My 150 gallon build

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

This is where I'm at in my build currently. I'll order my sump in a few weeks, then my pump. I was going to go with a Neptune core 20 but am leaning towards an Ecotech M2. I have a Sicca Syncra 3.0 to run circulation on my mixing station but as I was putting it together the housing cracked. Feels like cheap plastic. So I'm done with Sicca. I have an Echotech S2 to run my UV sterilizer. That is now running my mixing station. Very solid pump. Quality built. I also have 2 Ecotech MP40's and 2 Ecotech battery backups that look and feel solid and quality built. I have a lot of Neptune gear also, most of which is not in use at the moment but it all looks and feels like cheap plastic. I'm probably going all Ecotech on my 2nd build which will be an LPS only 112 gallon custom. My current build will start as a mixed reef but will transition to SPS only as it matures.

 

[WIReefer]

Congrats on the build! I run the vectra m2 and love it!

 

[Arabyps]

Great start. Congratulations.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

This is my water filter setup. It looks overbuilt I know but having worked a the GM plant in Doraville years ago where they tested down to the parts-per-billion there were a lot of chemicals in the water. I called the city of Atlanta to get a water quality report and it was like pulling teeth to get any information. Multiple calls and 3 weeks later they sent me a brochure which was not adequate in my opinion. At least now I can provide pure drinking water to my family as a side benefit. My wife is not happy that the corals have better water quality than us humans (RO vs RODI). I've given up on trying to explain it to her.
On this setup I had to tap into the waste line as it was the only drain available. A flow meter was also installed to let me know when the system was producing water and how much waste water is being produced. Currently, this is the only device monitored by my Apex.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

Congrats on the build! I run the vectra m2 and love it!

Thank you. I'm pleased so far.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

For my mixing station, I have 2-55 gallon horizontal tanks run by an Ecotech S2. There are errors in the plumbing that don't need immediate attention but I will rebuid the plumbing before I fill my aquarium. Very happy with my Ecotechs performance.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The Lighting: My decision to get back into aquariums came just before the release of the Kessil a360X. Having seen it and done my research there was no question that this was the light for me. My plan was to run these in an ATI t5 hibrid but once I set it up the wire management was impossible to conceal or to make esthetically pleasing. we're talking 7 power cords here. So I decided to go with a DIY extruded aluminum fixture. What little cord exposure you can see is part of the overall industrial esthetic I was looking for. In the PC industry we had a saying, "If you can't hide the cables then make them beautiful". I don't know about beautiful but acceptable is my goal and I think I've accomplished that. I have literally dismantled the ATI fixture and am designing a DIY hibrid light that meets my requirements but that is currently not a priority or a need. As a side note: I have run these lights regularly for the past year because I absolutely love the look although this will not be the final build.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The stand: As I said previously, I am going for an industrial look and the stand is the center piece to achieving that esthetic. The stand is anodized extruded aluminum. Between wood, steel and aluminum this is the most expensive. But it's also the most versitile and very strong. The initial company I chose was reputable but very slow to respond. My rep was only available by email and he would only respond at the end of the following work day. Not acceptable. So I went with FandL. It was not without issues as the stand was 3" too long and the base was white when I requested black. However, Mike, a manager there was quick to fix all issues and even told me I could keep the base and the too long horizontals for free. However, these stands, no matter who you buy them from do not come with assembly instructions and they are not easy to assemble. There is a particular order in which to do it and you cannot tighten some elements until others are in place. As easy as it may look I am ashamed to say it took me better than 3 hours. I absolutely love the results. I will shift the equipment bay to the right side to give me better access to the sump.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The tank: I have shopped for a tank the entire 2 years I have been creating this build. There were some good candidates. My desire was for a rimless tank but I was advised that I shouldn't go rimless if my tank was taller than 18". Rimless was a must for me so I was going to sacrifice the 6" in height...until I came upon this tank by SC Aquariums out of California. It was Euro braced (dimensions 60"x24"x24") with low iron glass and it looked good. Better yet it was on sale for half price and shipping was FREE! From California no less! so I jumped on it. It shipped 2 days later to my surprise. When it arrived I was shocked at the craftsmanship. It was literally beautiful. It came predrilled for a Shadow Overflow. I'm sitting here looking at it now and it is very difficult to see with the lights off (hence "Shadow Overflow"). The low iron glass and black silicon make this tank a work of art imo.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

News you can use: If you follow my build please pay attention to the wire management as a rats nest should never be acceptable where water and electricity coexist. Even drip loops can be defeated where rat nest wiring exists. It will be as clean as they come.
Having been a licensed home inspector for 15 years I've seen it all, from the shock hazards to the fire hazards and I can usually spot issues pretty quickly. What I've seen on some tanks are people installing GFCI receptacles under their tanks. This may not be a "best Practice". If you have a leak are you really going to get on your hands and knees in a wet environment and reach for that trip switch? The closer your heart is to the shock hazard the more likely you are to be killed. In addition, I've had GFCI's fail brand new and newly installed. Like heaters they can fail on or off. Mine will be installed to the right of my aquarium as it is "down stream" on the circuit (closer inline to the breaker box). Additionally, there is a GFCI installed on this circuit in the breaker box as a backup. These kind are a lot more reliable and provide redundancy in case the receptacle GFCI fails. Anywhere downstream on the circuit will do. This should allow you to remain on your feet if you need to trip, reset or test the GFCI. You should test them monthly.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

