ReefBoy's 360 Gallon REEF Build

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ReefBoy

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Messages
290
Location
Irvine, CA
What's the mission?? :dance:

Alright guys the tank is scheduled to be delivered by the end of next month! :popcorn:
The tank is a custom size and will be 74x38x30.
The stand will be 41in. tall,,,
which means the top of the tank will be roughly 71in tall.
It will be a Peninsula style tank.
I wanted the tank to be 74 long so it would create a 32in doorway instead of a 34 in doorway. That way all the doors in the house are Similar in size.
I could fit the extra couple inches in width, therefore I went with a 38 instead of 36 wide tank.

This tank comes out to roughly 360 gallons and with the sump it will be a 420 gallon system. I might add another sump along the way though.

Below I have posted where the tank will be placed and I have markings on the ground and the 9in wall that it will sit flush against. The markings on the ground are for the carpenter that will be out
PHP:
2 weeks from now to build the stand.


If you guys have any questions or suggestions please let me know!!! I'm dieting to learn more as I go along in the hobby!! This will probably not be the final upgrade either. Thinking about redoing the basement next:D. I officially start the build thread today!!!:dance:
 
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Lighting

Alright Here's what I chose for lighting!!!

I currently have 2 Hydra 52's over my 120 gallon Reef. I bought another new 52, won a 52 that was used for 2 months on eBay, and I had a 26 which was a spontaneous gift from my father a couple months ago.

How many light can I get away with on the new tank? I love these Hydra 52's!!! I kinda want to try the Kessil a360's though. The new ones! Let me know what you think!!. (y)
 

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Here's the waterflow issue~~

I don't know what to do when it comes to powerheads. I know I want to continue using the Vortech brand pumps. I'll be keeping SPS on the tops of the rocks and LPS and Softies in the rest of the tank.

But for a peninsula style tank I don't know HOW MUCH FLOW I WILL NEED???

Another problem is this

The overflow will be on the peninsula side which is going to be 18 inches, and centered. Therefore there will be 10inches of space on both sides of the overflow. Which is exactly how much space this wall will need. So that means the vortechs will have to go below the overflow box. CORRECT??:confused:

So I'm looking at

2 Quiet Drive Mp60's and my current Mp40
If I go this route I will have to just tone them down and put one as clos to the 9in wall as possible, and the other maybe 4in away from the glass on the other side. Hopefully this setup wouldn't be blasting the hell out of the corals:banghead:. I would put my mp40 somewhere on the long wall near the mp60's and overflow wall. Just to break some of the flow up. But that would be tacky having it on there.
Or
4 Quiet Drive Mp 40's
If I go this route I will put all 4 in a row, or staggered along the wall

Which setup will reach every part of the tank properly?? I bought 10, 30lb bags of this sand. It wasn't inexpensive but I heard it was a nice choice for gobies, wrasses and the alike.
 

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In the pic. That is the 9in wall I'm talking about. The pink on the ground is the width of the tanks stand. The pink on the wall is the top and bottom of the tank when it sits on the stand. The Powerheads will start close to the wall and move toward the right closer to the right eve of the tank. So you can imagine what I'm talking about hopefully. Hahah:ermm:
 

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Here's a pic of the door that I was talking about. I would have done a 100in tank and just created a whole wall. But I figured it would look nicer with the 2 doors to access the office.
"And if you look close enough there's my little Bichon Frisse. He's been there for the past 8 or so hours. Gotta love daily routines.:D"
 

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you have a basement, crawl space or concrete slab? What structural support do you have for this tank?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
It will be sitting on I-beams that are 14in apart. They will be perpendicular to the tank which is good. They are rated for well over 6,000 lbs but there is a 4in space between the wood floor and the I beams which can sag over time. So there's been a structural engineer that has been going around and trying to figure out the best way to support it. Between sister I beams or 3/4inch plywood which can be sintered to the existing ibeams. The weight of the tank with rock, sand, sump, everything. Will be no more than 5200lbs. :)
 
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I have a basement and a crawl space. But this part of the house is over the 9 foot+ high crawl space.
 
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Filtration!!!

Skimmer
Ok so I took the advice of I believe Doug (Mr.X) and got the Reef Octopus Regal 300-SSS. It's rated for a lightly loaded 700 gallon tank or a heavily loaded 300 gallon tank. So I should be able to keep plenty of fish I hope? It came in a big huge megabox. Free shipping too, Hallelujah :roll eyes:. :fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2::fish2:

I would love to keep 20-30 Anthias. Either the Lyretail (I know they don't school) or the Bartletts.

