Not a typical doctor's waiting room... 450 gallon reef
 

Hi all,

First I'd like to introduce myself. My name is John and I own and operate a saltwater maintenance business in Austin, Texas with my business partner Brian. I've been keeping saltwater tanks for going on five years now and it has become my life's passion.

Austin is getting a new children's hospital this year (Dell Children's) and one of my very good friends (Mike aka Dudester on RC) commisioned us to build a 450 gallon reef tank into the Pediatric Surgery waiting room. This thread will document the building process of the tank in hopes that it helps others down the road.

On to the specs!

Tank:

Manufactured by Acrylic and Glass Exhibits out of Dallas, Texas.
www.acrylicandglassexhibits.com

96"L x 36"W x 30"H

The tank will just into the waiting room as a divider and will be viewable from three side. The fourth side has an external weir type overflow and will back into a small tank room. The tank's bottom is constructed out of Sch. 80 PVC.

Stand:

Custom steel stand and cabinetry.

Circulation:

Return - Sequence Dart (3600 gph)

This pump will be cranked down to probably 2000 gph but Sequence pumps can be ramped down and consume less electricity.

Closed Loop - Sequence Hammerhead (5800 gph)

Wavemaker - Tunze Wavebox and Extension

Sump:

Custom 150-180 gallon acrylic sump/fuge.

Support Equipment:

Skimmer - Deltec AP902

Kalk Reactor - Deltec KM500

Calcium Reactor - Deltec PF601 (with Rowalith C+)

Rowaphos Reactor - Deltec FR509

Auto topoff - Tunze Osmolator 3155

Controller - Reefkeeper 2 (w/ expansion socket and PH probe)

RO/DI unit - Aqua FX Mako

On site saltwater mixing reservoir for waterchanges.

Lighting

(3) 400w Coralvue Reeflux 10k bulbs on Coralvue Ballasts

(4) 72" URI True Actinic VHO's on Icecap 660's

Pictures of the tank as the silicon cures should be up soon, followed by pictures of the space and eventually installation.

Thanks for looking!

John

Mike's original thread documenting his tank can be found here if anyone is interested.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=4

Sweet. can't wait to see pics!

i'm also trying to get ahold of that manufacturer for my 270g... its tough..

Acrylic and Glass Exhibits does not sell directly to the public.

Hope that helps,

John

John, cant wait to see some pics. Do you guys have a public store in Austin?

can't wait to see pics.Great project

John, thanks for starting this thread. I'm glad I didn't start it months ago when we only had drawings and a bunch of ideas - now you have to host it :bum: .

invincible569 - John and Brian have a shop here in Austin called Kingfish Aquariums. It hasn't been open for very long but already it has a large following and they've distinguished themselves by stocking and selling top of the line equipment and dry goods, healthy fish and inverts, and premium live rock. They're both extremely knowledgable and they have different strengths which complement each other. This makes for an ideal LFS, and I feel lucky to live in a city where so much experienced help is available to me.

Now on to the tank. I, too, can't wait to see pics!!

Sounds awesome John and Brian. Just making my way over here after following Dudester's thread for a long time. Can't wait to see the pics.

Adam

Hey, I'm here! Looking forward to following this one. I'll have to get down to Austin one of these weekends to go visit Kingfish.

Hey guys, this is mburton from ARC. Looking forward to see how this thing shapes up. John/Brian, have you guys opened the shop up? I knew you had livestock in, but wasn't sure if you were actually open to the public yet.

wow, sounds like the kids are going to love seeing this thing!

wow, sounds like the kids are going to love seeing this thing!

looking forward to the pictures!!

Ok finally got some pics! Originally the tank was going to come in tomoprrow but with the ice in Texas, it will probably be later this week. On to the pics!

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/DSCN0631.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/DSCN0630.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/DSCN0629.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/DSCN0628.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/DSCN0627.jpg

I'll work on getting some pictures of the equipment and live rock next!

That thing is a beast!

8'.

Really nice.. I like

I'm :inlove: with your tank!

I dunno John, I think we should have gone BIGGER :D .

After talking to them direct and then one of their "retailers in Houston" it took 5 weeks for them to get me a quote. I followed up with them atleast 3 times and they kept giving me over to different people to talk with. I ended up going with Aquarium Obsessed and was very happy.

My experience couldn't have been farther from yours. Tom answers my calls and emails very quickly and has been extremely informative during every tank build.

My experience with AO was that it took 2 or 3 weeks to get quoted, then at least 12 to get the tank built. The last tank we got from AO (while beautiful) took about 15 weeks to get to Texas.

Mike,

Haha this one looks heavy enough to me! :smokin:

That tank is sick. Very nice.

wow, that thing looks great. If you all need any help with the move, give me a PM and I will send over my number.