Skard's in wall 300DD build!

[sneub]

Following

 

[SPR1968]

Great build thread and thanks for sharing all the pictures with us

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Thanks Jsker! A little more on the build, the room everything will be housed in is 8' x 13' room in the basement. I thought this was going to be a huge room, but after adding shelving, frag tank, 100 gallon RODI mix station and the main tank itself it is pretty tight but it should work OK. Lighting will be a rolling ceiling (stanley overhead door track with rollers) home made light rack which I can move out of the way to work on the tank. Lighting, where do I start? I am old school on lighting (although I own a few various LED's). What I know for sure is that there will be one (1) 250W Radium MH, with an old Lumenbright reflector. This light will be for the center main rock display where all the high light SPS will be located. This will be supplemented by a 60" Reefbrite LED to add a little pop. On the left & right I think I am going to place two (2) 2 foot T-5 ATI (6 bulb) fixtures on each side of the Metal Halide. I really want to give the GHL Mitras LX7000 or the Orphek V4 a go but I am just not sold on them for the money. I know there are plenty examples of great LED reefs out there but it seems you have to buy a lot of fixtures to get the complete coverage you need to get a consistent coverage of light.

I would go with 100% Mitras 7s, tank that large would need 4 to 6 of them, but with a 10 year life span it works out in the end. I have 2 of them over my 120, awesome lights. I would have gone with the orphek lights but they don't work with any controller on the market and as an engineer I'm a control freak.

 

[Skard]

Thanks for the advice Jason! I am still mulling over lighting still thinking it will be either all T5 or a Hybrid LED/T5 (on the left & right side) anyone have experience with the Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture? I like their concept on this fixture but the thing I don't like about this fixture is that you have two (2) cords for the T-5's and a third for the LED of choice. Small update, my stand is going in slowly, still have to put in center supports and tie the legs of the stand back the wall. I did manage to put a couple coats of a marine grade paint on what I had completed. After the stand is complete I will probably set the tank, and start roughing in the last of the electrical, two (2) in the ceiling for lighting and a third for the tank itself. Also will be wiring in for Panasonic Exhaust Fan tied to a humidistat. The plan is to pull conditioned air (through passive air vent) from the main part of the basement through the divider wall (aquarium room/basement). This will keep my humidity/heat down and provide separation between living space & the aquarium room. My basement is nice & cold in the summer (usually five degrees colder than the main level so heat should not be an issue. Still pondering controllers at this point it is either the newer Apex or the GHL profilux 4.

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Profilux 4 has my vote, sorry GHL fan and cant beat German engineering. Plus know too many people that had their tanks go down due to defective Neptune products

 

[Skard]

Jason, you are probably right on the GHL but I have read it's a little harder to program and the support is somewhat lacking. I have no experience with either, I have been using Digital Aquatics for about a decade & you know how that turned out!

 

[Skard]

Latest addition to the frag tank.

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Jason, you are probably right on the GHL but I have read it's a little harder to program and the support is somewhat lacking. I have no experience with either, I have been using Digital Aquatics for about a decade & you know how that turned out!

From my experience GHL is just as easy to program as Apex it's just not as graphically inclined. Like windows 3.1 (GHL) vs windows 2007 (apex) for the graphical interface

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Latest addition to the frag tank.

Black widow?

 

[Skard]

Black widow?

Sold to me as a rose bubble from a local reefer, no idea on the lineage but I think it is pretty nice.

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Sold to me as a rose bubble from a local reefer, on idea on the lineage but I think it is pretty nice.

Looks good either way

 

[ca1ore]

Was that a gigas clam?

 

[Skard]

Was that a gigas clam?

No, it was a Derasa it just doesn't look like it in the pic.

 

[Skard]

So a little progress this weekend, cut the top piece of plywood (where the tank will sit on) and it's ready to be painted. My problem is I am still not sure I want to deal with my Marineland aquarium. I know my luck and I can just see this thing splitting open down the road. I am now thinking of selling it, and ordering the same footprint in either an MRC (glass) or a Planet Aquariums in the same size. (may cut it down to 24 - 25" for easier access) Looking for input from everyone, and experience with these other Custom Aquarium makers. Would love to get a Reef Savvy I just don't want to wait a half a year or longer to get it!

 

[Skard]

I am still here! So I ended up selling the Marineland 300DD and ordered a Planet Aquariums custom to replace it. It is almost the same dimension just a little shorter at 24 3/8" tall. It is going to be eurobraced, w. a Tideline 20" box overflow. I also had them install corner 45 degree glass brackets where my two new (new to me) 1" seaswirls will be mounted. I also am adding and additional refugium/sump (Deep Blue R200) that will be before my other Acrylic Sump and will feed via gravity into the main sump. This will give me an additional place to add live rock, miracle mud, and to mount my ATS L4 onto. My other sump was just to full so this buys me some more space. Hoping the new aquarium will be here in early January 2019. I will post some pics later of the finished stand and my sump layout.

 

[Skard]

Hey all, well of course it has taken me way longer than I anticipated but the new tank finally made it's way into my basement and is now sitting on it's stand. The electrical is all roughed in (can lights, Panasonic Exhaust Fan, outlets in ceiling for the lights as well) The tank is a beast and feel much better about the longevity that this tank will have over the Marineland DD. Need to finish up framing above the tank, put in sound batts, drywall and finish FRP panels on walls around the aquarium. It seems the longer this project has taken my lighting selection continues to evolve. My latest thought may be the following 250W Radium MH center of tank, two (2) Tuna Blue Kessil A360X on each side of the MH (left & right) then a lumen bright actinic in front with a T-5 (60") on the front and back of the aquarium. I also found a cool product for finishing the ceiling in the fish room it is a interlocking tongue & groove PVC plank so no paint and should hold up well to the humidity!

 

[Skard]

Had to take all the glass and the divider out of my basement window to get it in.

 

[Skard]

On the stand.

 

[Skard]

Well it was yet again a super packed year of work & family in 2019. The only time I have chance to make headway on this never ending project is Winter time! So we are getting closer but we are past all the major hurdles. All the drywall is up, mud & taped and ready for paint. All the in ceiling electrical is in including, ceiling outlets for light rack, Cat 6 and my exhaust fan and air exchange vent, just adding the final sound batts and plywood to close the last holes in the aquarium room in today. Picked up a new to me Apex was going to by a GHL, but I got a sweet price on the Apex so I couldn't pass it up. That's it for now.

 

[Skard]

Aquarium Room