Rhoads238's 280 gallon reef with fish room

Rhoads238

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I will do my best to keep the full tank shot up to date. Updated 5/14/21

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Heres were things start to get fun!

I am finally setting up a new tank after some time out of the hobby. The wife and I purchased a home back in December and I've had a nagging thought in my mind that I would like to setup a new reef aquarium. After some discussions and negotiating it seems like we finally have an agreement. The past few months I've also been doing a ton of research on what's changed in the hobby and been reading through loads of build threads here on r2r. I've been plotting and planning and it's finally time to get the ball rolling on this.

First stop the location:

The tank will go in our first floor living area which will be my man cave... safe space? I'm not sure what the kids are calling these days. But it will have a wine fridge, my xbox and reef tank!

The tank will be custom made. I'm still courting some manufactures and have not put a deposit yet. once that is finalized and I have a deposit out there, I will add the manufacturer to the thread. The tank will be 280 gallons, 84x32x24". Placed on a custom steel stand, with removable panels. The sump will likely be from reef synergy, a ts60 xl in storm cloud. I will order the tank and sump at the same time. probably within the next month.

This is where the tank will be placed, I'm happy that this time the tank will go on a tile floor, last tank left some water damage that we had to fix when we sold. Our house is a duplex, the tank will be on our first floor which is a concrete slab, so no reinforcing the floor to be done either.

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This week things started moving along with the first purchases. I woke up on Tuesday morning, and BRS had a sale! I decided to grab my rock while it was 10% off. I went with about 200 lbs of Marco rocks, mostly shelf rock but I was thinking some of the regular rock mixed in would be nice. This will be my first time using dry rock. Live rock is hard to get these days and I don't want to deal with pests. I also want to take my time and aquascape the tank over a period of weeks and get it perfect. I will aquascape it on the table and then cement sections of it together. Depending on how far out the tank is at the point I decide I'm satisfied with the aquascape I may begin cycling the rock in a garbage can. My shipment of rock will be arriving tomorrow and I cant wait to get started with it.

Today we had an electrician in to add two dedicated 20a circuits to power the tank! I will be splitting the load between the two circuits, specifically making sure that my two return pumps will be split between the two.


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The circuits run from the breaker, through the outside wall and around the house. It was a lot easier to do it this way than poking holes in the sheet rock all over the place. I think they did a nice job and its not that much of an eyesore.


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Now that the electrical work is done, I will start working on the fishroom. Unfortunately, I will still have my sump under my stand for this build. The only way to do it would have been to annex the neighbors first floor, lol.

The fish room, will be just a short walk down the hallway and will contain, my saltwater mixing station, rodi reservoir, fish and coral QT systems, a work bench and a slop sink.

Fishroom photo is below, its got a ways to go but I have a layout. The scratching post will be a coral QT, right of that will be the fish QT rack, I will probably have 2 or 3 20 gallon long aquariums for fish QT. Then the two Xs on the floor will be my salt and fresh water tanks. Where the cat litter is, lol, I will put a 3' rolling work bench and where the air purifier is, will be my slop sink. Nothing is really finalized here, I just wanted to get an idea that everything comfortably fits.


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Next steps and updates will be on aquascaping, installing the slop sink and likely ordering the tank / sump! I can't wait to continue to post about the tank as it progresses.
 
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Rhoads238

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Yesterday my rocks arrived and I began doing some aquascaping just to mess around. So far I am digging the two islands look. I will probably completely redo the scape because one of my boxes of rocks was damaged and UPS didn't end up delivering it.

In this scape, I'm using all of what I ordered, I would really like to be able to cherry pick through the rocks to use the best ones. In case anyone Is wondering, I used about 100 lbs marco shelf, 20 lbs reefsaver, 4 large and 5 small foundation pieces. I think the overall amount of rock is around what i will end up using. The rest I will probably put in the sump while the tank cycles. And then maybe it will go to my coral QT? I'm still doing research on how to do that so I'm actually not sure if rock goes in there.

Let me know what you guys think! I will post more pictures when I get the rest of my rocks.

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Rhoads238

Rhoads238

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Hey everyone!

Its Saturday! I took a trip to the hardware store and picked up some pvc to do a 3d mockup of the tank as some have suggested in one of my other threads. I'm totally stoked with the dimensions of this tank. This thing is going to be a monster! The stand will be 36" tall but in this picture its about 29" i wanted the table to come up to about where the stand ends to show the aquascape with the context of the tank size. The whole thing will be about 6" higher

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I also got the first thing for my fish room, the wash sink. Not the most exciting purchase but will definitely come in handy to have a dedicated sink for cleaning equipment. I also had the outlet next to the sink moved when I had the electrician in. Should be nice and easy to plug equipment in. It's a GFI so no need to worry, it's on another plug in the room.

