700 Gallon ReBoot of My Dream Tank

[cumbeje]

Here is video of overview done by Aquatic Impressions that helped me install plumbing.

 

[tj w]

Great job!! Looks like it got off to a great start!

 

[cumbeje]

With the tank and plumbing hooked up I now went to work on deciding on lighting. I knew I was not going back to metal halide. On my other tank I had 6 400 watt metal halides running and I disliked the amount of heat they generated. I had to use a 1 hp chiller that ran a lot. So I looked at several choices and decided I wanted to go with Kessil's (I also liked that I could control them with my Apex controller). Kessil was very responsive to emails. They suggested that because of the 36 depth I should purchase A360NE. The reason they stated is the wide angle did not have the penetration I needed. I have to tell you all I would be lying if I didn't say I was worried about going neck deep into purchasing them. On top of this I needed 16 of the kessil A360NE's. That was a huge investment.

 

[cumbeje]

Great job!! Looks like it got off to a great start!

Thanks it was defiantly a labor in love.

 

[cumbeje]

Early February 2017 I started to add the sand went with 10 CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand, 20-Pound bag. I liked the look wanted a white color sand that would not blow around too easily.

 

[cumbeje]

March 1st 2017 finishing installing 16 kessil lights.

 

[cumbeje]

I am going to leave it to that for tonight. Anyone have a questions I will be happy to answer. I don't want to go to far if people have question so far in the build. I will update more tomorrow when I get time.

 

[boozeman27]

Looks great. What a fun build!

 

[gnatophillum]

really interesting. Follow the evolution.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

This is a crazy build but I absolutely love it I am totally following this one.. cumbeje what made you go with Kessil over like Ecotech ? Just wondering personally is all ?

 

[Mebeknob]

Wow this is awesome! I'm curious what your business is?!

 

[cumbeje]

This is a crazy build but I absolutely love it I am totally following this one.. cumbeje what made you go with Kessil over like Ecotech ? Just wondering personally is all ?

I was looking at 3 manufacturers and one of them was Ecotech. I decided on kessil because of the control with my Apex.

 

[cumbeje]

Spent several days hanging and connecting all my Kessils together in a chain. Here is how I did it.

 

[cumbeje]

March 1st 2017 moved my RK2 beast from my other tank with some help. This is one piece of equipment I did want to keep. Love this skimmer for ease of cleaning and ability.

 

[cumbeje]

Great job!! Looks like it got off to a great start!

thank you

 

[cumbeje]

March 28th 2017 tank has been filled and running with sand only for a couple weeks prior. Finally decided on BRS REEF SAVER AQUARIUM DRY LIVE ROCK and purchased 250 lbs of it. I had a lot of rock from my original tank but many were completely encrusted with mushrooms and RBA's. I traded all the covered rocks and moved a few that were not completely covered. Most of my rocks i sat outside tank in sun for 2 weeks to kill any potential hitchhikers. I wanted to start out with a clean slate. This is the first time I have ever started a tank without live rock. After baking them outside I setup stock tanks in my garage at home to cycle them. Wife not too happy about that. Here is some pics. These were the only pics I took of just a few rocks let to place.

 

[cumbeje]

Wow this is awesome! I'm curious what your business is?!

Nothing glamorous. We sell outdoor power equipment parts online.

 

[cumbeje]

Picture of the fill up took over 10 days to fill my tank RODI water here is pic

 

[cumbeje]

April 2017 I have removed all my rock from original tank. Some top down pictures of fish and coral left over that I am planning to trade or move over. Unfortunately with everything that was going on with new building I was not taking care of old tank very well and lost some very nice pieces of coral to STN. A couple pics looking down. Not very good pics but best i had.

 

[cumbeje]

May 5th 2017 pics of aqua scaping and the little bit of inhabitants that I pulled from my other tank.