Jack's 300 gallon system

[Jack07013]

I am trying to document more of my build than I have in the past. My old tank which was a 72g bow front that was great but… I wanted something bigger and nicer. As a result I started looking for something that would suit my personal taste, my fish and corals better. Than on NJ Craigslist site in late July 2009 I came across a tank that was too good to pass up. Sure, it needed a little bit TLC but it had all the potential in the world to make it a dream tank.

Also, most the equipment is second hand. I bought it from people on my local forum or here on RC. It has taken a little bit longer to collect all the equipment, but it helped me to save some money and allowed me to meet some nice people.

Here is a rundown of the equipment that will be used on this system.

Tank- 54" x 36" x 27" 225g tank (Thank you GloveGuru) – can you imagine that there is not a single scratch on the front glass? ¾” starphire glass. --- also, thank you goes to Paul to helped me to bring it over to my house. It was a great two of moving 2 large tanks from 2 different states in ONE day.

36" x 24" x 10" 30 gallon Frag tank (Thank you Adam)

Sump- 80g acrylic sump (Thank you Twinreef)

Skimmer- RE Alpha Cone 250 (Thank you Samsky)

Main pump – Hammerhead (Thank you DanTheManNJ)

Controller: Profilux II with WLAN and soon to be III EX with WLAN (Thank you Vinny)

Profilux Dosing Unit – 4 pump to control Ca, Alk and Mg (Thank you Vinny)

In tank circulation- 2 mp40's gen2 http://ecotechmarine.com/products/vortech-mp40w/ - (Thank you Brian from TB Aquatics)

Salt-Brightwell Salt (Thank you Felix)

Zeo Reactor - Vertex 3L reactor and zeo stuff

Lighting - 2 modules of 120W EX BT PS LED plus 90W EX BT LED module for the frag tank.

MarcoRocks – 3 nice towers – just wait for the pics.

And here is how it all started:

[Jack07013]

here is the pic of the tank before the move:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/TANKPIC1.jpg

and one more:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/TANKPIC4.jpg

[Jack07013]

I decided to close the closed loop and dedicated the middle line out of the 3 for the return. and yes, I needed like 15 bulkheads to accomplish everything. I am still not done with the durso pipe since regular size pvc pipes will not fit in the overflow box. simply too small.

[Jack07013]

here it is the pic of the pvc pipes that go from the tank to the 'fish room' next door that wife "allowed" to use it :-)

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0066.jpg

in that space used to be 72g bowfront a few months ago.

[Jack07013]

well, I am no carpenter so I had to ask for a favor and Chris came in with some help. it took him about two days to do his magic. We went together to Home Depot and he made some suggestions as far as what I needed based on my vision :-) He agreed to do it but left painting to me. I dont have any pics of the actual contruction but I can share a few pics of me trying to paint it. Yes, I wanted a dark color to match the furniture in the TV room. and you can see I am not a great painter.

garage pic of painting time:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0073.jpg

and yes, I used backyard benches to help me out :-)

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0036-2.jpg

[Jack07013]

I wanted some nice trim so it i got it :-)

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0039.jpg

[Jack07013]

I used appliance epoxy and primer to paint inside of the canopy.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0041.jpg

[Jack07013]

I spent few weeks working with Marc from Marco Rocks to get what I was looking for and he went out of his way to deliver it. The 6 rocks came in 3 boxes, packed as you would never believe. not ONE single chip on them in transportation. I was so impressed that there is no words for it.

so after rocks came in, i wanted to put them on the stand and see how it would look like:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0035.jpg


http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0036-1.jpg


http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0059.jpg

[Jack07013]

and than time came in to move the beast to the basement. 4 suction cups, 4 guys and a lot of praying.

