Rhoads238's 280 gallon reef with fish room

i_declare_bankruptcy · Jan 2, 2021

Rhoads238 said:
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

The wood on the back of the Lowden

And of course the prs

Those are some beautiful guitars!!

skydirt · Jan 3, 2021

Looks like it's all coming together. Great job

Rhoads238 · Jan 9, 2021

Hey Everyone!

Time for another update on my build! I have to say I'm extremely happy with how everything is coming out so far. This week I did more work on the fishroom. Starting with making sure that the qt systems were water tight. I had a small scare with the top left tank but I guess that the wet spot was just from splashing with the hose because it was dry the next day. I definitely recommend doing. this on cardboard because it makes it easy to see if there are any leaks.

The next step for them will be painting the back, two sides and bottom black. I think this will make for a nice look and also will hopefully stop the fish from seeing their own reflection and getting stressed.

For my RODI system, apex and various other electronics, I wanted to mount them on mdf board, It will be more secure than trying to mount them directly to the wall. To make it look a bit nice I decided to paint them black. I think they came out pretty good and should look good for a long time.

My wife puts up with alot...

Now that the paint has set, they are mounted on the walls. I haven't started setting up the RODI or apex yet because I don't have the appropriate size screws. Hopefully sometime this week I will have that stuff all mounted and ready to go.

I also received my lights for my QT system. I have to say i was thrilled to see everything lit up. Its really coming along! I think ill get some kind of rack or cabinet to put under the workbench for additional storage.

I also have my saltwater mixing station test fitted. I did it in white pvc to see how it looks. Theres some changes I want to make to it. Once i have everything the way I want it, I will be doing it in orange pvc. I'm tossing around the idea of getting one of those retractable hose reels for my python.

Last but not least my utility sink is finally setup! I'm really happy with how it came out. We put up plastex panels in the corner to protect the walls from splashing.

Thanks for viewing my build!

skydirt · Jan 9, 2021

Looking very nice!

Rhoads238 · Jan 17, 2021

Hey everyone!

Time for another update. I'm still waiting on the tank and stand so all the progress has been in the fish room. over the past week or so I have gotten a lot done.

First thing I did was mounted my rodi to the mdf board that I painted. I've also since installed an auto flush kit, pressure booster, and pressure switch to shut off the booster pump. I really like how it came out.

Next up I started mounting my electronics. My fishroom and display are controlled by the same apex system. The head unit will be in the fish room rather than with tank. I had a hard time deciding about this because if something was to ever happen to the wire that goes from the tank to the fishroom, i would prefer to have the head unit with the tank rather than the quarantine systems. I ended up going the other way round because the wifi signal was a lot stronger than where the tank is. Hopefully this decision pays off.

This is probably kind of a silly thing, but i'm proud of it. I made the power cord for my coral QT's ATO longer. The cord has to run around the room to get to the ato so I got some 14 gauge speaker wire, crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing. I've never done this sort of thing before, so I was really happy when the pump worked just fine.

Today I finally plumbed my water mixing station. I'm really happy with how it came out. I haven't leak tested it yet. I will probably do that in a day or so once the cement has cured. The build went pretty smoothly. For anyone who is building a mixing station, I can say it was helpful for me to do the plumbing in white pvc first, then do colored. I'm going to do the same when I plumb my tank. It should save some money. It was just all in all nice to do a rough draft, look at it for a week or so and then make the final build.

Next steps are hooking my rodi up to the house, leak testing the mixing station and then. if all that goes well, I'll be cycling my coral qt.

Thanks for viewing my build!

Rhoads238 · Jan 18, 2021

I just leak tested the mixing station and no leaks!

And to celebrate for dinner tonight, steak au poivre, twice baked potatoes, Brussels Sprouts and a dark and stormy.

Rhoads238 · Jan 23, 2021

Hey Everyone!

Small update today, I "finished" setting up my coral QT. I still need to do a lot of cable management in the fish room but at least I have a tank cycling. I also found out that my display is almost done and should be shipping out next week. I can't wait to see it, Ill post pics when it's delivered.

ShepherdReefer · Jan 23, 2021

Great build. We are showing our guitars...here is my bass guitar.

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Rhoads238 · Jan 23, 2021

ShepherdReefer said:
Great build. We are showing our guitars...here is my bass guitar.

Very nice I love the wood on that!

Rhoads238 · Jan 28, 2021

Got a big box of ecotech stuff yesterday, decided to make myself a nice little fort! We got ten xr15 blues and six mp40s. hopefully that should be enough to grow hair algea.

Now that the lights are up they look fine but I'm not very impressed with the RMS mounts. The tolerances make it almost impossible for them to slide on the rail. I actually had to sand down the little tabs on the inside of the RMS mounts to be able to slide on to the rail.

Turned on the lights just for laughs. I cant believe how bright these are! I'm going to get a par meter when it comes time to think about corals.

