ReefBoy's 360 Gallon REEF Build

[ImACoolguy]

I wouldn't have never thought of you as 19 lol where did the money for a 500g reef come from??? a 10g nano put a dent in me and I'm 19.

Best of luck I'm sneakily following this. PS core student as well now.


Caleb

 

[ReefBoy]

. It's all from sponsors pretty much. But I save all of that money in the bank for later and I use my work money to pay for new toys,,,, reefing, electronics,,,, I work for Vitamix Corporation. So I sell high end blenders,(ie. The ones they use to make Frappuchinos in Starbucks, blizzards at Dairy Queen, Smoothies at Smoothie king and Jama Juice, Used by All the Top Chefs and cooking networks all over the world). So most of the time I do demonstrations at Costcos. That's what completely funds this hobby.

That's awesome!! I would be happy with a 10 gallon truly!! My dad is the one that's pushing the 10 footer because he wants to do the man cave type makeover thing in the basement. So it's something that will fit perfectly on 1 wall. Not the biggest wall sadly.. We could have gone with a 25 foot tank. But he wants it where he wants it. Haha

 

[ReefBoy]

I encourage you to follow along! I'll be giving updates everyday since I have the spare time over the summer!! Summer break is the best isn't it?

 

[ReefBoy]

When the clowns call it a day I usually follow suit I'll be ordering the "Man Cave" Tank tomorrow. I'll let everyone know what size we're going with by tomorrow night

 

[Psychocircus91]

I wish I had a 500 gallon system at 19. Can't wait to see how things come along.

 

[ReefBoy]

So it looks like we might going with the 96x36x24. I figure the equipment will be a bit cheaper and I won't need as many lights. More money for my school of anthias!!

Anyone like the Tunze Wavemaker pumps? Im kind of starting to wean away from the Vortechs... I want to use either 2-4 Tunze pumps
or
Maybe 4 Jebao wp40's? Are the Jebao's good pumps??

What would you recommend?? Please help with this as I will be purchasing the powerheads soon!!

 

[ReefBoy]

I wish I had a 500 gallon system at 19. Can't wait to see how things come along.

It's been an awesome project for the summer!! But like I said I would have even been happy with a 28 bowfront cube

As long as it looks nice and fits the budget I'm all for it!!

 

[coralbandit]

Anyone like the Tunze Wavemaker pumps? Im kind of starting to wean away from the Vortechs... I want to use either 2-4 Tunze pumps
or
Maybe 4 Jebao wp40's? Are the Jebao's good pumps??

I have tunze and jeboas.
If you are not going vortech then jeboa all the way!
They are 1/4 the price for the same pump with all the bells and whistles included,which is not the case for tunze.
I didn't buy my tunze but it,the light sensor and control feature were well over $400!
My jeboa was $89!
I run jeboa DC return pumps also.
I just purchased my 3rd & 4th 12,000!

 

[ReefBoy]

Wow really? So what size and how many would you suggest? My limit for powerheads is under $1000

 

[ReefBoy]

Would I be better off with 4-8 Jebao p40's/wp25's, or 3 Vortech Mp40's?

 

[ReefBoy]

I will get 4 rw60's or 6-8 rw40's. Can you sync 4 together so they create the wave effect, and then leave the other 2 to mix the flow up?? Or do these pumps not sync together?

 

[mr_X]

You mean wp's, not RW's. I would go with the RW's...they are much lower profile. Making a wave effect is crapola anyway...it's completely unnecessary.

 

[ReefBoy]

Ok cool!! Then I will get 4 RW15's probably! Thanks for your help Mr.X!!

 

[ReefBoy]

Ok!!! So I found the baring wall in my house!! I can put the tank upstairs and it will look even better in the new spot!! It will sit right on the baring wall too!!!

The new tank dimension will be 48x48x30 cube. 300 gallon tank
The tank will have Starphire glass on 3 sides and it will still be a peninsula. The sump will have 1 Filter Sock Tub, 1 Baffle tub, and 3 Filtration Tubs. This will end up being a 100 gallon sump.

So I'm looking at an overall 400 gallon system. I love the cube style and I want to create a rock pile in the middle of the tank. This way the fish can swim around the rock pile and make circles in the tank. I hope they will do that....

POWERHEADS: I'm just going to go with 2 Mp40 Quiet Drives and maybe a Jebao in the back behind the rocks where I won't really see it.

LIGHTING: I have 2 choices for lighting!!!! I will do 4 Hydra 52's or 4 Kessil a360we's.
The lights will be hung from the ceiling. What do you guys think??

I can get Kessils for $350 a piece and sell my Hydra 52's for $450 each...
OR
I buy 2 more Hydra 52's and would have spent a total of $2400 on lighting...

What's the better way??? Is there a better way?? Or is it mainly preference???

 

[ReefBoy]

I'm going to get all of my equipment. What would you guys suggest? Do I need a Calcium Reactor? Do I need a GFO Reactor? Do I need Carbon??

I want to get a Vertex Doser and an Apex controller. Would these diminish the need for a Calcium Reactor?? If I dose calcium through the doser....

I guess my question is, What equipment should I get? Just give me a list, then I can do some research on what each piece of equipment does.

Thanks for any help on this!!

 

[ReefBoy]

So its been a while!! I worked 3 weeks back to back, (Commission sales), I made bank, and bought some new toys!!

I purchased 4 Mp40 Quiet Drives to complement the one I currently have.
I'm planning to use them all on the new tank setup. 48x48x30 cube.

I also scored a good price on the Canon 7D Mark ii with an L lens!! But I plan on forking the extra money for a dedicated Macro lens so I can take some cool pics of my corals and maybe copepods, and all the other life in the tank that I could never capture with my Note 4 or iPad Air 2. I'll get some pics today and I will be sure to post them!!

 

[ReefBoy]

Sweeeeeet~~~~~~~

 

[ReefBoy]

Here's what I got so far. The clownfish hosting the Frogspawn, a hammer coral, and a flower in the front yard. Looks good enough to me. Im going to head over to the DSLR thingy that I saw on the home page and see what more I can learn.

 

[ReefBoy]

The trumpets have been doing terribly lately

 

[ReefBoy]

The acans are shrunk up also.... Is there anything I should do?