SteveT's 600Gs (tons of pics!!)

[SteveT]

I have been a pretty active member around here for about a year so I suppose it's about time I do a build thread.

So, about three months ago I sold my mustang with the idea in mind of upgrading my 75g reef to a bigger tank. I of course went searching all over craigslist and found a 450g with 150g sump and stand for a great deal(1700.00). Both are custom built acrylic by some one, but I don't know who. The guy I bought it from, who never ended up setting it up himself, said the original owner sold it to upgrade to a 1000+g system. The tank dimensions are: 95.5" X 32.5" X 34.75" and the sump is: 48"X36"X25".

The car I sold to fund the tank build (the money is long gone, lol)

Here is the 75G a few months before it was broken down:

The tank was so big that my girlfriend, Alex, and I wanted to make sure that it would fit down our stairs into our house (we live in a basement) so we built a cardboard replica of the tank. The replica fit down the stairs with a few inches of clearance so we went a head and bought the tank, rented a truck, and hauled it into our garage until we could figure out how to get it down the stairs.

Cardboard replica with Alex inside, next to the 75G:

rental truck to move it:

It was a great deal, but needed some work. There was paper glued to one of the ends and pretty significant scratching all over:

Alex in the tank helping sand and buff out all the scratches:

In the meantime we set up the sump, filled it up and put it on a closed loop to help get everything established to help eliminate having a cycle. It has been running for 2 months with regular ghost feedings, and is very stable. The DT will also have 100% live rock and a few pounds of sand from the 75G to seed the new sand. I have a seneye hooked up to the tank, and if I see any rise in ammonia I have a bottle of Dr. Tim's I can dump into the tank to stifle the cycle. I am very confident that I will be able to transfer over the fish from my 75G in the first couple days with out having any type of ammonia spike.

The sump first set up empty:

Here is the sump filled up with the skimmer breaking in, about a month ago:

 

[SteveT]

After asking around to a lot of places that either had no idea what we were talking about or did not want to be responsible if they broke the tank trying to move it down the stairs, Heather and CJ from Elite Reef came through in a big way. They got a team of their buff friends to come by a couple days ago and moved it in. It was a very tight fit, and there was about 2 mins when they were trying to make the turn into the door where I thought it wasn't going to fit. The only casualty was a cracked overflow box which was very easily repaired with some weld-on and a spare sheet of acrylic I had laying around.

The tank and the team of heroes that took it down the stairs:

The tank is in!!!!with our fish patiently waiting in the trash can behind us.

So as you can see the stand is very industrial looking and there is this semi-triangular gap between the DT and the sump. So I would be in the market for someone who could face the stand with some nicer wood and build some type of cabinet that would fit the gap and cover all the cords and hoses and return pump, while also allowing easy access to all of it. (hint hint pidge or craigar)


Moving all of the corals was stressful, but luckily we have a 90G frag tank in our "fish room" in the back of our house set up. We had to really pack in the corals but they all are happy in their new temporary home.

so weird seeing this tank empty after having it running for over 5 years:

All the corals in buckets:

 

[Craigar]

Very nice keep the pics coming how many radions you lighting it with

 

[Haulin Oates]

I'm jealous!! That is a sick tank!!

 

[cdrewferd]

Great setup. Hope I can win a photo contest so I have an excuse to come check out your amazing setup.


Drew

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[MartinsReef]

I remember that tank! Looks awesome! Keep the picks coming

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[reefkoi]

sweet thread and man thats a nice big sump! is it staying right there at the level or is that temp?

 

[SteveT]

Reefkoi - yeah its staying right where its at. Nowhere to hide it so it is going to be a "show" refugium with lots of different macros and a few seahorses.

MarinsReef - how do you remember this tank, just from craigslist or did you have some experience with it when it was running? I would love to hear any history if you know some.

Craigar - The Radions you see hanging in the pictures are from the old 75G. I have 2 more that I plan on mounting with the 2 originals on rails tomorrow. I am going to see how it looks and take some PAR measurements with the seneye and evaluate if I want to add more light. Since I don't have the money to get another 2 Radions I will probably get 2 Sol blues to supplement and just try and set the dimming settings to be the same.

 

[SteveT]

Here are all the corals after the move to the frag tank, those things are packed in!

 

[CRW Reef]

Heck ya Steve glad to see the beast in action and running! Looking forward to seeing lots of pics in the future! Btw what is that orange tang, its awesome!

 

[jahmic]

That setup looks SICK! Great idea on the display fuge with seahorses...can't wait to see this all come together.

 

[280g-reefman]

I like how we all feel obligated to make our loved ones go inside a big tank for a pic once purchased. haha. I made my wife go in mine, my kids and my friends girlfriend.

 

[SteveT]

Heck ya Steve glad to see the beast in action and running! Looking forward to seeing lots of pics in the future! Btw what is that orange tang, its awesome!

He's a mimic lemon-peel tang that is in the process of changing from juvenile to adult colors

 

[Craigar]

There's a huge rabbit fish on scamas that would be sweet in your tank

 

[reefmaster719]

Come get it outta here! The rabbit fish is very peaceful. Willing to trade for a hippo tang or smaller fish.

 

[MartinsReef]

Only from Craig's list. I tried to buy just the tank and stand.

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[hurrafreak]

This thing looks awesome!! Can't wait to see the continued progress!

 

[SteveT]

past couple days progress:

Made a rack mount for the 4 Radions I am going to put over the tank out of aluminum C-channel and the Radion hanging kit modified to fit the rails:

Mounted the lights over the tank and have been filling it with water as fast as my RO/DI will make it. I was worried that the 4 Radions would not be enough light, but looking at them over the tank I think they will be just fine for growing SPS in the upper half of the tank and LPS, zoas, softies in the lower half which is how I like to arrange my reef anyway. I have built the beginnings of the rock structures, this is basically what they will look like just taller. This pic was taken yesterday with about 100G still to fill. The tank is now full and cycling through the sump, and the fish from my 75G are in and happy as can be in their new much roomier home.

 

[MartinsReef]

Wow thats nice and I like the radions!

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[09bumblebee]

Awesome man! Nice acans by the way.