Vances 700 plywood build.

[Vance]

Well the tanks been full a year now. How about some updated pics?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Well the tank has been full for a couple months now and I am confident enough that I'm not going to have an embarrassing catastrophe, that I want to share! I know everyone just comes for pictures so with further ado...

Starting space:

Framing and whole room tile drip pan to floor drain:

Fish/laundry room

Building the box!! Two layers of 3/4 birch cabinet grade ply. Inside corners reinforced with diagonally cut 4x4s. Coast to coast (kind of...) to external overflow. Eurobraced on the top.

Leveled and in place: hubby for size reference lol

3 layers of fiberglass mat later.

And 3 layers of epoxy resin with kevlar composite.

Setting the glass.

Aquascaping!!

It took two weeks for the RO/DI to fill it... Lighting is temporary.

All that room and they all hang out right there lol

Fish room running with mixing/water change station. First cup of skimmate haha.

Next step is lights. And the closed loops. So anxious to get some sticks in here [emoji38]

Incredible, great job. Kinda like building a home. Heehee

 

[Swoody]

Who's the boss....Naso or Achilles??? Looks great!

 

[Muttley000]

Looks incredible! A year in is there anything you wish you had done differently?

 

[Vance]

Thabks swoody! Naso most definitely, but in the least aggressive way possible, followed by the maculeceps. The Achilles really is a jerk... he gets worked up and has to go vent and pace in the corner, almost like he puts himself in timeout. I really feel that 700 gallons is to small for him... such an active fish I feel bad for him sometimes. All the big fish will shoal up and swim and graze together all day except for the achillies... the black wolf of the tank haha

 

[Vance]

Looks incredible! A year in is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Thank you! I regret putting in sand, and there is really no way to siphon what I have out. Between flow and detritus collection it has been a bit of a hassle. Learning to live with it .

 

[andrewkw]

This tank looks much bigger than 700 gallons due to the height. I'm sure it's a challenge to work in, but your reward is an absolutely beautiful display. Probably a few years away from everything growing in but I see so much potential in this tank.

 

[Vance]

This tank looks much bigger than 700 gallons due to the height. I'm sure it's a challenge to work in, but your reward is an absolutely beautiful display. Probably a few years away from everything growing in but I see so much potential in this tank.

Haha big tanks are a challenge. I've only had to get in it once! Rather not do that again hahaha

 

[Initialr]

cant wait to see this when it grows in.......is it like playing the claw arcade game when placing corals

 

[AlexG]

Thank you! I regret putting in sand, and there is really no way to siphon what I have out. Between flow and detritus collection it has been a bit of a hassle. Learning to live with it .

Vance have you added any sea cucumbers or conchs to naturally clean the sand?

 

[Vance]

cant wait to see this when it grows in.......is it like playing the claw arcade game when placing corals

Lol, had to get the 4 footer...

 

[Vance]

Vance have you added any sea cucumbers or conchs to naturally clean the sand?

Groups of Nassarius have died on me a couple times. Not sure if the bed was established enough for them yet though, theres a couple left in there. The two sand sifting stars and one fighting conch keep it pretty algae free, and theres a tiger cuc that would rather live in the sump. Pulling him out is a weekly thing. It doesn't look bad but I can see the detritus accumulation, would much rather have bare bottom where that stuff is in the column where my corals can eat it.

 

[Vance]

How about some growth shots? Pearlberry, mattV hornet, Garf bonsai, green slimer. Jan 22 to today

 

[Vance]

And some of my favorites

Mariculture milli garden, fox flame OG purple monster DFS pink panther OG JKR joes rainbow WWC what the heck, Goni garden, pink floyd, no name mari, top downs

 

[Vance]

Hahaha So that's a WWC whiskey tango foxtrot, not "what the heck" it doesn't like the acronym

 

[Vance]

Things are filling in!

 

[Vance]

More pictures

 

[AlexG]

The tank is really looking nice. What intensity are you running your lights at? Have you measured any PAR reading throughout the tank?

 

[revhtree]

Dang nice job!

 

[Vance]

The tank is really looking nice. What intensity are you running your lights at? Have you measured any PAR reading throughout the tank?

Thanks AlexG! I have them turned down to 50% but they only peak at 41% with the midday spectrum. I haven't... still have trouble pulling reds, but I'm half blaming nutrient stability rather than lighting. The tank has had a couple hiccups over the summer and I have a few things to correct (tank got to 85 this summer... will definitely have to get an AC for the house before next summer).

Dang nice job!

Thanks revhtree!!