my first 6ft tank.....holy crap...

[foocha]

Dear fellow reefers,

after 3 years in this soooo addictive hobby.. i finally mastered the guts to custom make my own ( hopefully..... ) dream tank.

after daydreaming/night dreaming/fantasizing/doodling for 6 mths... i finally decided on the custom tank + stand.

i decided to put the tank in my room...so noise reduction was crucial... as well as humidity and the lights... those things will come into play later... once the actual set up is complete....

just wana share with fellow crazy addicts...this passion of mine...

feel free to comment on anything !!!

assembly crew building up the custom stand...

total length is 8 feet, ht is 7 ft , wid is 3.5 ft.

assembled using ...( some kind of strong wood )..cant remember the name of wood...

light will be mounted and hood is 50% fold back.. there are grooves for heat escape.. intend to install some small pc ventilators later on.

where the guy is squatting is where the tank will be placed.

theres alot of below cabinet space for the sump and all the equipment needed to make this a automatic ( as far as possible tank )

left cabinet will be used to store the chiller ( extreme bottom of course )

and the other 3 shelves will be used for misc storing... i intend to use middle shelve for refegium/quarantine or auto top up.

this is where lights will be mounted... small hole at the corner if for the electrical cables.... intend to mount 2 X mh 150w and 4 t5 actinic blue... is this enough ?????????????????????????????????? need advise here i will be keeping a micture of sps n lps....

the upper holes for heat escape...i am now thinking i should have put more.... ...!#$#$!#

the finished stand... all black... now for the tank.....

(sorry for unrotated image..................)

the tank was such a big headache... cos i had to take day offssssssssssssssssss from work just so to make sure everything went correct...

day 1------ 2 hrs late delivery....... by the time they shift everything up.... it was already 7pm.. so had to come back next day

day 2------ raining like mad.. so cancelled.......

day 3------ sunday..................................................no work.... workers want to go home.......

day 4......... arrive 1 hour late... traffic they say....... start drilling holes for external overflow..............

THE WORST THING HAPPEN.....while drilling the 3rd hole..... glass crack..................#%#$^&$$&&^^$&%$&%$%$$^&%%&%%................... whole back panel glass... measuring 6 ft by 27 inch need to replace..

day5...............making glass......

day 6...............making glass....................

day 7....................still making glass..................*expletive*........

day 8.................. finally they bring the replacement..... and guess what..... they havent drilled the holes..... so they start drilling........................took the hole day.....

day 9................. ( i am posting this tread on this day hahaha) FINALLY STARTED SEEING SOME SILICON OOZING..... tank assembled..... once dry they will return tom to put the tank in place......... hectic stressful nine days..

during the nine days.. my room was a disaster.... all glass pieces was inside my room... so room was cramped ....

tank is 1/2 inch normal glass............ could not afford the acrylic glass... it would have been... really x really really x..... so x its obscene.... i guess i just have to be careful when cleaning and scrubbing....HA !

some pics of the external overflow box.....having seen the thing in actual now.. i am very very afraid that the grooves are too little too small for the size of the tank....

glass looks foogy because of the tape....to hold the glass while silicon drys.....

cigs... are for size reference haha..

enough for now.. when tank is mounted.. i will post pics of piping...and sump and others... that will take a week.....

cheers

[ReDDeviLs]

looks good, whu is ur tank maker?

[ReDDeviLs]

oh wait, ur tank not in SG?

[foocha]

oh wait, ur tank not in SG?

lol.. yes this tank not in spore.. in philippines !!! but designed by sporean brains haha

hopefully through this tank.. i will have learn alot more... and when i finish my work assignment.. can go back sg n make my 2nd dream tank....

plus side is its def cheaper here in manila making this tank...

