Manny's 300 Gallon Reef

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Manny’s Reef

Manny’s Reef

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Well you are an attorney so I’m sure you can manage. Do you have the construction drawings of your house? Something that calls out what the joists are? Spacing? Span? Etc. if not you could document it yourself. Go back down in the crawl with a tape and verify what you have then sketch out. Figure out your weight based on number of gallons in system plus tank weight. Dimensions of tank to know how load is spread out. Then send that info to a structural engineer. They would be cheaper (and probably more qualified) than a licensed architect. Depending on your crawl depth the work will be a pain (mine was). You doing the work yourself or hiring someone? Engineers are really busy this time of year so let me know if you have trouble finding someone. Should only cost around $200 +/- to have someone licensed to run some calcs for you and give you a couple details on what needs to be done.
Brand new attorneys don’t make very much money. Especially those who haven’t taken the bar yet. Lol. Anyhow, I don’t have the plans. I crawled down there. It’s a tight spot. I’m 5’8” at 165lbs and it was a tight fit for me. Ideally, I’d love to do it myself. But I don’t have the slightest clue on how to design a plan. I’m fairly handy. If told how to do it, I should be good. I’ll gladly take a recommendation.
 

reefs4life

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I was able to reinforce my floors on my own in my crawlspace. If you get a couple buddies I'm sure you can do it as well as long as you have the material ready. I used 2 4x6x8 and 4 jack posts so I'm sure that part of the floor is never going anywhere.
 

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I was able to reinforce my floors on my own in my crawlspace. If you get a couple buddies I'm sure you can do it as well as long as you have the material ready. I used 2 4x6x8 and 4 jack posts so I'm sure that part of the floor is never going anywhere.
Thank you so much for your reply. This helps immensely.
 
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Got a couple of GHL energy bars in the mail today. Just about ready to get things going. Need to reinforce my floors then we’ll start rocking and rolling
F9F6314D-8F47-4577-A1FD-0D5B53C5B3F8.jpeg
 

ReefChef19

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I was able to reinforce my floors on my own in my crawlspace. If you get a couple buddies I'm sure you can do it as well as long as you have the material ready. I used 2 4x6x8 and 4 jack posts so I'm sure that part of the floor is never going anywhere.
Nice looking build so far, I have a question out of curiosity. Why did you use 2x's instead of cinder blocks for the base of your jacks? Would it make a difference, I only ask because I had used blocks when I did mine. Thanks
 
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Nice looking build so far, I have a question out of curiosity. Why did you use 2x's instead of cinder blocks for the base of your jacks? Would it make a difference, I only ask because I had used blocks when I did mine. Thanks
So that was a comment from someone else. If you want him to see your comment, you might want to check out his build thread and ask there. He's pretty responsive.
 
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Did I ever tell you guys that I am super slow?

Life is super busy. I started a new job this past October as an immigration attorney. I'm still in my last semester of school. I am studying for the bar exam in July. I just submitted my bar application. . . . yada yada yada. O and on top of that, I'm trying so hard to get my tank ready.

So here is an update:
Carpet is gone and new floors are in
Floor beams have been reinforced
I spent several hours last night creating an aquascape with my wife. I had a vision of a negative space scape but I kinda let the wife take the reins. She was having so much fun that I just let her keep creating. Not exactly what I envisioned but its worth is now that much more to me. Then my daughter helped me cement the rock together.
I put some elbow grease into cleaning the glass on the aquarium
I bought some birch to wrap my stand. It is currently getting painted
I purchased live rock from Gulf Live Rock back in early February. Its been in a heated and circulating 70 gallon bin since I received it. Went through a mini cycle but all is good now. Just waiting on me to get the tank in the living room and full of water now.
Purchased two 20 gallon tanks and equipment for my QT setup.

I think that is it for updates. I know I know, pictures or it didn't happen. Sadly, I had cement on my hands and didn't think to pull out my phone for pictures. I'll see if I don't take some later today.
 
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Manny’s Reef

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Aquascape is drying right now. Finished it up last night. Picture to come later today.
Stand will be put in the house this weekend. Needing a finishing paint job.
I’ve got fish! They’re currently going through quarantine right now and will go into an observation tank after quarantine.
my birthday is this coming Sunday. I told my wife that all I want is to get my aquarium up and running. That should allow us to focus on it and make no other plans for this weekend.
Here are a few pictures of what’s gone on.

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I added 2 of these guys, 4 jacks total. It’s overkill sure but at least I know the floors are secure.


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Here is my current QT setup. I’m running two 20 gallon long tanks. I’m using the hybrid tank transfer method and dosing H2O2 and prazi pro.

Things are slowly coming together. Im ok with taking my time because I want to ensure this tank is stable until the day I sell my home. I am started to get a little anxious to get things up and running though. I take the bar exam in July so ideally I want to have this up and running before I start my official bar prep.
 
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Manny’s Reef

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Also, here is my current stocking (wish) list.

  1. Tangs
    1. Blonde Naso Tang
    2. Convict Tang (on the fence but most likley not)
    3. Tomini Tang (on the fence)
    4. Blue Hippo Tang
    5. Desjardini Sailfin Tang
    6. Yellow Eye Kole Tang (in the alternative the blue eye kole)
    7. Scopas Tang (since YT is stupidly priced right now)
    8. Purple Tang x3
    9. Achilles, Power Blue, or Power Brown Tang
    10. Clown Tang (this is the stocking order)
  2. Angelfish
    1. Emperor Angelfish (currently in quarantine)
    2. Coral Beauty
    3. Flame Angel (learning more towards not taking the risk)
    4. Pyramid Angelfish
    5. Regal Angelfish (if Mrs. Power Supreme permits the cost)
  3. Wrasse
    1. Leopard wrasse
    2. Pair of Red Velver Fairy Wrasse
    3. Melanurus Wrasse
    4. Size Line Wrasse (I know. use Caustion. I've had them in the past. The only aggression I ever saw with one was not liking my royal gramma. But I believe their benefit outweighst the risk. Will likley be one of the last fish in the tank.)
  4. Foxface
    1. Magnificent Foxface
    2. Maybe 2 yellow foxfaces (if possible to have them all)
  5. Other Fish
    1. Storm Trooper Clownfish (thinking about having two different pairs of different kinds. Should be ok in a 300 gallon)
    2. Royal Gramma
    3. Aptasia Eating Filefish
    4. Goby w/pistol shrimp pair
    5. Mater pair of mandarin gobies
    6. 10-15 Banghai Cardinals (2 currently in quarantine)
    7. 15-20 Blue Green Chromis (2 currently in quarantine)
    8. Copperband Butterfly (this fish I will not quarantine myself. They are too darn sensitive and I will pay the extra amount to by it already quarantined)
    9. Niger Trigger (I've always wondered. Might not actually happen. I want shrimp in my display but this guy is a possibility)
    10. Flame Hawkfish
    11. Longnose Hawkfish


This list is very preliminary and subject to change.

Tangs and angelfish will be purchased in the order listed.
 
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Here are a few shots of the aquascape. They are cell phone pictures so not the best. I wish they showed how much caves and crevices we created. Alas, it was a fun family exercise putting it all together.
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revhtree

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Here are a few shots of the aquascape. They are cell phone pictures so not the best. I wish they showed how much caves and crevices we created. Alas, it was a fun family exercise putting it all together.
F15F06C7-02BE-4661-8463-2F2F7274F9BF.jpeg
85CF693A-6E09-4E68-BCB1-DED6CE25901F.jpeg
2830985D-DE6A-449F-B08D-6D3C1469FED2.jpeg
BE103185-6571-494D-807E-819D61EA8B2B.jpeg
FCC3B2DC-D433-469A-BD05-4D7627351923.jpeg
F78FCB61-D6CE-4CBE-908D-8B0AE643067F.jpeg
736D3895-76EE-40C6-B3A6-640728155A9E.jpeg
9AE97DDB-E116-4807-B879-378BF53D3C64.jpeg
F479BF67-C63C-4DE2-AEB8-A6E065C6A6E9.jpeg

Loving it man! It's so hard to show off aquascaping with photos. Video gives people a better perspective but what I see I really like!
 

revhtree

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It’s an honor that you call R2R home for your build thread!
 
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I was inspecting the live rock getting ready to hit the aptasia with F-aptasia when I came across two little critters.

B49F5413-26BF-4A85-B57C-EF821B1083A5.jpeg

 
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JayinToronto

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Great thread. Will be following.
I'm interested to see how your tank matures with that ratio of dead to live rock (I don't think anyone knows the magic ratio). That live rock you've obtained seems like the bomb. I wish I could get my hands on some of that stuff myself up here in Canada. Would love to throw some in my 400 to add more biodiversity. I know there are many opinions out there about aptasia, but I feel those are just a part of the natural reef. As long as you have some natural predators in your tank don't go crazy trying to purify your live rock, for every one that you see there are a dozen more babies you can't. Copper bandeds and peppermint shrimp have worked for me. That little urchin you showed a pic of is so cool. IMO the best member of a cleanup crew.
Reef on!
 
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