abcha0s' 300G Ultimate Reef

[abcha0s]

So what’s an “Ultimate Reef”? – Well, I don’t know. I do have some ideas, but who can really say. I guess what I really mean is my ultimate reef. This is truly my dream tank. A creative outlet that has inspired me like nothing else before it.

I’ve enjoyed reading so many great build threads. I’ve been inspired. I’ve learned from the brilliant ideas of others and the huge mistakes they have made. This is my journey.

I’ve reserved the first 40 posts for content. I'll go back and edit them as I progress. Everything after that (post 40 forward) is discussion as normal. I know the system doesn't send out notifications when a post is edited, so I'll post a new comment referencing the updates.

Please note: The first 4 pages (40 posts) of this thread contain lots of pictures. These pictures are hosted on a somewhat slow server, so if the load times aren't great, then please just be patient. The good news is that you won't have to search through hundreds of posts to find the content.

Hope to hear from you.

- Brad

[abcha0s]

Quick Links : Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Forward.......................................Post 1
Milestones....................................Post 3
Guiding Principals............................Post 4
Hardware......................................Post 5
Prelude: Waves................................Post 6
Tank Builder..................................Post 7
Designing the Tank............................Post 8
Designing the Overflow........................Post 9
Designing the Stand...........................Post 10

Designing the Sump (100G).....................Post 11
Putting it all together.......................Post 12
The build.....................................Post 13
Tank Images...................................Post 14
Plumbing the Overflow and Return..............Post 15
Fresh water testing...........................Post 16
Details (Black, Floor, HRV, Screen Top).......Post 17
Tank Leveling.................................Post 18
Water Prep and Salt Mixing....................Post 19
Continuous Water Change.......................Post 20

Specialized Hardware
• Electrical..................................Post 21
• Sequencing and Automation...................Post 22
• Neptune Apex Controller(s)..................Post 23
• Flow (Tunze 6215, 6205 / VorTech MP60w ES)..Post 24
• Autofeeders.................................Post 25
• Lighting....................................Post 26
• Heating and Cooling.........................Post 27
• Reactor Loop (biopellets, carbon, phos).....Post 28
• Tunze Master DOC 9440 Skimmer...............Post 29
• ATO (Automatic Top Off).....................Post 30

Aquascaping - Part I of III...................Post 31
- Supporting the structure
Aquascaping - Part II of III..................Post 32
- Building the aquascape
Aquascaping - Part III of III.................Post 33
- Sandscape

Life
• Fish........................................Post 34
• Corals......................................Post 35
• Inverts.....................................Post 36
• Refugium....................................Post 37
• Quarantine..................................Post 38

Opperation
• Night Mode, other, .........................Post 39

Temporary Notes
• Post 39 - Currently an experimental CWC

Progressions
• Full Tank Shots (FTS).......................Post 40

Other Threads

My 90G Tank - http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...threadid=73619

[abcha0s]

2010
* March -- Inception
* May 09 – Agreement in principal with tank builder
* Jun 03 – Final draft of tank and sump
* Jun 09 – Final iteration of the stand delivered
* Jun 17 – Tank build starts
* Jul 14 – Tank build concludes
* Jul 31 - Overflow and return plumbing complete
* Aug 02 - Fresh water tests - the tank sees water!
* Aug 18 - Ordered 300 pounds of Dry Rock from BRS

2011
* Jan 03 - Aquascaping Complete
* Jan 06 - Began filling tank (100GPD RO/DI)
* Jan 09 - Tank is full / Tunze wavebox operational
* Jan 11 - SG at 1.024
* Jan 12 - Cycle started
* Jan 13 - Skimmer online (Breakin started) / Biopellets online
* Jan 16 - Neptune Apex online
* Jan 23 - Added 240 pounds of live sand to the tank.
* Feb 06 - First fish added
* Feb 22 - Continuous Water Chanage System - Opperational
* Feb 23 - Sand in Refugium
* Mar 03 - First frag in tank (SPS)
* Mar 25 - Let there be light - Vertex Illumina 260
* Apr 09 - School of Anthias arrive
* Apr 14 - Biopellets offline
* Apr 28 - Calcium Reactor Online
* Apr 28 - Added smallish cleanup crew
* Apr 29 - First fish transferred from 90G - Pair of Clowns

[abcha0s]

What makes the perfect tank? Ask a dozen people and I’m sure that you’ll get a dozen opinions.

I think it’s important to start with a set of guidelines for making decisions throughout the build. Any choice can be compared against these principals and it should either meet or exceed the minimums. It’s also important that there is some consideration to the overall cost basically ruling out things like Red Dragon pumps for my return lines.

Mechanics
• Extremely quiet – silent if possible
• Low power consumption
• Low maintenance – automate everything possible
• Redundancy and failure planning

Lighting and Flow
• Ridiculously High flow.
• Intense lighting but with consideration to heat transfer and power costs.

Filtration
• Live rock (about 1 pound per gallon) – Should be interesting without being dominant
• Shallow sand bed
• Powerful skimming
• Carbon and GFO as needed
• NP Biopellets or whatever comes next

Livestock
• Mixed reef. SPS dominated.
• High bio-load

Impact on house
• The system should be essentially self contained and not require any renovations to install or tear down. I have access to the ceiling and the furnace room for additional equipment, but building a fish room is not feasible.
• Impact on relative humidity must be managable.