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I'm going to be getting samples of the finish for the stand soon. I'll post pics of the stand samples also looking to paint the wall in back of the tank and may show that as well. I'm also considering running a hose to the nearby wall outside to be the air intake for my skimmer. The wall is still cut open so why not?

Thanks for viewing my build!
 
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Rhoads238

Rhoads238

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Hey Everyone!

Today I have an update for my build! I'm excited to announce i've ordered the tank! The tank will be made by Miracles Aquariums. They've been really great to work with thus far and I can't wait to see what they have in store for me. I decided to make the tank a bit longer because I wanted to have some extra sump space. the final dimensions of the tank are 84x32x24. Here is a mockup of the tank in PVC.

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We also got some paint samples. We will be going with the one on the far left. It's kind of a grey blue color. I think its going to look really good.

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The stand will be made from welded steel, also from Miracles Aquariums. I'm really exited that the stand will have removable panels and will also have no center posts which should make it a dream to work below. Below are the sample finishes that were sent. We ended up choosing the top left. It definitely shows fingerprints but I love the way it looks.

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I also started running the lines for the ATO and AWC. I was able to run them down to a closet down the hallway about 20' away. The hard part will be going up and over the hallway and into the fishroom on the other side.

I also ordered the sump since my last update. The sump will be from synergy reef and is the ts60 model stretched an extra 12 inches. I wanted extra space in the skimmer section. I have decided to run the full triton method on the tank. I'm really excited to see how it works out. They will also be making me a matching dosing container and reactors. I can't wait to see how it all looks put together.

Since my last update I also ordered two 120 gallon water tanks from national tank outlet. They will be used for my saltwater mixing station / ATO reservoir. I'm really looking forward to having a mixing station this time around. For my last tank I used to hook my RODI filter up in our bath tub with a rubbermaid container. We only had one bathroom in our apartment so making top off / water change water was always a point of contention with the wife.

I think that's everything for now. Thanks for viewing my build!
 
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Rhoads238

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Hey everyone!

Time for a small update on the progress of my build. Every day this week has felt like christmas with the number of boxes we have been receiving due to all the black friday sales last week. I think at this point I have almost everything on hand or ordered other than the lighting and power heads. Unfortunately Ecotech didn't go on sale so I didn't buy yet.

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In addition to my bulk reef order, my 120 gallon water storage tanks arrived this week. I also managed to finish fishing my lines through the wall and ceiling to my fish room. It was a bit of a project but I got there. I'm really excited to be able to have auto water changes on this tank. I think I will set them up to be semi automatic where i will use one of my feed modes to do a 10% wc, most weeks I will do manually to syphon the sand. The other thing that I am happy with is I ran an aquabus from the tank to the fishroom so I can control my qt systems all from the same apex.

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I still have to get my utility sink setup, once that is done I will plumb my mixing station and setup my RO filter. Then I can get my coral QT setup which is a fiji cube 32 gallon all in one. I think its going to work just fine.

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Thats all the updates I have for now. Thanks for viewing my build.
 

metzer

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Just a small update today. Wall behind the tank is fully repaired and painted. I also hung my RMS rails for my lights.

Here's the FTS.

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I have noticed some sagging on the long RMS rails with multiple lights installed when only sported near the ends. I added a third support in the center of mine to prevent future sagging.

Build looks great, following for the adventure.
 

Dave1331

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Hey everyone!

Time for a small update on the progress of my build. Every day this week has felt like christmas with the number of boxes we have been receiving due to all the black friday sales last week. I think at this point I have almost everything on hand or ordered other than the lighting and power heads. Unfortunately Ecotech didn't go on sale so I didn't buy yet.

1607130928349.png



In addition to my bulk reef order, my 120 gallon water storage tanks arrived this week. I also managed to finish fishing my lines through the wall and ceiling to my fish room. It was a bit of a project but I got there. I'm really excited to be able to have auto water changes on this tank. I think I will set them up to be semi automatic where i will use one of my feed modes to do a 10% wc, most weeks I will do manually to syphon the sand. The other thing that I am happy with is I ran an aquabus from the tank to the fishroom so I can control my qt systems all from the same apex.

1607131148775.png


I still have to get my utility sink setup, once that is done I will plumb my mixing station and setup my RO filter. Then I can get my coral QT setup which is a fiji cube 32 gallon all in one. I think its going to work just fine.

1607131435473.png


Thats all the updates I have for now. Thanks for viewing my build.
Very nice
 
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Rhoads238

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Today I have another small update, my sump arrived! Its a ts72 from Synergy Reef. Its a Triton method sump, so no filter socks and the flow goes under then over weirs rather than over then under. I have to say that I'm really impressed with the build quality.

The sump's dimensions are 72"x18"x18" and is a custom order option from the ts60 model. If you want to get one like this, you can put in a ticket and order it this way.

The sump came in on its own pallet, it was wrapped in plastic wrap and then packed in a thick cardboard box that was held to the pallet with plastic straps. It came in in good shape, no damage at all.

