Reef_Engineer's 300G System Build

[NeverlosT]

Time to start a build thread.....

My old handle on here was Neverlost (I go by Reef_Engineer on insta and similar on other forums), I joined waaay back in the early days of Boston Reefers, conventions in Boston, Elks hall meetings and frag swaps, and then I moved to California for a decade. Now we have moved back, gotten settled, and it is time for another build! I am now married with three kids though... so the build is going to be slower...

First... the tank: Acrylic and Glass Exhibits 300G Hybrid tank.

• 72" Long, 30" front to back, 32" tall
• Black back wall
• Drilled for Modular Marine external overflow
• Drilled for returns in back upper corners
• 1" PVC bottom, 3/4" Acrylic eurobrace top
• 3/4" starphire glass walls
• Stainless steel frames top and bottom
• Armored Seams all around

Tank Ordered and construction is in progress.... should be a couple more weeks as of 5.10.24

Some pics:

Glass walls being bonded

Lower seam armor being installed

3/4" Eurobrace cut out (holes for returns, or wiring, or sea swirls, or other ideas...

Polishing it clear!

Next up is bonding the top on, then installing powdercoated Stainless Steel frames, then shipping up to RI from Texas.

These guys made a 400g for me in 2021 and it was epic (it still is, in use by the instagram reefing personality cc_reefkpr)

pic of that tank:

It was only up for a few months before we had to move east for the Navy.

 

[NeverlosT]

Some other teaser pics of what is going on here...

A few years ago I wrote a review for the ATI Straton LED lights on R2R, and it got pretty big, almost 1550 posts now. I like doing data driven analysis of new products. ATI liked it too, so they sold me some new ATI Straton Pro 204 units for a deal, and those will go over this new system.

The all aluminum housing with all passive cooling is pretty epic. PAR should be massive with terrific spread reminiscent of T5. I will do the same analysis as my last thread, but I am very optimistic about these lights to cover my 6 foot by 30 inch tank.

 

[NeverlosT]

Here is the sump that I purchased used in CT and cleaned up...

 

[NeverlosT]

Our floors are 2x10 joists over a 12" span, the tank will rest over three of them (but mostly over two). One is supported by a basement wall, and I designed and built a support for the other, so the floor should have no issue holding 4000lbs now.

The feet of the supports are anchored in, and I put a Starboard countertop workbench down there for water testing and reef stuff. The RO/DI system is located beneath it with 100G of storage, and a 100G saltwater tank nearby. All are closed since the boiler room is nice and dry (not humid) and we want to keep it that way.

Here is the workbench:

And the RODI system. It is a 2x 75gpd Membrane water saver system, uses a sediment filter, two carbon blocks, and then separate Anion, Cation, and mixed bed DI filters. An 150 gpd RO Buddie was just installed to auto flush it and bump up the feed pressure.

 

[NeverlosT]

Water will be fed to the 100g mixing tank, and then pumped directly upstairs into the sump. So I just drain the tank and then pump new water in, easy water changes. Two dedicated 20A circuits also run for the new tank and outlets installed behind the tank spot.

you can see a 1/2" RO line that will feed salt water into the sump from the basement, there will be a 1/4" line as well to fill the ATO reservoir. These outlets are all capped and pretty now.

Right by my thumb are the two new 20A breakers...

And we have a 22kW whole house generator with auto switching and a 250g propane tank, so power outages shouldn't be a big issue.

I have also built and programmed a big powerhead, might build a 2nd, it is like a poor man's Panta Rhei ECM63... works great, but a bit loud, so not sure if I will use it yet.

It is providing flow in the rock tub right now... which had off the charts nitrate and 0.75ppm phosphates until a 50g w/c brought that down to 60ppm Nitrate and I think .40 ppm phosphates.

Rock tub... I still need more rock but this is a start...

I periodically run a skimmer on it for kicks

 

[NeverlosT]

I also received the two return pumps (Varios8), the UV sterilizer (Lifegard Aquatics 90W), and as you can see in that pic I have a RE Bubble King Deluxe 200 skimmer (though I kind of want to sell it and use an external Reef Octopus Regal 300... we will see).

So now I look for deals on rock, try to find little pieces of liverock from established tanks to seed my tub, wait on the tank delivery, and be patient.

Oh, lastly, I designed and ordered a stand using 45x90 aluminum extrusion and ordered it all from Framing Tech. It will arrive in a week or so and I'll share pics. I still need to decide how to hang the lights. Decisions decisions...

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Great build thread so far. Nice that Phil got in your old tank.i also have the same RE BK Deluxe 200, love it. Upgraded from Reef Octo Elite 200 and couldn't be happier. I even spoke with @scavdog about flying into Germany and bringing back the Straton Pro's as they weren't available here. Went with GHL Mitras instead. Great lights.

