600G - 10ft Kahuna Starfire Build

[Synodontis]

Building a 10ft tank in your lounge DIY style is a huge effort! The end result looks brilliant to.
Hats off to you sir

 

[Justin D]

You have been very helpful how many drains do you have and what size are they and how big is your sump how many gallons what are the dimensions

 

[Justin D]

You have been very helpful how many drains do you have and what size are they and how big is your sump how many gallons what are the dimensions

How many drains do you have and what size are they

 

[fry_school101]

Awesome build! Keep posting pictures!

 

[Acrononomus]

Awesome diy man! Welcome to the 10' club!

 

[Justin D]

Hey Guys

So we finally moved away form the city, got a house in a small seaside town with lots of space and so follows the mandatory tank build

Dimesions are 10ft x 3ft x 30" tall, starfire front and sides, all DIY style.

I had the sense to have the stand professionally welded on the mainland out of 2" steel. Being a fan of building my own stands out of wood in the past, this was quite a change but getting a 10ft surface perfectly level out of wood (on an uneven wood floor) would be too much for me. I would probably run out of talent half way though anyway and end up with a floating lounge in a couple of years.

Got the glass panels delivered straight to the moving truck, and offloaded in my new garage! No chips that I can see so far:

With the help of a couple of borrowed furniture dollies we got the stand in the house. The thing is deceptively heavy! We got it through the front door with 1/2" clearance!

Tight, like a tiger

The original position for this tank didn't end up working out. Structurally it would have been in a bad place, sitting over the finished basement suite we were hoping to rent out. It also would have made getting in the front door a bit troublesome ;p

So we went for option B! Pretty sweet.

I didn't initially want the fish too close to the living room with TV and noise, but in retrospect it's probably one of the quietest places in the house, and most importantly, over a well reinforced crawlspace. Besides, any leaks and it runs straight out to the deck! Hopefully not :/

I'll board up the window behind and maybe use it to vent out some of the humidity.

Hello how many drains do you have and what size are they

 

[Justin D]

?

 

[Thebrinc]

Apologies for not getting back sooner... work got in the way!

I'm fighting the mother of all Cyano outbreaks at the moment... think the rocks might be leaching some phosphates and possibly a light spectrum issue with my DIY 100W LED pendants, although they look awesome and create way more light than the Kessil 360Ws.

I ran a algae scrubber for a couple months but had too many issues in getting it big enough to make a dent in the algae growth and it was becoming a hazard, plumbed into one of my return lines and threatening to clog things with floating clusters of algae.

I got a new GFO reactor online and will track the phosphate levels... looking forward to not siphoning out and rinsing the sandbed a 3rd time!

@Justin D: I've got 5 x 1" drain lines running Bean Animal style in the 3 foot external overflow. Two high standpipes, two low drains and then a 5th emergency drain.

 

[MCooper]

HOLY COW

 

[Thebrinc]

Here's some shots of the lighting units I built out of aluminum tube sections, retro circular CPU fans and some good quality LED chips and powers upplies I found online:

 

[Stylo328]

Those lights look great! Very professional.

 

[-Logzor]

I love those lights! They are very professionally looking. You are like, oh I just threw these together with some parts I found online...don't be so modest!

Going to explore the rest of the build now...

 

[Justin D]

Any updates

 

[1tank1]

my lord 600 gal starfire, that tank costs a fortune at first

 

[BRB]

Here's some shots of the lighting units I built out of aluminum tube sections, retro circular CPU fans and some good quality LED chips and powers upplies I found online:

Where did you learn to do all of these? Everything looks like you would have bought it at a store but better

 

[Thebrinc]

Making steady progress!

@BRB : I'm just figuring it out as I go... I have to give credit other people's LED builds that I found online as well of course! The fact that the retro computer CPU cooler fits snug(with some modification) in the aluminum tube was a added bonus

The tank maturing thing is taking a bit longer than expected with the added water volume but I'm finally getting the Cyano under control... hopefully.
The small window above the tank lets a bit of mid-summer sun in, wreaking havok on some of the LR.

10 foot of this! arg... :/ This was the sand-bed a couple months ago at it's worst.

I have it back to normal now for the most part although the tank is currently running dark (without any light) for 3 days to hopefully deal the final death-blow.
It doesn't hurt that I finally got a large spider conch in there, as well as a sand sifting goby (He's a hard worker ) and added a lot of flow lower down.

Rocks are also growing a TON of Coraline though, that I'm really happy with... some really good colour variation too.

And a full tank shot:

The sand's looking a LOT better.

Has anyone heard about anti-glare / reflection coatings for glass? I would love to cover the long side of the tank that faces the windows with something to cut down on glare a little... it's practically impossible to get straight on photos of the tank, although in person the glare is manageable.

 

[BRB]

Making steady progress!

@BRB : I'm just figuring it out as I go... I have to give credit other people's LED builds that I found online as well of course! The fact that the retro computer CPU cooler fits snug(with some modification) in the aluminum tube was a added bonus

The tank maturing thing is taking a bit longer than expected with the added water volume but I'm finally getting the Cyano under control... hopefully.
The small window above the tank lets a bit of mid-summer sun in, wreaking havok on some of the LR.

10 foot of this! arg... :/ This was the sand-bed a couple months ago at it's worst.

I have it back to normal now for the most part although the tank is currently running dark (without any light) for 3 days to hopefully deal the final death-blow.
It doesn't hurt that I finally got a large spider conch in there, as well as a sand sifting goby (He's a hard worker ) and added a lot of flow lower down.

Rocks are also growing a TON of Coraline though, that I'm really happy with... some really good colour variation too.

And a full tank shot:

The sand's looking a LOT better.

Has anyone heard about anti-glare / reflection coatings for glass? I would love to cover the long side of the tank that faces the windows with something to cut down on glare a little... it's practically impossible to get straight on photos of the tank, although in person the glare is manageable.

Looks amazing... I need to find some of these links for the future when I can build a bigger tank

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Looks great!

 

[shakinghorizons]

Great tank and build!!!

Do I spy some Bowers & Wilkins towers by chance? :drool:

 

[Wesley Knutsen]

wouldnt it be easier to tint your window?