monkiboy's 265g build thread

[monkiboy]

went with the aquarium plants electronic regulator after all the rave reviews and personal recommendations from tony and scott. looks nice and simple.

got a 20lb tank and bought it filled. also bought it from aquarium plants as i wanted a new one and would keep and refill. it was actually cheaper to do so and buying from aquarium plants than getting one around here and paying to fill or exchange and free shipping so i couldn't pass up a new shiny one

justin/avast will be over tomorrow with the seabones reactor and extra chamber and is going to help me set up my skimmer externally which i'm really excited about to get it out from under the stand and across the fish room. and if time allows maybe we can setup the calcium reactor as well!

 

[monkiboy]

never did post up the details of the tank-less water heater so since i'm in posting flow tonight let's get that done!

so the heating/utility room that is shared with the fish room is a real mess, the floor looked like poo, and i just couldn't take it anymore. not only that but the dang water heater was taking up valuable real estate where an excellent water change station set up could go...

...see where i'm going with this?!

so out went the water heater...

installed the tank-less water heater at the end of the fish room where it can be easily accessed but is completely out of the way of my future water change/storage station:

then to focus on that disturbing floor

... time for a clean make over after vacuuming and mopping and scraping...

and ahhhh....much better!

and how it currently looks with the two 165g water storage containers waiting to be plumbed:

i'm still trying to figure out the most efficient way to design the plumbing but am in the home stretch and should be able to get this done in the next few days. it'll be great to have my genesis reef systems AWC/ATO installed again for automatic water changes and have a lot more water on hand for the expanded QT system's water changes and for emergency purposes. keep an eye out for more updates!

 

[monkiboy]

someone asked me about my AWC system and utilizing the growing popular dual head pumps and thought my reply (which ended up being a bit of a rant, sorry) was worth posting here too as i love giving these guys credit where credit is due:

i really value a completed, tested, supported, well-designed, clean/sexy, and simple solution with multiple levels of redundancies. the genesis reef system is not only my automatic water change system but it's also my automatic top-off, and also my automatic RO/DI fill for my water storage container. it manages all this easy peezy without any input from me, not one valve needs to be closed or opened and it's completely adaptable and comes with triple redundancies. i input how many gallons i want it to change and how often and set it to repeat and i never have to do anything again until it alerts me that there is no salt water and it will add fresh to my salt water bin and wait for me to add salt for it to recommence.

for me, i don't mind spending the money on a system like that and can only find flaw in that it doesn't dispense the salt for me too, haha

it's probably one of my most favorite toys with the tank so i'm definitely a bit of a "fanboi" but not only is their product exceptional, the customer service is equally impressive.

ah, another flaw i would say is because of the multiple redundancies and goal to keep the cost as low as possible there are up to six float switches. even as a thin-gauge wire...it's wire and it's in the way and the brackets are kind of cumbersome that hold the floats on your water storage containers and in your sump.

thankfully, in working closely with reef genesis and justin and dan from avast we've come up with a terrific solution. i bought a bunch of their pressure switches and newly designed nano magnet mounts and will be reversing the logic on them. it just so happens that the reef keeper connection is the same as the existing connections for the float switches to the main controller of the genesis reef! so now i'll have pressure switches which arguably more reliable and have slim black magnet mounts for mounting beautifully and cleanly and it's all PnP and looks OEM to the original. we're all pretty excited to see it executed!

 

[chris75]

I can honestly say that this is the absolute best build that I have EVER seen on this forum. Great job!

 

[YHSublime]

I'll be a groupie to your build over on this side of the interwebs. Feels like nobody is out there sometimes, doesn't it!

 

[howaboutme]

I'll be a groupie to your build over on this side of the interwebs. Feels like nobody is out there sometimes, doesn't it!

I'm here!

 

[YHSublime]

I'm here!

Hey hey!

THIS IS THE GREATEST BUILD EVER!

 

[monkiboy]

haha - thanks guys! someone reads my thread?! no way!

 

[skinz78]

LOL more than you would think read it! Keep the updates a comin!

 

[monkiboy]

LOL more than you would think read it! Keep the updates a comin!

haha - thanks for the vote of confidence! will do; i got some nice updates in the works!

