Poriferan's 350 Reef Tank

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

I would like to share a bit of my build here for my new tank. Brief history, I was running a 225 reef that developed a seam leak. I went into panic mode and purchased a 200+ gallon drop in pond to transfer everything into. I set this holding tank up in my garage.

After a brief debate I decided that this disaster was a sign that I needed to go BIGGER.:xd:

I ordered a 350 gallon tank 8'x3'x2' and found a local guy that builds excellent steel stands.

Skipping ahead I received the tank and stand and was ready to start my build.

The tank would go into the same spot the previous 225 was but this time I decided to plumb it through the wall into my garage.

This is a shot of the 225 before it had to be torn down.

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

Sad news is that I lost a vast majority of my corals and about half of my fish. :Cry:

I don't know anyone in Sacramento so I now needed to figure a way to get this tank out of my garage and on the stand.
When there is a will there is a way:bigsmile:

This is how one guy can get a 350 gallon glass aquarium 41" into the air and set it down without damaging anything.

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

Next thing was to transfer everything back to the aquarium and out of the holding tank. I needed the space for the future sump and support equipment. You can see in the pictures that I did not fill the tank to the top. I still needed to plumb it. In fact the overflow did not even have bulkheads attached in these pictures.

I also built a makeshift light rack out of 2x4's I cut in half.

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

Next came the plumbing. Please keep in mind that my first priority was to keep as much alive that I could at this point. There was no time to do a sexy build, I just wanted it to work. That is not to say I did not have a plan developed prior to the next step.

I cut a hole in the wall and attached two 1.5 inch drains with sweeping 90's. The overflow has one pipe running at full siphon and the other as an emergency back-up.

The return is also 1.5 inch straight from the Jaebo 12000 and split to two returns. I also used sweeping 90's on this part.

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

Now to the other side of the wall.

I set up my sump, ATO, 100 Gal refugium, and frag tank directly behind the tank. The fuge, frag tank, CaRx, and media reactors are run off a second Jaebo 12000.

From this

To this so far...

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

I am now in the process of cleaning everything up. Mounting the RKE to run the show, adding lights for the fuge and frag tank. hooking up the CaRx and media reactors. I still need to build a water change system. My previous tank was turn off pump, drain the sump, flip a switch to refill from a trash can holding premixed saltwater in the garage, through the wall. This time I will have pumps and hardlines dedicated to this function.

This is my fuge so far, it has a homemade overflow and an emergency drain.

Poriferan · Feb 7, 2015

So not to leave you without any coral pictures I will add this one for now and follow up as my progress continues.

kohjor80 · Feb 7, 2015

Very nice! Following along.

Poriferan · Feb 11, 2015

kohjor80 said:
Very nice! Following along.

Thank You for checking it out.

I have been working on the sump area for the past few days. Installed the RKE and hooked up the net module to a re-purposed router so it would work wirelessly. Added some chateo to the fuge and hung lights over the fuge and frag tank (4 bulb 65w CF on the fuge and Ocean Revive LED over the frag tank.

Akida17th · Feb 12, 2015

Awesome build! Congrats on the new tank.

Poriferan · Feb 17, 2015

Akida17th said:
Awesome build! Congrats on the new tank.

Thanks! Loving it so far.

Made a little more progress on the build. I plumbed in a pump to remove the water from the main sump and dump it into the utility sink.
I still need to get the water station built to "finish" the garage side.

Poriferan · Mar 3, 2015

Made a bit more progress. I have "retrofitted" my previous canopy to fit this tank and painted it black. I had to add 6 inches to the depth and build a new light rack. I need to adjust the doors a bit and add something to stop the light creepage around them. The canopy has 12v fans blowing air in and holes in the top for the heat to escape.

Poriferan · Mar 3, 2015

I really need to read up on taking pictures of my corals. Very hard to get the colors correct with the LED's.

I lost my file fish for an unknown reason :cry: now the aptasia is making a comeback. I will be getting at least one replacement as soon as possible.

IMG_4857 by crossbow_ca, on Flickr

IMG_4858 by crossbow_ca, on Flickr

IMG_4850 by crossbow_ca, on Flickr

IMG_4847 by crossbow_ca, on Flickr

IMG_4844 by crossbow_ca, on Flickr