LoJack's 144 Gallon Reef Build

Turns out the basement floor isn't level (I knew this already ... my corner tank is sitting about 1/8" off from side to side.

This one works out to about 3/8" over the 55" span. This normally wouldn't be enough to warrant me to do any kind of work at all ... because once the canopy is on, you won't even notice it ... and I know that the floor is out and stand is spot on.

However, With a 55" overflow ... 3/8" over 55" ends up being noticeable. I'm skimming like a tidal wave on the left, and barely skimming the right side at all.

I don't need to get it perfect ... I just need to improve it.

Pics of the process to follow (I'm draining the tank now ... this could take a while lol)

 

Plumbing looks awesome man

 

Thanks.

I'm so glad I went with the Beananimal standpipes!! It was a lot of extra coin in terms of plumbing, and it took 3 times as long since there are 3 standpipes, but Holy Man ... self tuning is an understatement.

It takes about 8 seconds to fully tune itself when I fire the pump up ... and then is dead fricken silent!

 

Well I made some more progress.

The plumbing is done and water tested, everything is good to go. I had one small leak at the outlet of the return pump, turns out I forgot to tighten it past hand tight. Snugged it up, and now I'm golden.

Here are a few shots of the final result.

Shots of the overflow box in action:





A bit of a panned out shot:



And from the other side: Coast to Coast baby!



A quick shot of the standpipes



The overflow and the returns. The loc lines are nice because I put individual ball valves on each one to help with finetuning flow depending on what corals are in which areas of the tank.





The power of the pump (x4 outlets ... its deadly flow for a return pump)



And the sump as it is right now. More equipment to come, this is just to get everything started.

 

Kept plugging along and started getting rock and sand ready to go. Finalized my scape.

I will provide quite a few shots. Cameras don't do a good job of showing depth. I took pics from different angles to show the entire aquascape as best as I could.

Here goes ... let me know what you think!









From the left side of the tank. Everything is kept away from the glass to aid in cleaning. It also allows for much more swimming space for the fish. I love tangs ... and tangs love open area.



And from the Right side:



And a shot with some sand. Carib Sea Special Grade

 

Looks really awesome, especially love the return/overflow setup.
Are you trying to spell out YA!? It'd be cool to do your initials if youre trying to add a word into the rocks, which is a cool idea that i've never seen before!

 

lol nope wasn't trying to spell anything in my rockwork

 

I love everything about this build. The dimensions, Bean, C2C overflow box, piping, stand, rock work, everything. Good job, LoJack! Now start filling it up!

 

Yeah I'm pretty stoked as well.

I threw in a raw prawn last night to kick off the cycle. I've got a buddy in town who's going to give me some seeded media to fast track the cycle.

 

Nice!

I see guitars, big TV with speakers etc. Now there's an aquarium. I wouldnt get out of the basement.