720 gallon Miami Build

[locito277]

Hi all, I have a post on another forum and ran into this one which seems to be equally helpful. I'm in the process of building a 720 gallon reef aquarium. Any suggestions are very welcome as I have been out of the hobby for nearly 10 years. I started keeping saltwater fish back around 1991 or 1992. Panther grouper and a snowflake eel
With a biolife wet dry filter days. I progressed and eventually had a 220 gallon aquarium which is where I first too the plunge into corals. I am currently setting that one back up as well. That build will have its own thread as well. Anyways I purchased a house with my wife that we share with our 4 kids and countless pets. Now it's time to get back into my vice. I'm not handy but I do research everything as much as possible. Let's get to the nitty gritty as all equipment is here. Specifics of the aquarium are 720 gallons, 96" L x 36" W x 48" D. The depth is a. It of a concern due to ease of maintenance and light penetration. The tank is a divider wall between my living room and my dining room. It truly will be the cemterpiece of my home. Let's start the build shall we? Thanks for tagging along AMD look forward to getting lots of suggestions!

 

[locito277]

This is the humble beginning. I lucked into the aquarium on facebook. Turns out someone had purchased the aquarium with a stand but the bottom pane had broke. During transport. They no longer wanted it and Pedro purchased it. He specializes in making aquariums and replaced AMD reinforced the bottom pane. It is braced on top and on the bottom.

 

[locito277]

These shots were when he had the tank in his yard prior to coming home.

 

[locito277]

This was the stand that came with the tank but it was not the look I was looking for and with such a large system I prefer a steel stand.

I sent him my old 220
To polish and reinforce as well so this is a pic of the two babies together!

 

[locito277]

First step was having a stainless steel stand made.

Had it powder coated black and you can see the sump below. Next task was knocking down the existing wall so that the tank would have its space.

 

[locito277]

First piece of equipment arrived. Saw the video by Melevs reef and loved the Nyos 300. The fact it is super quiet and the look won me over. This thing is massive.

Here it is compared to my son.

 

[locito277]

In Pink Floyd's words... bring down the wall!! Down it went lol

Also was able to get my second piece of equipment. This should provide some nice flow

 

[locito277]

Pedro came over to prep the stand for the arrival!! So much anticipation at this point.

 

[locito277]

Finally the day arrived!!

Some heavy lifting. 1200 lbs while empty

It's in place.

 

[locito277]

Started purchasing things little by little but in a rush.

First 4 lights and a reef link. My luck, I purchased my first 4 Gen 3 xr-30 Pros 2 weeks before the gen 4s were announced. *** lol

Apex arrived as well

Just some of the live sand

 

[locito277]

Got three of these for the two fuge sections I'm planning for the sump.

Marco concrete and the Genesis AWC which I am very much looking forward to seeing it in action!

Got my Nilsen Kalk stirrer for the ATO

 

[locito277]

I know I know many people hate this product but I had great results with only MM years ago so won't do a system without it.

Got my Koralin S-4102 Sulfur Denitrator

UV Sterilizer! Thing looks like a submarine

 

[locito277]

Special thanks to Geos reef for my calcium reactor! They helped me with suggestions of what would work best for my set up and am very pleased.

 

[locito277]

Haha a throwback!!

The equipment together.

 

[locito277]

Got the Swabee

The flow team. Calculated at 49,750 gallons per hour of run at max.

 

[locito277]

The brains

 

[locito277]

House is a mess

Added a DOS

The woodwork begins

 

[locito277]

Here are the other 4 Gen 4 Xr30pros

They fitted the woodwork and back to bare tank :-(

 

[locito277]

Santa Monica Algae Scrubber arrived!!

Generator for house although I have been informed that it will
Fry my pumps and Apex :-(

 

[locito277]

Time to clean out the water stations!