ShelbyJK's 550g (total) build...FINALLY!!

[ShelbyJK500]

So here it is, 6 months in the making. All my spare time has gone into this build. I had hoped to do a build thread along the way but just never got around to it and wasn't sure how it would all end up. I have a "go big or go home" personality with most things, so I started with a JBJ Nano about a month before I started this project to get my feet wet, and then went nuts. I had been doing freshwater for most of my life with about a 10 year hiatus. I had always wanted to get into saltwater, so here we go...!!!

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Tank acquisitions

I started with the selection of a 110g acrylic tank...which ended up being a spectacular purchase. After having the tank for a short time and wondering if I shouldn't have gone bigger, my brother drew my attention to the fact that the tank had been built by Acrylic Tank Manufacturing out of Las Vegas. This is the same company that does the show "Tanked". I knew the stand/canopy quality was beautiful but never really took the time to note the quality of the actual tank build. Whatever the opinion of the show aside, they build phenomenal tanks! So here's what I picked up...

It came with a T5 retrofit which I installed but decided to go with LED, so they came off down the road.

Then I really lost my mind and before even getting the ball rolling with the 110g, I had already been bitten by the bug. While scanning Craigslist, I found a 225g acrylic that was brand new and had a very interesting island overflow setup which I hadn't seen in a rectangular tank before. I found it interesting enough and took the plunge. I had grand ideas of using it as a room divider between my kitchen and family room.

One of the other main reasons I chose to do this was I had already decided to do a basement sump build. I wanted have the best of both worlds...a reef tank for all things spectacular when it comes to coral, and a fish only for those fish I've always wanted but aren't reef compatible. So you got it, both tanks plumbed together yet separate on the main floor. Here is the second tank purchase...

And both in the same room (did not end up this way however).

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Equipment Gathering

So with tanks in the house, the rest of the equipment to go along began multiplying and eventually left my kitchen, basement and garage looking like I was starting my own LFS! I'm sure many of you can relate to the equipment hoarding.

Started out with the common stuff, lots of equipment came with the tank purchases. However, some of the bigger stuff came from a straight equipment purchase from a guy on CL getting out of the hobby.

Then I got some of the bigger purchases, some of which I sold (like a chiller, calcium reactor).

1000g capacity MTC Skimmer!!

Basement starting to breed equipment. MRC dual chamber calcium reactor and acrylic sump were sold off.

Decided to go with dosing based on several people I spoke with who were/are successful reefers. (This is what they look like, haven't set up yet)

Obviously needed one of these for a system this size!

Of course sending all this water up from the basement to the main floor, while splitting two two tanks from the same sump was going to require a beast of a pump. SO...5900gph rated pump should do!!

The last of the big stuff was the 150g stock tank sump and the 65g acrylic refugium

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Rock Refresh

Next step was "refreshing" a large amount of liverock that was covered with mushrooms and some aiptasia. I wanted to start fresh with my build, so after some research, I went all out to completely kill the rock to start over.

Step 1: Bleach

Step 2: Muriatic Acid

After the bubbling slows...

Add more...

Step 3: Baking soda. Add a ton to counteract the acid...and make it safe to dispose.

And then you're left with clean rock...

Step 4: Sun Bake. ...and voila!

 

[ShelbyJK500]

TANK PREP

There was a few minor scratches on the 110g reef tank, so I jumped feet first into "buffing them out". More homework would have saved me some serious stress relief. I bought a complete acrylic buffing kit (worthless), and went to town. I used all stages of sand paper when I probably only needed to do two or three of the finest grits for the tiny scratches I had. Little did I know I basically sanded for the worst scratches possible. Took me 20 hours easy of sanding and buffing! I tried using the buffing compounds included in "kit" and they were a joke. I found about about Novus 1-2-3 and that stuff is AWESOME. Bought several containers and finally wised up and put a small handheld car waxing buffer to the tank.

This is what it looked like when I truly had that sick stomach feeling, like I just ruined my brand new tank. I wanted out of the hobby already.

On to the 225g FOWLR tank. It had an island overflow already installed but had not been drilled, so here is the blank canvas I had to work with. Five holes were drilled for 1 1/2" plumbing. I needed four total for a true bean-animal setup consisting of; a full siphon drain, a partial siphon drain, a true emergency drain, and a return. The fifth hole in the center is an open hole between the stand and the canopy to run wire for lights.

I then had to go back to junior high geometry to figure out how to find the exact center of a circle...and start drilling!!

Now the 110g needed one additional hole drilled to create a herbie overflow (hybrid bean-animal). This is the same as a bean-animal, but lacks a "true" dedicated emergency overflow.

AND, for the final touch to prep for plumbing...putting the floor under the knife!

 

[ShelbyJK500]

FOWLR Stand Build

So, with some vision (props to ruc_dog!!) and some ingenuity, I decided to frame out a stand for the 225g FOWLR tank over and around an existing half wall. I did this to make the 225 a true room divider between my kitchen and living room! I preferred this to actually remodeling my house, for re-sale reasons down the road. So here ya go...

Removal of the top and bottom trim of the half wall...

Framing the stand out...

Getting the tank on top to ensure everything was lining up correctly and true.

Water testing to test structure and to true any imbalances.

Overflow rectangle cut out and stand framed complete.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

QT Tank Addition

So this was quite funny. I got a smokin' deal on this smallish 29g (I think) tank that was/is completely intended to be a QT tank. HOWEVER, I'll show you the before and after pics. Here's what it looked like when I got it.

Like MANY have said would be the pitfall of a QT tank containing saltwater...it now looks like this!

I guess I justify it in my head now as a "coral QT" tank! Now I've got to find an actual fish QT.

Fish QT tanks are finally in place! I may be adding more, but this is what I have for the moment.

As of 3/16/12

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Tank Plumbing

Oh the joy of plumbing. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, have never done plumbing before in my life...seriously! So a bit of trial and error. I ended up doing a hybrid bean-animal overflow on the Reef, otherwise known as a "herbie overflow". It simply lacks the dedicated emergency overflow of the bean-animal.

Bottom of the Reef Tank

Ooops!

This took forever to build and was quickly scrapped for a much simpler better configuration.

It now, more properly looks like this...

Bottom of the FOWLR tank, the center bulkhead is completely dry and runs to the top, for wiring.

What the overflow looked like, built WRONG

What it looks like now, done right!

The four corners of the PVC have 3/4" loc-line nozzles, total of 8 nozzles. This is a full bean-animal setup. Three channels; 1) Full siphon 2) Open Channel (slight draining, full siphon if #1 gets clogged) 3) Dedicated emergency siphon.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

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[cdrewferd]

Good to meet you at the swap. Can't wait to see you fill this in and give us all the details on your build.


Drew

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Good to meet you at the swap. Can't wait to see you fill this in and give us all the details on your build.


Drew

Good meeting you too!! Sorry we couldn't chat longer, we had a very limited time to be there with all the holiday stuff, so I had ADD bad. Glad we were able to hook up but I was bummed you just missed the raffle. Hopefully those spidermans do great for you, I know they did awesome for me in some rough conditions (rubbermaid with no water changes and huge level changes). Oh, and the tank's are full!! I'll be adding more to the thread soon!! Just got water in them couple days ago. Super stoked!

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Part 2 updated...

 

[ReeferMatt]

Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! I'd say you got bit.... by a radioactive saltwater bug on crack!!! Although I must admit I am jealous