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JORO's 336G Dream Reef


joro

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(edited)

Good evening WAMAS, my name is Joel and I'm a reef addict  :unsure:

 

My family and I have been keeping reefs for years (though there was a few years between tanks) and we're proud owners of two reef tanks currently including a standard 90G and a Reefer 170, the former of which we documented here. For the longest time, I'm dreamed of owning a massive reef system and have never had the time, budget, or frankly space to make it happen. A few months ago a causal conversation with my lovely wife turned into the blueprint for creating this dream tank in our house. Yesterday we plopped down untold amounts of (presumably) fresh Benjamin's  :blink: for deposits on our custom tank and I can now officially say, the build has begun!  :clap:

 

To give you a little background on how we got here:

 

  • We didn't want yet "another" tank, so we wanted a tank that was big enough to allow for us to consolidate our existing tanks into it and also give us the room to grow substantially - both in terms of corals (which my wife loves) and fish (which I love).
  • I have been a big fan of peninsula style tanks both in terms of aesthetics and function. I also love the rimless design - thanks Red Sea - but quickly realized there were limitations to this style even in the custom designed arena.
  • As much as I love our tanks and inhabitants, I hated the maintenance particularly water changes. So in the new tank I wanted as much automation as possible and, of course, never wanted to haul another 5G bucket up what in some cases was multiple sets of stairs.

 

Fast forward a few weeks/months and after getting quotes from three different custom tank manufacturers, we ultimately decided on Miracle's Aquariums based in Ontario based on price, lead time, and responsiveness throughout the process. So without further adieu, let's talk about the tank/setup:

 

  • The tank is going to be a peninsula style, 72" long x 30" wide x 36" deep all glass aquarium with starphire (low-iron) glass on the 3 viewing sides bring us to approximately 336 gallons in the DT.
  • The tank will be placed on our second floor and all plumbing will run down to a basement sump designed / manufactured by Synergy Reef. For those wondering, we chose their SS-48 model which is not listed on their website but is the same design as what was used for the BRS160 (which is a great series if you haven't checked it out)

 

There's a lot of exciting work to do in the next approximately ~10 weeks it will take to build / receive the tank including structural engineering, selection of equipment, and preparing the two existing tanks for transfer. As I did with the 90G build here, I want to document this journey, share my experiences, and hopefully gain even more from the wealth of resources / experiences that we have here on WAMAS. 

 

To start this off right, here's a few pics of what we've done in the past few days including a picture of the ultimate location (it's going to be a room divider between our front door and dining room), a picture of my son helping paint the stand which will house the water mixing station currently under construction, and my son also "vanna white-ing" the first shipment which was primarily supplies for the mixing station!

 

Looking forward to sharing the journey with my fellow reefers!  :cool:

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Edited by joro
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This is going to be a massive tank and open up fish options for you like crazy. I'm sure you've already given it thought but that's a lot of water and a lot of weight. Are you adding support to the floor beings it's going on the second floor?

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This is going to be a massive tank and open up fish options for you like crazy. I'm sure you've already given it thought but that's a lot of water and a lot of weight. Are you adding support to the floor beings it's going on the second floor?

 

 

Structural engineer is going to be here on Friday in fact to do an assessment.  I'm assuming we'll have to add 1, maybe 2, supports underneath given the weight but we'll see.  The good news it that part of the tank will sit directly on top of the foundation, the bad news is that the rest of it is running parallel to the floor joists rather than perpendicular which is typically recommended. 

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Wow great dimensions, how will you light it and what corals do you plan on keeping?

 

 

Planning on a mixed reef (though I've never had great luck with SPS) lit by 3x Radion XR30w G4 Pros

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They may be able to tie into the existing foundation to support it which would be nice especially if it all tied together.

3' tall tank is going to look amazing! Looking forward to the aquascape.

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They may be able to tie into the existing foundation to support it which would be nice especially if it all tied together.

3' tall tank is going to look amazing! Looking forward to the aquascape.

 

 

I'll be interested to see what they come back with and hopefully it's not too outrageous.    :unsure:   I've attached a picture just to give you an idea of the setup underneath (which is fortunately exposed basement).  Essentially the vent which is being removed is about 3-4" off the wall which the tank will butt up against.  Given the tank's width, it will straddle two of the joists which are both 2x10s but again run in parallel to the tank vs. perpendicular which seems to be the ideal scenario. Back to building the mixing station for now  :laugh:

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First shipment(s) received today and geez, the UPS guy must have been cussing at me as he unloaded every box! My first project is building a water mixing station for easy and/or automated water changes (no more lugging buckets!  :clap:). I got a great deal on two 65g water tanks from Blain's Farm & Fleet with free shipping! As you can see in the first post, I'm building a platform for these and it will be installed shortly once I have a chance to re-arrange some existing storage racks we have in this unfinished area. You never realize how small a room is until you start planning for a huge water mixing station and a sump!

