Eric's 300Gal Build!

E_Aquatics

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*BEWARE* - This will most likely be a slow build so be patient! :bounce:

Hello Everyone! I currently have a build thread started on RC but I thought I would get one started here now that Im only a few months into the build and its easier to copy things over. It would also helpful for me to get feedback from more people as I don't consider myself an expert.

I've been in the hobby since late 2009 and since I began this journey I've had a 65g RR, 90g RR and 150g w/ Beananimal overflow. Ever since I go into this hobby I knew I wanted to someday own a BIG tank (nothing below 300g) and as you can tell I kept upgrading tanks till now. Now I finally have the resources and knowledge to own a big tank, at least as big as I can fit in my house without making the house looks crowded :wink:.

I decided to get a tank built by GlassCages just because it was within my price range. Before pulling the trigger on this tank I did a lot of research about this manufacture and most of the complains I came across were about sloppy silicone work which for me wasn't a big deal because this was not going to be a rimless tank.

Below I will list some of the equipment I already have for this build.

Tank: 300g Wide 96"x30"x25" with a 3/4" bottom and 1/2" sides.

Overflow: Coast to Coast Beananimal.

Stand & Canopy: Custom Built by ME!

Lighting: 8x Ocean Revive Arctic T247

Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 300int

Power Heads: 2x Jebao RW15's & 2x Jebao RW20's

Controller: Full Neptune Apex w/ Lab Grade pH probe.

Reactors: Geo618 Ca Reactor w/ Aquarium Plants Electronic Regulator

Sump: Oceanic 130g wide 72"x24"x18"

Below I will post a few pictures I received while the tanks was being built.

8/8/2014 - Construction of the tank began


8/14/2014 - Tank completed


9/6/2014 - Tank Arrival



Ready for the ride home
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shot of the tank in the garage
 
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9/13/2014 - Began building the stand

(I need a truck lol)





I didn't have a workbench so decided to build me one before I even started working on the stand.


Now a few shots of the stand frame build process

(Drilling Pocket Holes)








Back side of the stand


Front side of the stand


Corner (3/4" plywood)


Perfectly leveled
 
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E_Aquatics

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I built this water mixing station a few months ago in anticipation of the big tank so I thought I would share a pictures of it.

Top tank is 125Gal and bottom tank is 30Gal

Not pictured --> 1/4" & 1/2" tubing that runs from the water station up to the attic and down the wall behind the tank for water changes and top off



 
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1-1/2" gate valve and 3x 1-1/2" sanitary T's




9/18/2014 - Picked up the glass for the coast to coast overflow box from a local glass shop.


9/19/2014 - Skimmer and other misc items arrived from BRS


Water bottle for size reference
 
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9/20/2014

Ran two lines of 14 gauge wire for two 15amp circuits dedicated just for the tank. I also ran a Cat5e line to have a wired connection for the Apex Controller, the main reason for this is the avoid having to remove the apex when upgrading the firmware since updates are not recommend over a wifi signal.

I also ran a 1/4" and 1/2" line of Mur-Lok Polyethylene RO tubing (Previously mentioned in the the post above about my water mixing station). The 1/4" line will be connected to the RO/DI unit to fill the ATO container and the 1/2" line will be connected to my mixing pump in the garage so that I can pump freshly made saltwater to the sump during water changes.

Didn't take many pictures when I was doing this but here are they ones I have..

Not my favorite work area lol. The nice thing is that it rained all day when I was doing this so it was not 150 degrees in there.








All done! I still got room to add more circuits for future tanks… Just kidding!
smile.gif

 
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9/21/2014 - Began working on the face frame for the stand to hide the ugly 2x4's.








Joining the side face frame to the front face frame with wood glue and pocket holes


All Done - I used wood glue and 2" brad nails to attach the face frame to the stand.
 
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9/23/2014 - Marco Rock shipment arrived!

300lbs of Marco Key Largo Dry Rock and 240lbs of Coarse dry sand.



