Nick's Miracle Build

[this is me]

Tank is getting moved onto the stand this Wednesday. I don't know if I'm feeling excited, nervous, or downright scared.
I opened the crate the other night to look at the tank over, I honestly have to say that I was feeling intimidated by the size.

 

[this is me]

Time to say hello to this very old friend of mine.

Giesmann 72" Spectra. 3x250W SE & 4x80W T5. I bought it from a friend who was going to set up a big tank but was unable to make it happen. The light is brand new and it has been sitting in the box for almost 4 years. I unwired everything before I put into storage. Last night, I took it out and rewired it.

Yayyy, we have dawn and dust. But what the heck? Why is the color so weird? Ooohh! looks like my friend bought some really strange combo. 2xActinic plus, 1x blue plus, 1x purple plus. Lol
These bulbs will be changed to 2xblue plus and 2x super actinic.

For the MH, looks like he got the Elos 14K bulbs. One bulb is broken but I knew that and it's on order.

 

[this is me]

Today is a good day.
The movers came and got the tank moved. When they got off their trucks, I was concern right away. Only 4 of them! and looks very "experienced" if you know what I mean.
I was listening to them and had the impression that none of them brought a fork life or a pallet jack. Then one of the guys confirmed that there was no pallet jack on any of their trucks that they brought. Only a lift gate for power equipment. And doesn't seem that they know what a suction cup either. Oh Boy!! The 4 of them tried to lift the tank and right a way, one guy said this ain't 650lbs that the sale guy told him. It's more like 850lbs and I think he's right. They said they will need to call for more help. The phone call was made and there was no help available. I was like, this is going to be a disaster. I'm not sure if I want to watch this.

But I had to trust these guys and let them do their thing. Throughout the whole time, they were very confident and clever at using their tools and rigging experience. Metal bars to roll the pallet away from the wall. 3 guys lift one side of the pallet and the other guy slid a dolly under it. Repeat on the other side so that they can roll the pallet with the tank on it to the lift gate.

They use the lift gate for doing the lifting to get to the height they want.

Then they slid the pallet onto an oversized dolly with massive wheels. (I need to get one of these)

Time to roll it to the back

 

[this is me]

Gotta love the oversized wheels on that dolly. Crush stone pavement? No problem.

Strengthen the ramp

Again, they used their rigging experience and got the tank onto the stand without any issue. They were in and out of the property with the tank on the stand and leveled without a single scratch within an hour.

 

[this is me]

I thought I would never see the day where I can stick a hose in this tank and do a water test. But at last! It's happening.

I can only fill the tank up to the returns line but no issue so far. The built quality is pretty amazing from Miracles.

The beast! I will let the water sit in the tank for a couple more days to see if there's any issue with the tank before I can plumb it and aquascape it.
400lbs of sand is coming Thursday and the liverocks are ready in the bin.

 

[jah-hoeva]

So sweet Nick. Every single aspect. Big thumbs up.

 

[mvallee]

haha "Only 4 of them! and looks very "experienced" if you know what I mean. " great recap of the move.

congrats!!! must feel great getting it up on the stand and holding water after so much planning and prep.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

That's a beautiful glass box! You must be itching to get something other than hose water in it...

 

[Jim Tansey]

Very neat project, I must say I really enjoy the build phase if I were honest about it I would say its my favorite.

Jim

 

[this is me]

So sweet Nick. Every single aspect. Big thumbs up.

Thanks!

haha "Only 4 of them! and looks very "experienced" if you know what I mean. " great recap of the move.

congrats!!! must feel great getting it up on the stand and holding water after so much planning and prep.

Yeah, I'm very pleased with the move and service from these guys. At no point did they struggle with the tank.

That's a beautiful glass box! You must be itching to get something other than hose water in it...

It's very difficult to go slow in this hobby.

Very neat project, I must say I really enjoy the build phase if I were honest about it I would say its my favorite.

Jim

Yes, the building of a system is where most of the fun is. The excitement when you turn a valve or turn on a switch the very first time to see if what you did will be just as planned. This is the most complicated DIY I've ever done for a reef tank. I started with a 29gallons then to a 40gallons where I had to do the pluming. Flooded the floor a couple times before I got it right. Then went with Elos systems and everything is pretty much done for you. Just plug and play basically. Now, I basically have to learn all about Bean Animal and closed loop and all this other reef plumbing technique. Heck, I still haven't found the correct size bulkheads yet. First time buying them was a dud, not even close. Read up on them and thought I would go with SCH80 bulkhead and found out that using SCH80 will requires a bigger hole for the equivalent pipe as SCH40. In other words, using SCH80 will restrict flow because of the thicker wall. I just returned those bulkheads to BRS today. Now, hopefully, 3rd time is the charm.

 

[iroc2zep]

Looking great!!

 

[thomb]

[video=youtube;bTlXZf5qsZI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTlXZf5qsZI[/video]

 

[STiTCH87]

So awesome! I hope your work allows you home often enough to really enjoy that beauty!

 

[IPWitan]

So how did your movers feel about you snapping pictures? Where you thinking, - well if they fail, at least I want $100,000 from Funniest Home Videos!

 

[UMan101]

Looks awesome!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[this is me]

So awesome! I hope your work allows you home often enough to really enjoy that beauty!

Yeah, that's the problem with this hobby. You spend so much time behind and under the tank and not enough in front of it.

So how did your movers feel about you snapping pictures? Where you thinking, - well if they fail, at least I want $100,000 from Funniest Home Videos!

I ask for their permission before I took the pictures. They had no issue with it.

 

[jamesdong009]

It's great seeing the tank with water in it finally. Been following along and can't wait for more progress.

 

[STiTCH87]

I strongly suggest you put a chair/couch in direct view of the tank so you can sit down with a cup of coffee and a good book and stare at your tank. My couch has a chaise (sp?) that faces mine and I can't tell you how often I just stare into my reef and space out lol. Granted I usually wake up when I see the bryopsis, but when it's clean it's pretty enjoyable hahaha.

 

[this is me]

Definitely will have some type of a lounge down there near the tank!

 

[this is me]

Spent pretty much all weekend working on the tank.
Saturday was pretty much a plumbing day. Went to Lowes and basically bought half of their stock lol. Walked out with about $500 worth of plumbing pieces. I bought everything that I think I need and will just return what I don't need when the plumbing is done. I'm sick of driving back and forth in the middle of the job because I don't have that piece.
I completed the plumbing Saturday afternoon and waited about 4 hours to run the tank/sump overnight.

Bean Animal style overflow. I didn't use a lot of union because I know this is not final. I just want to get the tank going and tweak it after I'm more familiar with the set up. It's very likely you will change something after a couple months in.