On one final note, the skimmer box is HUUGGGEEE  :blink:  Bring on the skimmate!

 

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(edited)

I finally got the tanks setup and the first part of plumbing done. I started filling the RO tank up (it has a nice ball valve to keep it from effecting the other plumbing I was doing and sure enough, it started to leak but at the bulkhead on the water container. I tried tightening it about 2 more turns but still had a very slow drip, drip leak. The bulkhead on the water tank is a threaded female, so I used a Schedule 80 threaded male. From what I understand, you're not supposed to use pipe tape or pipe dope on PVC to PVC threads but any suggestions? I'm draining it right now so I can inspect the threads directly as well.

Edited by joro
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I finally got the tanks setup and the first part of plumbing done. I started filling the RO tank up (it has a nice ball valve to keep it from effecting the other plumbing I was doing and sure enough, it started to leak but at the bulkhead on the water container. I tried tightening it about 2 more turns but still had a very slow drip, drip leak. The bulkhead on the water tank is a threaded female, so I used a Schedule 80 threaded male. From what I understand, you're not supposed to use pipe tape or pipe dope on PVC to PVC threads but any suggestions? I'm draining it right now so I can inspect the threads directly as well.

I always use tape on threads pvc or not and I have the same barrels as you, no leaks.  My RO water has to be degassed as well to lower the DI resin consumption so that barrel has silicone on its threads to prevent leaks (it is a 35 gallon rain barrel, never used for rain).  

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First shipment(s) received today and geez, the UPS guy must have been cussing at me as he unloaded every box! My first project is building a water mixing station for easy and/or automated water changes (no more lugging buckets!  :clap:). I got a great deal on two 65g water tanks from Blain's Farm & Fleet with free shipping! As you can see in the first post, I'm building a platform for these and it will be installed shortly once I have a chance to re-arrange some existing storage racks we have in this unfinished area. You never realize how small a room is until you start planning for a huge water mixing station and a sump!

On one final note, the skimmer box is HUUGGGEEE  :blink:  Bring on the skimmate!

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

I like your water storage video (Its Alive).  It looks like a great setup. 

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(edited)

I always use tape on threads pvc or not and I have the same barrels as you, no leaks. My RO water has to be degassed as well to lower the DI resin consumption so that barrel has silicone on its threads to prevent leaks (it is a 35 gallon rain barrel, never used for rain).

 

 

I ended up using a thread sealant - RectorSeal T Plus 2 - and no leaks since!

 

I like your water storage video (Its Alive). It looks like a great setup.

 

Awesome, thanks for checking it out ;) Edited by joro
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(edited)

Going to call it quits for today but made some pretty good progress which I can share! I got the RODI unit moved into it’s new location, a third DI canister and three-point TDS meter installed, and everything re-plumbed (without leaks!) I also used the opportunity to put fresh DI resin in the existing two canisters to ensure all the new water is 0’s across the board. On the control panel front, I got the cord raceways installed and drilled a few holes for larger (e.g. power plugs) fittings underneath the Apex unit.  I still need to clean up a few wires hanging down and the RO lines but pretty much in a holding pattern – on the control panel – now until the sump arrives. The wife and I also paid a visit to one of our favorite local shops, Capital Aquarium, and picked up a few cool pieces for the new tank.  We’ve put these in our Reefer 170 for now but I suspect it’s going to quickly become a holding tank for all things coral given it’s better light compared to our 90 Gallon.  

 
For those interested – we picked up a Crown Leather (which also had another smaller leather and sponges attached to it), a mixed zoa rock, and a hammer.  It’s good seeing some more progression in the right direction and apologies for the crappy phone pics on the corals, I promise to get some better ones soon!
 

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Edited by joro
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Whoa! That's a lot! Is this live or dry?

 

 

Dry and we over-ordered a little bit to get some variety and provide options. We also have probably another 90 pounds of so of "live rock" from our existing tanks that we'll move over as well.  

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Sounds like you'll have your own quarry by the time you're done.

Isn't that the truth! I need to figure out how to store it as well since I would like to "cycle" the rocks in advance

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does the tank arrive yet?

 

 

Not quite yet, should be here we're assuming in early June but maybe a bit sooner.  Waiting to get an update from the aquarium manufacturer on how the process is going but we got a ton of stuff to do before then anyway!  :rollface:

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Will you be going with Miracles overflows or having them drill it for something else? 

Edited by WilRams
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Will you be going with Miracles overflows or having them drill it for something else?

 

The internal - Miracles - overflow because we want it to be as flush against the wall as possible.

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Not sure if you put this in but are you doing for the overflow box and return? Herbie or something else.

 

And 3/4" glass? Rimless or euro

Edited by epleeds
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