Miracles Do Happen! Bill's (Sawcjack00/Epic Aquaculture) 460 Gallon Custom Miracles Aquarium Build!

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Epic Aquaculture

Epic Aquaculture

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Awesome tank! I just ordered the baby version of yours, nearly identical, but only a tiny 300g. I was looking for photos of notched overflows to make sure the builder knows exactly what I want and I found it on the first page of your thread here. what are the dims of the notch 1"x24" ?
Thank you. You will love the tank. The quality is amazing! My weir is 27" long with 1" notches.
 

vanpire

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I apologize for the lack of updates, but it is for your own good. This is a real world exercise in learning patience which is the key to reef keeping :) The tank has now been running for 7 months and I still haven't moved most of my corals and some of my fish into it LOL.

So continuing with our story. You can see my lighting rig in the pic below
Last Piece.jpg


I used 80/20 T-slot aluminum to create the frame. There are 4 36" Aquatic Life Hybrid fixtures each of which hold 4 ATI Blue+ T-5 bulbs, 2 Radion XR30 G4 Pros with diffusers, and 1 Radion XR15 G4 Pro with diffuser (the last 2 XR15's haven't been installed yet as they are still on my Red Sea tank). The light rack is on an automatic Kayak lift so I can raise and lower it using my phone. This pic also shows the final piece of the aquascape ready to go in.




Hi Bill, this is a lot of lighting. I assume that you do not run your radions at 100% and the numerous fixtures are for even spread.

What do you like to keep the PARs for your acros on average? You obviously do a lot of things right so want to learn from the master.
 
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Hi Bill, this is a lot of lighting. I assume that you do not run your radions at 100% and the numerous fixtures are for even spread.

What do you like to keep the PARs for your acros on average? You obviously do a lot of things right so want to learn from the master.
Hey Van, Actually I do run them pretty high but I have diffusers on them. Right now they are at 80% but I will probably slowly increase that as I get everything moved over. This tank is 30" tall so the PAR ranges from around 450 at the top to 200 on the sand right now. I also still have 2 more XR15's to add. I generally keep most of my mother colonies in 400-500 PAR.
 

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Looks fantastic.

Hey Bill, when you get a chance- could you possibly shoot a short video showing what is holding up your lights, with the kayak lift? I have a couple of pieces of bent 1" conduit bolted to the wall over my 200 peninsula; and while it doesn't looks as bad as it sounds it sure is a hassle to change the T5s.

edit- it occurs to me that you probably just have it hanging from the ceiling- so, nevermind :)
I have a 15 foot sloping ceiling over mine which makes it difficult
 
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Looks fantastic.

Hey Bill, when you get a chance- could you possibly shoot a short video showing what is holding up your lights, with the kayak lift? I have a couple of pieces of bent 1" conduit bolted to the wall over my 200 peninsula; and while it doesn't looks as bad as it sounds it sure is a hassle to change the T5s.

edit- it occurs to me that you probably just have it hanging from the ceiling- so, nevermind :)
I have a 15 foot sloping ceiling over mine which makes it difficult
Hey Dan, you're correct it is mounted on the ceiling. This is the lift I use https://garagesmart.com/collections/all/products/universal-xl-hd
 

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Hey Van, Actually I do run them pretty high but I have diffusers on them. Right now they are at 80% but I will probably slowly increase that as I get everything moved over. This tank is 30" tall so the PAR ranges from around 450 at the top to 200 on the sand right now. I also still have 2 more XR15's to add. I generally keep most of my mother colonies in 400-500 PAR.
Thanx Bill. It is always good to learn what the Acro whisperers do. It is refreshing to hear straight answers from those who get results.

Too often, I hear it can be anywhere from X to Y and all tanks are different. These answers are totally useless, and I wonder why some people even post them.

I will be applying this knowledge to my new builds. Your values might or might not work for my own tank(s), but it is a great baseline to start.
 
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Thanx Bill. It is always good to learn what the Acro whispers do. It is refreshing to hear straight answers from those who get results.

Too often, I hear it can be anywhere from X to Y and all tanks are different. These answers are totally useless, and I wonder why some people even post them.

I will be applying this knowledge to my new builds. Your values might or might not work for my own tank(s), but it is a great baseline to start.
Thanks for the kind words Van! I'm always happy to help where I can.
 
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I'm going to switch from posting in my Red Sea 750 thread to posting in this one now that I have moved some of the coral over. Here's an update on my RRC Rainbow Splice:

Mommy:
RRC Rainbow Splice.jpg


Baby going into the 460 very soon:

RRC Rainbow Splice Frag.jpg
 
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This build is just fantastic! Definitely something I think as a whole we all strive to achieve. Impressive, keep up the great work Bill !!
Thank you very much for the kind words!
 
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Wow. Nice. Another dream frag.
Tyree Purple Monster has always been one of my favorites. Back in the early part of the century :) I had a softball sized colony, but I sold it when we moved from MN to FL. I don't have many pictures from back then, but here is one when it was much smaller than it ended up being:

081403_purple_monster.jpg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 63 36.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 34.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 24 14.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 15.1%
  • Other.

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