Back in the game Coach, with a 330 gallon tank!

thefort15

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I started in reef keeping in 2002 with a large 400g mixed reef tank. It was exciting, rewarding, and rather frustrating, and oh, expensive. My original tank was designed poorly, with inefficient water flow, return, and the acrylic was not the quality I was hoping or sold on. Anyway, speed forward 10+ years and I was done. Today I am just starting the design and build of my new tank. The specs on the new tank are: 84L X 30W X 30H (330 gallon) DT - located on the main floor just off of the living room. Fully visible from the living room and kitchen. It will be viewable from the front and left end and encased with cabinetry above and below the DT. The plan is a mixed reef, leaning more on the SPS side. Lighting will be provided by four (4) Radion XR30 G5 Blue LED's. All filtration will be plumbed into a dedicated room in the basement. The filtration/fish room will house the sump, refugium, mixing station with RO/ID, neptune apex system, frag tank, QT tank, and a sink. I am creating this thread to help document the journey, and hope to receive ideas and input from other reef keeping enthusiast.

Tank:

Custom built 84L X 30W X 30H with a center Bean Animal style overflow, 1 1/2" pipe. Tank has been ordered and should be arriving the end of October. Latest was the tank has been built and is now curing. Hope to receive pictures from the manufacture soon. As soon as I have picture, I will post them for you to see.

Tank Stand:

The display tank stand was built by myself and my son. Could not have done it without his help. There was a thought of having a custom steel or aluminum stand made. In the end I decided to built it myself and save a little. Had the stand structurally engineered by a friend (he is a structural engineer). It is constructed of 4X4's, 2X6's, and to many screws to count. This thing would hold an elephant!

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Filtration Room:

There are times I get more excited about the fish/filtration room build than the actual display tank. I first need to express my appreciation to my amazing wife for allowing me to convert our basement storage room into my fish room. The room is 11' X 13' which is large enough to house all my current and extended plans. The floors have seen sealed and epoxied, sheetrocked the framed walls with green sheetrock, then covered with frp. Installed two new 20 amp breakers to the electrical panel to handle all power needs.

The fish room will house the following:
150g refugium
Sump
Sink
RO/DI
2 - 150g mixing tanks (one for saltwater, automatic water changes and one for RO water)
QT tank, independent system from main tank
Future expansion - Frag tank with independent system from main and QT tanks
Apex Neptune system to automate and monitor the main tank and filtration

*The window will be tinted with black UV blocking tent.

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I will continue to update this thread with developments and progress.
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Update on the build. Yesterday was an exciting day, I went on a shopping spree. :) Purchase the following items:

4 - Radion XR30 Blue
2 - MP40
3 - Neptune DOS
2 - Neptune DDR
1 - Trident
1 - EB8

*Waiting on the arrival of the Neptune Apex and one more EB8.

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I also received, in the mail, 10 sections of schedule 80 RED pipe. I have chosen to go with red pipe and gray (schedule 80) fittings and valves.

Had to do a little work in between play!

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thefort15

thefort15

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Had a productive day today with one of the Adaptive Reef controller boards. This controller board is the basic model, meaning that it has fewer holes on the face of the deluxe board. I like this board for the purpose of housing and displaying the EB8, Radion XR30 and MP40 ballasts, and the MP40 controllers.

Inside the board I mounted the 4 Radion XR30 ballasts and 2 MP40 ballasts. There was enough room to provide spacing between the units and contain all the wires. I used Scotts Heavy Duty Mounting velcro to hold each ballast in place. The velcro is rated to hold 10lbs, each ballast weight apporx 2 to 3lbs.

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*The picture looks a little unorganized. I had it all together but did not think to capture a picture.

Once I had everything organized and where it needed to be. I mounted the Neptune EB8 on the front of the board. I knew where I wanted to mount the controller board on the wall. Had to measure out the studs in the wall, which proved to be wider than the mounting/support on the controller board. You will see that I added two pieces of PVC board mounted to the wall on the studs, then the controller board easily mounted to the PVC board. The blue line is painters tape and marks the top of the display tank. There is 12" of space between the tank on the wall. Providing enough space for the equipment.

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Once the bracket for the controller board was securely mounted to the wall and leveled. Next step was to secure the front of the board with all the ballast attached. This required some assistance, my wife was willing to help but did not want in the pictures. The front of the board went in fairly easy.