I would also like to keep a few Reef Safe Wrasses, a Pinnatus Batfish, and 2 Moorish Idols. I know these are some pretty demanding and expert care fish. But this is just a dream stock list and it def. doesn't mean I'm adding either of the Batfish or the Moorish Idol. If I do go this route though I will add the Moorish idols in the new tank about a week before anyone else and make sure they are settled in and eating. Again, Just a dream:)

But I am set on the Anthias and Wrasses for sure. If I can do 20-30 than I don't mind investing in it. I also don't mind investing in my Black Tang. I have always wanted one and I found one for around $300 which is not that bad.

I will be adding mostly all the fish at once along with my current fish stock list. Male Blue Chin Trigger, Blue Hippo Tang, 2 Yellow Tangs, 3 False Perc Clowns, 2 b&G Chromis, and 1 Mandarin Goby.

I ordered 95 lbs of Dry Pukani rock from BRS and here they are..

They sent me some big rocks like I asked them for. Right now they are curing in a 75 gallon tank downstairs where no one can smell them:ROFLMAO:

So here are some pics of the rock setup I'm brainstorming around with for the left side, where the Overflow and Powerheads will be.

Any suggestions on rock sculptures would be excellent! I will be using the acrylic rods and glue to make the pile as solid as possible. I will also be cutting the whole bottom of the rock pile so it is level and sits flat on the egg crate, before I add the sand in.(y)
 

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I have a basement and a crawl space. But this part of the house is over the 9 foot+ high crawl space.


Thanks for the info. Looking forward to watching this progress.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Here's some pics I snapped of the 120 Gallon Tank Right now. I also took a picture of where the tank will go. The picture is from a month or two ago. The Rug was taken out and the desk is shifted toward the window now

Anyone have any suggestions on fish?? I would like to get the fish that need to be QT'd next week.
 

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Alright so hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm going for here. this is not my tank, I found the picture online and drew my rocks cape inside it.

There will be 3 rock piles. The 2 will be triangles and will have a tunnel going through the middle of them. The one in the corner will be a bit shorter and will serve as maybe an Acan pile or a Zoa pile. I don't know yet.

The 2 triangle piles will be at least 10 inches away from the glass on all sides to allow for ample swimming space for some of the bigger fish that I might choose to house later on. Yellow lines stand for 6-8in from anything and Blue lines stand for 9-12in from anything. The red piles will be 22+ in. Tall ( the rock pile that I stacked in the box is 21-23 tall, and the orange will be 10+ in. Tall with a few miniature shelves on it if everything turns out the way I want it to. (Yeah right) :D

I'll let everyone know along the way if this changes!(y)
 

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Subscribed. This looks like it'll be a cool build.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 via the Aquarium Advice app.
 
I wasted no time assembling the protein skimmer and playing with it. This thing is a beast! My dog is about 14-16 in short. That will give you a little idea hahaha:lol: I can't wait until the tank arrives next month. At least I'm gathering all the equipment I need so I can set it up first thing when the tank arrives.:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:
 

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Subscribed. This looks like it'll be a cool build.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 via the Aquarium Advice app.

Thanks so much! I'll keep everyone posted everyday! Whether it's posting updates of the current 120 or new additions to the equipment pile I'll make sure to post it all!:thanks::thanks:
 
Alright guys. Everyone is sleeping now. The Hydra 52's have hit the moonlight mode and everyone's calling it a day. Make sure to view page 1 because the powerheads issue needs to be solved ASAP so I can go ahead and purchase what I need:ermm:... If no one has any input then I'll take the chances of dialing 2 Mp60 Qd's way back and keeping my Mp40 to break some of the flow up.

So yeah please tell me what you think!:thanks:
 

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Nice! This is gonna be cool. Nice skimmer BTW ;)

Nice! This is gonna be cool. Nice skimmer BTW ;)

Thank you for your help on that one! :thanks:
Looks like I'm calling the company today to see if they started building the tank yet. If not I will be changing the build to a 120x48x24. This will go in the basement where I will be creating a man cave instead. The Peninsula tank would have ended up costing way too much with the support beams and everything. So I might as well go big because there is plenty of room in the basement, and it's on a concrete slab:)

If they don't do curbside delivery for this 10 foot tank then I will take the 96x48x24. I'm happy either way. 660 gallon vs 500 I believe.

My question is will the skimmer I have be fine??????? Oh my gosh......:banghead:
 
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