 
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10/4/2014 - Began working on the Canopy

Not many step by step pics of this



10/12/2014 - Finished all the trim work on the stand and canopy.



10/14/2014 - Installed the Coast to Coast overflow box



10/27/2014 - I used two pieces of 1/4" glass that run the entire length of the tank and then covered the front glass of the overflow with a sheet of 1/8" black acrylic to hide the bulkheads and pvc fittings. The bottom glass of the overflow I left it as is so that it doesn't create a shadow.

Sorry about the mess in the background but my garage is a mess with everything I got going on with this build.


 
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As I got closer to finishing my stand I began to thinker about the lights and I wasn't sure if 6 OR Arctic T247 would be enough to light this tank or if I would need 8 so I made these diagrams to try and get some feed back from other members but at the end I decided to order 8 fixtures and when I get them installed if it turns out to be too much light I can always keep one or two as spares.


Feel free to share your thoughts about this since these fixtures are still in their box.


 
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I still need to baffle the sump so I would like to get some feedback on this design for the sump.

3 bulkheads in the return section with be used as follow: 2x Jebao DC12000 as return pumps and 1x Jebao DC6000 to feed reactors and any other equipment I may add later on.

Drain --> Filter Sock --> Skimmer --> Refugium --> Return


Skimmer Section: 12"x23"x12" (Overall length of this section is 20" including the Filter sock section since its still part of the skimmer section) - 24g
Fuge Section: 29"x23"x11" - 32g
Return 12"x23"x10 - 11g


 
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11/16/2014

Stand, Canopy and doors were painted about 2 weeks ago. Two coats of Satin paint (applied with air paint gun) and two brushed coats of satin polyurethane.

Next the tank and sump were drilled and the back of both tank were painted with Latex flat black paint.

Sunday (11/16/2014) we brought in the tank and placed it on the stand.

Funny thing was the tank didn't fit on the stand
headwalls.gif
. When I built the stand the front and side panels were raised 1-1/2" to hide the black trim of the tank so the tank had to slide inside the two side panels of the stand. I made the stand 8' and 1/8" and the tank is 8'. Not sure if the wood adsorb moisture or what but it just didn't fit. What I did to make it fit was cut off the portion of the black trim that goes up on both sides of the tank and that made it fit perfectly.

The black trim glass cages uses is just to "hide" the bottom bracing and silicone it serves not structural support like the trim on Marineland tanks or any other pre-manufactured tank so no worries there.


I have some pictures and a video for you guys. Sorry for the spanglish on the video lol. Also my girlfriend seems to be more surprised that me that the tank doesn't fit lol.

Drilling the tank on Friday night. For some reason the drill bit looks crooked but it was going in straight.


Tank ready to be painted…


Stand inside the house (bad quality image, but it will do for now)


Rolling the tank to the front door on furniture dollies (I'am the one with the black shirt)




Sliding it inside the house.


We were discussing if 4 people was going to be enough to lift the tank 40" off the ground to slide it into the stand. We ended up doing it with 5 people. It wasn't easy but we got it done and nobody lost a finger :)


Trying out the canopy and to get a glimpse of how everything is going to look once is finished.


Just need to get the doors installed and once the plumbing is done the tank will only be about 6 inches off the wall.



Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAac...ature=youtu.be
 
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Thats all I have done as of today 11/18/2014. I will keep updating this thread as I get more things done.
 

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Build is looking great thus far! tagging along. Can't wait to see the progress. Sorry, I don't have any input on the lights. I don't have any experience with them.
 

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Hey Eric…good to see you on R2R. As I commented locally, the build is looking awesome.
 
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E_Aquatics

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So Im about to start cutting glass for my sump and before I do that I wanted to share the design or placement of the baffles to see what you guys think. Im pretty much set on the order everything will be placed. I mostly need help with the height of the baffles and whether or not I should keep that at that height or lower them.

Click on the image to make it bigger




 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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