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The bottom half of the board will display the two MP40 controllers. There is room for two additional MP40 controllers if needs be.

I am please with the results and how the controller board looks. There is a second controller board that will be mounted the fishroom in the basement. I would like for Adaptive Reef to offer a larger controller board, with the functionality of a hinged door on the front panel.
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Not much of a progress report on the build today. I was able to mount 5 stage RO/DI system to the wall. The wall is covered with 1/8" frp, which I mounted a 26" piece of PVC board to fasten the RO/DI system to. The area in which we live has very hard water so our house has a home softwater system.

Still waiting for the two 150 gallon mixing containers to arrive. The two tanks will manage the ATO and auto water changing. Anticipating the arrival of plumbing supplies this next week, so I am hoping to make some progress on the plumbing next week.

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RJKain-777

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Hey, we have the exact same size tank! Mine should be arriving end of October as well!

Do you plan on just running the 2 mp40 for flow? Or adding more?

I’m adding 2 MP40 on the left side (overflow side) the. Adding 2 gyre fx280 on the peninsula End.
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Hey, we have the exact same size tank! Mine should be arriving end of October as well!

Do you plan on just running the 2 mp40 for flow? Or adding more?

I’m adding 2 MP40 on the left side (overflow side) the. Adding 2 gyre fx280 on the peninsula End.

That's great! I am going to start off with the 2 MP40 on one side (right) to start with. My plan is to section the tank with different types of corals. The right, where the MP40's will be located, will be SPS. With more LPS and other corals on the left side. I have kicked around the idea of the gyre fx280 on the other end for some additional flow. I like your thinking!!

Do you have a build thread? Would like to follow along, compare notes. Good Luck!
 

RJKain-777

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Yes I do! You can click the blue “build thread contributor” badge and it will redirect you.
That's great! I am going to start off with the 2 MP40 on one side (right) to start with. My plan is to section the tank with different types of corals. The right, where the MP40's will be located, will be SPS. With more LPS and other corals on the left side. I have kicked around the idea of the gyre fx280 on the other end for some additional flow. I like your thinking!!

Do you have a build thread? Would like to follow along, compare notes. Good Luck!
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Had to work a 72hr shift the past three days so not much work got done on the build. When I walked in the door this morning, there were a few new boxes that had arrived while I was gone. The Neptune Apex main system and ATK have finally arrived.

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Next step is start laying out the Adaptive Reef @Elder1945 controller board in the fish room. For me this is one of the more stressful decisions and process of the build. I feel like it sets the stage for overall cleanliness and organization of the room.

When I opened the Neptune Apex box I notice that the pH prob had a white substance on the bottom portion of the prob. As if it had leak some of the clear substance from inside the prob. Anyone else have this happen or heard of this? (see picture)

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Tomorrow I hope to get the other boxes opened. These boxes contain all the pipe fittings and braces. Look forward to spending sometime on the build over the next couple days.
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Wow 72 hrs shift. Crazy

Build looks great so far. Nice equipment.

Thank you for stopping by and for this nice comments.

Yeah, don't recommend working 72hr shifts. We have been incredibly busy and we have had a number of guys either contract COVID or have had direct exposure. That has caused a number of holes in scheduling.
 

K7BMG

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Just clean and rehydrate your PH probe with RO/DI water.

Looks like an awesome build.
If I may make one criticism.
The velcro used on your ballasts may not be all that and a bag of chips. The glue may fail due to the heat they create.
 
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thefort15

thefort15

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Just clean and rehydrate your PH probe with RO/DI water.

Looks like an awesome build.
If I may make one criticism.
The velcro used on your ballasts may not be all that and a bag of chips. The glue may fail due to the heat they create.

Thank you the nice comments and both of the recommendations. I will defiantly clean and rehydrate the pH prob.

As for the velcro, that had crossed my mind, but I was not sure if they would generate that kind of heat. I am curious what you or others have used to secure items?
 

K7BMG

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I had used sticky velcro and the glue did fail.
I went with plastic plumbers tape and screws.
Yes the ballasts get warm to hot.
 

K7BMG

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I have seen ballast holders made from aluminum.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

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  • Check valves.

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  • None.

    Votes: 22 25.3%
  • Other.

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