Adam G’s 8ft Rimless Reef (1 Viewer)

[Riley]

You really know how to start a build thread. I love it! It's going to be fun watching all of of this come together.

I do really like the 8020 stuff. So many options. You can really make something looks as industrial or as sleek as you want to. No cords showing on the lights is going to look super clean.

 

[Adam G]

You really know how to start a build thread. I love it! It's going to be fun watching all of of this come together.

I do really like the 8020 stuff. So many options. You can really make something looks as industrial or as sleek as you want to. No cords showing on the lights is going to look super clean.

Thank you. Yes, the stuff is great. It is light and strong and with all the different connectors and accessories you can do anything you want with it. I am going to keep this stuff in mind for non aquarium related stuff now that I am familiar with it.

 

[Adam G]

Look what showed up today! Did a little video but can’t get it to upload at the moment.

 

[marty9876]

So I told my wife “Adam is building a 288 gallon aquarium” and her response was “that seems kinda small”

 

[Adam G]

Video of sump.

 

[Adam G]

Reef Octopus assemble and it fits!

 

[Adam G]

Jason is making some real progress on my stand. That is a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi for size comparison.

 

[mapierce7]

This is a helluva start! looking forward to more.

 

[Adam G]

This is a helluva start! looking forward to more.

I have some updates to add. Making some progress. Have some fish in quarantine too!

 

[DarkSky]

This is shaping up to be one hell of a build. Excited to see more!

If it's in the budget, get a neck cleaner for that skimmer. I didn't for mine and I wish I would have right away, the necks gunk up so fast. Going to be getting an aftermarket avast marine one - I think octo makes cleaners for their skimmers, right?

 

[Adam G]

This is shaping up to be one hell of a build. Excited to see more!

If it's in the budget, get a neck cleaner for that skimmer. I didn't for mine and I wish I would have right away, the necks gunk up so fast. Going to be getting an aftermarket avast marine one - I think octo makes cleaners for their skimmers, right?

Yes, they do make one. I think I just may do that.

 

[Adam G]

Got my aquatic life 48” fixtures assembled and temporarily installed. Just hung them on the light rack with the included wire hanging kit for the moment. Have to come up with a good way to hard mount them to the 80/20 aluminum rail. I am going to try and figure out some good wire management as well.

Decided to go with 3 Blue Plus and 1 Coral Plus bulbs in each fixture. I hope I like that combo.

I will be adding my 4 Hydra 52’s but they are currently over my tank and I will wait to move them over until I move the corals and other livestock.

 

[Adam G]

All painted. Jason will have the stand done this weekend!

 

[Adam G]

Well the quarantining has begun! I am optimistic so far. All fish doing awesome and eating well.

 

[Adam G]

Finished up some reorganizing of my fish room. Took my furnace room and epoxied the floor, put FRP on the walls, and added a slop sink. Did all of that a while ago. This time around I added some shelves and organization mostly.

 

[Adam G]

Stand is in place! Let the plumbing begin......

 

[Leicester56]

Now that’s a stand!

 

[Adam G]

Spent about 7 hours on the tank build today. Got the following done:

-Installed LED lights in the stand. Pretty cool little lights off Amazon. Came with a remote conrol and the ability to change colors and create different effects. Had fun playing with some different effects. Will be nice to have come bright light down there for doing maintenance.

-Got my apex registered and on Fusion. My Aqua Illumination Apex Module and my Vortech Apex Module are still on my other tank but I installed my FMM Module with 2 leak detectors and two 1” flow meters as well as my Module that runs my Apex par meter. Got everything all set up on Fusion and all of the outlets programmed. Got all 4 probes mounted and wired as well.

-Sump is in place, skimmer is in and hooked up. Both Octo8 return pumps are installed as well. All 3 pump controllers are mounted in the electrical cabinet.

-Assembled the Synergy overflows and printed off the tank drawings which have the dimension of the overflow locations. Got everything marked out so I should be able to rough plumb everything in. I got a little plumbing done as well.

-Placed yet another BRS plumbing parts order. Should be able to build the manifold now and get most of the plumbing done. I am sure I will be missing a few pieces and parts.

-Need to figure out some cord management strategies. Going to do a little reading tonight and will make a Home Depot run tomorrow and see if I can get some channels to mont on the back of the stand.

Snapped a couple of quick pics throughout the process:

 

[VikingsCrazy]

Hey Adam! Everything looks great! I have an led like that under my 40 breeder and i love it. I do not know if it will help you or not, but I thought I would throw it out there. I took my drawing (what would be your printout) and cut a THICK piece of cardboard to fit. Then I placed it in the stand where the tank would be. I cut holes in it for the bulk heads. The cardboard acted like the bottom of the tank and allowed me to plumb most of it as if the tank was actually there. Helped me a lot. Hurry up and get some water in there! Winter is coming fast.

 

[Adam G]

Hey Adam! Everything looks great! I have an led like that under my 40 breeder and i love it. I do not know if it will help you or not, but I thought I would throw it out there. I took my drawing (what would be your printout) and cut a THICK piece of cardboard to fit. Then I placed it in the stand where the tank would be. I cut holes in it for the bulk heads. The cardboard acted like the bottom of the tank and allowed me to plumb most of it as if the tank was actually there. Helped me a lot. Hurry up and get some water in there! Winter is coming fast.

That template is a great idea. I am doing something similar. Luckily I do not to worry about cutting through the stand. Exrenal overflow with holes built in the top and a 30” deep stand for a 24” tank. So pipes just shoot up behind the tank in the back 6” of the stand, Jlanger did a perfect job of putting the holes in the right spot based on the drawing. So that part is done,

However, I had to figure out where the overflows would be and then measure the hole in the tank, then the offset to the pipe hole in the overflow, then the distance to the other 2 pipes, then all this times 2 since I have 2 overflows. Was a bit of a brain twister. I think I will,use your cardboard template idea to create a jig so to speak to use under the stand as I am plumbing things in today.