I have been out of the hobby for 8 years and its finally time to get back on the horse! Ive had salt water tanks off and on for 25 years and up till 8 years ago when I sold off everything I think Ive always kept a tank. My last tank was a custom built 100 gal. acrylic with a 30 gal. sump I built myself. It was a great system and it performed well. I always wanted to go bigger if/when I ever started reefing again...
Our hopes were that some day we would build a home where I could do a built-in 500 gal. +/- tank but we didn't plan for it when I designed my current home and don't want to wait any longer. So the Red Sea 3XL 900 build begins. Thought about going with a custom tank but in the end decided on a more ready made system. I also Liked Water Box and a couple others but after seeing this system we were sold. Really looking forward to having a 192 gal. display 240 gal. system.
I love build threads of all kinds. I have learned a lot from others with build threads - from a Jeep build to tank builds its a great way to document progress and hear thoughts (and encouragement) from others in the hobby. I have forgotten a lot in my hiatus but its starting to come back. Ive been planning for a couple months and started placing orders a week ago. As with many things, doing it right costs twice as much and takes twice as long and I have no doubt this will be no different. A lot has changed in the past 10 years - automation has really advanced. I had no automation with my last system and I have a lot to learn for this set up.
Tank is supposed to arrive next week along with most of everything else. Hope to be ready for water in 2-3 weeks.
Tank:
Red Sea 3XL 900. 25.6" W x 25.6" H x 79" L
Filtration & flow:
Return pump - Two Neptune COR 20 2000 GPH
Skimmer - Eshopps S-300
Heaters - 600 Watt Titanium
Flow - (5) Ecotech MP40
Lighting:
Display - (3) Ecotech Radion Gen 5 Blue
Refugium - AI Prime fuge light
Frag tank - AI Reef light (for split sump 16 gal. tank)
Control:
Neptune Apex system
Neptune DOS system for dosing and automatic water change.
Neptune Trident system
Purple reef rock - 120 lbs. base, 20 lbs. arch, 80 lbs. shelf. 220 total lbs.
160 lbs. sand
Red Sea - DIY lid system. Probably will end up getting a Clear View Lid.
I have some things left to figure out for the set up - once I get everything here I hope to design/build a decent way to organize the electronics.
EDIT UPDATE: Most current photos of reef - 12/22/22
Our hopes were that some day we would build a home where I could do a built-in 500 gal. +/- tank but we didn't plan for it when I designed my current home and don't want to wait any longer. So the Red Sea 3XL 900 build begins. Thought about going with a custom tank but in the end decided on a more ready made system. I also Liked Water Box and a couple others but after seeing this system we were sold. Really looking forward to having a 192 gal. display 240 gal. system.
I love build threads of all kinds. I have learned a lot from others with build threads - from a Jeep build to tank builds its a great way to document progress and hear thoughts (and encouragement) from others in the hobby. I have forgotten a lot in my hiatus but its starting to come back. Ive been planning for a couple months and started placing orders a week ago. As with many things, doing it right costs twice as much and takes twice as long and I have no doubt this will be no different. A lot has changed in the past 10 years - automation has really advanced. I had no automation with my last system and I have a lot to learn for this set up.
Tank is supposed to arrive next week along with most of everything else. Hope to be ready for water in 2-3 weeks.
Tank:
Red Sea 3XL 900. 25.6" W x 25.6" H x 79" L
Filtration & flow:
Return pump - Two Neptune COR 20 2000 GPH
Skimmer - Eshopps S-300
Heaters - 600 Watt Titanium
Flow - (5) Ecotech MP40
Lighting:
Display - (3) Ecotech Radion Gen 5 Blue
Refugium - AI Prime fuge light
Frag tank - AI Reef light (for split sump 16 gal. tank)
Control:
Neptune Apex system
Neptune DOS system for dosing and automatic water change.
Neptune Trident system
Purple reef rock - 120 lbs. base, 20 lbs. arch, 80 lbs. shelf. 220 total lbs.
160 lbs. sand
Red Sea - DIY lid system. Probably will end up getting a Clear View Lid.
I have some things left to figure out for the set up - once I get everything here I hope to design/build a decent way to organize the electronics.
EDIT UPDATE: Most current photos of reef - 12/22/22
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