So much light spills out into my yard I'm thinking about planting some xenias back there. Hopefully my neighbors don't get mad when they take over their yard

Now that I have the lights and flow covered I think all that is left to get is a skimmer which I still am on the fence. Currently I'm torn between a nyos quantum 300 or a bubble king deluxe 250. I know that the bubble king is probably the better choice but the red and white clashes with the grey and orange thing i have going on with my sump and plumbing. I know that the fish wont care but its one of those things I'm hung up on.

Last week I talked to miracles and they said the tank would be shipping either tomorrow or Monday. I haven't heard anything yet so I'm thinking the latter. I guess we will see what happens and until then, thank you for viewing my build!

Rhoads238 · Jan 28, 2021

I was going to make a separate thread for this but I figured i could just ask in my build thread. I'm starting the plan on how to get the tank into the house. I will start by having the tank unloaded by the delivery people into the garage. hopefully the tank will not be in a crate and i will be able to determine which side the overflow is on. I want the overflow to be on the left side in the below photo, that way when the tank has to be rotated onto the front panel it will be facing up. I think i might take the door off that way there is more room negotiate the tank through the door way. I'm imagining that the thank will be placed one end on a dolly and then rolled forward until the second dolly can be placed underneath.

Once it is on the two dollies its a straight shot down the hallway.

Once it's down the hallway it will get lifted onto the stand.

As a reminder for the questions below, the tank is 84x32x24 in 5/8" glass, eurobraced.

I guess what i'm wondering is about how many people should I have on hand for this adventure? Will two dollies be strong enough to hold the tank. Do i really need suction cups for the lift? Anyone know where I could rent or borrow them from in the north jersey area? Once the tank is on the stand will I be able to move it away from the wall to be plumbed easily?

Any thoughts or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

c.poindexter · Jan 28, 2021

Awesome Build, looks great.

Rhoads238 · Feb 10, 2021

Just got a picture of the tank from miracles! Can’t wait to see it in person

rwreef · Feb 10, 2021

Looking good! I am working on a 84"×30×25" peninsula build

sdreef · Feb 11, 2021

Rhoads238 said:
I was going to make a separate thread for this but I figured i could just ask in my build thread. I'm starting the plan on how to get the tank into the house. I will start by having the tank unloaded by the delivery people into the garage. hopefully the tank will not be in a crate and i will be able to determine which side the overflow is on. I want the overflow to be on the left side in the below photo, that way when the tank has to be rotated onto the front panel it will be facing up. I think i might take the door off that way there is more room negotiate the tank through the door way. I'm imagining that the thank will be placed one end on a dolly and then rolled forward until the second dolly can be placed underneath.

Once it is on the two dollies its a straight shot down the hallway.

Once it's down the hallway it will get lifted onto the stand.

As a reminder for the questions below, the tank is 84x32x24 in 5/8" glass, eurobraced.

I guess what i'm wondering is about how many people should I have on hand for this adventure? Will two dollies be strong enough to hold the tank. Do i really need suction cups for the lift? Anyone know where I could rent or borrow them from in the north jersey area? Once the tank is on the stand will I be able to move it away from the wall to be plumbed easily?

Any thoughts or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Nice build!

My tank is a similar dimension 84 x 34 x 27. It took four of us to get it in place, and it would have been really difficult with fewer people. We used three hydraulic table lifts as opposed to suction cups which made it possible to move the tank with fewer people. The tank and stand are on tile, and we placed furniture sliders under the four corners of the stand which really helped getting everything in position and fine tune centering under the light fixture. Good luck!

Rhoads238 · Feb 17, 2021

Today is just a small update but I think it was worthwhile. I got some wire pass throughs and dropped the wires for my lights inside the wall and fished them out the bottom. I think it's really going to make a big difference with the look of the tank since I will not have a canopy. I really love how when you are standing infront of the tank the pass through is blocked completely by the lights.

Once the tank is in and i get my par meter, I will clean the wires up a little better. I might decide to raise or lower the lights a bit so I don't want to tie all the wires up just yet.

sdreef · Feb 17, 2021

Rhoads238 said:
Today is just a small update but I think it was worthwhile. I got some wire pass throughs and dropped the wires for my lights inside the wall and fished them out the bottom. I think it's really going to make a big difference with the look of the tank since I will not have a canopy. I really love how when you are standing infront of the tank the pass through is blocked completely by the lights.

Once the tank is in and i get my par meter, I will clean the wires up a little better. I might decide to raise or lower the lights a bit so I don't want to tie all the wires up just yet.

Looks really clean! Strong work.

Rhoads238 · Feb 28, 2021

Quick update from today! I bought a small cleanup crew for the coral qt. The tank has been up for about six weeks now. I haven't put the lights on yet so the tank is still very clean. I'm going to buy some pods from algae barn and add them to the system. Once I do that I'll turn the lights on and let the uglies begin.