Randoms: I will install a separate dedicated circuit for my lights as well as for my UV sterilizer. The separate circuit is recommended by the sterilizer manufacturer. The lights take up a lot of wattage and when I've run a space heater the breaker sometimes trips. The sterilizer is too long to fit under the tank so I will probably mount it to the wall where it stands (to the right of the tank). I can still change the bulb easily and I can keep an eye on it. You should anticipate the electrical needs and "behaviors" of everything on your tanks electrical circuit. Heaters, speakers with amplifiers and refrigerators all cause mini power surges that can trip your GFCI's. While I am quite knowledgeable and capable of doing this myself, I'm going to pay a licensed electrician to do the work and I will inspect it afterwards. I'm going to "stay in my lane" so to speak. Also, buy yourself a GFCI receptacle tester. These can test all 110v plug receptacles. A receptacle can be wired wrong and still work. The most common that I've found over the 100,000 receptacles that I've inspected over my career is hot/neutral reverse. This wiring error will not allow your GFCI to trip during testing or during a shock hazard. It can kill you. It is a common mistake and many of you will have this present in your homes today. It is a common enough occurrence that by choice I inspected EVERY receptacle in EVERY home I inspected even though I was not required to do so. You would do well to investigate. While everything I've posted here is through years of experience and observation, you should ALWAYS follow and seek the advice of a good, experienced licensed electrician.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

Randoms: I cannot say enough good about this Kessil array. The lights are solidly constructed, all metal and are whisper quiet. I can only hear them when I am right in front of a particular light and I still cannot hear the lights on either side. The only drawback is the software. It's an ugly interface and should be able to be controlled by my Apex or Mobius. I also have to reattach to to the lights if I go from my iphone to my ipad which I find annoying. I recently did a firmware upgrade on all of the lights and it wants to do a long loading process (takes about 30 seconds). There is a rumor out there that Kessil has some kind of software overhaul coming. If it's true, I welcome it!

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

My quarantine: I'm setting this up in the next week or two. I've decided to upgrade the 20 gallon to another 29 gallon. Both tanks will quarantine several fish at the same time and by the time my tank is running and cycled they should be ready to come out of quarantine. This will be a minimum of 4 weeks. However, both tanks will not be released into the main display at the same time. This will happen according to the tanks ability to deal with the load. This method hopefully will allow me to be done with the fish ASAP as they are not my main focus.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

My UV sterilizer: This thing is a beast. Almost 4' tall and 3" in diameter. However it is installed I will need at least 4' of clearance to change the bulb. Not enough room under the tank so I'm trying to apply my wiring principle (make it beautiful if you can't hide it). I'm working on some ideas. Will definitely void my warranty. It's main use is for pest control but I should be able to adjust the flow and change to algae control if needed with a little work. It is a Pentair EU40 40watt smart sterilizer (whatever "smart" means). I wanted something big enough that I thought could go between pest control and algae control.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The pumps!: Nothing but Ecotech for me in this category. Like the Kessils this is my only choice. I have 2 MP40's to start as I will be starting with LPS. Later I will add 2 MP10's to complete my flow for incoming SPS. The pump is solid and I love the "no wires in the tank" look as well as for safety. I tested them when I did a leak test on the tank and am very pleased with their performance. I do have a WXM module but may end up using Mobius to control all My Ecotech gear. More research is in progress.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

Neptune gear: Although I complain about the cheap plastic look and feel there's no denying it's performance (as noted by the vast majority of users, I have no experience). The Apex is currently running my FMM on my mixing station-no issues. I love the aquabus concept that removes many power bricks from the equation. All this gear can be run from 1 EB832 Aquabus port. The Trident I can't wait to put into action as well as the DOS. I want to connect the Trident to a calcium reactor when the time comes. The equipment bay will be enclosed with Polycarbonate doors to minimize the noise I'm told the DOS will make.

 

[justmee]

Congrats!!

When I see threads like this, makes me think I'm in the wrong business, and curious where do you guys get the money/budget to spead like that... My wife would definitely leave me if I spent money like that on my hobby...

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The Mixing station: If you haven't noticed, the RODI and mixing station are in a room behind the shelf left of the tank. This is sooo convenient! 6-7 feet from the tanks to display. The room doesn't have air circulation but I'm going to fix that soon. There is also a bathroom within 10 feet. Unfortunately, my wife has mandated that I must keep our wine fridge in there as well as our disaster preparation supplies so I can't have a dedicated fish room but overall I'm satisfied. The leak detectors are installed. The optical float sensors will be. Harrysaquatics.com has some cool gear related to that that I'm looking to purchase. Check him out. I'll keep you all updated as further progress is made but that's it for now. Thank you for any time you've devoted to my feed and I hope it's interesting enough that you will continue to follow. Please feel free to comment or give constructive criticism. I'm not above taking help where I find it useful.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

Congrats!!

When I see threads like this, makes me think I'm in the wrong business, and curious where do you guys get the money/budget to spead like that... My wife would definitely leave me if I spent money like that on my hobby...

While this is definitely an expensive endeavor, I have been buying equipment for the past 2 years. In fact, most things are out of warranty and they have never seen a drop of water or a volt of electricity. This is my dream setup and, as I suffer from depression this is the best therapy I have ever had despite all the meds and doctors.

 

[Wantsomemora Acrapora]

The scape: I’ve been at this for four days total. THIS IS REALLY HARD! I still have a ways to go. Lots of chiseling, mortar and super glue...lots and lots of super glue. I use it to glue sand and rock to the mortar. Works pretty good. Some of the rock is pukani and lace rock I bought from a local reefer. All of that rock will be cooked for 2 months when the scape is done. I’m taking no chances on introducing pests into my system. I’ve already bleached them for a week. I made the right side too tall; it is 16” on a 24” tall tank. The row in the front is rock that has yet to be glued in place.