Mickey's Reef

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

First off, have to thank everyone who helped me move this monster of a tank. Tom (Salted) went above and beyond, we used his truck and trailer to bring the tank down from Perth Amboy to Forked River. Amado also pulled through and used his super long arms to reach things in the tank that normal humans simply aren't able to do. Chris, previous owner, for just giving the tank away, he may join njreefers as I gave him the info to check it out. Sean, the guy who set up the sale to me and the 2 kids who helped us out with the move, no idea of their names but just giving them a shout out anyway. Oh yeah, and my neighbor, Pete, who showed up to move my boat out of the way.

It all went a lot smoother than I could have imagined and that's thanks to all the very helpful people I mentioned. A few more guys from the club threw their hats into the ring to help, but with work schedules and everything else, couldn't make it, but I do appreciate the offers to help out. Paulie, Foxchase, Jamie S, and thirty 6, thank you guys for offering, much respect.

 

[Salted]

You're welcome. Happy to have helped. Post up the pics, you know everyone wants pics.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Pictures are coming! But first, about the tank. It is the Marineland 300DD, it came with a slew of goodies, including the stand, swc extreme 160 skimmer, an mp-40, 6ft long marineland led lights, glass tops, a few mag drives, large reactor, 36" acrylic sump. just a whole bunch of stuff!

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Here you go guys.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Some more.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

So yeah that's it! The build is now officially on hold

I have to rip up the floor and support the joists and finish painting the room where it's going to go. The stand needs to dry out, get cleaned, get reinforced and finally painted. The tank is a monster, I know these Marineland 300s have a bad rep but I think it'***** or miss with these things. This one was up for 10 years so I'm guessing it's good.

Things I am immediately thinking about:

1. Should I do a reseal? Those corners have seen better days after 10 years. But do I want to add extra work. Really, I don't know how long I will have this tank. Have a feeling it will only be a few years but you never know.
2. Should I remove the corner wiers and drill out for overflows. Already have 1 new Marine Depot elite large overflow kit I didn't use somewhere else. I would need an extra one. I'd lose the ability to convert to peninsula tank if I drill out the back side.
3. Could I get away with just removing the wiers and replacing with black standpipe? Glass is 1/2" thick and boy oh boy, have a feeling it's not going to be easy to drill. And as mentioned before I could preserve the tank for peninsula use later.
4. Should I ditch the socks and give refugium another shot? Man I hate replacing socks every single day....

Going to take a couple days off before I rip up that floor. I'll wait until after New Year.

 

[Salted]

If you decide #3, I'd make a brace to put at the top the standpipes to keep them stable. Cut out a triangle and drill holes to slip over the standpipes, silicone it into the corner. Don't need to bump into one and crack it or disturb a bulkhead and cause a leak.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

If you decide #3, I'd make a brace to put at the top the standpipes to keep them stable. Cut out a triangle and drill holes to slip over the standpipes, silicone it into the corner. Don't need to bump into one and crack it or disturb a bulkhead and cause a leak.

heavily leaning to just go with standpipes at the moment

 

[amado]

This is going to be a great build.
Good luck

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

So we've rethought our plans with the tank. considering how much work needs to be done to each room in our house and particularly with the amount of use and purpose of each room. Originally we wanted a peninsula tank but really there wasn't any place to put it. there is a place between our living room and dining room with a closet. and it would have been perfect as a tiny control room and water storage closet but the floors are not perfect and I noticed a crack in the foundation wall in the crawl space and I'm thinking that the house is probably sagging and needs to be leveled out and foundation wall fixed. this is stuff that I will be getting to eventually but the issue is that we want to set up the tank now and not wait until we fix the floors and walls.

Finally we decided to put the tank against the wall in our front room (no foundation or wall issues there) but it turns out the tank would sit on two different floors, one wood and one cement. so the plan was to rip up the wood floor cause I can't get under there though the crawlspace. I was going to put jacks under the joists and just level out the wood with the cement floor building the stand right into the floor. but after much thought and consideration I do not want this big tank sitting on two different floors. I'm not comfortable with it and do not want another disaster.

I picked up a few fish and have them in a qt tank. and I realized that placement of this tank is a one shot deal and we really need to put it in the perfect spot or we will end up with another nightmare like the 210 gallon you see in this picture. I'm not going to get into it but it was blocking our view of the bay. looking at this qt tank, I realized that the new tank has to accomplish a few things. 1. promote greater use and purposing of our front room and expanded front room. 2. not block our waterfront views. 3. bring our space (5 rooms) together.

 

[thirty6]

good luck with the build!

