Jt's 850 gal dream tank

[Matt Carden]

Awesome build! Following along

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lucky you !!1 This is just a beauty and I am working on this very type of tank right now.
It for me is Go BIG or Go Home !!
beautiful system to simply my statement !!

 

[jt17]

Which reefbrights did you have, did you consider the orpheks, or just know the radions were for you? Just curious on the decision to go with so many units.

Corey

The reefbrites on my previous tank were 5’ XO. I choose Radions on this tank because I like the results WWC gets using them. The light layout is what WWC has on their 900 and that’s what I modeled the layout after. I’ve heard good things about Orphek lights but I don’t know anyone using them. I’ve seen many examples of great reef tanks using radion so I went with what I’m most familiar with.
On my old tank at one time I had the vertex illumina gen1 and programming that thing was such a hassle. Very user unfriendly. So I’m was a little gun-shy on trying an unfamiliar light, especially on this scale.

 

[locito277]

You need a YouTube channel

 

[jt17]

Nice wife nice life

She’s the best. Nice life indeed.

This maybe a silly question but I will ask anyway... with a tank that big and it being in a closed off room in the middle of a house. Do you worry about the humidity in the “fish room”?

Do you account for that in the build or is it a non issue?

Humidity was of concern. As well as smell. So there are 2 exhaust fans in the ceiling that are connected to the apex programmed to run every other hour. There’s also a mini split AC unit in there that removes most of the humidity.

 

[jt17]

Very nice! How many inches above the water are the radions?

Thanks,

Nick

20”. That’s higher than most but I don’t want and salt on the lights.

 

[nbd13]

20”. That’s higher than most but I don’t want and salt on the lights.

Thanks. I was thinking of mounting mine 16-17” above the water.

What setting are you using and amount of power? I know WWC mounts there’s about 20-22” above water.

Nick

 

[4FordFamily]

Awesome tank! Thanks for sharing!

 

[lavoisier]

Looking good. As someone else said, "Beautiful!"

 

[BluEyedBlenny]

Awesome tank build!

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

@jt17 -- any updates for the peanut gallery? ;Snaphappy

 

[ddrueckh]

Very nice tank and thread. Thanks for sharing. It was nice to see WWC post about this build but even better to read about it from you!

 

[jt17]

Thanks. I was thinking of mounting mine 16-17” above the water.

What setting are you using and amount of power? I know WWC mounts there’s about 20-22” above water.

Nick

Currently running AB+ 9AM - 9PM. 3 hour ramp up to 35% then 3 hour ramp down. I may increase the intensity as the tank gets stocked with more acros.

 

[Millimylilly]

Awesome tank! Can you take a video of it???

 

[jt17]

Awesome tank! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. Love sharing the tank. Thank you for all you do on R2R

Looking good. As someone else said, "Beautiful!"

Thank you

Awesome tank build!

Thanks

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Thanks

Any updates? Pics/Videos -- your build is fantastic!

 

[iReefer12]

Lighting

I’m a big fan of LEDs. I had reefbrites on my last tank and probably could have used them on this build too, and saved a pile of money. But I like the controllability of the radions.

The light rack was the first thing I constructed for this build. I wanted to install the light rack before the tank was set to allow space to work. That task was accomplished in time but what delayed the installation was me deciding how to raise and lower the rack. I eventually decided on a pulley and winch system but not before the tank was set. Sometimes life gets in the way. Thankfully the tank’s big enough to fit a ladder in.

Thats Josh from WWC in the tank. I couldn’t have done This build without his help and guidance. We’ve been friends for years and it was a lot of fun planning and building this with him.

The light rack not only goes up and down but also slides out. There’s basically two racks. The top rack it connected to the cable that raise and lower. The light rack hangs from that rack via pocket door hardware.

I added safety 4 chains just in case.

I mounted the winch under the stand to keep it out of the way and minimize exposure to salt water.

T5 ballasts are mounted on the light rack. There’s too many Radion ballasts to mount on the rack so I mounted them on the wall.

Thanks for following. Next up the stand.

.

This is a genius way to mount all the Radion ballast. If you get a chance, could you post more pictures of the bracket that holds all of them? It’s not clear exactly how that works. Amazing build

 

[D_Reep1106]

Yes, Phenominal build! Any updates?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Any new pics or videos?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

How is the tank coming along?