Moving the "Great Beringer Reef" to a new Tank (500 gal +)

[friendlyguy]

Hi folks!
Exciting times for us, we finally found a new place to live and... of course I had to make use of all that space in the new place for a bigger Tank.
Luckily I was able to get hold of a rather large preowned acrylic tank for the current reef at a affordable price.
Its dimensions are roughly : 16 x 2 x 2 ft (or 5m x 60cm x 60cm) and together with the sump and 2 frag tanks we are way over 2000 liters / 500 Gal.
The current system consisted of a Reefer 350 a Reefer XL 525 and a custom tank with a length of 9 ft and its packed with LPS, SPS and Softies. (See my other build thread)
The three systems were plumbed into one big water circuit and ran for about 3 years. (I added a tank every year, thats how addictive that hobby is and how fast corals are growing)
Enough talking, here are some pictures of the new System and what we have been working on:
First of all the tank and how it sits in our basement (sorry for the wire...):

Here are some pictures off the making of the reef:

and some more:

This is how it looks after burning and cleaning it:

And ready to start scaping:

Concerning about what i had in mind for my reefscape i was lucky Fauna Marin just released their Floating Reef Rack.
Here are some pictures of the early scaping process, nothing is fixed yet:

Some more progress and first things are fixed:

After a LOT more time passed and i got better with cementing stuff: this is how it looks like now:

And a close up of the "Butterfly":

There are plenty of old rocks i am going to move from the old system. Once thats done i can continue with the scape.
This evening I will hopefully finish the pipeworks. Next step is the "light rail" i am planning on the wall.
Stay tuned

 

[Irregardless]

This build looks fun. In.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

This is going to be awesome!!! Following

 

[friendlyguy]

Thanks for your Comments. I finished plumbing yesterday and got it filled.
This is how the pipework looks like:

slightly different angle:

And a close up of the Return/ Overflow piping:

And here you can admire the tank "running" for the first time.
Abyzz is doing a OVERLY IMPRESSIVE Job with the return:
Its moving the entire water column in the tank. Its a massive Flow only using the return pump already:

 

[Johnz]

I didn't even know you could get an aquarium that long. Epic build, looking forward to seeing it come together. Good luck with it.

 

[CHEF]

Very nice. Following

 

[MrPike]

Are those 1” pvc pipes for the drains? Seems like a lot of tank to be handled by 1 inchers.

 

[blaxsun]

You couldn't find a smaller tank?
Are you just planning to run the one ReefMat (assume it's a 1200)?

 

[friendlyguy]

Thanks for the comments!
@blaxsun Yup, thats a single 1200 ReefMat. I didnt want to go for two because I am trying to preserve plankton in my system. Especially because of that I also choose a venturi based skimmer from lifereef. And, nope: I am squeezing in the absolute maximum size tank i could get for that room. The door wont open fully, but one has to have priorities: right?

@MrPike: Those pipes are 32mm, I believe thats 1 1/4". The system already was drilled for those diameters and i didnt have much choice. The abyzz pump is currently running at ~60% and its already using both overflows to its max. So, yes valid point. But i think its more than okay looking at the flow those two outlets produce. If i crank up the return pump power the emergency drain is used, and I dont want that "by default".

 

[blaxsun]

Thanks for the comments!
@blaxsun Yup, thats a single 1200 ReefMat. I didnt want to go for two because I am trying to preserve plankton in my system. Especially because of that I also choose a venturi based skimmer from lifereef. And, nope: I am squeezing in the absolute maximum size tank i could get for that room. The door wont open fully, but one has to have priorities: right?

The fleece rolls are 200-microns (just FYI). I'm getting about 2 weeks per roll with my ReefMat 500 (200-gallon heavy stocked system). Tip: place a small strip of masking tape on the waste roll to hold the fleece in-place (prevents it slipping off as it spools up).

Hey, as long as you can get in the room the door need not open all the way!

 

[friendlyguy]

Thanks for pointing that out, thats a good idea. I dont have experience with it yet.
Lets see how long it will last.

 

[Forty-Two]

Wow what a monster!

Is the sump rated to handle that flow as well as the filter roller? They look tiny compared to that large beast.

What are you going to do for wavemakers/flow inside the tank?

And the lights?

Sorry too man questions

 

[New&no clue]

Ummmm... giant tank, I'm in.

