My 500G Osama Reef arrived Nov 12 2013

[Osama]

I will start today with a series of pictures of my tank build process and take a look at how it looks at present
This is a 500g designed purchased and installed by professionals. I just play with the rocks corals and live stock.
Tank dimensions are 130"X30"X31"

Tank and Equipment in the shop




Tank arrival pictures
Picture 1 is tank support framing with three all glass tanks. Each is 65g: Middle is main sump, right is refugium, left is a frag tank


Picture 2 moving the tank itself . Had to take the FR sliding doors off to get tank in

Picture3: Tank on it's stand with plumbing in base assembled in shop

 

[Osama]

Filling my 500 G

Filling started around Nov 15 2013

 

[Osama]

Rock curing

Had LR and dry rock in basement 150 gallons sump with Berlin (old) skimmer

 

[Osama]

Dry Rock

Bought dry rock from FL. I love that rock. It is heavy but could order and did order large pieces as pillars and as flat tops

If I were to do another tank I would do all or mostly all using dry rock. No hitchhikers to worry about and lots of holes for life to multiply and to anchor corals.

 

[Osama]

Bought LR from Hobbyist

LR bought from hobbyist was full of live stuff

 

[Osama]

Construction & Destruction

Had to have a drain to basement sump running under the flooring and returns including RODI thru the walls and ceilings. Wife tolerating this for several weeks as my installer only worked one day or twice a week and sometimes skipped weeks at a time to run his LFS business and servicing business. At times we needed a lot of patience especially on wife's part. I think she is an angel as she loves this hobby.

Plumbing under bathroom flooring



Wall and ceiling opened up


Plumbing being threaded thru ceiling

 

[Osama]

Tank Plumbing & Circulation

Below the DT and in the center tank, is the main sump, a 65g all glass tank (IMO:sump is too small for this size tank causing bubbles to return to the DT .. Not a good design IMO) . In the sump are four pumps as shown here:


The left most and right pumps each feed a header to the DT. the middle two pumps feed, one feeds the skimmer and the other one feeds the refugium, the frag tank and the supplementary equipment CR, two GEOs.

Show here the two main hdrs into the DT. Bubbles in the DT maybe (not sure) aggravated by the fact that the nozzles are not submerged and not sealed to prevent air from infiltrating into the system then into the DT

 

[Blue Lip]

Awesome tank! Interesting the overflow box is clear. Do you run a dehumidifier?

 

[Osama]

Good observation amphipod.. Actually the returns on each side are covered with a black cover that was placed after the above initial erection pics. I do not run a dehum. I do have an exhaust fan that is too weak and not doing much. Tank has full enclosure and that fan is supposed to exhaust all hot & humid air.. more details to follow... Just short on time right now and THANK U very much FYI

 

[Osama]

Control Romm aka as fish closet

At one end of the tank we extended an existing small closet to be flush with the tank and there we housed two GFOs the skimmer UV CR Kalk reactor all the APEX electrical and controls for each of the four pumps. Tank is on the right of this closet/pictures

Skimmer and UV shown here



Two GFOs



Controls for the four pumps and in bottom area will be added Apex controller components

 

[Osama]

Housing in old 65g tank

I move LR from basement into an old 65g tank and bought from hobbyist some coral and fish that were under 250 MH light. had three large tangs that did OK there but could not wait for larger living quarters...

 

[Blue Lip]

I see you use an oceanic bucket as a waste collector. How many times has it overflowed? I use an oceanic bucket too. I have a coralvue float valve on my bucket to turn off my recirculating pump & preventing overflows.

 

[Osama]

Again very good observation... Actually the bucket is temporary. the permanent discharge is into a PVC pipe that is routed under the flooring to basement sump. Same is used to remove tank water for water change.
Pump discharges tank water into drain to bsmnt.

 

[user 26995]

Wow, thats a nice tank.
we...well, I at least... need more pics.

 

[Osama]

Thank you IPISCES more will come ... I will continue with the built ASA possible... Trying to organize the sequence of how this tank came together... Wife and I love what we have done..

 

[NanaReefer]

I'm speechless Just the thought of all the work that goes into a build of this size, boggles my senses! Lol. I am going to thoroughly enjoy watching you fill it with life Kudos!

 

[Osama]

Cabinetry is amazing and the support section/framing was shop assembled with all the horizontal piping in place !!! Appreciate your input NanaReefer..

 

[Osama]

Plumbing

I am experiencing bubbles in the DT (work in progress by our installer). I had prepared this video seeking suggestions on what we can do to prevent the bubbles from making it to the display tank.

I am placing this video here ONLY FYI as it also describes our plumbing system which maybe of use to others. Hope you like it



Another Picture of the plumbing and four Diablo DC 10500 pumps

 

[Osama]

Air bubbles in tank Seams

As the Installer's work was on-going. We noticed something that really upset us. The Installer inspected the tank in his shop and kept it there for a month and was supposed to check it for leaks (not sure if he did that or not). We noticed several voids in the seams/joints that were IMO numerous. Anyhow I am learning to live with that situation and post it here for others to really insist in examining the seams before you have the tank in your home...

 

[Osama]

Electrical Difficulty

Another difficulty our installer experienced was electrical. There were several conduits accessible to him but for some reason he could not use them. We asked and we got two separate dedicated 20 amps each circuits to our tank. Very Good idea for all to consider having a dedicated circuit so if anything in the house trips it would not be connected to your reef system. It took a lot of effort to get two rigid conduits from the basement thu the floors then the walls then the ceiling to get to the DT

As u see hee one conduit made it and the second is in the works. Space in the overhead ceiling is very difficult to clear as there is a house htg. duct right in our face...