 

[Edward]

Great build thread! Love the pics

 

[NeverlosT]

On the rock tub... so it leaks a little, just enough to produce salt creep. hope not too bad. Floor is lenolium so I hope is ok. It'll be couple more months. I just got some mussels from the bay, crushed 4, and put them in there to decompose and seed some more bacteria. Figured it couldn't hurt. Still want to find a small piece of rock (baseball size or smaller) from a relatively pest free system to seed as well if anyone is local and has one.

Here is the tank progress... top is on, now just waiting for the stainless frames to come back from powdercoating, then time to ship.

Ordered some more plumbing bits, so hopefully have all I need to plumb soon. Not sure when Framing Tech order is shipping but likely soon.

 

[NeverlosT]

High nutrients in the tub (probably the mussels i threw in there). Did 50g water change to cut them in half. Will measure again tomorrow. Then need to go buy reagents maybe tomorrow.

 

[NeverlosT]

Ran the skimmer for two weeks and a cup of GFO, took Nitrate down to 5ppm and phos to 0.30ppm. Shut off skimmer and put in another cup of GFO.

THE TANK IS DONE

Pics to come, but they called today. Bummer is, I have to go to sea for a short trip, so I have to delay its shipment until mid-june, but no biggie. Better to be prepared. I hope shipping doesn't cost a fortune, but I am betting not gonna be cheap.

I also bought three 1/2" x 4" x 32" cold rolled steel bars to go front to back under my tank feet. It will spread the tank load better across a few joists and reduce impact on floor, and only lift the tank 1/2".

Next up is running 3/8" water lines from the basement to the ATO upstairs and running 3x 1/4" dosing lines up (I'll likely keep the reservoirs downstairs on the basement fish bench).

Then heading to homedepot to get some fancy plywood to cut and epoxy-coat to be the lower and upper platforms for sump and tank. I used 3/4" last time, but might just use 1/2" this time. It really is not structural and I am worried about the tank getting too tall. tbd.

I thought about using 1/2" PVC like Than from tidal gardens... oh dear god the pvc sheets they used are $500 for a single one. noooo no no no not in the budget

 

[NeverlosT]

Ok no new tank pics yet, but the stand is done. I designed it myself but modeled off of others. Using the 45x45 and 45x90 hardware this thing is sturdy. All hidden Quick Connect hardware, gussets to prevent racking in any direction, six adjustable 4" feet.

The only structural parts missing are the upper and lower platforms (I will make these out of epoxy coated plywood), and the foot braces. Where the tank sits the feet sit between joists on hardwood floors and subfloor. Each foot will see ~650lbs of weight, which is too much to place on unsupported subfloor. So I have three 1/2" x 4" x 32" pieces of rounded and coated cold rolled 1018 steel coming which will run front to back under each set of feet, transferring all load to the joists that have been reinforced in the basement. Expected deflection is less than 0.04 inches.

I get started on the platforms tomorrow/this weekend. Its all from Framing Tech, they were good to work with, I saved a good bit and got a stronger stand designing it myself, and it really is not hard. I will buy the hardware to mount the platforms and the door panels later.

In case you are considering one, this is $1500 in hardware after shipping and tax.

 

[NeverlosT]

Got to work a bit on stand platforms top and bottom. Here is the bottom, made into a tub to catch any minor spills. Gets its first epoxy coat tomorrow. Is 1/2” birch plywood.

First cut and test fit:

Then with tub edges added, glued, and tacked in place.

Epoxy will make it water tight and hold it together permanently. Plan is to just sit in stand, with its fit, i dont think it needs to be bolted to stand.

 

[NeverlosT]

Two coats of epoxy and she should be water tight. I’ll test tomorrow PM. Then coat the tank platform.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Loving the build out so far, Ben.

 

[Ortizdrz]

Looking real good

 

[NeverlosT]

Got the tank room cleared out too, so now painting in there this week. Then the tank foot pads come shortly as well, and the tank itself in the next week or two. So exciting stuff.

In the past I used glass suction cups and a hydraulic lift table to place the tank on the stand. Anyone know folks locally that have the good suction cups? Otherwise I guess I will buy another set. Those things are key

Actually ill ask that in a separate thread. See if the club has any of that stuff

 

[NeverlosT]

Then one side of the top done:

Tank is getting crated tomorrow!

 

[FishieBusiness]

Looks amazing. I really like the idea for the design of the lower level. Making it tub like is genius. I'm definitely stealing the idea for my new build. I'm using an aluminum tank as well.

 

[NeverlosT]

Looks amazing. I really like the idea for the design of the lower level. Making it tub like is genius. I'm definitely stealing the idea for my new build. I'm using an aluminum tank as well.

Snag some of this too, keeps gear off the bottom so if (when) there are spills they dry instead of staying wet underneath forever.

Its the stuff they put on garage floors. Not expensive and cuts easily and comes in 1000 colors.

Ps. The sump fits like a glove!