Miracles and Synergy Reef 125G build

FireEMT · Dec 17, 2015

So I've finally got my very first reef tank in the house. It has been a work in progress for almost 6 months. I have been assembling the tank in the garage for the last 2 months. I wanted to get everything assembled in the garage first so that I didn't have a construction zone in the middle of the living room. I have learned so much from this forum so I want to return the favor and start my own build thread so that others can learn from my build. I will try to lay this build out step by step the best I can even though it is being filled at the moment and almost complete.

First the inventory list:
Miracles Custom Tank 60x24x20 with eurobracing
Powder Coated Metal stand built by Miracles
Synergy Reef SS-34 Sump
Reef Synergy 5G ATO container
Kessil A360WE x3 with goosenecks
Neptune Apex Gold
Neptune WAVs
Neptune DOS
Vertex 180i Skimmer
Vectra M1 Return Pump
Tunze Osmolator 3155
Eheim 150 watt heaters x2
BRS Dual Media Reactor
Pukani Rock 65LBS
CaribSea Fuji Pink 80lbs

There will be a lot more posts to follow. I have the equipment layout figured out for the most part but I have a lot to learn about the livestock and corals since this is my first build. I have built numerous Koi ponds from 1000 gallons to 6000 gallons and if this is anything like that there is a huge learning curve. The thing I'm trying to avoid is not doing it right the first time, hence taking it slow and absorbing as much information from the people on this forum. Thank you to all those I have learned from and all the questioned answered by those as well.

Sway70 · Dec 17, 2015

Wow I love the organization and the clean set up! That is a great start

dbl · Dec 17, 2015

Definitely off to a great start. I have a sneaking suspicion you're going to do just fine. Great looking setup and a guard dog to boot!

FireEMT · Dec 17, 2015

The first part of the build was constructing the sump area. The tank is set up with a bean animal drain with 1" bulkheads and piping. I wanted to construct everything out of hard plumbing. I placed unions everywhere that I could and used all 45s so that there was as little friction loss as possible(that comes from being an engineer on an engine company). I used a spears gate valve to control the main siphon drain.
The return pump is constructed on mainly hard PVC except the small section of silicone to stop vibration noise. I wanted the tank to be as silent as possible. With the Vectra M1 I glued a 45 directly to the output and then a barbed fitting from there to accept the silicone tubing. The opposite end was pretty much the same.
I didn't buy colored PVC, instead I painted everything the color choices. If I were to do it again I would buy the red color PVC and find clear primmer. I could not find the clear primmer anywhere and didn't want to see the purple so thats why I decided to paint everything afterwards.
The electronics area was divided off with 1" ply and then I mounted everything to the mounting board and wire managed everything behind. I will be adding battery backups to the system. I want the apex to be able to communicate if the power goes down so I will be hooking the 1Link to a UPS but will probably not be powering the WAVs with that battery backup since I don't have the room for that big of a UPS to make them run long enough. The UPS hooked to the 1Link will power the apex through the aquabus connection. I will probably be buying the Ecotech battery backup with the booster(not yet released) for the Vectra M1. I will then be purchasing a generator for long term outages.
The ATO I wanted to be as clean as possible (I have a major case of OCD) so I hook the Tunze pump to a barbed Murlock adapter and then plugged that into the bulkhead on the inside of the ATO container. I then ran the 90 degree Murlock adapters on the top side with some RODI line(red of course, have to be stylish) between the Sump and the ATO container.

Thanks again for all those that follow and please feel free to chime in and give advice or ask questions where needed. I will have a lot more questions when it comes to the livestock. I will be QTing all fish and dipping all corals. Thanks again

ChrisAndJulie2012 · Dec 17, 2015

Amazing tank! I only dream of having a tank such as this! Good luck on this amazing build.

Merry Christmas

mixer911 · Dec 17, 2015

That really turned out AWESOME!

HiddenUser · Dec 17, 2015

DANG!! This looks gooooooooood!

FireEMT · Dec 17, 2015

Thanks to everyone for the supportive comments. It has been a lot of work but it has been fun planning everything out.

Bugger · Dec 17, 2015

Did miracles make the apex display for you?
I have a new tank coming from them wondering if they can make the same set up as you have.
Also what size is the sump?
My tank is a bit smaller then yours

FireEMT · Dec 17, 2015

Bugger said:
Did miracles make the apex display for you?
I have a new tank coming from them wondering if they can make the same set up as you have.
Also what size is the sump?
My tank is a bit smaller then yours

As far as the Apex display, I built that. Miracles supplied the metal stand frame and everything else was added when I received it. It was really easy though, I just divided it off after I figured out how much room I was using up with the sump.
The sump is a synergy reef SS-34 and it is 34x15x15 and then the added ATO container which is 6x15x15.

Bugger · Dec 17, 2015

Is It just me or did Miracles ask for way to much money to build your tank. There not cheap.
Anyways this is my tank. A little smaller then yours but its a bean aniamal
Im looking to get my hands on it in the new year.
Same sump same pipes same everything.

FireEMT · Dec 17, 2015

Bugger said:
Is It just me or did Miracles ask for way to much money to build your tank. There not cheap.
Anyways this is my tank. A little smaller then yours but its a bean aniamal
Im looking to get my hands on it in the new year.
Same sump same pipes same everything.

I am very happy with the quality of the tank and the service from Derek was awesome. The freight was also top notch. So far so good and it was worth the price to me for sure. Have fun with your build.

FrankAbagnale · Dec 18, 2015

Cool build! I will be following!

revhtree · Dec 18, 2015

Oh dang! Forget the Christmas tree. That's all lit up nice and pretty!

ReefConcept · Dec 18, 2015

Brilliant build! Diggin' the SynergyReef Sump a lot--a few of my friends have them looks exactly like your setup it's nice. Goodluck with everything. Following.

Scubafrog · Dec 18, 2015

WOW! Very nice looking set-up.

FireEMT · Dec 18, 2015

Thanks again to everyone. I am currently trying to program my apex, everything seems to be working good except for the WAVs. I have to do the latest 4.40 - AA15 per neptune but I don't have a ethernet port on my macbook pro so I guess I will have to get a thunderbolt to ethernet adapter. kind of a pain updating the firmware, Neptune needs to come up with a better way, there are all sorts of things in my house that update firmware over WiFi not sure why Neptune can't.

Scubafrog · Dec 18, 2015

Newbie question:

You have two drain pipes going into your sock compartment but what is the pipe going into the skimmer compartment of the sump? Thanks!

FireEMT · Dec 18, 2015

Scubafrog said:
Newbie question:

You have two drain pipes going into your sock compartment but what is the pipe going into the skimmer compartment of the sump? Thanks!

The pipe going to the skimmer section is the emergency drain. Its set high so that if water ever started to drain down the emergency drain I would hear the splashing. The two drains to the sock compartment are the Primary full siphon and the backup Herbie standpipe. Just google bean animal and you'll find an article about it as well as all sorts of other videos. Its very quite but has a learning curve to figure it out.