 

[monkiboy]

it's been a while and i don't remember if i mentioned it here or not but i am putting together an 80 rimless (48x24x16) frag show-tank that will be right outside the fish room on the left side of the 265 display beyond the entry to the fish room. i dont know what i was thinking that the 40g shallow frag i set up was going to be sufficient in the fish room. in a matter of three weeks i have it pretty well packed with frags an colonies growing out before putting them in the display.



the 48x24 footprint will provide some much needed surface area for more frags and colonies so that i can start adding coral to the display tank. yes, there still isn't a single polyp in the tank but i'm taking it slow! i want every addition to be deliberate and well planned and hopefully the result will be grand.



i need something to put those frags on so i reached out to vanessa and rick again at synergy. i request to have made two identical sweet custom frag racks for me to my specs for the 80. these would take up a majority of the space but leave six inches front to back and a nice chunk of space on the sides for very large colonies.



not only are they multi-tiered to allow for a variety of light intensities but they are completely modular in that any tier can be removed. the green columns slide through openings in the next tier leaving the tier below it allowed to stand on it's own. so the options are many and i'll keep things very clean and organized and looking great - especially if it's going to essentially be a secondary display outside the fish room, you gotta look the part

they arrive tomorrow. i filled it up with salt water tonight. i plumbed it a few days ago and was tempted to run it tonight but didn't want to go to bed with a newly running system so opted to wait til morning. pretty darn excited to get it also packed with some gorgeous pieces for grow out.



i have tons of photos of the plumbing and the set up that i need to upload and share and will try to get to that in the next few days. thanks for following along!

 

[skinz78]

Sweet looking frag racks!

 

[monkiboy]

Sweet looking frag racks!

thanks!

 

[YHSublime]

WOW. You're doing some amazing things over there man! I bet those frag racks GLOW in the lights!

 

[hung]

Did I understand correctly from your FD thread that your switching to the Radion Gen 3 Pro's? If so just wondering why you've moved on from the current setup, Nano Box right?

 

[monkiboy]

Did I understand correctly from your FD thread that your switching to the Radion Gen 3 Pro's? If so just wondering why you've moved on from the current setup, Nano Box right?

yep - that's right! pretty excited. have a bunch of photos to share but no time to post. yes, dave had made me a custom 72" fixture i was using. i was looking to other lights mostly for the user experience and because support on a custom, one-off fixture is very difficult for all parties involved. ecotech fills those qualifications very nicely.

 

[YHSublime]

You will love the g3's, the clarity they bring over your tank will wow you. I'm eager to see these hung and displayed on your tank, this build is astounding! How do you plan to mount them? Are you using radion hanging kits? Have you thought about doing a rack similar to what d2mini did? No matter what you choose, I think it will be awesome with your level of attention to detail!

 

[howaboutme]

yep - that's right! pretty excited. have a bunch of photos to share but no time to post. yes, dave had made me a custom 72" fixture i was using. i was looking to other lights mostly for the user experience and because support on a custom, one-off fixture is very difficult for all parties involved. ecotech fills those qualifications very nicely.

You will love the g3's, the clarity they bring over your tank will wow you. I'm eager to see these hung and displayed on your tank, this build is astounding! How do you plan to mount them? Are you using radion hanging kits? Have you thought about doing a rack similar to what d2mini did? No matter what you choose, I think it will be awesome with your level of attention to detail!

Guys! So is this where it's at these days? haha...What's the FD thread? Was just a matter of time for monkiboy to step up. Will look good I am sure.

 

[monkiboy]

You will love the g3's, the clarity they bring over your tank will wow you. I'm eager to see these hung and displayed on your tank, this build is astounding! How do you plan to mount them? Are you using radion hanging kits? Have you thought about doing a rack similar to what d2mini did? No matter what you choose, I think it will be awesome with your level of attention to detail!

that's right, you have g3 pros too, don't you? i've been following you thread. you have some awesome anemones and extension from them. it's like wizard magic. i don't know how i will mount them yet. i'll have to figure that out soon, though!

Guys! So is this where it's at these days? haha...What's the FD thread? Was just a matter of time for monkiboy to step up. Will look good I am sure.

haha, what's going on sir? i think he meant to say "FS thread". i have one posted. eager to get them mounted and i'll be sure to let you know!

 

[dtruonggwhs]

Wow those are some nice SPS eyecandy