[Jack07013]

after the move:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0035-1.jpg

without the canopy but the rocks inside:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0050.jpg

[Jack07013]

the picture of the canopy still in the garage:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0072.jpg

[Jack07013]

it took me about 3 days to get all the water needed via 75gpd RO/DI unit but here are some pics of the tank with water, lights on, canopy on:


http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0052-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0051-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0055-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0054-1.jpg

[Jack07013]

Fish Room design: here is where RC came to the rescue. I have searched for some ideas and if you see something to what you did and posted on RC - thank you. it made my life much easier to come up with a final version. I have Hammerhead pump in the middle as you can see. add some extra rubber below the cement block and the pump and the bluck to reduce noise to minimum.

Mainfold - simple construction - nothing fancy.

[Jack07013]

sump and skimmer:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0058-1.jpg

[Jack07013]

Frag tank:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0057-1.jpg

[Jack07013]

together:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0060-1.jpg

[Jack07013]

Fish room:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0059-1.jpg

yes, I will add a small fridge for the beer too :-)

[Jack07013]

Zeovit :


Day 1 (9/24/09) :

Dose 50ml of ZEObak (1 bottle). Near the pump to the Vertex to colonize the rocks as well as the tank.

Dose 100ml of ZEOstart2. Near the pump.

Dose 30ml of Sponge Power. Again, near the pump.

No dosing for 2 days.

Day 4 and there after:

8 drops ZEObak 2x a week. (Sundays and Wednesdays)

On Sundays: 100ml of tank water & mix 1 spoonful of ZEOzym & 8 drops of Zeobak. I will allow mixture sit for about 6 hours, then dose.

Dose .8ml/.8ml Zeostart2 Daily (day/night).

Dose 8 drops of Sponge Power Daily.

[Jack07013]

On day # 9 I got some light diatom coverage on the rocks and bed sand. I will post a pic of current look later on tonight.

also - any suggestions as far as livestock goes? fish??

[mnml]

Very nice build you got going. What kind of substrate are you using? The grains looks pretty big.

[Jack07013]

It is indeed big grain substrate since zeo system works better with it. If I am not mistaken I got CaribSea Aragonite Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand or something similar to it.

[Oldude]

:fun2:it took me about 3 days to get all the water needed via 75gpd RO/DI unit but here are some pics of the tank with water, lights on, canopy on:


http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0052-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0051-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0055-1.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0054-1.jpg
Nice rock pieces. Ever thought about inverting the two sections on the right side so the larger flat area would be on the top? That would give much more "shelf space" and in my opinion look a bit more natural, although it looks great and once things get filled in it will look natural anyway. Just an idea.

[Jack07013]

Greg - I may actually play with it this weekend and see if it make sense. I think it is more stable with bigger on the bottom - but I will give it a try. No corals yet, so why not give it a try? I have not thought about it. Thank you for a good suggestion.

[mnml]

I think the bigger grains look great. I'm planning to get the same substrate for my new tank as well. Keep up the great work! :thumbsup:

[Chalu]

I think the bigger grains look great. I'm planning to get the same substrate for my new tank as well. Keep up the great work! :thumbsup:

+1 The bigger grain looks great, I'm considering the same stuff for my tank...I will not be using Zeovit though; thanks for posting pics gives me great perspective. By the way love your rock...will look better in my tank :idea:

[Jack07013]

I am happy to hear that. a lof of ideas I took from pictures of other reefers set ups. I would rather learn fromt their expirience rather than my failure. thank you for kind words. a lot of hard work and time, but slowly, slowly getting to the point where I would like to be.

+1 The bigger grain looks great, I'm considering the same stuff for my tank...I will not be using Zeovit though; thanks for posting pics gives me great perspective. By the way love your rock...will look better in my tank :idea:

[mnml]

wow, that's a nice looking fixture.

[Jack07013]

Arrival of some lifestock:

1. Yellow Tang
2. Coral Beauty
3. Flame Angel
4. 2 Cleaner Shrimps

Corals:

some montis, acros - I will post pics tonight. The tank doesnt look that great due to diatom invasion. I hope it will go away soon.

