Jessezm's tank build thread

Jessezm · 07-24-2006, 10:07 PM

Just got the tank in this afternoon! I'm starting a new thread to document my progress, now that at least some of the set up is out of the design phase. for the lead up, follow this thread:
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=76068

And now, here's the beast, with the lights sitting on top for extra dramatic effect:

Kullas · 07-24-2006, 10:57 PM

Very nice

jdpierce21 · 07-24-2006, 11:00 PM

Awesome! The lights looks sooo good. What are you using?

Loverotties · 07-24-2006, 11:11 PM

Very Nice!

Jessezm · 07-24-2006, 11:35 PM

Thanks! The lights are T5 Tek retrofits. I got them locally from Sam at Aquabuys for an awesome price. There are 4-54 watt tubes, 2-39 Watt tubes, and 2 24watt tubes, with a mix of aquablue +, Actinic +, pure actinic, and one 6k daylight bulb. I plugged the whole setup into a killowatt meter and came up with 375 watts. I switched out the sunlight supply reflectors for Ice Cap SLR reflectors and man, are they bright!

showtime305 · 07-24-2006, 11:54 PM

What are you planning on stocking this tank with?

Jessezm · 07-25-2006, 12:02 AM

Softies, and some LPS, maybe a squamosa. I may do a few monti caps and some other easy SPS at some point. I may switch over to some Ice cap 660's at some point if I go with a lot more SPS, but for now, I want to try something different. The flow is set up for an SPS tank with the closed loop, but it should work out nicely with softies and LPS as well, I think. I'd like to put some small schooling fish in it, since there will be so much swimming room. Any thoughts? I haven't thought too far through the fish list yet. I'd love some ideas. I was thinking anthias but am getting concerned about being able to feed as often as I hear is necessary...

GLXTRIX · 07-25-2006, 09:51 AM

tank looks beautiful! Really neat design to it, cant wait to see it up and running

Jessezm · 07-25-2006, 10:11 AM

thanks! One thing I had been worried about was the front viewing panel being too small, but with the round corners in the front, it actually looks a lot bigger than I imagined. My wife is now having serious anxiety attacks! Unfortunately, it's going to take awhile to finish setting up, now that there had been a blanket moratorium on credit card spending imposed...

thekid55 · 07-25-2006, 11:11 AM

looks good.

fabbss · 07-25-2006, 04:26 PM

Looking good, what kind of livestock are you going to go with?

Sprayin70 · 07-25-2006, 07:06 PM

Looks great! I can't wait to see it up and running!

Jessezm · 08-14-2006, 10:47 AM

Well, I finished building the electrical panel this weekend and thought I would document it here in case anyone is interested. I got the idea off of a thread on RC that was a tremendous help, so I hope this is helpful for someone, too!

I wanted a simple electrical interface that would NOT involve plugging and unplugging things when I wanted them on or off, and was not a mess of bulky timers and cords. I also wanted to control lights, reactors, pumps, etc, all with one device. I thought about the ReefkeeperII, but unfortunately, it only controls up to 8 switchable outlets, and I thought that would not be enough. I settled on an Aquacontroller Jr, which can controll 12 channels, and found one for cheap on the forums. The parts list for this project ended up actually being kind of pricey. Including the ACjr, a DC8 and DC4 HD, and all the leads and recepticals and the two DJ8 power centers, I spent more than I intended, but I believe this is one of the most important aspects of a reeftank--especially after having one with a messy bank of timers and plugs on powerstrips overloading a singe ciruit in my living room. This time I was going to do it right!

First, I installed two new 20 amp circuits totally dedicated to the tank, and ran them to two separate GFCI recepticals. Then, I started building the box--pictures in the next post:

Jessezm · 08-14-2006, 10:48 AM

I started with two of these DJ8 power centers (you can get them for $30 at Guitar Center. They have 8 lighted switches that control 8 separate outlets that plug into the back:

Jessezm · 08-14-2006, 10:58 AM

I had to totally gut these and arrange them so that the power going out is hardwired to recepticals where I will actually plug the devices in, and the power coming in comes from each channel of the ACjr. After about 8 hours of stripping and crimping, here's what I came up with: