Mehaffy's 1100+ gallon Plywood display in North Alabama

[Monkeynaut]

Just spent the last couple hours reading this! It was exciting reading along knowing that your date for a water test was building up to today!
It is super cool that you met that deadline and have water going in.
I will be looking forward to the BBQ party this spring. It is really neat to have a local doing something this awesome just minutes away from my reef!

 

[mehaffydr]

I start my monster build Tuesday with the stand. Cant wait to see about the water test. Still deciding on how to build the tank. thx and good luck. Chris

What size tank are you building?

 

[mehaffydr]

Water is 4" deep and so far so good. I was filling my Brute trash can from the RODI and then transferring to the tank. I just had to replace my Anion resin so I ran the RODI tube direct to the tank. Also I thought my RODI was only 50GPD but looking at the BRS label its actually 75GPD so that gets fill time down to 14 days not 22 as originally thought. But as soon as the new RODI shows up from BRS the fill time will drop drastically. The 75GPD equals a about 2 1/2" of water depth in the tank so for the next few days I will monitor and just make sure everything looks good.

 

[mehaffydr]

Something else I wanted to do a quick review on was the Marco 400 mortar I used to build the aquascape. First a big shout out to @bulkreefsupply for their excellent top notch customer service. When the Marco 400 showed up the bag of polymer had leak a little but there was no way for me to tell how much. The inside of the bucket was wet and the instructions were unreadable. I sent an email to Marco and they quickly sent me the instructions by email and I called BRS. I explained what I had and told them if they could tell me how much Polymer there was supposed to be I could decide if I had lost enough to matter. The very friendly customer service agent said no way I am just going to send you a brand new Marco 400 so that you have the quality product you paid for. Things Like this are why I will always spend my money with BRS.
Ok so on to the Marco. I mixed per instructions and started assembling aquascape. It couldn't have been any simpler. Everything seams to be well bonded I am very pleased with the Marco 400. I just put some on the rock were it was going to connect and then just used my fingers to smooth and push it down into the crevices.

 

[mehaffydr]

Just spent the last couple hours reading this! It was exciting reading along knowing that your date for a water test was building up to today!
It is super cool that you met that deadline and have water going in.
I will be looking forward to the BBQ party this spring. It is really neat to have a local doing something this awesome just minutes away from my reef!

Thank You and you would be welcome to come by anytime if you don't want to wait for the BBQ

 

[happyhourhero]

Epic build! Will for sure be following along.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

have you looked into the ro 150 upgrade from BRS? It adds one more ro membrane and almost doubles production while eliminating a bunch of waste water.

 

[mehaffydr]

I did not realize they had an upgrade I’ll have to call them tomorrow as I already ordered the new unit. Thank you for the info you just saved me a couple hundred dollars.

 

[darinsmall86]

I have the 200 gpd upgrade on mine from spectrapure and it works great. Just make sure you have the booster pump on it if you go that route.

 

[Pioneer]

What size tank are you building?

The standard 8' X 4' X 3' tall. Got my fiberglass lined up. Going to do a build thread just so I can show my ups and downs of the build. Still up in the air about the bracing in back or should I say the design of it. We will see.....

 

[mehaffydr]

The standard 8' X 4' X 3' tall. Got my fiberglass lined up. Going to do a build thread just so I can show my ups and downs of the build. Still up in the air about the bracing in back or should I say the design of it. We will see.....

Where are you located? I have lots of fiberglass leftover. I bought an entire role. I don’t remember if it’s 1 1/2 or 2 oz but it Matt strand 38” wide and I have at least a couple hundred feet that I’ll never use.

 

[Pioneer]

Where are you located? I have lots of fiberglass leftover. I bought an entire role. I don’t remember if it’s 1 1/2 or 2 oz but it Matt strand 38” wide and I have at least a couple hundred feet that I’ll never use.

Great white north.....Minnesota. I was thinking of using DBM 1208 Biaxial from U.S. Composites. It's Epoxy compatible and should handle forming into a corner when a proper fillet is formed, if I run into any problems with my test forming I can get 6" wide strips of a lighter weight woven material. I was planning horizontal 2x4 oak ribbing on edge on the back like fiberglass water storage containers. Euro-braced top and I am debating using oak 4x4's on the front to seal the glass too after fiberglassing it in. This is going to be fun.......

 

[mehaffydr]

Where are you located? I have lots of fiberglass leftover. I bought an entire role. I don’t remember if it’s 1 1/2 or 2 oz but it Matt strand 38” wide and I have at least a couple hundred feet that I’ll never use.

Great white north.....Minnesota. I was thinking of using DBM 1208 Biaxial from U.S. Composites. It's Epoxy compatible and should handle forming into a corner when a proper fillet is formed, if I run into any problems with my test forming I can get 6" wide strips of a lighter weight woven material. I was planning horizontal 2x4 oak ribbing on edge on the back like fiberglass water storage containers. Euro-braced top and I am debating using oak 4x4's on the front to seal the glass too after fiberglassing it in. This is going to be fun.......

I actually used the Matt strand and woven on some alternating layers to get the most strength possible. If you want what I have I would give it to you. You would only need to pay shipping

 

[Pioneer]

I actually used the Matt strand and woven on some alternating layers to get the most strength possible. If you want what I have I would give it to you. You would only need to pay shipping

What biaxial is it?

 

[mehaffydr]

I did not realize they had an upgrade I’ll have to call them tomorrow as I already ordered the new unit. Thank you for the info you just saved me a couple hundred dollars.

I called BRS and they changed my order from RODI unit to just an upgrade for the one I have. I’ll be producing 150gpd later this week and saved about $250

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

How’s the fill going?

 

[mehaffydr]

Fill is going good but slow. Water in tank is 5” deep so just another 29-30” and I’m there

 

[mehaffydr]

Fill is going slow and steady but great so far. Right now about 6" deep so just under 20% full
I just got the email that my RODI upgrade has shipped so later this week my water production will double. In the mean time I have been working on running wires for lights and the WAV powerheads. I am using a lot of zip ties and running all of the wires up to the ceiling and to the back wall and then down to Apex

 

[CrimsonTide]

The wire maintenance sounds tiring. Glad the fill is going well. Have you aquascaped anymore rockwork?

 

[mehaffydr]

The wire maintenance sounds tiring. Glad the fill is going well. Have you aquascaped anymore rockwork?

The wiring is boring but with so much stuff needs to be done. I have 9 WAV's 4 MH lights 4 T5 and this is just the wire coming out of the display. Thats 17 wires.
I have aquascaped all of the dry rock I have about 250lbs. So no more aquascape until the tank is full salinity is right and temp is right. I have another 300+ lbs. but its all old established live that is currently in my sump with my livestock.
Here is a pic of what aquascape is done. You can see the water s now up on the glass.