My 500G Osama Reef arrived Nov 12 2013

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Next decision was what kind of sand

As for the sand I was not sure of what to select. I had plenty of LR to seed the tank but I wanted to make sure it got cycled efficiently and as fast as possible. I started by placing 70 lbs of the following sand(s) in my refugium ... 20lbs CaribSea AragAlive Fiji pink, 20 lbs Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Live Aragonite, and 30 lbs Tropic Eden (not live) aragonite sand and essential Trace elements. All are fine grained which I decided were too fine for the MT as from previous experience fine sand will end up blowing allover. Also decided that Iwill not go for a DSB and only go for 2-3 inches of a sand bed. I did not want a bare bottom tank as I was not sure I like the looks of a bare bottom tank...

I ended using a combination of Live and dry sand and all Aragonite sand. I am still not happy with the gradation selected as I think it is still finer than I should have used (not as fine as in the sump) . regardless of what it says on the sand bag always wash the sand till the water is "fairly" clear.
 
Rock Placement

As we are continuing with the water fill I started working on placing and arranging the LR and DR I had bought. I mostly buy the largest pieces I can obtain ans use the smaller pieces to glue coral and position on the rock formation or on the sand. I also place smaller pieces of rubble stone under the heavy rock that will help elevate my base heavy rock off the sand and give me 3 more inches of surface rock. My installer advised against it as it is better stability to let the heavy rock go all the way down to the bottom. I DID IT MY WAY although I usually listen to my Installer as he is most qualified but I felt confident that my heavy rock provided for a stable structure and I had already done it and was not about to undo it.....

Here is a picture of the ruble rock and prelim aquascaping of the heavy Reef structure

 
FIlling the tank

By Nov 22 2013, we had made enough RODI water and filled the tank and I am continuing to work on rock placement. I always place an egg-crate in the area I am working on to avoid scratching the glass as I am moving the rock around,


 
In the meantime

I had moved corals and LR and some LS in an old 65g self contained Oceanic tank and put a 250W MH ligh on it that worked beautifully in keeping my corals haapy and I cramed few tangs (3) in this small tank. The tangs accepted their small housing as they could see their newer home is across the room and waited patiently to be moved.

Here is my 65 G holding tank later on used as a QT till I sold it few weeks ago.



Some softies shown here
 
Lighting

I am using for lighting Maxspect Razor 160W 27"
Five on main tank one on frag tank and one on refugium.. I love those lights. Hoping they will be good for coral growth. LEDs are new to me as my previous experience is with MH and Actinic lights..
Anyone using LED give me your opinion. They are here to stay but would like to hear from others of their experience with those lights. 16K on main tank and frag tank 10k on refugium ...
Will these lights last?
Will they need to be replaced because par?? will degrade with time?
How long before they need to be replaced etc?
I do not know and if U guys know .. Pls advise with my thanks

They Look magggnificentttt

View from home office side (HO)


Now the Family Room Side will only show the main tank everything else is not visible here.

 
For internal Closed loop

We are using for internal flow: Four MP60s (Ecotech Vortex). They have been extremely powerful even for a tank as long as almost eleven feet.

Installer working late, is on the right side in this picture adjusting the MP 60



MY lesson learned here. My MP60's dry segment is behind the the finish framing and are only accessible from the top opening space above the tank. These things have a tendency to fall off (in my case at least all of them did -- VERY VERY UNHAPPY with this situation).. Installer says he will fix them in place and I do not know how. Manufacturer sent me four sticky hooks to put in there and two packs of angular corner pieces to put around the motor. I believe that no sticky will stay in place as the environment gets warm-hot and with time stickies fail almost all the time. Velcro also did not stay put in the cabinets under the MT.
 
1guydude said:
Video would b Kool.
D
Click to expand...

I am not VG or G with photography I will try video and post later on in this build/thread.... Thanks Sea Urchin and I hope some of this is interesting to others or to new to hobby people and maybe even some experienced people can find something useful and can give me their advise as well,,,
 
COntrols

In the bottom on the FR side are some of the electrical controls. Others will go into the fish closet.
In the center section are the controls for the MP60s two on the right and two on the left and in the center are two back up controllers for each of two sets of MP pump.



DT has five light fixture a sixth over the frag and seventh over the refugium
On bottom left are controls for main tank first three lights and for Refuge tank



On bottom Right are controls for main tank controlling two lights of main tank and frag tank

 
First Fish movrd to new 500 g tank

Moved into DT from the 65 on Dec 10 2013 Corals and first fish



All Looking good
 
Setting APEX Prelim parameters

I set my MPs running off the APEX and as follows. I have set them to operate at 33% capacity and I have set four profiles as follows PF1 is a fall back profile and that is set at 8% which means if APEX goes down & comes back on it will have my MPS at a low speed to allow me to determine cause before I reinstate the desired speed. PF2=33%, PF3=50% PF4=75% and PF5= 100%. I was just playing and learning before trying to set two MPs in sync and two anti-sync and setup profiles for different wave patterns at different times of the day and a feed cycle etc... Sounds like fun to try after all else is done Plenty yet to do before then..
Lights are on/off based on times I set on APEX. Next I set/programmed the MPs to start at 25% then gradually up to a peak at 100% in increments
 
Water Storage Tanks

Water Storage and RODI units are in the basement. We bought two sixty five gallons each, water storage tanks. Valves everywhere to do whatever we want. We fill the right tank with RO water and when we need salt we transfer water to left tank and mix the salt in by circulating the water within this tank with valves as shown here. When ready to pump water up to DT we open the Red Valve and we close the top left black valve. We connect the basement pump to the APEx system so we can put that pump on/off from the HO room and have water move up to the DT

 
A friend came by with some corals and took these good pictures I am not a very good photographer...

Full Tank View Back/office side



Full Tank View FR side



Corals accumulated so far in right side of tank

 
My Tank's coras

Here are pictures of my tank as of few weeks ago Everything is doing extremely well Hope it stays that way



 
Cabinetry Looks Great

Sharing this look that we love... hope U like it

FR side



Office side

 

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Did you get the builder of the tanks to inspect the bubbles on the seams? I'd hate to see a thread of this loud crack one day.
Also putting your controllers below, any thoughts to moisture on the electrical system?
 
Scooterman said:
Did you get the builder of the tanks to inspect the bubbles on the seams? I'd hate to see a thread of this loud crack one day.
Also putting your controllers below, any thoughts to moisture on the electrical system?
Click to expand...

He inspected but did not do much He should have rejected the tank that he had in his shop for a month or more. When I brought it up he contacted the manufacturer who gave him a guarantee of 90 days after tank filling ie thru March 2014... Longer term great risk to our home!!

My electrical it at risk but I am not sure in an enclosed system where would Installer put all the equipment and avoid moisture. Most equipment has special connectors that have limited length!!.. Any thoughts you can share would be considered fom my part if possible to implement now....
 
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