260 Gallon Reef - Construction Begins - Pics

[cisco006]

For the past couple of years I have been dreaming of building a large inwall reef tank, well today the dream has come one step closer to reality.


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The tank is a 260 gallon 72x30x30 half inch glass tank, with the front viewing panel made of starphire glass. The tank has two corner overflows, and has the cutouts for a closed loop system.

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The tank will be mounted where this window sits, the tank will be in the garage and will be viewed from my living room.

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The Tank will be mounted on a 4" slab of reinforced poured concrete. The casing incorporates two legs that will support the rear weight of the tank. Note that the edges of the rear of the tank have been left out for plumming

http://home.comcast.net/~cisco006/0945.jpg

As you can see in the pics, there is quite a bit of steel placed in strategic locations, the GC who put this together, is a personal friend of mine and assures me that the slab configuration would be able to support 10 times the weight of the tank.(approx 3,500 lbs)

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Here is the finished Concrete pour. Im going to wait two weeks to let the concrete thouroughly cure, then lay a 3/4 inch layer of styrofoam, before finally mounting the tank in its final location.

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Everyone around here likes to show off pics of there kids so I thought I would too!!!!:strooper:

I will be using this thread to post pics as my project comes along. Expect more pics in about two weeks when the tank will be mounted in the wall and the viewing side will be sealed and finished. Please feel free to post any comments you may have

Cisco:bum:

[nonot8946]

Looks good so far! congratulations!

[Johnsteph10]

Now that's a stand. :lol:

[rdavis289]

Probably a stupid question. But you had a window looking into your garage? Or are you adding onto the garage to make a fish room?

[cisco006]

thats actually a very good question rdavis,
The garage was actually an exterior car porch many moons ago.
John steph, I thought you guys would appreciate the stand!!!

Cisco

[NexDog]

What kind legs is the slab and tank going to be on? Hopy it's sturdy because that slabs adds alot of weight.

[cisco006]

The Slab and Legs are all one pour of concrete, there actually not legs the are 45 degree pillars that lead right back to the wall, there is much steel in these pillars, I highly doubt that stabillity will ever be an issue
cisco

[NexDog]

Ah, now I see. I just had a meeting with our builders too and they proposed this same idea. But I'm worried about getting it level. If your slab isn't level, you're going to be in trouble. You can exactly shim directly under a glass. Thoughts?

[cisco006]

The trick to preparing this type of stand is to take alot of time and precision into building your mold. Everything should be measured perfectly and leveled out. Mind you this should be done by a profesional, or someone who really knows what they are doing. Once the mold is right, next is drilling the holes in the existing walls and laying down the steel. Once all these things have been done, you simply mix concrete and Pour. Once its full, level it out by raking the top with a 2x4. Once its dry it should be perfectly level, and if it isnt then you did something wrong. None the less I dont like the I dea of the glass resting directly on the concrete slab, so I will be placeing a layer of styrofoam, for a nice cushy fit, and this also allows for minor self leveling. Hope that clears it up and confusion.

Cisco

[NexDog]

Sounds like you have it covered. So 2 weeks until the tank goes on and water is put in? I still will have time by then so I'll be watching in anticipation to see how it turns out. :)

[beakfreak]

Looks like its going to be an awesome tank.:D :D

[jman77]

Nice setup !!!

Who built the tank for you ?

[Jhirley]

how about heat ? How are you going to keep it cool, you know it gets very, here .. How about power ? We all know FPL Sucks .. This looks great so far ? What are your plans sps, lps clams , aggressive fish, or just a large indoor pool ..

regards

[cisco006]

The solution to the heat issue is quite simple, A HUGE CHILLER!!! FPL really isnt that bad, if you look up KW rates, florida isnt that bad. The Tank will be nothing but reef. SPS, LPS, and maybe a few softies, I am going to go the ECO Route and try to use as little natural resources as possible. The goal is an SPS dominant reef. Another Goal is to low maintance, which to a certain extent means as natural as possible, If my fish room allows I would like to install a huge refugium, one similar to this months tank of the month. The problem is that the tank is mounted very high in my garage, to reach the right height in my living room. The refugium must be above tank, if not I will incorporate a normal sized refuguim in the sump. I will be making finalazing system design once tank is installed. Up to this point the Installation allows for me to do virtually anything I want. more to come. Thank you to all for your interest

Cisco

[cisco006]

jmann, the tank was built by exotic aquariums in miami FL, IMO, the do an excellent job and are considered the best in miami. The do glass only

cisco

[jman77]

The tank looks great Cisco ! Would you have their contact info by any chance ?

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

nice tank cisco, 'pimp your reef' awards! post piks as you go along.......good luck and congrats!

[cisco006]

Jmann, I dont have exotics number handy, but you can call 411 or look them up in yellow pages, they are listed.
Thanks for the cheers chaotic

cisco

[cisco006]

Its been a while since I posted any updates. Daily Documentation of the Tank is a luxury Ive had to go without. I have a hard enough time finding the necesary time just to build this thing. I have the basic foundation for the tank completed, just a few bells and whistles missing for now anyways here is a look at what Ive been able to put together.

Cisco

[NexDog]

Waits for the pics. :D

[cisco006]

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[cisco006]

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[cisco006]

The tank has been running now for a little over two months, and I am very pleased with the results so far. After a short battle with phosphates (solved with phosban) and after getting may ph, alk, and calc to the right parmeters, coralline algea is begining to grow. Of the 300 or so Lbs of rock only 50 pounds is fiji premium, the rest is dead limestone collected locally here in miami. the green coraline algeas, are growing very quickly while the reds, pinks and purple are growing but at a considerbly slower rate.

In the coming months I will be making the following upgrades.
Lighting for the Refugium
3 x 400 watt MH (not sure color temp yet)
UV Sterilizor
Aquacontroller
Calcium Reactor (but not for awhile)

So far its been alot of fun building this tank, Its also been a lot of work and alot of money, did I mention alot of money. approx 8000 usd. Anyways, please post questions or comments

Cisco

[NexDog]

Only $8k - you lucky. :D

I think you'll regret having no front access when you start adding corals. You'll be climbing up, putting one in, placing, climbing down, running around to the front, running back, climbing up, adjusting, climbing down, running back to the front, running back again etc etc. :)

But it looks great with no access doors above it, very clean indeed. And all that space for equipment...very nice.

[alien9168]

Wow. This is really looking good... I like the pic with the foot prints lol ;)

[alien9168]

Oh. btw... it sounds like you did some really great planning with your wuider/architect. Way to go man! :thumbsup:

[hawaiianwargod]

Looks nice. Do you have pics with corals in it? BTW, I like the aquascaping.

[cisco006]

No corals yet, I have a low light setup going on right now, just to get the coraline algea really growing, and just waiting for the tank to mature a little, then I will add MH lighting. I kind of like this aquascaping too, Ive been moving the rocks around trying to get a look that I like, I think im getting close. I opted to not go through the whole process of creating a frame for the rockwork, and I basically just slaped the rocks together, no glue, no nothing, I hope I dont regret it later, but I dont think that I will.
thanks for the comments.
cisco

[Alphabet]

Looks great. Love the stand, will be nice to see it progress over the next few months.