[chippypah]

Wow That is looking Great my Friend, keep the pictures comeing.
Cheers
Pete

[Jack07013]

and the first corals:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0091-1.jpg

[Jack07013]

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0085.jpg

[Jack07013]

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0083.jpg

[popper231]

great looking tank. i like the depth and the rocks. congrats!!!

[Galantra]

Can't believe i miss the start of this thread it looks great. What made you go with the Zeo method? I actually have everything to start but decided not to go with it.

[Jack07013]

Galantra - it is still work in progress as far as zeo goes. I am on day #30 and getting ready for my first rock exchange. why i have decided to go with zeo? I dont want start big debate zeo this or zeo that - simply have seen some nice tanks and in both cases those guys were using either zeo or neozeovit method. both of guys are NJ and you probably know them from MR forum or even from here on RC. as far as work around the tank - it is really not that a big problem - how much time does it take to add 2-3ml of liquid to your tank? 20-30 seconds? I understand that zeo may not be the most popular method in US, but a lot of european reefers use it with great success. and I love it the way their tanks look like. now, can this be achieved in a different way? sure. I just decided to go with zeo way.

[Galantra]

No, that understandable Just wanted to know why since I decided to go with a denitrifier I could no longer implement the Zeo system to my tank. I wanted to just go with something that could constantly keep my levels the same. So far you build looks great I actually went the same path with sand as well. I really can’t wait to see everything plumbed together since I am having situations myself plumbing from the basement.

[Jack07013]

Take your time with plumbing - it took me almost 2 weeks to do everything plumbing wise. Just not enough hrs after work and busy weekends. take your time. I still have not finished working on auto water changes and slowly adding my doser for Alk, Ca and Mg.

[Alphabet]

I like the rockwork and fishroom. Clean and neat.
What size is the return line off the manifold? What about the "T" offed lines?
I'm assuming 2" and 1/2" ?

[Galantra]

I am currently running into problems trying to figure how to plumb tank to sump effectivly from the basement.

With such a big tank why are you picking to dose?

[Jack07013]

the idea to dose was "stolen" from the following thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1601313&perpage=25&pagenumber=5

just read the thread and you will see why. plus - I decided to go with Profilux controller and dosing unit is part of their equipment list.

as far as aquipment - dosing unit cost: $300
good calcium reactor and kalk reactor: $1000

why would you go with that? I set up my dosing unit to run 6 times a day - each pump at different time. best solution you could find. I bought Calc, Mag and Alk from TB Aquatics in buckets and picked up myself so no shipping costs.

why would you do it in any other way?

[Jack07013]

Rockwork - Marcorocks. yes, I had waited a little bit for the right rocks, but I didnt mind it at all. Marc even sent pics before buying and it was so well packed that I should have taken pics of the packing. I was very happy with it.

as far as pipes - return pipe from main tank 2", to the main tank 1", from T to the frag tank 1/2" and from frag tank to sump 1", extras from T are 1/2 - I was planning to using carbon/phosban reactor/s plus calcium - but once decided to go with zeo and dosing unit - they are just there if needed.

I like the rockwork and fishroom. Clean and neat.
What size is the return line off the manifold? What about the "T" offed lines?
I'm assuming 2" and 1/2" ?

[Rickyrooz1]

Nice build, I like the rocks

[Galantra]

Jack,
I read through it and it does make a good sense to do so I don't see why not as well got me thinking maybe I should try it out. But so far everything looks like it rolling smoothly

[Jack07013]

in.... it was. why? 1) impossible to do it without taking almost swim lessons, 2) skimmer went nuts for 24hrs. but I learned the lesson - get the rocks closer to front glass and than move them back. that's the only way to do it.

yellow tang from dr. Jim:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0122.jpg

and yes, I have no idea how to take pics of moving objects :-)

[Jack07013]

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0113.jpgfew other pics:

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0101.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0102.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0103.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0105-1.jpg

[justinmcleod]

Wow! Love the tank and the aquascaping! I just read an article on the zeo method, really intriguing, I only have just heard about it. Will be cool to see your tank progress and hear how everything goes. Thanks for showing the tank! I bet your fish will love to have the pillars to swim around as well.

