GlassMunky

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So today was a big day! My new Husband and I put down our deposit on a custom 243G Rimless Tank from Planet Aquariums. The Tank dimensions will be 72x30x24 and will be made out of 3/4" glass with 1" bottom 20" Tideline (ghost) overflow that will run a herbie style drain and 2X 3/4" returns. We also decided to get a steel stand from Planet as well and also having a 5 year warranty isn't bad piece of mind either! Once the stand is here we will have to figure out some kind of paneling to cover the poutside and hide the sump from view, but thats in a different thread Here -> https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/panels-for-metal-stand.529656/#post-5498811
Our plan for the tank will to be a mixed LPS/SPS tank. Lights will be 4 Radions (2X Gen2Pros from previous setup and 2X Gen3s) and 4X 54W T5s (also from previous setup) but we may eventually upgrade the T5s to full 6ft bulbs instead of the 4ft but for the beginning until things really start to fill in, it should be ok. Ca and ALK will be balanced through the use of a MRC Calcium Reactor on my apex and possibly in the future some sort of alk monitor/controller but thats down the line.
As for flow inside the tank, we haven't fully decided on what to go with, we were thinking possibly either 2X MP40QD on either end and maybe 2-3 MP10's along the back wall pushing towards the front or possibly instead of the 2 MP40s maybe one of the new Gyres and the Mp10s on the back wall? i think part of that will be decided once we have the tank in place and can get our aquascape figured out so we know where pumps need to be/not be.
We close on our new house on Jan31 and the tank will be delivered shortly after that, but there will be many things to do once its here before it sees water. this is going to be a slow and calculated build thread, i don't want to cut any corners, and i want this to be the best reef that i can make it using my years of past experiences as well as drawing on others for help and advice.
I'll be sure to get some pics of things as we collect them for this build and keep updating this thread as often as i can. Thanks for taking this journey with us!
 
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GlassMunky

GlassMunky

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Is it done yet? Lol. I am already anxious to see this thing.
not yet lol :)
In my head im just running down a mental list of all the things we need to take care of before it can get water.
One of the first things we plan on doing when we get the house before the tank is setup will be going into the crawl space under the living room and adding more supports to the floor so that we aren't worried about the weight making the floor sag in any spot. but thats not for another month when we get the keys, so i guess my mind should try working on something else that i might actually be able to start doing lol :)
 

Daniel Waters

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The Tank dimensions will be 72x30x24 and will be made out of 3/4" glass...
As for flow inside the tank, we haven't fully decided on what to go with, we were thinking possibly either 2X MP40QD on either end and maybe 2-3 MP10's along the back wall pushing towards the front or possibly instead of the 2 MP40s maybe one of the new Gyres and the Mp10s on the back wall?
FYI, MP10's won't work on 3/4 inch glass
 

Daniel Waters

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didnt even think about that actually.... :-/ now i really gotta think on what to do for flow....
I use mp40s pn my 6 foot tank on the sides and back . I dont really care for the mp40s on the back because I have to run them so low. My tank is 24" wide, but an mp40 on the back would be overkill in my opinion on a 30" wide tank also. Unfortunately, i can't stand cords in the tank. I've thought about moving all my mp40s to the sides but I do like the chaotic flow patterns I get with having pumps on the sides and back.
 
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GlassMunky

GlassMunky

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I was think of getting this exact tank from Planet sometime in 2019. Can wait to see it come together.
Thanks! I had originally wanted to go with a 96" long version but the price difference wasn't worth it in the end for us.

I use mp40s pn my 6 foot tank on the sides and back . I dont really care for the mp40s on the back because I have to run them so low. My tank is 24" wide, but an mp40 on the back would be overkill in my opinion on a 30" wide tank also. Unfortunately, i can't stand cords in the tank. I've thought about moving all my mp40s to the sides but I do like the chaotic flow patterns I get with having pumps on the sides and back.
Yea i don't like the idea of 40s on the back wall. we have a 70G 30" cube tank with mp10s on the back and side walls and they are the perfect amount of flow for 30" which is why i thought of going with them. but now im not sure what ill do.
 
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GlassMunky

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So no new updates on the tank itself, but we did manage to get a little bit of work done for the build today.
We have a couple of 30G brute cans that have been holding onto our rock from previous builds.
One that’s from our 90G sos system that is pretty sure we bleached afterwords
57D73B46-B084-4171-BD59-7E8661F40FA0.jpeg

And then this one that was from a shutdown of “shop tank” at my old worksite, which still smelled of death almost 9moths later.
14A14A1D-362D-44C0-BADE-6F18A76A10EC.jpeg


Which brings up to today’s fun: Acid Bath
20914687-7532-4DD2-8F25-8A6B3EE28EA0.jpeg

So we filled up the bin with RO water and do the thing.
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So much gross stuff coming off