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For options, I got extra 1-1/2" drain bulkheads for a total of five. Three 1/2" bulkheads which I will use for a manifold and two 1" for the returns. I also got the optional heater and probe holders and nine 1/4" john guest fittings.

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Since the sump was here, I simply had to stick it in my pvc mockup and see how the fit is. I also wanted to see how the whole orange and grey thing would look so I put some of my pipes into the bulkheads. I love the look so far!

1608159679068.png



The sump has some really nice features, there's covers for the return and refugium sections it also has little cut outs for cable management. Which should help make for a really clean and organized install when the time comes.

1608160142658.png


One small problem I did find was that unfortunately my mount for my kessil a360x refugium light does not fit over the eurobracing of the sump. I also didn't account for there being a large cross brace, it would have been better to have two lights rather than one for the fuge area. Not sure what i'm going to do about this yet but i'm open for opinions.

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And of course an "FTS" with the light on

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Thats it for now! thanks for viewing.
 
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I spy a CU24 in your man cave :)

I'd love to see some pics of your guitars if you have more!

Here's some of my eye candy
Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.24 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.29 PM.png


Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.40 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.47 PM.png




Jealous of your mancave!! Following your build for inspiration
 

metzer

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Today I have another small update, my sump arrived! Its a ts72 from Synergy Reef. Its a Triton method sump, so no filter socks and the flow goes under then over weirs rather than over then under. I have to say that I'm really impressed with the build quality.

The sump's dimensions are 72"x18"x18" and is a custom order option from the ts60 model. If you want to get one like this, you can put in a ticket and order it this way.

The sump came in on its own pallet, it was wrapped in plastic wrap and then packed in a thick cardboard box that was held to the pallet with plastic straps. It came in in good shape, no damage at all.

1608158931582.png


For options, I got extra 1-1/2" drain bulkheads for a total of five. Three 1/2" bulkheads which I will use for a manifold and two 1" for the returns. I also got the optional heater and probe holders and nine 1/4" john guest fittings.

1608160016360.png


Since the sump was here, I simply had to stick it in my pvc mockup and see how the fit is. I also wanted to see how the whole orange and grey thing would look so I put some of my pipes into the bulkheads. I love the look so far!

1608159679068.png



The sump has some really nice features, there's covers for the return and refugium sections it also has little cut outs for cable management. Which should help make for a really clean and organized install when the time comes.

1608160142658.png


One small problem I did find was that unfortunately my mount for my kessil a360x refugium light does not fit over the eurobracing of the sump. I also didn't account for there being a large cross brace, it would have been better to have two lights rather than one for the fuge area. Not sure what i'm going to do about this yet but i'm open for opinions.

1608160516483.png

And of course an "FTS" with the light on

1608160581864.png


Thats it for now! thanks for viewing.
I am so jealous. I ordered a synergy reef 60" not to long ago (awesome product) but i didnt know they would offer a 72" sump. I ended up attaching a supplemental tank with bulkheads for more sump room. I needed more space in the return pump section is the reason i added on another chamber. Something to remember for the next tank build ;)
 
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Rhoads238

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I spy a CU24 in your man cave :)

I'd love to see some pics of your guitars if you have more!

Here's some of my eye candy
Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.24 PM.png

Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.29 PM.png


Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.40 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-12-17 at 1.41.47 PM.png




Jealous of your mancave!! Following your build for inspiration

OOOOO very nice! Its actually a custom 22. The day I bought mine they had both and I liked the blue one better, the other was red. What are you into playing?

Here are my two other babies Left, Antonio Aparicio and right Lowden S35 in adirondack spruce and koa back
1608334153958.png


The wood on the back of the Lowden

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And of course the prs
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Rhoads238

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Hey everyone!

Today I'm starting to work on the fish room and I wanted to post an update on the progress and what the plans are. We repainted the room, same color as last time but used kitchen and bath paint with an anti mold additive in it. We are installing plastex sheeting in the corner near the sink to protect the wall from splashing when i'm washing equipment.

I also bought and started setting up my quarantine systems. Coral qt is a fiji cube, 32 gallon AIO. It will be lit by a radion xr15 g5 blue, same as the display tank. Flow will be provided by two mp10s from my old tank and will have a tunze ATO also from my old tank. Eventually I think I will set it up for AWC via a Neptune dos. I'm really excited how its coming out. For the fish qt, I'm using two aqueon 20 gal long for medicated qt and two aqueon 10 gal for TTM for sensitive fish.

This weekends goals are getting some mdf boards cut and painted for mounting my apex and RODI system on. Should help keep mounting neat and orderly.

Here is a picture of where things are at as of now.

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It makes me really happy to see the project coming along from the tape lines it was in my first post about the tank! I'll post more as some of the projects are finished.

Thank you for viewing!
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

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  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 24 14.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 15.3%
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