Nick's 345G Build

this is me

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Howdy,
Welcome to another new chapter of Nick Liu's build thread. lol. Hopefully, this one will be up longer than the 3 years on the last Miracle build. The last tank build can be found here. And the prior tank is somewhere in that thread. I think it's toward the end.

Long story short, we moved last September and there was no way I could deal with moving that 360G with a 10 month-old at the time. Besides, the 48" wide would be a challenge to fit in the new house. I kept what I can in my buddy's tank and sold all livestock but kept all the equipment since I knew I would be back. I kept the rocks outside for a couple months then pressure washed them and placed them in a Rubbermaid and ran a power head in early January. The new tank order was place in February through Miracle Aquarium(the same company who built the last tank) and sump through Advanced Acrylics(again, same cast of characters). Supposed to be 6-8 weeks lead time. Then we all know what caused the current situation and the tank didn't arrive until mid July. The sump arrived around the same time.

Tank:
Miracle Aquarium
84"x34"x28"
Peninsula with external overflow
All side starfire 3/4" with tempered bottom
One piece eurobrace

Sump:
Advanced Acrylics
60"x20"x18"
Drain|skimmer|return|Refugium

Controller:
GHL Profilux 3ex
GHL Profilux 4 head doser

Lighting:
5xRadion G5. I have 7 at disposable but hoping to use 5 on DT and 2 on frag tank
I have bought a Geisemann Stellar Hybrid but I'm not sure I'll use the T5s. Been running the G5s for over a month in my temporary/frag tank and I don't think I will need the T5s. It's there if I need it.

Skimmer:
Bubbleking Deluxe 300

Return:
Vectra L1

Circulation Pump:
2x Tunze 6255

CA Reactor:
Geo 818
Aquarium Plant CO2 regulator
Masterflex peristaltic pump in pulling mode

Algae Scrape:
Tunze caremagnet+++

That's all the main equipment. Now lets get to the fun stuff.

First thing first, I gotta make sure the floor is ready for 4000lbs+ of dead weight. Main joists are sistered with 3/4" plywood and 2x12s where the tank will sit. Then supported by 4x2x6 beams and a minmum of 12,000lbs each jack post.
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Tank and stand arrived from Miracle
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Sump from Advanced Acrylics
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With the tremendous help from 6 friends, tank and stand were moved in last weekend
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I had to level the tank before filling it up and without any help, it's impossible to shim an 800lbs tank myself. Went to Lowes and got a jack post and rig this up. Allows me to jack the tank safely til leveled and shim it correctly.
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Composite shims were used in the corner that needed it.
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Now it's ready to fill.
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Tank filled with hose water for leak test and settling then plumbing test
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I had to take this out. I don't mind a small engraving in the corner of the glass somewhere but this is too much. I moved it to the overflow for future reference.
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Started plumbing. Hoping to get it running after this weekend.
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JPHawkins

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Nice tank. I’m in the process of building a tank these dimensions as well. Got a quote from miracles as well. Decided to go with customaquariums.com. Price was close but custom will ship directly to my front door where miracles would only ship to terminal 30 min away. Will be ordering my tank in the next week or two.
 

Foothill Corals

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Nice set up... Love the one piece eurobrace .

On your overflow plumbing...did you “T” the emergency with the main siphon? I ask because it Is tied into the lowest pipe in the box wich should be the siphon. If so that will suck in air from the emergency by venturi draw. You should be able tie it into the secondary with out problems though.
 
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this is me

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Plumbing is done and running the system with freshwater to clean up pipes and leak test. So far so good. will be using the water to wash the sand.
A couple things. The teeing off the emergency and the durso was a bad idea. Lol. It works. However, the open pipe teeing off the durso acts like a sound amplifier of the flowing water in the durso pipe. Very loud and a bad idea. Don’t do that.:D
The schedule 80 bulkhead is great. On the drain but not on the return. Depending on your hole size, the sch80 restrict the pipe size too much. On the drain, I was able to get away with 1 1/4”pipe with plenty of room to spare. But on the return, the sch80 restrict the pipe to 1/2”. This puts a lot of stress on the Vectra L1. It was whining and complaining. As much as I hate ABS bulkhead, they do work just fine and allows for 3/4” pipe. The L1 is now happy and only running at about 80%. I will let it run for a couple days before draining it.

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The main drain or full siphon is going into the skimmer which will be the main filtration. I have plenty of room so will add some liverocks to it. The durso or open drain is going into the fuge chamber. I plan on keeping DSB and macros for biological filtration.
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The challenge now is hooking up the frag tank and transfer the running equipment to the sump. This will leave me the Rubbermaid free to make water to fill the DT.
I cheated. Started curing rocks in early January and put up the frag tank in June and started to collect corals.
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Gablami

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Awesome tank! That thing is a beauty. I know this info is too late, but using a larger diameter pipe for your return will lower your friction loss in the pipe, making it easier on your pump. 1.5" going all the way up to your unions will make a pretty big difference.
Even if your bulkhead is 3/4, I would use 1.25-1.5” diameter pvc all the way to the bulkhead and then use a reducing adapter right there. You’d be surprised how much that can reduce head pressure, even with the final restriction.
 
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The L1 is native 1.0” at the output. This is what I use til it tee off to the 2 returns of 3/4”.
I see that the L2 has an updated output of 1.25”. If I knew this beforehand, I probably would’ve drilled a 1.25” hole instead of an 1” on the floor. Have you ever tried to enlarged a hole after its made. PITA!
 

GBRsouth

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The L1 is native 1.0” at the output. This is what I use til it tee off to the 2 returns of 3/4”.
I see that the L2 has an updated output of 1.25”. If I knew this beforehand, I probably would’ve drilled a 1.25” hole instead of an 1” on the floor. Have you ever tried to enlarged a hole after its made. PITA!

Use the holesaw of the original smaller size hole to cut more circular pieces out of scrap and fit them over the drillbit of the larger holesaw until you have enough of them to go near the end of the centre drillbit. They can then act as a guide in the existing hole to centre your larger holesaw.
 
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My woodshop. :D
I don’t condone cutting wood 2’ from your reef tank.
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To hook up the frag tank to the main system, the whole tank and stand have to be on a stage in order for the drain to drain into the sump. PITA.
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Justin Thibodeaux

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I'll likely be getting a Miracles tank built within the next 9 months (well getting the process started lol). My dimensions will be 84×48×30". I LOVE the open Eurobrace. Also does this tank have armored seams or is that pure silicone that I'm seeing?

Looking forward to watching this beauty grow!
 
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