[abcha0s]

This section might be a little dry and I don’t actually expect anyone to read it. Just thought I should list the hardware for completeness.

Control:
• Neptune Systems Apex
..Probes: Ph, ORP, Temp, Salinity
..Modules: 2 x EB8, Breakout Box (6 sensors), Probe Module 2, Wireless Expansion Module (WXM)
• Neptune Systems Apex Lite – For redundancy
..Probes: Ph, Temp
..EB8, DC8, DC4HD, Breakout Box (6 sensors)

Lighting:
• Main Display: Vertex Illimunia 260 - 6ft
• Refugium / Frag Tank: Coralife AquaLight Pro MH HQI Clamp-On Pendant (150W)

Skimming:
• Tunze Master DOC 9440 (.2010)
• BubbleKing Mini 180 v2 (.2008)

Flow:
• Tunze Wavebox 6215
• 2 x Tunze 6205 Powerheads
• 2 x Vortex MP60w ES Powerheads

Return Pumps:
• 2 x Eheim 1262 (900Gph – Max Head 11’6”)

Reactors:
• 2 x Vertex UF-20 Universal Media Reactors (Biopellets)
• 2 x TLF Phosban 150 (Carbon, GFO)
• Eheim Compact+ Pump 5000

Calcium:
• PM Kalkwasser Mixer
• Vertex RX-6 Duo Calcium Reactor

ATO:
• 2 x Tunze Osmolator

Heaters:
• 4 x Finnex 300W Titanium Heaters

Chiller:
• None

RO/DI:
• Kent Marine Maxxima 50GPD – Shutoff Kit and Manual Flush Bipass
• Vertex Puratek RO/DI 100GPD
• 2 x John Guest Solenoid

Water Change
• The LiterMeter III Paristaltic Pump
• LiterMeter III Remote Pump Module
• 2 x Quiet One 3000 Water Pump
• 1 x Pan World 150PS Water Pump

[abcha0s]

I’m not sure what triggered it, but at some point I became obsessed with having a wave in my tank. It would seem to be the ultimate in energy efficiency vs. total water movement and in my opinion provides a very natural look to the tank. However, waves come at a price. In particular, they place added strain on the tank and stand that needs to be considered as part of the design and directly translates to increased construction costs.

After considerable research to identify the pros and cons of the Tunze Wavebox vs. the Vortex power heads, I concluded that for pure wave generation the Tunze had several advantages. Most importantly it is thought to be somewhat quieter.

Tunze publishes the following warnings:

TUNZE® Nano Wavebox and Wavebox is not a conventional flow-producing device for aquariums. Misuse or faulty operation may cause a hazard for the aquarium. Under certain circumstances, Nano Wavebox and Wavebox may constitute a risk for unsuitable tanks and may lead to water damage.

Please observe the following warnings:

Nano Wavebox and Wavebox operate according to the resonance principle and produce large water movements at a very low energy consumption (1).


For such low electric power, the water circulation produced should never be underestimated! The aquarium should be high enough to hold the water variations (2)!


The glass bonding adhesive should be especially strong and stable. The load on the bonding adhesive of the aquarium panes and on the aquarium pane itself is higher than without wave operation (3).


The aquarium has to be produced on the basis of the Timoshenko formula (see <Tunze provides a dead link>) (4).


Most aquariums are produced according to this formula (glass thickness and bonding adhesion).

The cabinet or the aquarium furniture, if and when applicable, should be especially stable and should be able to withstand dynamic weights. Risk of breakage in case of weak constructions!

I took these cautions to heart. Everyone I talked with had their own opinion of how these considerations related to the tank design, but no one could offer anything more than an opinion. If all you have to rely on is the opinion of various non experts, then at the end of the day you have to do the research and come up with the answers that you are comfortable with. If no one can tell you definitively what the implications are, then overbuild.

No one I spoke with about the design even considered the stand as being impacted by the wave motion.

[abcha0s]

I talked to all of the LFS owners about my project, but in the end I actually just got lucky and through a fellow Canreefer I met the guys from Concept Aquarium. Honestly, after getting to know the owner, the decision to have them build my tank was an easy one. These guys are passionate about big tanks and quality builds. If you’re having a tank built, I highly recommend talking to them.

The hard part was telling the other stores that someone else was building my tank. It was somewhat awkward and I regret this aspect of the overall experience.

Please feel free to contact me if you are considering a custom tank. I’d be happy to share my experience in more detail.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by abcha0s

I talked to all of the LFS owners about my project, but in the end I actually just got lucky and through a fellow Canreefer I met the guys from Concept Aquarium. Honestly, after getting to know the owner, the decision to have them build my tank was an easy one. These guys are passionate about big tanks and quality builds. If you’re having a tank built, I highly recommend talking to them.

Concept built my tank as well, they did a very good job on it and I'm 99.9% happy with it. They did get a litte sloppy in a couple of places with the silicone, IE: when the bottom trim went on some of the silicone sqeezed out and above the trim and was left there. Other then that I have ZERO complaints, it was completed earlier then quoted, all of the holes were where they were supposed to be and I have A LOT of holes, 16 of em in my tank.

I would recommend them to anyone.

[Parker]

Great build, a lot of thought went into your tank!

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by Parker

Great build, a lot of thought went into your tank!

Thanks Robb! - Your build is pretty spectacular too.