This is gonna take a while...

[45bravo]

So I haven't had an aquarium for about 5-6 years now, but I'm getting everything ready to start all this back up. I sold my last tank when I started working government contracts overseas since I wouldn't be home very often. This build is going to take a while, I'm still overseas and I need to finish my basement when I come home. The tanks going to be a mixed reef, as much as I enjoy SPS I enjoy the movement of LPS and soft corals just as much.

I've ordered a 280 gallon Planet Mega Matrix (72.5x30.5x30) tank through a local fish store, my old work, along with a 42" tall steel stand. The tank will be in wall, I haven't decided if it will be the bar back or not since I haven't decided if I want to take up more room with the bar. However regardless it will have its own room behind it that will have the water mixing station, storage, *** tank(s), utility sink etc.

Originally I was supposed to get live rock back from a friend, I had sold it to one of our friends and he had died about 8 months or so later from a brain tumor then his wife gave the aquarium setup to the other friend, that didn't want it out of his tank anymore and was just going to do a fish only system and put something else in the tank. He looked for a few weeks and couldn't decide on or find anything else that he wanted to put in there so he asked to keep the rock, which is fine. I'd never started a tank with dry rock and decided to go that round, including dry sand as well. All of the plumbing will be black and orange, including the sump, reactors, etc.

Now not being home has some inherent challenges doing all this obviously however my girlfriend has been doing all this work so far. I just let her know what needs to be done and she does it, if she has questions she waits since our days are basically reversed. (This doesn't mean I don't have pictures of progress I'm just not the one taking them at the moment.)

So far I've gotten a lot of the essentials that I'll need for the tank, I'm waiting on some of the items because of known issues that tend to be out of the box or happen very shortly into use. Here's what I have so far/ need to get (I’ll note if I don‘t have it yet)

280 Mega Matrix tank (already built, waiting on stand)
42" tall stand (waiting to be built, apparently the steel comes from China is what we were told)
Custom GEO sump (being built, already paid for)
Custom GEO calcium reactor (being built, already paid for)
Custom GEO ATO reservoir (being built, already paid for)
Super Reef Octopus 6000-SSSint skimmer (From previous tank)
*4x MP40s (2 are from the previous tank, which Ill upgrade to the newest versions, and I‘ll need to order 2 more)
Vectra L2 pump (return pump)
*3x Gen 5 Radion Pros (Waiting on ordering given the recent quality issues, I‘ll start with 3 and get 3 more if needed)
3x Radion GEN 5 RMS mounts (I'll get 3 more if the 3 lights aren't enough)
70.5" RMS Track (I'll get another if i need more lights)
RMS hanging kit (I'll get another if i need more lights)
2x Vortech driver mounts (For existing MP40s)
8x Vortech power supply brackets (For Vortechs and Radions)
Syncra Silent 2.0 (Was originally for killing off the rock that I didn't get, will probably be the feed pump for UV)
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO
Pentair Smart High Output 50 watt UV
5x 1.25" Orange cord grommets (For electronics mount I'm building)
5x 2" Orange cord grommets (For electronics mount I'm building)
1 kg Zeomag (Got it while I could in case you cant get it like the Reborn right now)
Tiger Shark float (Used to have one on my previous tank)
Pan world 250 PS (For mixing station)
2x Norwesco 75 gallon vertical tanks (For mixing station, waiting on deliver to local business for pickup)
BRS 1200 watt titanium heater w/ controller
Titanium grounding probe (I don't see these used much anymore, I always used them and don't see a negative side)
*Apex controller (Waiting on this because of known issues right out of the box, I’ve had problems with them in the past)
~ 260 LBS Marcos rock (Mixture of foundation, shelf, reef saver)
120lbs special grade dry sand

I think thats about it right now, this has been going on for about 2 months, but not much has happened.

 

[revhtree]

Looking like a great build in the making!

 

[45bravo]

So I wanted to have this broken into sections so it wasn’t one massive post.

