New House and New 300 Gallon reef tank build w/ fish room

[AKReef]

Thanks and yes the space has gone away VERY fast, will have some more room once i can stop moving supplies from one corner to the next as i build but that is part of it.
1. do i need to rinse live sand?
2. using REELREEF live rock so there will be a cycle but i am anticipating 3-4 weeks as i also plan to use turbostart900
3. oh i have already thought that the 55 QT might have been too large and might have to swap for a couple smaller ones...jury is still out on this but i do agree

thanks for the input and keep it coming snd i will check out your tank build...

I used Caribsea Flamingo Reef and it was “dry”. I put “dry” in quotes because it was still was pretty moist. I used live sand on my first tank and while it did cloud up, it did clear up in a day or so. I think you’ll be fine not rinsing live sand, but I don’t recall what others my recommend.

You should be good with the Reef rock. The pukani I got had a bunch of dead organics on it still, so took a while to cure.

The 55 might be a bit much, but maybe fine as a holding tank after treating fish with meds prior to putting in DT. Right now I have two 10 gal and one 29 gal tanks running. Doesn’t seem too bad so far. I got them all used from my LFS for dirt cheap.

 

[scott11106]

Any help/thoughts on my schedule??

Tonight i will be piping the display tank....;Nailbiting;Nailbiting;Nailbiting
been a while since i have done piping and never done this much piping and this complicated but here we go...

i will post more pictures each day through the weekend as i complete things

 

[dbraun15]

Wow...congrats on the new house and new tank. Looks fantastic and following along...what's the plan for the tank(sorry if I missed that...)? Mixed reef/SPS/etc? Any choice/premium fish that you're adding?

 

[AKReef]

Any help/thoughts on my schedule??

Tonight i will be piping the display tank....;Nailbiting;Nailbiting;Nailbiting
been a while since i have done piping and never done this much piping and this complicated but here we go...

i will post more pictures each day through the weekend as i complete things

Good luck! Unions, unions, and more unions! Makes alignment soooo much easier. Go slow, be patent. Prep all the joints. You should be good.

This part I found the most satisfying when I was done

As for for your schedule, I would start QT’ing fish when you start cycling your tank. I think 30 days of QT will align pretty well with the cycle time.

 

[AKReef]

I’m actually pretty jealous of the way your room turned out. Yours looks to be about the same size as mine, but since most of your tank sits outside of the room you just have so much more free space.

I also like how you lowered the floor in there. Mine is the exact opposite because putting down the concrete pad was an afterthought for me. So now I have this weird step up inside of the room that people trip over all the time.

 

[scott11106]

Wow...congrats on the new house and new tank. Looks fantastic and following along...what's the plan for the tank(sorry if I missed that...)? Mixed reef/SPS/etc? Any choice/premium fish that you're adding?

It will be a mixed tank with a heavy bio load (lots of fish) and not sure what fish will be in the tank but i really like to be different except the kids want the basic salt water fish so i will have those but then it will be a monthly family fish purchase.... (to a degree) having said that i am open to any cool options of fish or coral.....

 

[scott11106]

Mental note: watch out you dont get too high on glue fumes when plumbing..
The weekend went well but sure was alot of work, spent way too much time in my fish room and the wife was not too ecstatic but i got 90 percent of the plumbing complete and put the rock, sand and 200 gallons of water in the main display. making more water and hope to add 50 gallons every day or so (what ever my RO/DI can make)
Also QT tank has been up and running and got the first two fish (fancy perc.)

i will post some pics later today

 

[scott11106]

here are a couple pictures...

tonight i should have enough water to fill main display and hopefully fire up the sump....

 

[scott11106]

Getting ready to setup APEX everything....

A bit intimidated, but here we go.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated

 

[mch1984]

Getting ready to setup APEX everything....

A bit intimidated, but here we go.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated

I just set up my first apex, just take it slow and do the basics for now. I am still learning and way far from being done, but I'm getting there. I plan to add to it as i go, but I think the best thing I've done so far was NOT use the advance programming for the moment. For now I'm using the pre programmed set ups and it's working great. I plan on adding a float valve that will turn off my return and alert me if I forget to fill the ATO reservoir and that will be the first bit of advanced programming I will do.

 

[scott11106]

thanks for that, i am a bit overwhelmed just looking at the boxes but i know once i am knee deep it will be fine. I am a bit worried if i need extensions to the cables as i plan to have QT tank and R/O unit attached and they are on the other side of the room, any ideas??

 

[mch1984]

Not nearly the same set up but I have a 4' tank and the cabinet sits beside the tank. I had to buy extensions for my heaters and for my varios pump. Everything else seems to do fine on length, but going across the room you may have to. I found a good selection of extension cables on coral vue's website.

this is in the middle of the build

 

[scott11106]

Not nearly the same set up but I have a 4' tank and the cabinet sits beside the tank. I had to buy extensions for my heaters and for my varios pump. Everything else seems to do fine on length, but going across the room you may have to. I found a good selection of extension cables on coral vue's website.

this is in the middle of the build

yea that is looking great, i will follow yours to see how it is going. i also will check that site. i assume the aquabus cables are just usb or do i have to buy their cables?

 

[Mystikal]

Looks really nice. Great list of goodies so far

 

[mch1984]

yea that is looking great, i will follow yours to see how it is going. i also will check that site. i assume the aquabus cables are just usb or do i have to buy their cables?

That's my understanding, regular usb will work for the apex. But don't ever use the aquabus cables on a computer, apparently that has dire consequences. But I'm still a newbie on apex, I watched a video on BRS and that's where I heard you can use the USB.

 

[User]

here are some pictures from today, stand for water reservoirs done, ap700 supports mounted and the RO/DI is working away....

I like that 2x2 metal rack your 50 gal barrel is on. Any info on where you got it? I've seen that type in 36 and 48 inch, but never that one.

Thanks. Great looking build!

 

[scott11106]

I like that 2x2 metal rack your 50 gal barrel is on. Any info on where you got it? I've seen that type in 36 and 48 inch, but never that one.

Thanks. Great looking build!

Actually I bought a warehouse along time ago and it was tan in color so I painted it and it was not square, I had to cut longer pieces and then drill holes on one side to make it work but when I was in Lowe’s last week they are selling racking that is real close and you can get those but just know you would also have to cut it and drill

 

[BantyRooster97]

Awesome set up! I am a year + away from building our next house but I am 100% putting in a fish room. So I'm following closely.

Can't wait to see it up and running in a few months.

 

[DSC reef]

Really nice build. Looking forward to your progression

 

[scott11106]

Awesome set up! I am a year + away from building our next house but I am 100% putting in a fish room. So I'm following closely.

Can't wait to see it up and running in a few months.

Yea, thanks but when you get to the planning stage let me know as even with all of the thought and planning i put in there are a couple items that i would change but overall the build is going well.

was going to setup apex but came down with a bad sinus infection and just cant wrap my head around all the wiring...maybe next week but i will post a few pictures as the qt tank is running well and the first two fish are acclimating well and show no sign of sickness... few pictures to come later tonight