Asylumdown's 275 Tank build

[lastlight]

New house pics.

You've been too quiet =)

[asylumdown]

hehe, you're right. I've been checking Canreef pretty much every day without logging in. I'm presently tankless so I've not had a whole lot to contribute, but it is definitely time for an update.

Not a whole ton has happened regarding the tank since my last post because the house was being stucco'd and they were getting ready to lay floor tile (we needed more instant leveller than any one supplier carried - we have A LOT of tile). The builder wisely wanted to wait until the stucco was applied before they go further with the interior, as houses tend to settle when you apply that much weight to their exterior. However, they've now completed the floor tile on the main and basement levels, and are almost done applying it to the two vertical feature walls. As such, I've met with the finishing carpenter twice this in the past week regarding the final look of the tank area, and I'm happy to report I will now be getting full access to both sides of the cabinet (above and below) with a series of touch latch doors that will be integrated in to the final look of the tank wall. I'll be getting in touch with Kevin in the next week regarding the final dimensions of the tank so we can order it. They're going to build the cabinetry on the front (dining room) side first, then we'll slide the tank in from the office side and they'll finish the cabinetry around it. I've asked the carpenter to build the back side of the cabinetry in such a way that if necessary I'll one day be able to remove the tank without doing an entire renovation.

Everything looks the same except for the floor right now, but I guess I can share some photos:

Looking from the dining room to the tank. The floor turned out better than I had dreamed. It looks like a cross between polished concrete and tarnished gun metal. Unfortunately, it photographs terribly and the floor (which has now been covered with protective cardboard) was filthy when I took this pic.


This is the dining room, you can kind of get a sense of how the floor will look when it's clean.


and also, they finished the concrete work in the backyard, the water fall/feature is now obvious (it's the tallest tier and the two sections of wall below it). Just waiting for them to back fill the raised section and lay the irrigation system

[lastlight]

Yeah that's a nice lookin tile.

And holy cow that's a ton of concrete work for a water feature. My guess is the budget for that makes your tank build seem somewhat minor Nice stuff!

[asylumdown]

Well, the walls were necessary regardless of if there was a water feature or not, The property has a weird elevation change where the SE corner is the lowest point and the NW corner is the highest, so we've got a half walk-out basement. Because the highest point on our property is also one of the lowest points on the neighbours property we ended up needing a series of concrete walls if we wanted any level space in our backyard. The terraces were necessary due to building codes about wall height, and thus through happy accident I got a perfect place to put a water feature

But yes, the backyard has more concrete in it than the rest of our house. That was painful.

I also meant to mention that I think I'm leaning towards the new Ecotech Radion LED's for lighting. I would need 6 units I think to cover my tank, which is not a small investment, so I've been following Mr. Saltwater Tank's experiment with them before I commit to anything.

[mseepman]

In regards to your LED questions...I got to see two of those fixtures in use above tanks at MACNA and I was surprised that the Orphek had the nicest color. Even more surprising was that a Coralife fixture that is shortly to be released had nice color too. I noticed that you didn't consider the AI or the new Maxspect...both very nice and controllable. Lastly, I was surprised when I saw the Coralvue Phobos...it was pretty nice and incorporated some additional colors to broaden their spectrum. Maybe research these as well so you can make the best ending decision. I personally am doing DIY.

[asylumdown]

I did a bunch of reading on the AI, there's a huge thread on RC regarding them (and LEDs in general) right now that sort of turned me off of them. It seems people either love them, and have mind blowing success with them, or they claim they have killed their tank. Also, I don't like the colours, just cool white and blue... it hypothetically is all the corals *should* need for growth, but I think they're missing something.

If the Orphek's were even a little controllable, I'd be more interested. I'm not looking for some cheesy storm effects or anything, but I would like the ability to simulate the sun rising and setting every day, and I want a proper moon cycle. I know Orphek's have a moon cycle that you can program manually on each fixture, but they're missing the integration and controllability in general I think.

I did look at the Maxspect, and Im going to continue to mull that over while Mark Callaghan (sp?) continues to test the Radions. I want something close to full spectrum, and as an out of the box solution the Radions just seem like they've got what I wanted, but it's still a couple of months out before I need to make a choice.

[mseepman]

This light is made by the Chinese...so who knows about the quality...but they've stepped up their game a little.
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/09/20/p...ue/#more-48493
Saw this light...looked okay but wasn't over a tank with livestock (as many weren't, like the Radions).

I also liked the Radions when I saw them, but wish they had put it over a live tank to see what the overall look ended up being like.

[asylumdown]

Driveway was poured this week

I'm considering going mostly bare bottom in this tank, and I would like some opinions:

1. I have no interest in dealing with a deep sand bed for several reasons, so sand on the bottom would be purely aesthetic and too shallow to offer much in the way of nutrient reduction (like in my last tank).

2. I was looking at pics of my old 90 gallon and I realize that as my tank aged, I started to develop more and more problems with nuisance algae and cyano, even though I was getting more and more sophisticated in my nutrient removal techniques and technology. There are plenty of reasons this could be the case I'm sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a big contributing factor was the progressive build up of crap in the sand under/behind rocks where I couldn't get a vacuum

3. I'm not really in love with the look of bare-bottom tanks, but I figure you can cover them over with LPS and coral over time.

4. I REALLY love wrasses though. So I was considering building several little 'sand boxes' that would hold a couple of inches of sand each, but in locations that I could easily access for thorough vacuuming.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[lastlight]

I've considered bare-bottom for my new tank as well but like you want my wrasses to be happy. The sandbox idea sounds good but when I think of the sand-storm my leopard stirs up EVERY night when he goes to sleep I'm seeing those areas depleted of sand pretty fast. You'd be very slowly adding sand to top the areas up while your wrasses gave you a shallow sand-bed over time I think.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I've considered bare-bottom for my new tank as well but like you want my wrasses to be happy. The sandbox idea sounds good but when I think of the sand-storm my leopard stirs up EVERY night when he goes to sleep I'm seeing those areas depleted of sand pretty fast. You'd be very slowly adding sand to top the areas up while your wrasses gave you a shallow sand-bed over time I think.

Yah I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll just do 1 or half an inch in most places then build up couple 'dune' areas where the wrasses can sleep

Also.. hardwood is 90% installed and the kitchen and closet inserts are being manufactured on site as we speak! Wheeeeee!