abcha0s' 300G Ultimate Reef

[abcha0s]

So, I've made some significant progress on the tank. Everything got put on hold while we were doing some renovations in the basement, but I'm back on track. I've added a lot of new content with lots of pictures. Pretty much everything after post 18 is new.

Details (Black, Floor, HRV, Screen Top).......Post 17
Tank Leveling.................................Post 18
Water Prep and Salt Mixing....................Post 19

Aquascaping - Part II of III..................Post 22
- Building the aquascape

I'm hoping to have saltwater in this tank by sometime next week. There is no urgency on transferring live stock, so I will take my time cycling the tank and getting all of the equipment operational.

I am for sure buying LED lights. The leading contenders are Pacific Sun, ReefTech LED and Vertex. If you haven't seen my LED thread, take a look at some of the things that are going on here (Next Generation LED Lighting).

Thanks!

[abcha0s]

The tank is filling with ro/di as of 9pm tonight. At a rate of 100gpd, it should be full by Sunday afternoon.

[lobsterboy]

Originally Posted by abcha0s

The tank is filling with ro/di as of 9pm tonight. At a rate of 100gpd, it should be full by Sunday afternoon.

very nice Brad, any hints on the aquascape ?

[abcha0s]

Thanks John. There are pics of the aquascape here.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=66389&page=3

[lobsterboy]

very interesting with the pegs, and the rocks look great.

cant wait to see water and live stock in this beast.

[abcha0s]

I've made some progress...

* Added two buckets of Instant Ocean Reef Crystals - This raised the SG to 1.024 - I had expected to need more salt, but I guess I'm not complaining.
* Tunze Wavebox is working - I am getting a 1.25" wave - Not sure if that is good? - The wavebox is noisy! - Everything seems to suggest that it will quiet down at around the 2 - 3 week mark. I sure hope so.
* Skimmer is online - This is the Tunze Master DOC 9440 - It's rated at over 1000G for a FOWLR - Closer to 400G for a heavily stocked SPS reef. First impressions are good, but it's a quirky skimmer. I will have to keep my eye on it.
* Plumbed in two vertex UF-20 reactors for bio-pellets. I have 2L of pellets soaking in RO/DI now and I will add them to the first reactor tomorrow. I will add another 2L to the second reactor in a couple of weeks. I'm using a 50/50 mix of Vertex and NPX.
* I've got the sand in transit now - should be here soon.

I'm generally feeling good about my progress. I'm at the point where little things take a really long time to get done. There's still lots to do...

[Delphinus]

I just took the time to re-read this from the start, it's a bit of mind blowing experience the way you have this thread set up.

Anyhow, just wanted to say:
1) Everything looks stellar, nice work so far!

2) Be careful about how you've drained your laundry tank. Since I gather you're not requiring permits (since it looks like this is getting installed in an already developed area of the house), this may be less of a concern for you than it was for me - but technically it is now against code to have a sink indirectly drain into a floor drain like that. I did for my tank room exactly as you've done and I failed the plumbing inspection. I had no drain line I could tie into on the wall so I had to jackhammer the concrete, cut the pipe for the floor drain and tie into that, and then pour new concrete down. And that was the easy part (!!) because the sink drain itself has to be vented so I had to run a line up into the ceiling and route that to the nearest drain vent up to the roof, and T into that. Well, maybe that wasn't harder than the jackhammering but it still took some creative head scratching trying to figure out how to vent that sink.

3) Lee Valley is awesome. I like the sink brackets instead of legs idea. I actually have to replace my sink as it developed a crack and now leaks onto the floor, so I might just go with the brackets for the replacement sink. I'm glad I didn't replace it out yet before catching up on your thread! So: thanks for the idea.