GoToSleep's 700g Build Thread (& complete remodel)

I love a good pun! BTW, that's a great grouper pictures ya got there.

 

Ohhhh dear, its pun time

 

I'm planning a reef, I really like the complexity and interplay of an entire ecosystem. My kids are interested in some predator specimens and I probably will wind up with a not-reef-safe specimen in a smaller tank plumbed into the main system. I'm still not sure what predator type might do good in a 40 breeder or 20 tall.

As to Saxby's tank, it's big enough that I don't think ich is too much of a problem. You don't see ich outbreaks sweeping through the ocean and wiping out entire reefs after all.

 

Here are a couple views of the stand in the room. These shots show the hood sitting on top of the stand before the tank arrived.



ReefSparky, the new fridge doesn't look quite so lost in there as the old one did.

 

You will like the 17kW. I have a Generac Guardian series and love it. Thing runs almost the hole house except dryer and stove. If power is out I will fire up the grill to eat.

About time you get pics added to this build thread, thought I was going to have to file charges with Luna....;D

 

The tank finally arrived last Sunday. For the complet set of tank delivery pics see http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/tank-delivery-nightmare-68074-2.html the first actually tank pictures start at post #56 but I repost a few here.
A bigger truck this time around:

My wife said that it didn't look all that big, she didn't have to move the thing. 1700 lbs empty weight.


5 men and 2 1/2 hours to get it all positioned. Still waiting to get the overflows and the sump.

 

I've got a gas range, gas dryer, and gas hot water heater so we're golden.

To be fair, this official build thread only started 18 hours ago so I think I'm doing pretty good. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if Luna has even seen it yet. Those others were kind of pre-build threads. And the best is yet to come.

 

Some of you already know how much I enjoyed sitting under this stand for the better part of 2 days to get 3 coats of marine polyurethane on the inside for protection. I didn't go to this trouble with the stand for my 125 but this tank is going to be here for a long time and I have no intention of changing the stand out from underneath it.



The next step was to get a shower pan under there to help protect the floor against the inevitable little spills and leaks. For those of you who haven't done this before, it was just a little more fun than coating the polyurethane.

This is what I used...


It turned out pretty well...

 

The inside dimension of the stand is 75" but there is only 68" between the lower rails of the stand. My sump is 72" long so I cut some 2x6's to use as supports for the sump.

 

A few shots of the fish closet

I found a use for that old utility sink.


The wood circle on the floor is my template for the 200gal water vat, 30" dia x 72" tall