Joe's Wet Dream, A 550 Gallon Work In Progress

[NC2WA]

Kris,

You are more than welcomed to stop by an see my tank anytime. It will give you an idea to see Jason's outstanding craftmanship and to see in person what a 375 gallon tank looks like. They tend to look bigger in person and installed.

The tour will take about 15 mins. :lol::lol:

Kirk

 

[jesshimom]

He forgot "some" zeros.

 

[Jobiwan]

The Big Day!!!

I got some great news last night, the doors to my stand needed some work, so I expected to wait til next week for installation. Last night Jason went down and picked up the stand without the doors, so my tank will finally be up and running today! The stainless folks will bring the doors up later and install them. Jason will be up around noon, I will post pic's later of the installation.

I picked up some Ricordea floridae on eBay in the last few days, they will be spread around on the lower levels of the tank eventually. There are a total of 49 polyps coming my way early next week, feast your eyes on these babies...
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[krisfal]

I got some great news last night, the doors to my stand needed some work, so I expected to wait til next week for installation. Last night Jason went down and picked up the stand without the doors, so my tank will finally be up and running today! The stainless folks will bring the doors up later and install them. Jason will be up around noon, I will post pic's later of the installation.

I picked up some Ricordea floridae on eBay in the last few days, they will be spread around on the lower levels of the tank eventually. There are a total of 49 polyps coming my way early next week, feast your eyes on these babies...
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WOO HOO! I bet your are so excited to have reached this day! Nice Ricordea! I cannot wait to see the pictures.

 

[Scooterman]

Hey looks like it is hammer time, hold the press & get the tank in!
Congrats on the good news!

 

[krisfal]

Kris,

You are more than welcomed to stop by an see my tank anytime. It will give you an idea to see Jason's outstanding craftmanship and to see in person what a 375 gallon tank looks like. They tend to look bigger in person and installed.

The tour will take about 15 mins. :lol::lol:

Kirk

Kirk,
I might just take you up on that offer at some point. I hope the tour is more than 15 minutes:lol:, the drive will be an hour plus depending on traffic. And I will have lots of questions. It will probably be next spring/summer before I would be ready to get into the actual project, but I will need to do a lot of planning before then.

We have a good friend who has been professionally working with acrylic for 25+ years. He will be here from Montana around Thanksgiving and staying with us. I will be having some serious discussions with him while he is here.

 

[NC2WA]

Kris,

Absolutely the tour will be more than 15 mins
I could talk about this for hours.

Anyway, it will give you some good ideas on how you want to plan your project. All of the maintenance is automtic. I do not lift a bucket to do any water changes.

It will be worth the trip. Hopefully, by the time you come I will have several large angelfish in the tank.

Kirk

 

[ret25yo]

wow I just found this thread...lol and 2 months ago it was Joes tank I was staring at when I told Jason to start mine. Mine is 1/3rd the size at @270g give a couple of gallons for the extra goodies Jason adds but we just reviewed a 48x30x20 sump for the main tank. I love the electrical panel he designed for you. I;m still trying to choose my controller and lighting(t-5). My tank/stand/sump will be done by saturday if anyone wants to come over and help a wounded veteran get it in the truck and u-haul (as I live in montana) and no longer can use my right arm.
I cant wait to see your beast up and running as insiration for mine...lol

 

[Jobiwan]

Here it is...

Nice Kyle, you are gonna love your setup, please post photos.

And now folks, I'm pleased to be able to finally show you my stand. The stainless has been ground to give it a swirley appearance, this gives it a 3-D appearance, a sensation of depth which I can't show in the photos. It also eliminate the problem of fingerprints which those of you with stainless appliances know all about. My thanks and deepest gratitude to Jason and the crew that moved this, Eric, Matt, Dave, Adam and Jeff, and to Ladonna for all her help. Enough gab, here it is:
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The skin is removable, here it is being taken off for the move:
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Here is the gang moving it towards the stairs:
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They are poised to move it up the stairs on the back deck:
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Being moved into the living room:
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And in it's final position, replacing the stainless skin:
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[Jobiwan]

And Now for the Tank

The crew was able to move the tank in through the front door once we took the door off the hinges, it just cleared. BTW those are not scratches in the first photo, just artifacts..
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Manuevering the tank in the house:
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Lining it up to slide onto the stand from the front, note that the front section of the skin is not in place to allow this.
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And sliding it into place:
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[JPG@CFI]

Joe,

I'm beat! I will see you soon, and by the way, great pic's of a great system!


Jason

 

[Jobiwan]

Setting Up the Plumbing

Jason had dry fitted all plumbing on the tank, so this went quite fast considering the magnitude of the task. The first photo is Eric preparing some fittings inside the tank:
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Jeff and Adam, wouldn't have been able to accomplish everything today without their help.
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Here we have Jason in the tank working on the closed loops, Eric is behind him working on the plumbing in the overflow, that is Dave underneath the tank working on the plumbing, and Matt looking over everything to ensure quality control....
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A view of the plumbing at the back underneath the tank, mostly closed loop returns from the hammerhead 4-ways remoted down in the crawlspace, note the board that Jason uses to anchor all the PVC and keep everything neatly organized, I would have just had them dangling...
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Another view of the undertank plumbing at the rear, shot up at the bottom of the tank..
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An undertank view of three of the four closed loop returns located at the front of the tank, love those schedule 80 ball valves...
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This is the coolest, this is a view of the inside top of the tank, the black pipes are for the 4 closed loop returns located at the water's surface, the water level will be below the pipes, and the hood will extend below them, so the pipes will be invisible....
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Last but not least, the first fish in my tank...
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[Jobiwan]

Glad you made it home Jason, thanks again to you and the gang for all you did and have done to create this outstanding system, I'll see you soon, best regards, Joe

 

[Scooterman]

I like these instant updates, suddenly you have one huge tank in your house!
That is very cool man, finally congrats. to you & the crew that put it all together!

 

[krisfal]

Speechless.....

Joe, did you get any sleep last night or were you up staring at the tank and pinching yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming

 

[Krish]

That is one huge tank!!!! Looking great man!!

 

[jesshimom]

I heard he curled up inside it with his Nemo blankey.

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

Absolutely awesome !!! I think I said HOLY <&@#$&> at least half a dozen times when viewing the pics. I had no idea you had to go up the stairs for the stand. Jason, et.al got their work out yesterday. No need to go to the gym.

I can't wait to see this tank in person. I hope you have an art for aquascaping this thing. You have a great canvas.

Kirk

 

[Jobiwan]

Thanks guys, it's great to have it in place. I thought sleeping in it would be more comfortable Colleen, but that plexi is hard, my back is killing me... Thanks also to all the people who offered to help move it, it came together quite suddenly and Jason had all the help we had room for lined up, so I didn't want to drag you all up to Whidbey, anyone is welcome to come by and check it out anytime, but of course there will be a lot more to see once it is up and running, can't wait to get water flowing it it, that should happen next friday, I'll keep you posted...

 

[edwing206]

That tank is looking great! Keep up the good work.