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

Long story short. It will be a free standing tank. not exactly to scale, just the front and expanded front room.

the room it will go on has a cement floor, I will drill a hole and see how thick it is. I'll cut out a 3x6 hole if it's 2 inches or less. and pour foundation and a freestanding 3x6 4" slab. Im planning on installing 1 or 2 drains (maybe pool drains) and cover the rest of the cement with self leveling stuff and maybe get a stamp down. I'm also thinking about possibly building a stand out of block and weathered stones but I'll probably just stick to the wood stand. less money less work. I'm shooting for the path of least resistance here. if the floor is 2.5 inches I'll probably just roll the dice with it.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

couple things are happening. I will try to start painting the very front room today. primer is done but there's still a lot of work there.

I also started gathering up the rock for the 300. guys I got so much rock it's not even funny. and this rock doesn't include all the rock in the 125. definitely will be selling some pieces after the 300 is up and running - I am going to have tons of I guess it's Marco rock? it's that stuck that just kind of stacks and locks into itself. I am also thinking at this point that I may just go w itith fowlr for the 300. I do love corals but really I feel like they are a PITA and I'm also being lazy knowing that I can have a much easier time without them.


thank you to @nano1908 for hooking me up.

 

[thirty6]

couple things are happening. I will try to start painting the very front room today. primer is done but there's still a lot of work there.

I also started gathering up the rock for the 300. guys I got so much rock it's not even funny. and this rock doesn't include all the rock in the 125. definitely will be selling some pieces after the 300 is up and running - I am going to have tons of I guess it's Marco rock? it's that stuck that just kind of stacks and locks into itself. I am also thinking at this point that I may just go w itith fowlr for the 300. I do love corals but really I feel like they are a PITA and I'm also being lazy knowing that I can have a much easier time without them.


thank you to @nano1908 for hooking me up.

And you can get some awesome fish in that 300!!

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

And you can get some awesome fish in that 300!!

my wife wants to put huge fish in there and I'm like... no. it's not that big of a tank. we already have a clown tang and I think that's going to be it. I've seen large fish like vlamingi and angels in 3 or 4 hundred gallon tanks and I just feel bad for them they look like they are seriously cramped in there. I think all the tank ratings on sites like liveaquaria are just wrong, I believe tank dimensions are more important than gallons. like you could have a powder blue in a 6 foot tank with less gallons than a 4 foot with more gallons. with the 300, I'm more comfortable adding multiple yellow tangs, couple of powders, couple of hippos etc., fish I consider medium size.

 

[thirty6]

my wife wants to put huge fish in there and I'm like... no. it's not that big of a tank. we already have a clown tang and I think that's going to be it. I've seen large fish like vlamingi and angels in 3 or 4 hundred gallon tanks and I just feel bad for them they look like they are seriously cramped in there. I think all the tank ratings on sites like liveaquaria are just wrong, I believe tank dimensions are more important than gallons. like you could have a powder blue in a 6 foot tank with less gallons than a 4 foot with more gallons. with the 300, I'm more comfortable adding multiple yellow tangs, couple of powders, couple of hippos etc., fish I consider medium size.

I really like the Harli tusk, few Yellow tangs would be nice color pop, maybe pair of triggers or something you wouldn't want to keep with a reef setup. The angels are beautiful, but I get what your saying

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

something happening over here....

you stole my money and my cigarettes...

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

so i have been giving a lot of thought to my approach without weirs and i'm just not comfortable - i'd have to drain the whole tank in the odd event that i need to change a bulkhead. i have been considering a center weir (im not sure im happy with this) and so im wandering back to the external overflow box. now i have one but im a little confused about the whole gph formula. i see that overflow boxes with 1.5 bulkheads are rated from 1200 to 3600 gph. so i believe its less of the size of the pipe and more of the opening of the "tooth" or number of them in the internal box.

ive got the marine depot large box, but thats only rated to 200g


Marine Depot Elite OverFlow Box w/ Holesaw Drill Bit - Large - Marine Depot

 

[amado]

so i have been giving a lot of thought to my approach without weirs and i'm just not comfortable - i'd have to drain the whole tank in the odd event that i need to change a bulkhead. i have been considering a center weir (im not sure im happy with this) and so im wandering back to the external overflow box. now i have one but im a little confused about the whole gph formula. i see that overflow boxes with 1.5 bulkheads are rated from 1200 to 3600 gph. so i believe its less of the size of the pipe and more of the opening of the "tooth" or number of them in the internal box.

ive got the marine depot large box, but thats only rated to 200g


Marine Depot Elite OverFlow Box w/ Holesaw Drill Bit - Large - Marine Depot

I personally wouldn’t worry too much about flow.
You just want enough to cycle the tank water
From your tank to your sump.
You don’t need a lot of flow.
The slower the better if you have a refugium in the sump.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

I personally wouldn’t worry too much about flow.
You just want enough to cycle the tank water
From your tank to your sump.
You don’t need a lot of flow.
The slower the better if you have a refugium in the sump.

i have a lower flow on my 125 right now and it just doesnt do a good job of skimming the display even with a gyrepushing the top water towards the weir.