The Journey Continues - Mike & Terry's 280g Reef Savvy

[Mike&Terry]

A little background:
Having suffered catastrophic failures on 2 different Marineland 300g tanks, we made the decision in May of 2015, to go with a custom tank builder. After looking at our options and talking with many of our friends in the industry, we chose Reef Savvy.

A full tank shot of our 300g custom Marineland tank taken in April of 2015:


A shot taken after the devastating seal failure that occurred just one month later:


A shot of the temporary 200g tank taken in late June of 2015:


Here is a link to our old build for anyone that is interested:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mike-and-terrys-300g-reef.71471/

The new Reef Savvy specs:
Dimensions: 72"Lx36"Dx25"H - 280 US gallons
3/4" Low iron glass (3 sides)
Black background
(2) Reef Savvy Ghost Overflow
Armored seams
Phantom Bottom
3" top eurobrace (3/4" low iron glass)

Equipment List (as of 3/13/17):
Custom 280g Reef Savvy Tank
Custom (approx) 70g shallow acrylic sump (dimensions: 48"L x 24"W x 14H")
150g Rubbermaid stock vat w/live rock
60g acrylic frag tank (48"L x 24"W x 12"H)
Iwaki MD70RLT return pump
1/2 hp Tradewind chiller w/Panworld 50pxx pump
Super Reef Octopus 6000-SSS internal skimmer
Deltec AP851 Skimmer
Apex Classic Controller with (2) EB8's, AWM, VDM modules and PMK par monitor kit
GEO 818 Ca RX
Litermeter doser for GEO Kalk RX
Phosban 550 RX (for GFO)
Phosban 550 RX (for GAC) as needed
Tunze 7095 Controller
(1) Tunze 6095 Turbelle NanoStream pumps
(2) Tunze 6105 Turbell Stream
Reeflo Dart (3600gph) and Ocean Motion 4 for closed loop
Floating canopy with custom slide out aluminum light rack from eztube
(3) AI Hydra 52's
(2) AI Hydra 52 HD's
(2) Kessil A360we's
(2) Odyssea 60" T5 (4 bulb) fixtures - each running (2) ATI Blue Plus and (2) ATI Coral Plus bulbs

 

[prsnlty]

Yay! Outstanding looking tank!When will it be arriving for install?

 

[ScottMyers123]

Tank looks great.

 

[Fin]

That is a beast! A beautiful beast though. Sorry to hear that you had TWO Marineland 300 failures. I don't know if I could still contiune with the hobby after that. Kudos to you for sticking with it.

So you ordered in May 2015? I am waiting on my 125 and I ordered it at the end of May. They probably didn't get the deposit check until the first week in June. I am just trying to gauge where mine might be in line. Ought to be getting close now. Can't wait to get it! I was hesitant about getting mine Euro-Braced, but I love the way yours looks.

I will definitely be following this build!

 

[bige]

That's a very pretty tank. Can't wait to see it filled

 

[Anirban]

Wow...

 

[Mike&Terry]

Yay! Outstanding looking tank!When will it be arriving for install?

Thanks Jackie! The tank is here, no water yet...

Tank looks great.

Thank You Scott!

That is a beast! A beautiful beast though. Sorry to hear that you had TWO Marineland 300 failures. I don't know if I could still contiune with the hobby after that. Kudos to you for sticking with it.

So you ordered in May 2015? I am waiting on my 125 and I ordered it at the end of May. They probably didn't get the deposit check until the first week in June. I am just trying to gauge where mine might be in line. Ought to be getting close now. Can't wait to get it! I was hesitant about getting mine Euro-Braced, but I love the way yours looks.

I will definitely be following this build!

Thanks Gary! and yes, we did. Felix suggested the eurobrace because of our splashing wrasses and we're glad we went with it. The wait (although expected) was really difficult for us because our fish and corals have been in very cramped quarters in our unfinished garage since May. The fish are doing okay for the most part, but we've lost quite a few large SPS colonies over the past several months. It will be such a relief to get our livestock out of the garage and into the new tank.

Perhaps you can contact Reef Savvy to find out where you are on the list?

That's a very pretty tank. Can't wait to see it filled

Wow...

Thanks guys! The work schedule over the next couple of weeks is crazy, so not much time to work on the plumbing until things slow down a bit.

 

[hybridazn]

Looking awesome! Their tanks are really nice

 

[Oscaror]

My LFS told me about how marineland recently lost a lot of money when they cheaply built a system for someone and it destroyed the whole floor of their house. Does that happen to be you or is this just a shockingly common problem?

Awesome tank you got now! Can't wait to see it filled with corals

 

[prsnlty]

Glad to hear it, can't wait for this build to commence!

 

[Salty1962]

Awesome! Keep us posted!

 

[Afishionado]

Oh no!!!! That's horrible to hear. I'm looking very much forward to your new build!

Felix is a great guy and he does makes some phenomenal tanks. Well worth the money and the time.

 

[TUSI]

Wow what a beautyfull tank. Congrats and wish you a smooth build. You deserve the best after all the troubles you went through. Can't wait to see the aqua scape.

 

[billw]

How do you plan to plumb the 2 ghosts? Any concern regarding keeping them balanced?

 

[psirex]

NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCEEEEE!

 

[falconerr]

Wow!! Looks great! I need to make it by one day.

 

[Mike&Terry]

How do you plan to plumb the 2 ghosts? Any concern regarding keeping them balanced?

Good question and thank you for participating in our build thread! In short, we plan to use 2 of the 3 drains per box - running (1) herbie and (1) durso in each and capping off the 3rd. As we have done with our two prior builds, the herbie's will be dialed in using gate valves and feed into a 2" drain to the sump(s). The durso's will act as emergency and feed into a separate 1.5" drain to the sump(s) in our remote sump room.

Mike will document this in detail as the work progresses.

My LFS told me about how marineland recently lost a lot of money when they cheaply built a system for someone and it destroyed the whole floor of their house. Does that happen to be you or is this just a shockingly common problem?

Awesome tank you got now! Can't wait to see it filled with corals

Thank You! That was not us - we caught the pin-hole leak (bubble in the silicon) early and did not suffer any damage to our home this time around.

Looking awesome! Their tanks are really nice

Oh no!!!! That's horrible to hear. I'm looking very much forward to your new build!

Felix is a great guy and he does makes some phenomenal tanks. Well worth the money and the time.

Wow what a beautyfull tank. Congrats and wish you a smooth build. You deserve the best after all the troubles you went through. Can't wait to see the aqua scape.

NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCEEEEE!

The first time we saw Felix's work first-hand was at MACNA in Dallas and we were blown away. The craftsmanship and attention to detail that he and his dad put into their tanks is beyond compare and we feel very fortunate and blessed that they were willing to work with us to build our new "dream tank".

Thanks so much to ALL of YOU for the kind words and support! It's folks like you that help keep us going... We have been busy this past winter with a few changes/modifications/enhancements in preparation for the new Reef Savvy, so Stay Tuned for updates...

 

[Mike&Terry]

Wow!! Looks great! I need to make it by one day.

You are welcome anytime!

 

[Oscaror]

Thank You! That was not us - we caught the pin-hole leak (bubble in the silicon) early and did not suffer any damage to our home this time around.

Well good thing it wasn't you
But also shows that marineland should be paying more attention to detail since this problem is more common than it should be. I'm not bad mouthing them, my first and current reef is a marineland bowfront and serves very well as a tank, but on large tanks such as these they need to be more careful.

 

[kschweer]

Wow!!! Can't wait to see this one come together. Best of luck with the new tank.