[fishtalk1517]

Boy, this was ahuge tank project. The grooves for the heat escape might be in-sufficient . Suggest u add those D.C fans for better circulation of air, esp so when u have MH. Alternatively, can replcae those grooves with wrapped neting for better air circultaion. Also need to consider circulation for the chiller compartment too. And ya, 150wts for sps and ur tank depth will be inadequate for SPS. 250 would be the minimum for it. More pics for a monster tank ya

[foocha]

Boy, this was ahuge tank project. The grooves for the heat escape might be in-sufficient . Suggest u add those D.C fans for better circulation of air, esp so when u have MH. Alternatively, can replcae those grooves with wrapped neting for better air circultaion. Also need to consider circulation for the chiller compartment too. And ya, 150wts for sps and ur tank depth will be inadequate for SPS. 250 would be the minimum for it. More pics for a monster tank ya

for the lights is it possible if i place the sps corals near the top of the tank, so that get max light exposure? also the current at the top wil be stronger? if i do this can 150 w be enough?

the ventilation is going to be a prob now... cos have to cut out alot of holes again.... and it might affect the integrity of the hood......according to the fabricator..

the chiller got enough vents... 2 sides and back also... im now trying to figure out how to better insulate the noise of flowing water haha...

tank guys coming tom to fit tank in.. then i can start on the plumbing....

[southpaw23]

The grooves leading to the external overflow is probably not going to be able to handle the flow rate....but that's also depending on what return pump you intend to use.

Still..it doesn't look like it would be sufficient IMO...

[foocha]

The grooves leading to the external overflow is probably not going to be able to handle the flow rate....but that's also depending on what return pump you intend to use.

Still..it doesn't look like it would be sufficient IMO...

i stared at the tank for a longgg time... and sad to say.. it definitely will not be as much flow as i would like it to have...

i guess i have to ensure that whatever overflows into the sump...is returned in really pristine condition..

also hoping that since the main tank by itself is sooo big, the parameters will be still good...

est total volume is around 250gl

gona post pics of the tank on the stand later !

[foocha]

today the tank guys came over... all 8 of them.. to lift n put the tank on the stand... had to take half day from work to attend to this...cannot afford mistakes sia !

a more detailed pic of hole for overflow pipes on the stand....

on the stand !!!!!!!! a few little chinks here n there...... there is a gap n the left side..

i wanted tank to be fitted snugly... but guess this way also can... gos a lil gap for some air exchange /heat escape haha

another pic.. with cabinets all open to reveal the mess inside haha

pic of the sump and the 2 skimmers i have been using in my previous tank... 1 macro and the other reed octupus..

i wana upgrade to 1 goooooooooood skimmer that can handle the bioload .. anybody can recommend?????

[BFG]

.....BubbleKing SM300.....

[foocha]

.....BubbleKing SM300.....

wah i check the online prices for the bubbleking series.... its like 2.1k us man !

that really ex.... any other alternative or not?

[ReDDeviLs]

try a deltec.

[foocha]

try a deltec.

i saw a hugeee reef octupus skimmer, its like the size of a 5 yr old kid.. stands at least 2 ft man..... do u think that will be overkill???

need some advise on my skimmer... it will be the heart of my filtration system and really wana get a goooooood skimmer....

[foocha]

heres some pics of the rock set up, the plumping... all diy... so very amateur....sorry for the mess !

i think i used up 5 rolls of teflon tape and 1 small tin of vulca seal hahahah

the overflow down pipes leading to the sump... the left one needed some 'fine tuning'

filling up the entire tank.. then draining to clean out...

[foocha]

the mess of pipes n hoses..

the return pump feed the main tank, the chiller and currently, the octupus skimmer...

[foocha]

filling up tank with rockscape in place..

[foocha]

full view of rockscape.... would appreciate as much comments pls..

the plan is to have sps on on upper levels... some flowing softies in the middle and mushrooms and zoos and pratas at the bottom

[foocha]

close up of left side of tank...

close up of right side of tank

[ReDDeviLs]

looks good on the scaping!

sand bed looks big..

no comments on the octopus skimmer..

would still prefer something top notch like deltec at least u wun go wrong with it