So far, it looks awesome. I love the rockwork, and floating reefs are some of my favorites. What is your thought on fish? I think one or possible two tangs might fit in there

 

[friendlyguy]

@Forty-Two Thanks for your comment! The filter roller is approximately the right size for the flow. The sump: I dunno.
The entire Tank is a custom build made by schuran. The sump consists of two parts. The one you can currently see for filtration and another one, approximately equally in size as the sump for frags. They get connected by a tiny 32mm pipe.
Not my design, but i will make it work.
I put in a check valve "just in case".
About flow: I currently have a Panta Rhei Hydro Wizard 42 ecm, this will go into that tank for sure. Apart from that:
I have 4x AI Nero 5, 2x RedSea ReefWave 45 and several Tunze 6065. I will start with some of them and then see what i need to change. I am already ogling another Panta Rhei: the Hydro Wizard ECM 63.
About lighting: I currently own 2 Orphek Atlantik Icon and about 10 RedSea ReefLed 90. Thats what i am going to use to start the system. About Corals, i have a unknown number of them. Mostly SPS, some lps and softies. If i have to guess: Over 100. I must stock the system kind of quickly as they are still in the old place and i can only keep them there for two more weeks.
I already started with Bacterial Products from ProdiBio for sand and stones. I will introduce most of the old sand from the old system and transfer ~130 Gal Saltwater from the old system as well. I saved all the old zeovit in my sump, this will move to the new system as well.

 

[friendlyguy]

@New&no clue Yes, maybe two.

I currently have:
- 1x Foxface (size of my Hand)
- 1x Desjardini (size of my Hand)
- 1x marine betta (he/she is quiet big, 15cm long, roughly)
- 1x convict blenny (he/she is quiet big, 15cm long, roughly)
- 1x Flame Angel Dwarf (size of a box of cigarretes)
- 1x RedSea Tang (size of a box of cigarretes)
- 1x Powder Blue Tang (Dori, size of a box of cigarretes)
- 2x twowspined angelfish (size of a box of matches)
- 1x Hawaii Tang (size of a box of matches)
- 1x Boxfish (tiny)
- 10 x Chromis
- 1x Mandarin Fish
- 2x goby fish (small)
- 4x Clownfish
- 1x Grama Loreto
- 4x Banggai
- 1x 6 line wrasse (tiny)
- 2x Sharpnose wrasse

i started a thread a few weeks ago about new fish, the results are:
- 2x Naso Elegans (pair, tiny)
- 2x Naso Lituratus (pair, tiny)
- 2x Naso Vlamingii (pair, tiny)
- 1x Tomini Tang
- 1x Chelmon Rostratus
About the nasos: when I ordered them the store told me i can only hope for a pair and its not common to get one. They adviced me to order a pair of each and write a comment "please only deliver a pair, single specimen otherwise".
So, there we go: i received 3 pairs that nobody expected.

 

[Saltysecondsreefing]

great build cant wait to see more!!!

 

[LilsReefTank]

Hi folks!
Exciting times for us, we finally found a new place to live and... of course I had to make use of all that space in the new place for a bigger Tank.
Luckily I was able to get hold of a rather large preowned acrylic tank for the current reef at a affordable price.
Its dimensions are roughly : 16 x 2 x 2 ft (or 5m x 60cm x 60cm) and together with the sump and 2 frag tanks we are way over 2000 liters / 500 Gal.
The current system consisted of a Reefer 350 a Reefer XL 525 and a custom tank with a length of 9 ft and its packed with LPS, SPS and Softies. (See my other build thread)
The three systems were plumbed into one big water circuit and ran for about 3 years. (I added a tank every year, thats how addictive that hobby is and how fast corals are growing)
Enough talking, here are some pictures of the new System and what we have been working on:
First of all the tank and how it sits in our basement (sorry for the wire...):

Here are some pictures off the making of the reef:

and some more:

This is how it looks after burning and cleaning it:

And ready to start scaping:

Concerning about what i had in mind for my reefscape i was lucky Fauna Marin just released their Floating Reef Rack.
Here are some pictures of the early scaping process, nothing is fixed yet:

Some more progress and first things are fixed:

After a LOT more time passed and i got better with cementing stuff: this is how it looks like now:

And a close up of the "Butterfly":

There are plenty of old rocks i am going to move from the old system. Once thats done i can continue with the scape.
This evening I will hopefully finish the pipeworks. Next step is the "light rail" i am planning on the wall.
Stay tuned

Living the dream!!! So excited to see it in funtion!!!

 

[Squidward]

That sump is too small though

 

[friendlyguy]

@Squidward Humm, you know what: ill turn off the return pump this evening and check how high the water rises in the sump. The previous owner already told me that the volume of the frag tank is required without a check valve. Lets see if i flood the basement

 

[friendlyguy]

Morning Gents!
I tested wether the sump can hold all the water that flows back if i turn off the return pump: It does!
*Yay*
Currently fighting with a few reinforcements in the concrete wall... I was able to drill 3 out of 7 holes i need for the lamp mount. There seems to be some sort of steel where i decided to mount that horizontal bar.
Next task: buy a drill for steel with the required diameter.
This is how it looks currently:

You can see the first two screws are where they belong:

aaand the last one: