimensions sounded, nice location, is the end view kitchen table so can see while you are eating?
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Thanks! Yeah it did kind of surprise me once it was up on the stand and we seen the full picture, surprised me in a good way though :fun2: Me and my buddy were looking at it and talking about hood sizes, I think the tall hood we are going to build (plenty of room for maintenance) is going to make this thing look even bigger LOL. Hopefully we can make it look right with the vaulted ceiling.

Kitchen table has a front view! If you look at the 3rd photo you can see the chandelier and an archway in the reflection. Through the archway is the dining room and kitchen area. Right under the chandelier is where the table is going and we also have a breakfast bar with a couple stools off of the kitchen counter that will have a decent view of the front too.
 
I just noticed your heating and cooling vent is under/behind the stand. I'll be interested in seeing how you handle that. Might living room "tank spot" has the same problem and when I start my own build (still in early planning) I'll have to either move it or duct it out the front.

The tank looks huge, I'm glad it went well for you and will be following along as you get that thing plumbed up!
 
Sarens, I just noticed in my last reply to you there is a smiley face shooting a smiley face, I have no idea what that is lol! I just meant to pick the green smile face LOL... BTW our tank seems big, but just wait until you get the 120"er delivered, I guarantee every one in your office does one of these :eek2:....


LeRenard said:
I just noticed your heating and cooling vent is under/behind the stand. I'll be interested in seeing how you handle that. Might living room "tank spot" has the same problem and when I start my own build (still in early planning) I'll have to either move it or duct it out the front.

The tank looks huge, I'm glad it went well for you and will be following along as you get that thing plumbed up!
Click to expand...

Yes your correct, 2 heating/cooling vents are located behind the tank. I am going to be making plywood boxes that fit over the vents and direct the air out behind the sides of the stand. The front of the stand will have cabinet doors covering so you wont be able to see the vents through the front like you can now. The plywood boxes will be hidden out of sight behind the stand. Not ideal, but will work out just fine.

Thanks, it is huge in this room! We are happy its exactly what we were hoping for. Plumbing is coming soon, well as soon as we get the room put together. Shouldn't be long now though, working on it today!
 
It is on the weekend agenda, but not sure if we will make it that far or not. I have some osb walls up on the outsides of the fishroom but that is about it at the moment. Need to go get some sheetrock and other supplies today and hopefully get rocking asap. Should come together fast once we really get this show rolling. If I had my framing buddies skills this room would be finished already, please excuse the slow progress I am just working with what skills I have :lolspin:

We also have a few obstacles to get past like running the electrical through the ceiling all the way straight across the finished basement. Haven't come up with a solid plan for that but at least the floor joist are going in that direction so shouldn't be too bad IMO...
 
Making some equipment decisions for the build. Any comments, suggestions or advice welcome! We want to do this right the first time around :D

Since we are no longer doing a sump in the basement our return pump plan has been flipped upside down. Been thinking about doing a Sicce Syncra HF 12.0, its 3200gph @ 165w, could prob even get by with the Sicce Syncra HF 10.0 2500gph @ 145w. The other option we were contemplating is the DC 12000. Just worried about the DC pumps long term reliability.

In the beginning of the thread we were planning to run a gyre on each end of the tank. Since then we have heard about quite a few quality aspects/issues with the gyre so we have decided against that route. Next we started thinking about doing one mp60 on each end of the tank. But since the release of the new QD pumps we are planning on starting with 4 mp40 QD's for a total of 18,000 gph. One on each end and 2 on the back wall.

Next up is lighting, we have decided to go ATI T5 this time around. We have two 400w radiums, but plan to retire those power hogs, :lol: We were planning on two 48" fixtures but it looks like a 36" and a 48" would work a little better. Measuring from inside trim to inside trim its 93.25", two ati 48" fixtures are 94" and a 36"+48" ends up being 82". 82" ends up leaving around 5" on each end of the tank if you space the fixtures apart 1" for airflow. Plus its 750w vs 870w. We also have been thinking about picking up a 2 bulb let lighting kit for each fixture if we aren't satisfied with the 8 bulb coverage. That would bring the total bulb count up to 10 per fixture to give us some better coverage without breaking the bank power consumption wise. Thats 930w (36"+48") vs 1080w (48"+48"). Looks like a 36" fixture + 48" fixture will be an all around better fit.

Last but not least is the sand. We were originally thinking about a Carib Sea Special Grade, but after some research we may go with Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. We want white sand that stays put in high flow. We were thinking around eight 40lb bags aiming for around a 1.5" depth. We can always add more if it looks inadequate.
 
I'm doing (2) MP 60 but won't be able to tell you much for a couple weeks as my build is behind yours
-do you want the look of 1.5" deep sand?
 
sarens said:
I'm doing (2) MP 60 but won't be able to tell you much for a couple weeks as my build is behind yours
-do you want the look of 1.5" deep sand?
Click to expand...

Yeah we were thinking around 1.5" for looks, it should give us a little bit of sand above the stand trim for the visual effect.
 
A_CoupleClowns said:
Yeah we were thinking around 1.5" for looks, it should give us a little bit of sand above the stand trim for the visual effect.
Click to expand...

not at all that I have the answer but from a maintenance point, there is a lot of discussion about DSB vs. nutrient trap

-I have decided to go minimal coverage (3-4 bags I am guessing) but I will only have a 1/2" thick front lip
 
Thinking about going with the fluval sea sp6 for our return pump. 3434gph @ 135w, plus 3 year warranty. Possibly swap it out for a DC pump in the future and use it as back up once the new DC prove their reliability. We want to make sure we have a rock solid return pump since it is the heart of the entire system.

Getting ready to start ordering equipment and supplies. Let the games begin :spin3:
 
Four inches deep would be good. Make sure you have lots of nassarius snails and sand conchs to keep the substrate clean and turned over.

Dave.M
 
How about 1.5 inch? 4 inches would take up too much tank space height wise. Need plenty of height for some big colonies to grow in... :crazy1: We did 5"+ deep on our last tank and we wont do that again.

We plan on stocking with an assortment of tangs, 2 large angels (fingers crossed lol), and a bunch of wrasses. Of course there will be quite a few misc. fish like our pair of domino clowns, lawnmower blenny and some anthias etc. but the tangs, angels and wrasses will be the focus. We don't want to overdo it sand wise but we do want to make sure the wrasses have somewhere to sleep/hide properly.
 
Not all wrasses need a deep sand bed to sleep in. Research the actual wrasses you plan to keep. Just get the ones that will fit in with your system.

Dave.M
 
Been making a bit of progress. Got the sheathing, insulation, vapor barrier and drywall up. About to go throw some more screws in the drywall and start mudding it after this update. Door is ready to go up. Sand showed up yesterday and return pump showed up today, more on that later.






Sheetrock up



Outside sheathing and door.

 
There we go, nice progress.

That one sheet of green board is slightly crooked, you might have to fill that gap quite a bit.
 
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