Firstly the skimmer, I had broken down the tank and didn’t clean the skimmer, I had her dig it out and get to cleaning, she really just ran it in citric acid for a day after letting it sit over night so I knew the pump wouldn’t be seized up. Here’s an original picture of the skimmer when I first got it next to a bottle for scale.

 

[45bravo]

Here’s the before and after cleaning.

 

[45bravo]

I ordered a 100 Gallon stock tank to “cure” the dry rock in. I didn’t want to waste potentially 9 or more months time that could have been used to get a massive pod population going in the tank. My girlfriend moved it downstairs and built a riser for the skimmer. And got a little ahead of the game when she started putting rock in the tank, it wasn’t the original plan, like I said I was supposed to get rock from a friend and I was going to kill it all off for months.

 

[45bravo]

Here is kind of a plan for the basement so far, the bathroom is the only room I had them finish when I had the house built 2 years ago. The measurements are pretty dang close in here since it came within 30sqft of the building plan size.

 

[45bravo]

This is probably a better rough drawing of the tank, I still have to finish this, I can add in all the plumbing and valves basically everything so I have a better Idea of all the unions and valves that Ill need.

 

[45bravo]

Here’s after she got the stock tank and ATO set up. It will save her from having to mess with water each day. Theoretically that amount of top off could last for months, If you filled the can up.

 

[45bravo]

Here’s some of the rock they sent. She wasn’t about to take pictures of all the regular rock. Im surprised the shipped it in 3 60lb boxes when I ordered the regular reef saver. I thought for sure it would be maybe broken into 20-30lb boxes.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

What "known" issues with the Apex? Other than being an Apex.

 

[45bravo]

She was wondering why the water had a film built up on it, She only had the Syncra pump running so it didn’t have enough surface movement.

 

[45bravo]

What "known" issues with the Apex? Other than being an Apex.

lol Yeah some people really dont like them, but Ive had dead sockets out of the box. Others have had defective modules, bad probes etc. So its best to just not get those kinds of things until I am there to test them.

 

[45bravo]

I had her run the skimmer with the pump to clear up the water, but it still wouldn’t have removed the film so I had her remove the 90 and just let the water shoot out, the only real trade off is the noise.

 

[45bravo]

I had her run the skimmer with the pump to clear up the water, but it still wouldn’t have removed the film so I had her remove the 90 and just let the water shoot out, the only real trade off is the noise.

Videos don't look like they are gonna play Ill have to figure that out.

 

[45bravo]

I had her add the rock to the water it cleared up by the next morning. It wasn’t enough flow though for doubling the tank volume from the original plan. So I had her get the old MP40s out.

 

[45bravo]

She got the MP40s out, but it looks like the wet sides had stuck together in storage and ruined the rear covers. I was a little disappointed in Ecotech, I had already ordered new wet sides regardless however when I inquired about getting replacement rear covers they told me to just buy new wet sides. You would think they would still sell repair parts like they used to do. Hell the pumps were only ran for 5 months and noting is wrong with them other than that, it just seems like a waste.

 

[45bravo]

Anyways there is conceivably more flow obviously now. The new heads were loud at first, but after running though the break procedure they got back to being almost silent. I know these 2 will go on the back of the tank and the new ones will go on the ends since the flow was increased a bit since these came out.

 

[45bravo]

At this point I had her shut off the skimmer and add in the bacteria. Ive only ever done cycling with damsels so this parts new to me as well. Seems straight forward though and it seems a little cruel to leave damsels in a tank with no lights for that long, I’m sure they would make it, but what a miserable life that would be.

 

[45bravo]

First day after adding ammonia. The only time I’d personally use API test kits, they just aren’t accurate enough for much else in my opinion. Otherwise I always use Salifert kits personally.

 

[45bravo]

The next test and after she added ammonia a second time. She thought we would need more, but it was enough since it only need one more dose. It would even have enough for an additional done after the last scheduled one. We treated it as 60 gallons of water, just assumption from past experience on displacement. I’m defiantly not doing the math on that.