Ash's 400 Gallon Reef

[nickmealey]

Man this tank is going to be legendary. I'm curious what your plan is with the starboard. Just white with the rocks on top or cover it somehow?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Man this tank is going to be legendary. I'm curious what your plan is with the starboard. Just white with the rocks on top or cover it somehow?

Thanks. My plan (hopefully) is to get a bandsaw and add some nice rock with flat base along some areas of the starboard for adding corals I will never add to the main structure - these include mainly Montis and zoa

 

[Ashish Patel]

Man, time is just going by and I've still not moved in to the house so difficult to do much. Hawaiian ban is in effect and my dream of getting 6 yellow tangs and achilles is down the drain.

 

[Ashish Patel]

To get a feel for how I am going to aquascape, I added the largest rock I have to the tank.

 

[EagleEye121]

Lot of moving parts that you’re handling seamlessly! Great progress so far, can’t wait to see the end product. Following along!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Lot of moving parts that you’re handling seamlessly! Great progress so far, can’t wait to see the end product. Following along!

Thanks alot!!

 

[Ashish Patel]

So I just scored some more Dry rock. 200LB of Fiji and marshall island rock.
I guess the delays paid off since I was able to acquire over 600LBs of natural rock over 3 years. Maybe i'll trade for some frags down the road

 

[Ashish Patel]

I told myself I will never be one of those guys who starts a thread and then didn't update - so my bad on that!. My house is finally done and so pumped to get this started.

I decided to go with a Perilia pond pump as a return for few reasons, there energy efficiency is better than any high end pump on the market. I am not looking for fancy plumbing in my basement and given my large sump would rather just have the ability to put something that is submerged to provide needed heat. My display setup will be next level and I am looking at designing a canopy with slide out light system that is supported by the back wall.

Hopefully I can add water in few weeks time but knowing me it will take at least 4 weeks.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Working on my aquascape, it is a lot harder than i expected trying to blend so many different types of rock that are very massive. I figured 2 structures maybe one around 40" long and 20" tallest point and another structure on the left 25" and 15" tall. I want to make sure I go back close to the back otherwise the tank won't feel 36" deep.

NSA stuff looks great but does not make sense to me since a large tabling acro needs solid mass as a base and acros will cover most of the fancy gravity defying stuff in time. I also feel they lack proper hiding place for tangs so I made it a point to have at few completely hidden areas for them. I may never be happy until I start glueing but figured id share.

 

[McPuff]

Just make sure the pieces aren't so heavy that you have trouble moving them into the tank. You may consider building out smaller pieces and then securing them together when in the tank itself. I put some borderline chunks into my tank and it was nerve-racking getting them in. Now there are more rocks on each section. I'll have to do some magic to get everything out if that ever happens. :0)

 

[revhtree]

Love that tank!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Just make sure the pieces aren't so heavy that you have trouble moving them into the tank. You may consider building out smaller pieces and then securing them together when in the tank itself. I put some borderline chunks into my tank and it was nerve-racking getting them in. Now there are more rocks on each section. I'll have to do some magic to get everything out if that ever happens. :0)

I thought about this and max I can comfortable lift in the tank alone is 50 lbs. I just used a long piece of plywood on the tank and placed it on there when outside the tank, then easily remove once in the tank. I want to get fancy with some overhangs and NSA stuff I want to add to in few areas since it just looks awesome

 

[Ashish Patel]

I went in to take measurement for starboard and my son wouldn't stop until I took him in.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Aquascaping a large tank is no joke, I figured getting all large pieces that no one want would work but turns out most of them are not going to work and looking at my pictures turned me off. Here is some pictures of the madness, I am pretty happy with one of the structures that is 46"Wide x 20" at its peak.

 

[Ashish Patel]

The large structure I am some what leaning towards. The cardboard is the footprint of the tank.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Got the closed loop plumbing done!.

 

[Brandon Wilcox]

This looks exciting!!

 

[mattgsa]

Loving the build.

 

[Ashish Patel]

This looks exciting!!

Thanks Brandon! almost time for water!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Master Aquascapist at work....