Working my way back in...

[bfliflet]

Sorry folks for the rapid disappearance. My old 300g became a vicious swirl of depression. The combination of a 30" deep acrylic tank, coral sand, bowing acrylic and coralline algae drove me batty. As a result, I had Keith Grandt make me a custom 360g w/ 3 sides of starfire glass on a metal stand coated with Line-X. We'll see where this one goes...

Being built in Keith's shop

Overflow (Keith's signature black backdrop applied later)

Stand (prior to Line-X coat)

In the garage w/ typical pile of aquarium 'stuff' in the background

As much as I thought getting this in the garage was a success, this was only the beginning of the fun...

 

[bfliflet]

The saga continues...

The saga continues...

Challenge #1: Getting a 96x36x25 900lb+ behemoth into the house.
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Plan A: Turn it on its side and go through the front door! After fear of weight imbalance being on its side, structural concerns and possibly scratching the low-iron starfire being on a furniture dolly, this plan was scrapped. Admittedly, tank was in garage when this was realized.

Plan B: Go through the rear sliding glass door. After researching ways to remove both panels in my sliding glass doors, I rolled the aquarium around back. Luck would have it (for my wife), only the main panel would come off. Time to purchase french doors my wife's been wanting...

Plan C: With the french doors installed, the aquarium fit easily into the house.

Challenge #2: Getting the beast onto its stand in the house
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Plan A: Bribe 8-10 several friends with alcoholic beverages. Coordinating a crowd seemed hopeless. Not to mention, alcohol mixed with 900+ lbs of glass seemed risky. What's an engineer to do?

Plan B: Engineer my way through it. Through a combination of cinder blocks, 2x4s and automotive jacks, I raised the tank onto the stand all by myself. This included inserting plywood and styrofoam between said tank and stand. ;-) Unfortunately, to line up the tank to slide on the stand, they were out of position but at least in the desired room.

Challenge #3: Move the tank and stand into position across tile, carpet and concrete.
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Plan A: 7" furniture mover discs for the win. I actually thought there is no way I could move 1000+lbs with plastic discs. I jacked up the tank and stand, put discs under the legs and my wife, son and I slid the tank into position. Booya! :bounce1:

It never occurred to me that I should photograph moving a 1/2 ton aquarium around by myself. All I can say is that where there is a will there is a way!

side-note: still dealing with Lowe's/Pella on french door installation issues...:headwally:

 

[TigeBell]

wow, this is going to be a very nice build. Looking forward to it

Welcome back BTW.

 

[marioensf]

I can see the feet on the couch "I'm all out of energy"
We just moved yesterday a 375G but acrylic; fun part has not started yet...

 

[650-IS350]

Looks good, wish you much success in this build.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Love the tank and dimensions. Can you plumb the overflow with it against the wall like that? I'm also curious about the lighting plan at 36" wide.

 

[Diamond Jack]

Well done just getting that beast in the house. Nice tank!

 

[SeaMonkee]

If this isn't a cure to your recent swirl of depression, I'm not sure what could be. Amazing tank! Reef envy.

 

[robert s b.]

Beautiful tank Brandon, Good luck with the build!

 

[powderhound]

Great looking tank. Good luck with the build.

 

[79chopperdr]

I wondered what happened to you! Glad to hear it's moving along.

 

[reef80]

Wicked!!!

 

[Saltwaternooby]

Dang Brandon. I'm sure a group of us could have got that in the house for you. Great job figuring out the puzzle solo though. Tank looks killer!!!!

 

[bfliflet]

Good to see the familiar faces are still around along with the new ones. Will answer Ron's questions before continuing my story...

Love the tank and dimensions. Can you plumb the overflow with it against the wall like that? I'm also curious about the lighting plan at 36" wide.

The overflow is about 5-6" from the wall. Access is a little tight but doable. As to lighting, I am plan to re-use the DIY LED cannons (800watts total) I had on my 300. They have 40-50deg optics and sufficient intensity to penetrate the 30" depth of my 300. Should easily handle the reduced depth of the new tank. I'll adjust the height to meet coverage. They'll be mounted on track lighting converted to 48v needed for my LEDs.

Here are some old photos of the fixtures on my old, dirty tank. I still break out in epileptic seizures seeing the coralline algae on that tank. I'll repost new shots once they're mounted in track-lighting.

The fixtures are being modified to draw power from the track lighting and the signal wires are going away! I wanted to show these old photos to set the stage to continue my story...:facepalm:

 

[bfliflet]

Two weeks ago, I filled up the new tank to test for leaks and start mixing salt. It does take a bit to create 400+ gallons of RODI and get it in the tank... Aside from some minor plumbing leaks, everything looked good. The next few days my wife and I started to notice lots of condensation in most windows to the point of small puddles.:facepalm:

A few days later my wife calls me at work to tell me she hears electrical arcing near my old aquarium. Not being able to determine where it's coming from, I race home. When I arrive, some of my LEDs are flickering and I notice dripping condensation from my (4) 200w LED fixtures. :eek1: The condensation even mixed with dust to create a 'mud' all over them. What a mess! :facepalm:

After cleaning and drying the fixtures, I was still seeing flickering LEDs - not a good sign. Only one fixture is working normally and in the process of diagnosing the short, I blow out my spare Photon microcontrollers that manage the dimming. :wildone:

With a single LED fixture working, a tankful of neglected corals and fish freaking out, the race to transfer to the new tank was on...

 

[Saltwaternooby]

That's never a good sound to hear, pucker factor 10! Sounds like its time to buy a dehumidifier to get rid of the condensation, or a whole home unit

 

[bfliflet]

Tank was quick swapped over to the new tank. All fish survived the transfer but most corals were too far gone from neglect. Lights have been cleaned, repaired and hung. Still tons of work to do but here are some progress shots.

Getting closer....

A little cloudy from some Lanthanum cleanup...

A 10+" Barienne(?) Tang

An Imperator Angel ~6"

Other inhabitants currently:
5" Blue Hepatus Tang
Juv Maculiceps Tang
3 Yellow Tangs
Sailfin Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Purple Tang
Lavender Tang
Magnificent Foxface
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
Flame Angel
Royal Gramma
Pair of Darwin Clowns
3 Chromis Damsels
Assortment of brittle and serpent stars

... and a baby dog face puffer for the time being.

I'll be selling the Emperor Angel as he likes Zoas as I want to incorporate those more than in my last tank. I also have about 50lbs of aged live rock if anyone is interested.

This tank will be a mixed reef like my last one with some SPS, a gigantea carpet or two and some zoas and chalices, etc.

 

[DrDNA]

Looks great! I miss my Bariene's tang... Lost it to a marine velvet outbreak

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[C4SxM5]

Wow tank looks amazing. I have to wait until the kids get more self reliant before going that big but it's defineltly in my future plans. Also would love to take some of the live rock off your hands but I don't think my tank is ready for LR yet lol

 

[79chopperdr]

Looks good Brandon! You do need some genicanthus!