Jeff's 300 Gallon Deep Dimension Reef Build

[xaflatoonx]

i wish you had walked us through the build out of the plumbing and setting up all the cool gadgets that you did.
so much happening there - and done so cleanly and professionally.
Very inspiring - I wish i could have learned more through this set up.

 

[Shredded]

Right now, the display is not much of anything. I have a few frags and some polyps to test whether the tank was ready. 230 lbs of Fiji live rock, flown in, medium to shallow sand bed, lots of clean up crew and a few fish, Purple tang, a pair of Lightening Maroon clowns and a pair of Frostbite Ocellaris clowns. The tank is fully cycled but had an issue with high nitrates (50, 60 ppm). So since I have gone ZEOvit, I kept dosing and now have brought those down to 0, at least by my test kits, Red Sea Pro and my LFS, Salifert. During the time the nitrates were high, I had a green algae bloom but once the clean up crew and tang were add the tank was stripped clean. Now, no phosphates showing, no nitrates and I have a brown algae problem (not diatoms), so obviously the nitrates and phosphates being produced are being used by the algae. Not sure of the algae type, it just makes everything look kind of fuzzy. Not a good look The guys over on the ZEOvit site have changed my dosing to help this so I am making some adjustments. I reposted my parameters below. So, as you may have noticed I spent a lot of money on this build. This home that I built and this tank will probably be my last so I went all out. No, i'm not dying but i'm not a kid anymore. But now, I'm freaking broke! lol I'm not complaining, I accumulated this equipment over 2 years, a piece at a time ( i looked back and my first post was October 2015 and I had already started buying equipment) , so the money drain was not terrible but I went without to get what i wanted and I am very happy with it. I designed, planned and installed everything on my own. So..... now i'm buying from the 9.99 coral bin. Actually a couple of those frags have been very impressive, but it's gonna be awhile before the display is impressive too. Can't wait to have something I can see from a distance. lol So if anyone is doing any cutting back or needs to lose a coral or two feel free to give me a shout!! I have one pic with the actinics on and the halides just coming on.
I will post a couple of pics with the lights on after lunch.
Thanks everyone for your comments!!

Levels are
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0
Calcium - 460
Alkalinity - 8.6
Magnesium - 1680
Salinity - 1.024
Temperature - 76°

 

[Shredded]

i wish you had walked us through the build out of the plumbing and setting up all the cool gadgets that you did.
so much happening there - and done so cleanly and professionally.
Very inspiring - I wish i could have learned more through this set up.

I actually do have some pics during the install that I can fill in some of the plumbing work if you are interested. I had a plan, but it was never ever put on paper. I had everything in my head. As a project manager I should have known better. Did it all work out exactly as planned? It looks like it did, but nope! I would stop for days and go out and stare at it before deciding what to do next. I am not OCD, but people argue with me about that. I may be a bit anal about my work. I will say that every single pipe is glued and fully seated in every single fitting. Being that nuts about something cost me a lot of time, measuring and cutting. This tank has a refrigeration unit on it. It was supposed to go where the dosing cylinder is sitting. Well, the dosing cylinder wouldn't fit where my brain said it was supposed to go (1/4 " off, solid steel is very unforgiving) so it was moved, bumping the refrigeration, which when plumbed and turned on initially put out so much heat that it heated the room negating any refrigeration, so now it is mounted outside the room in the garage. As a side benefit, I now have a heated garage for winter. So, just things like that made this interesting. Still not complete, The CaCO2 reactor is still to be installed this weekend. Here are a few pics

 

[count krunk]

Build looks great!

 

[Bob E]

Wow this is some setup. Great Job

 

[Maritimer]

That is just gorgeous, in any way you care to look at it!

How did your flown-in Fiji rock work out? Lots of life on it, or not so much?

~Bruce

 

[xaflatoonx]

aboslutely STUNNING! and exactly what i was looking for.

thanks so much for sharing the additional details.

 

[Shredded]

That is just gorgeous, in any way you care to look at it!

How did your flown-in Fiji rock work out? Lots of life on it, or not so much?

~Bruce

Hi Bruce,
The rock is great. you just can't beat the light weight, the shapes, the colors and the life.

 

[Shredded]

aboslutely STUNNING! and exactly what i was looking for.

thanks so much for sharing the additional details.

We have a couple of videos that i call, How Okies lift and set a 300 gallon tank. Its amazing we didn't break it. I think you all may get a kick out of it. Remember when watching it that the guy driving the Bobcat agreed to do this for a six pack of beer which helps explain some of it.

 

[xaflatoonx]

haha - please share.

 

[xaflatoonx]

love the rock work man...
i always wondered how people who get live rock flown in - able to make great aquascapes...

i cant even do that with dry rock with all the time in the world outside of water.

 

[Maritimer]

In some ways, the rock will tell you how it wants to be.

When I got my Florida Keys rock, one of the guidelines I used is that if there are plants on it ... that side is "up". Not sure that part of my 'scape is particularly inspired - but it's particularly interesting through a magnifying glass!

~Bruce

 

[JerSaint]

Subscribed

 

[zcedric]

;Drool;Drool;Jawdrop

 

[Clayton Jessup]

What a beautiful and breath taking setup . So much attention to detail from plumbing to equipment placement , to equipment. Round of applause [emoji122] amazing work !! I would love more breakdown pictures of the install if you have any more like the last ones you posted .?

 

[Shredded]

haha - please share.

Here is one of them.

 

[Shredded]

What a beautiful and breath taking setup . So much attention to detail from plumbing to equipment placement , to equipment. Round of applause [emoji122] amazing work !! I would love more breakdown pictures of the install if you have any more like the last ones you posted .?

Thank you!!!! I am still installing a couple of items and cleaning up my cabling. I still have to install the controller once it arrives in the next few weeks hopefully. I have that all in my head so we'll see how that works out.
I have lots of pics. Let me see what i have to not duplicate. When the house was being built, I would sneak in at night and run my electrical circuits the day before sheet rock so everything was hidden in the walls. I took pics of all of it. I took measurements so that all I had to do after close was to go in, measure on the sheet rock and cut my holes for my electrical boxes.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Wow that is absolutely amazing to here .. this is a very very nice build I truly mist say !!!

 

[Shredded]

Wow, no comments on the idiots installing the tank with a Bob Cat? lol C'mon, I can take it.

 

[xaflatoonx]

how did that bob cat get into the house! lol
i honestly was thinking its gonna fall and you will tell us how you then went and got a new tank. Its crazy how you guys kept it up and were able to place it.

i would have crapped my pants atleast thrice during that!!