Then a little bit (8lbs) of baking soda to neutralize the acid
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And now we let them dry out for a couple days after rinsing off a few times with RO and then Tap. I still plan on bleaching these rocks as well, probably next weekend. And then once we get the keys to the new house on the 1st, we will transfer off of the rock from this bin and the other into a holding tank where we will start the process of reseeding the rock with bacteria via a choice piece or 2 of Live rock from our most stable and long running system as well as some bottles of Dr. Tim’s. I don’t expect us to be fully ready for the tank to see water for a couple months anyway due to needing to reinforce the flooring and finish up a couple other hardware/equipment projects like the sump and stand and canopy.
That’s all for now :)
 

nbd13

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Was there a thread or recipe you followed to acid wash the rock? Thinking of doing this as well with some dry rock for my new build?

Thanks,

Nick
 

dantimdad

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I love the dimensions but, depending on glass thickness, that's around 200-210 gallons. (I'm a math nut and can't help it)

I am following this one!
 
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GlassMunky

GlassMunky

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I love the dimensions but, depending on glass thickness, that's around 200-210 gallons. (I'm a math nut and can't help it)

I am following this one!
I’ll be honest, I never did the math, just gave the dimensions for the tank , and had heard someone else with the same dimensions call it 243.
Maybe I should update the thread title now lol
 

dantimdad

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I’ll be honest, I never did the math, just gave the dimensions for the tank , and had heard someone else with the same dimensions call it 243.
Maybe I should update the thread title now lol

My fiancé says that I should stop sticking pins in folks balloons. I didn't mean to if I did.

It's still going to be gorgeous!
 
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GlassMunky

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My fiancé says that I should stop sticking pins in folks balloons. I didn't mean to if I did.

It's still going to be gorgeous!
Lol no it’s fine. It’s the biggest dimensions we could afford so it’s what what we went with. :)
 
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GlassMunky

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Wow oh wow what a whirlwind it has been the last couple months!!!;Wacky;Wacky;Wacky
We closed on our house Jan. 31 and I then proceeded to spend every day for the following 3 weeks fixing up every inch of the house. We tore off some giant mirrors off the walls, replaced old fake wood panels with new drywall, TONS of spackle/sanding work on all existing walls to get rid of dents and holes etc, caulked and painted every inch of the house etc. etc. In the midst of all the chaos of us doing that ourselves, we managed to have an electrician come out and install us a new dedicated 20A panel with 2 outlets for the tank, as well as having a structural contractor come out to pour some new slabs and install new supports under the floor where the tank will be to support the ~4000lbs this thing will weigh when it’s filled. I also went ahead and ran new cat6 lines throughout the house for all the fish tanks and tvs and things. Anyways my brains still racing with things we gotta get done before the tank arrives on the 29th of this month. And we have people coming out tomorrow for a week to redo our kitchen (having the solid wood cabinets refaced and getting new granite countertops :)) so doing more projects while they are here should be interesting lolo_O
Here’s some pics of that I managed to get of the process.;Snaphappy;Snaphappy;Snaphappy

Here’s the before images of how we got the house. I couldn’t stand the fake wood or the big mirrors, so they had to go.
IMG_6665.jpg
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you can also see in this pic below that the fake wood panels are gone on the wall on the left side
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Then we had the Electrician come and install the 2 new outlets on their own dedicated 20A line.
IMG_6735.jpg
After that was done we had the structural contractor come out and pour some new concrete slabs and then installed the supports. Heres what it looked like before he started
IMG_6720.jpg


IMG_6722.jpg

and then pouring the concrete
IMG_6756.jpg

installing the supports
IMG_6787.jpg

and done
IMG_6788.jpg

With all that done, it was time for me to start wiring up the houses ethernet. at which point when we opened up the wall in the room where the router is we had a little bit of a surprise....;Pigeon;Pigeon;Pigeon;Pigeon;Pigeon;Pigeon
IMG_6790.jpg

Turns out that at some point over the years a family of 6 birds somehow got inside the wall and all died. We pulled out 6, yes 6, fully formed, adult, of flying size, bird skeletons from inside the wall.;Vomit
After that was all cleaned up we managed to finish running all the cat6 lines.
IMG_6792.jpg


Now at this point, we are just waiting for the tank to arrive at the end of the month so that we can move it inside and finish arranging the rest of our house since we will know how much room around it we will need. then itll still be a little bit before we get it up and running. gotta figure out filtration and sump still, as well as finish acid washing the rest of the rock that we found during the move.

Any suggestions or thoughts or ideas are always welcome as I'm sure we have forgotten about something lol. Happy Reefing and thanks for reading. :cool:
 
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TX_Punisher

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Looking at planet in the future as well. Let us know how the quality of glass, edges, and silicon work is. Also thinking about a stand from them, too.

An 84 x 40 x 26 would be perfect.

Good luck
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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