Slightly Wide 500 Gallon Reef Tank

[JaySchulz]

Hi All,

I figured I'd finally start a build thread on here of the current reef tank build. First I want to start by saying thank you to everyone for the support, advice, and opinions that have been shared. I find this group to be extremely helpful.

Next, a little history on why I got into reef tanks and started this build. I grew up on a sailboat in Honolulu Hawaii. I was a beach bum and probably should of gone to school. Instead, I went to the beach everyday and ended up dropping out. Shortly after, I decided to move away from home to get my act together. I moved to Houston Texas for a job and have been here ever since. Offcourse I missed home and many years ago I decided to start a standard and very thin 55 gallon. This was my attempt to bring paradise to Houston. I never liked the look of it, as my aquascaping options were pretty much non existent. Within 6 months I convinced myself to buy a reef ready 105. This gave me more depth and my aquascaping options opened up a bit. The tank was up and running about a year but unfortunatly my housing situation put an abrupt stop on the hobby I grew to enjoy. My landlord did not like the idea of a fish tank in his house and understandably so. For the last few years I've planned on a large tank but I was unsure of when I could actually build one since I've been renting. Well 6 months ago I finally bought my first house and with the support of my wife, I decided it was time to build the tank I've been dreaming about. I've had to make some large concessions to get her full support haha but I was finally able to sell her on it.

Now to the build! I've always like tanks with a lot of depth. To me they seemed more natural and gave the true appearence of having a real slice of the ocean in your living room. Steve Weist's and the Triton Reef Tank were always inspirations to what I was hoping on creating.

Customaquariums.com
72"L x 69"W x 24"T
3/4" glass tank with aluminum trim

[JaySchulz]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Those were some pictures prior to delivery. Jessica at customaquariums.com was a breeze to work with and I have nothing but good things to say.

Brian with Modular Marine built the low profile overflow and the acrylic work is perfect. I have nothing but good things to say about him as well.

I decided to go with a wide internal overflow box and toothless weir to maxamize skimming. I'm shooting for 6x turnover through the sump via a BeanAnimal drain setup. Drains will be 1.5" schedule 80 and 1.25" return(s).

[JaySchulz]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Stand is 48" tall so the tank is at eye level. I hated bending down to view my last two tanks. I added a ceiling and vertical column to create symmetry with the other load bearing columns.

The stand was based off of RocketEngineers design using larger lumber. 2x10 headers, 2x6 verticals, 2x4 base, and 3/4" plywood for stand bottom and top. The stand was tied into the load bearing columns for extra support.

The ceiling was cut out to add more water resistant cement board.



I had my electrician wire up 3 additional circuits and ran the lines to the main breaker panel in the garage. I also decided to move the light switches on the columns to a different wall. I didn't want the switches too close to the tank. After the electrician cut the holes in the columns, I was pleasantly surprised to find two outlets that the original home builder sealed when they dry walked the columns.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[txdragonslayer]

Wow I have never seen a tank that wide before, this is going to be great!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by txdragonslayer

Wow I have never seen a tank that wide before, this is going to be great!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Thanks bud. More updates shortly.

[JaySchulz]

I ended up hiring a LFS to help me move the tank in. The tank is 800lbs dry and because of the width it took 8 of us to get the tank inside. We had to turn it on its side to get it through the front door.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chitown tom]

I'm following along for inspiration.

My wife and I are currently house hunting and she has agreed to a huge main display that finally will get out of the basement!

My plan was a 500 gallon peninsula.

[Andrew D]

Looking forward to this one. Great dimensions and great location for the tank. At 4 feet high, you'll have lots of room under the tank too which mine is unfortunately lacking. Question about the overflow though, in your third post you said you were going with a wide internal overflow box but later pictures look like you've gone external. Am I wrong and if not why did you decide on the change? I have an external coast to coast and absolutely love it.

[JaySchulz]

Due to evaporation and humidity concerns I had a large whole home dehumidifier installed.

My home was already at 60-65% relative humidity with my a/c on all the time. With the extra 10-15 gallons of evaporation a day this was my best option. Luckily my father in law owns an a/c company so I got everything at his cost. We also doubled the size of my returns to better export moisture to the dehumidifier. The returns are about 15 feet away from the tank. I plan on adding exhaust fans in the canopy to blow the moist/warm air directly to the returns.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Reef908]

Looks awesome! Makes my new 180 look like a nano lol...

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by Andrew D

Looking forward to this one. Great dimensions and great location for the tank. At 4 feet high, you'll have lots of room under the tank too which mine is unfortunately lacking. Question about the overflow though, in your third post you said you were going with a wide internal overflow box but later pictures look like you've gone external. Am I wrong and if not why did you decide on the change? I have an external coast to coast and absolutely love it.

I hope I have enough room for everything. I should be fine but it will be tight. I really wish I had a fish room and I tried to claim the closet that is located behind the tank but my wife wasn't having it.

Sorry I should of been more clear. The overflow is like the "ghost overflow". It's an internal/external and the I was referring to the internal box in the post.
I'll post a picture in just a second.

[JaySchulz]

This is actually a back up overflow just in case the first one springs any type of leak. The one that is currently on the tank is actually 4" wider and a bit taller to raise the waterline a bit more. I originally made a mistake with the first overflow (pictured above), the drain holes are on the wrong side because I was originally going to put my sump on the opposite side under the stand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by Reef908

Looks awesome! Makes my new 180 look like a nano lol...

Thanks bud lol! 180 is still a very big tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by chitown tom

I'm following along for inspiration.



My wife and I are currently house hunting and she has agreed to a huge main display that finally will get out of the basement!



My plan was a 500 gallon peninsula.

Haha that's the biggest hurdle to a 500 gallon. The significant others always give a hard time about big tanks but they secretly love them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Sump came in last night.

62"L x 28"W x 20"T
1/2" thick acrylic.

The sump is a very basic design with large skimmer and larger than normal return section to accommodate back siphon when return pump(s) turn off. Since the tank is so wide and has a large surface area, the amount of water coming back into the sump will be more than usual for a tank this size.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Some of the other equipment I already have

(4) Hamilton MH Cabo Sun reflectors
(4) 250 watt Hamilton m80 ballast
(4) radium bulbs. I will probably supplement MH light with LED in the future.


Ecotech MP60qd's
I have 2 and will probably need 2 more at a minimum. I also have 2 Jebao PP-20's as backups

150gpd BRS 6 stage RO/DI

Tunze ATO

GHL Profilux 3.1 although I want to sell it and get the new Profilux 4

Waveline 12000 return pump. This won't be enough pump to push 3,000 gph after head. It will be a good backup though. I'm still unsure of what return pump I'm going to be running.

I ordered and I'm waiting on my Bubble King Deluxe 250 with rd3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MarylandTang]

This is going to be a great build! Not too many of the "slightly" wide tanks out there!

[Clowning_Around]

Looking good, wish I had the space and budget to go large

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by MarylandTang

This is going to be a great build! Not too many of the "slightly" wide tanks out there!

Thanks! It's going to be a pain in the *** for maintanence though. I can't reach 1/2 the tank unless I have tongs

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by Clowning_Around

Looking good, wish I had the space and budget to go large

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

lol I'm way over my original budget. There's so many things I didn't factor in.