[Galantra]

the flame and coral beauty do they fight?

[Jack07013]

I have not seen any aggresion from any of them. I will add goldflake angel in December :-)

the flame and coral beauty do they fight?

[Galantra]

We need some updates!!!

[Jack07013]

well... lets see... I have spent some money on corals:

a) yellow stylo
b) some pink acro

and some ORA frags - 14 of them.

i am done for the year. unless wife will change her mind.

you know that the big day is coming sometime next week when LEDs arrive. I cant wait for that. I should know by Monday about that special date. I will post pics next week once everything settles.

[Galantra]

Can't wait are you going to make it to the MR swap? I been ulucky lost a lot of SPSs so I am little bit frustrated

[Jack07013]

a few additions:

fish: yellow coris wrasse - camera shy

corals: few ora frags and some some other sps

red planet
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0142.jpg

plum crazy
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0146.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0150.jpg

hawkins
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0136.jpg

and 30k lokani - just not a perfect pic - much nicer in person
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0140.jpg



hawkins

[extremeshocks]

Amazing tank!!

[Jack07013]

ok, a few updates: Zeo - I a on day # 79 and started full schedule dosing.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/12-12-200910-43-15AM.jpg

[Bax]

Those light look pretty cool!

Let's see them fired up!!!

[stone.david]

we have to see them, im looking at getting some soon so please put a bunch of pics up.

What are your thoughts on them

[Jack07013]

so today after work I visited my LFS and bought a few things:

LEDs set at 18k

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0192.jpg

and second one

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0193.jpg

together

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0191.jpg

[Jack07013]

and this one taken under 24k

way too blue for my taste

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0204.jpg

[Jack07013]

16k

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv28/rniedzia/Jacks%20tank/IMG_0200.jpg

[mnml]

Awesome pieces Jack! Congrats

[Jack07013]

thank you. i am just learning and nowwhere near of some other great tanks.

Awesome pieces Jack! Congrats

[Haksar]

Jack..great build.The LEDs are cool.

[elijaher]

This is going great nice looking corals you have.

[polywise]

Jack07013,
what's the name of your LFS?

[Jack07013]

LFS near me? Absolutely Fish - my favorite place - northern nj. I live like 2 minutes from them. i visit them 3-4 times per week. you are from NY - if you ever go there - talk to Glen - great guy. best time to visit is Thursday.

Jack07013,
what's the name of your LFS?

[marekt]

nice build ,LED looks nice too

[Bax]

Jack

That fixture is awesome! After the holidays, I must stop by and see it in action! Maybe I'll bring along a holiday gift from the SPS elves!

[Bax]

Jack

FYI Watch out for that red branching algea, it seems to be on those plugs, it is tenatious once it gets hold in your tank and very few tangs or rabbits seem to eat it. Remove all you physically can before final placement of those corals in your tank. Use a grinder if you must!

[wis_fishing_guy]

Love that rockscape!!

[dastratt]

Any more info about where to get the LED lights?

[Jack07013]

thank you. the credit should go to Marc from Marco Rocks. great guy and went out of his way to help me out.

Love that rockscape!!

[Jack07013]

Bax - Jack was born on Saturday - both mom and baby are doing fine and they are coming home for X-mas.

I will try to remove the red branching algea off the plugs.

Stop by any time, I will be home till January 4th when I go back to work.

Jack

FYI Watch out for that red branching algea, it seems to be on those plugs, it is tenatious once it gets hold in your tank and very few tangs or rabbits seem to eat it. Remove all you physically can before final placement of those corals in your tank. Use a grinder if you must!

[CryptoFusion]

Cool tank. I like the rockwork!

[Chalu]

Looking good; Curious to see a FTS with the LED's on it. at 14K temp? I like the 12k Look too....:p