600g Restart

[lavoisier]

Current Tank Info: 600g DT, 140g sump, 200g Cryptic, 90g Refugium, 3-400w MH, T5s, LEDs, 2 Reeflo Barracudas, and 3 MP60s

Earlier this year I broke my tank down for a number of reasons:

1. My inability to eliminate algae growth on my rock. I had not taken the time to leech out the phosphate from the dry rock I used when I started the tank in 2012.

2. I also had intended to select and place corals in my tank based on their colors, which I ended up not doing. (http://www.reefsmagazine.com/aesthet...caping-part-2/)

3. I had also aquascaped my rock with the rock design in mind, instead of with coral growth in mind. Here is the quote from Tips and Tricks on Creating Amazing Aquascapes; post 4;

"Don't worry about creating nooks/crannies/caves/etc....they jst will be eventually covered by livestock. Instead focus on the general rock shape that has both low and high points...perhaps even breaking the surface. Focus on large details...not small crevises (especially if you have a large tank)."

So, I am starting it up again. I purchased 500lbs of dry rock and 500lbs of sand from Marco Rocks.

I will take a month or so to leach phosphates using lanthanum chloride, 200 micron filter, and skimmer. I’ll check PO4 weekly until it reaches 0. Then I’ll seed with live rock. I’m thinking about either Tampa Bay Aquatics or an LFS.

In the meantime, I will beginning posting pics of the original build.

 

[Muttley000]

I enjoyed watching your build over at the other place, excited to see it come back together!

 

[lavoisier]

I enjoyed watching your build over at the other place, excited to see it come back together!

I'll be sure to indicate old pics on my posts so you can skip by them!

 

[lavoisier]

Old pic

My basement drained to the middle so my first task was to level a space.

 

[lavoisier]

Old pic

Now came the cement:

I ended up having to make the pad larger as I had not left enough room behind the tank.

Next up will be SketchUp renderings that helped me design my set up.

 

[Muttley000]

I'll enjoy looking at all of them again!

 

[lavoisier]

The stand.

My basement space did not allow me to do the solar tubes like I wanted.

 

[lavoisier]

This was what I had been thinking regarding aquascaping.

 

[lavoisier]

My ventilation.

 

[lavoisier]

Then the stand.

 

[lavoisier]

Starting to build the tank.

 

[lavoisier]

 

[ca1ore]

I thought I was the only person that still uses biscuits. Nice! What dimensions for the tank?

 

[Muttley000]

I thought I was the only person that still uses biscuits. Nice! What dimensions for the tank?

Nope me too, especially in this situation where pocket screws would be much more expensive to fill

 

[maroun.c]

looks like a great build so far. cant wait to see the progression.

 

[Metasyntactic]

Is bowing over time a concern with using plywood to hold this much water? I was just wondering if it bowed it might weaken the seel to the glass or acrylic.

 

[ca1ore]

Is bowing over time a concern with using plywood to hold this much water? I was just wondering if it bowed it might weaken the seel to the glass or acrylic.

I think plywood is comparably flexible to acrylic, though more so than glass. It's all physics. With proper wall thickness and bracing, plywood is more than strong enough. It's the water sealing that gets people in trouble I think (it did me).

 

[lavoisier]

I thought I was the only person that still uses biscuits. Nice! What dimensions for the tank?

8' x 4' x 30"

 

[lavoisier]

Is bowing over time a concern with using plywood to hold this much water? I was just wondering if it bowed it might weaken the seel to the glass or acrylic.

The plywood is more of a form. The fiberglass/epoxy is the real strength for the tank. I have run this tank for 5 years with no bowing or seal problems.

 

[lavoisier]

More pics