dp's 300 gallon build

[dpruter]

I thought I'd share my new adventure here with our 300 gal mixed reef. Been over a decade since my last aquarium and I've been anxious to get back into it now that I'm a home owner. I've never done any coral before so I have a bunch to learn and I'm sure I'll make a ton of mistakes. But I'm stoked!

(one year ago...)
So the wife and I walked into a lfs down in San Diego and they had a 300 long sitting there. She fell in love! (Again) Not long after that we had one on order!

Looked around at stands and we just couldn't find one that fit the bill. We decided we would build ourselves.

Here we go!





Because of its size we thought it might be cool to break up in three columns instead of one 8 foot box. 12 4x4's should probably hold the weight!



The wife did an amazing job with the espresso finish.



Went ahead and made cutouts for the overflow box and then in the middle and far end for a closed loop system.

 

[dpruter]

And the almost completed stand in its final resting place.



Will close up the top third with a nice espresso finished trim piece once the tank is set and all the plumbing is solid. Baskets will be used for fish food, supplies, etc.

 

[dpruter]

And where is all the plumbing going to go you might ask? Well it's San Diego, we'll just build a shed for it outside!





And the completed sump room to sit outside...



Three doors open in the front and three panels can be removed from the top making it SUPER accessible!

 

[dpruter]

Tank set in place, some plumbing done and water going in for a leak test.



All the pipes go outside to the sump box through a hole I cut in the wall.



Sump box filled up quick with pipes, pumps, uv, skimmer, etc.





Decided to go with a closed loop system to get some water moving towards the end of the tank farthest from the overflow box. (in addition to)



And it holds water without any leaks!

 

[dpruter]

Time for a few hundred pounds of live sand and some saltwater. Used rodi as I heard it was the way to go from many in this forum.



Dang it's cloudy! Guess I'll have to wait a few days.
Don't see that on "Tanked."



And a bit more work done in the sump box.



You'll notice I went with a 57w uv with wiper from Aqua UV (local So. Cal company and thus far impressed with the quality) as well as an ATI PowerCone 250IS skimmer (which I'm not sure I like) Also went ahead with a bio pellet reactor.

 

[Sniperhank]

That is a really nice job putting everything together into a really nice stand.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Wow! I never would have guessed someone just built that, except maybe a professional aquarium stand builder (if that even exists). I like that on the outside you can't tell what it is.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[sarahsteels83]

That's lovely! Good job! Wish you was our neighbor!


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

My dream tank it's gorgeous! Amazing job with the stand and congrats on the beautiful house! I can only dream of setting up something like that one day. Following to see progress on this I'm sure it will be awesome.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick is fixed!
~75g new community tank.

 

[mr_X]

Very nice design on the stand. What made you implement the UV sterilizer?

 

[treemanone2003]

Now that's well planned and executed !!! Super job all over !!


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you !!

 

[Macscale]

Wow... That's absolutely stunning and looks great in your home!
I'll be following.

 

[Mattyfelts]

i just fell over cause this is one of the best builds i have ever seen. so well done, well planned, well executed. very jealous...

only issue i can see is how are you gonna stop critters from getting through that whole in the wall? i doubt its a big issue haha, sucha awesome build thanks for sharing.

 

[dpruter]

Very nice design on the stand. What made you implement the UV sterilizer?

Thanks all for the nice compliments. Appreciate that!

Doug, re: uv...I just figured why not? Could help with algae problems, could help lower disease/parasite problems, could help with water clarity AND I can always shut it off and or control the flow rate through it depending on what I want to do later down the road.

Mattyfelts, re: hole in the wall. I just sprayed some foam in there after all the plumbing was done. Pretty tight and no critters thus far!

 

[dpruter]

Time for some live rock. (A week after initial fill) Wow that's expensive for what it is! This will take some time to build up. Initial costs of tank and basic equipment killed us. The plumbing parts alone was a major shock! Those stupid valves add up!





Need a ton more rock! I think I'll mix in some of the dry base rock too.



But it's getting there!

 

[Sniperhank]

Nice rock too. That really long piece would make an amazing bridge.

 

[dpruter]

Added some microbacter7 from brightwell aquatics as recommended by lfs and some more rock.



About a month of cycling and it's time for a few fish.

I know some will laugh and question our choice here but after spending our honeymoon in bora bora and snorkeling with thousands of damsels, we wanted to get a few of those for sentimental reasons. Also because they are a good hardy fish to start with.

From underwater in the South Pacific:



And our first new friends:



3 Sergeant Major Damselfish
3 Sapphire Damselfish
3 Allen's Damselfish

 

[mr_X]

Doug, re: uv...I just figured why not? Could help with algae problems, could help lower disease/parasite problems, could help with water clarity AND I can always shut it off and or control the flow rate through it depending on what I want to do later down the road.

The sterilizer will kill whatever goes through it, good and bad. Tiny planktonic creatures, copepods...etc.

 

[dpruter]

The sterilizer will kill whatever goes through it, good and bad. Tiny planktonic creatures, copepods...etc.

Good call Doug! And agree. My thought though was to run the uv before any coral and during my fish stocking time. I'm a huge tang fan and I know those can be disease prone no matter what. UV running during that phase of the build may help? Then switch to a higher flow rate when the corals are added or even shut it down after a year when everyone is happy. Perhaps I can use it later if I notice problems that a UV may help? Don't know. Learning here.

 

[mr_X]

Well, just focus on making that tank a stress free environment. Stress is what lowers the immune systems of fish and allows them to succumb to disease.