Nick's Miracle Build

[Johnseye]

Looks great. Similar build to mine with the Miracles and Spectra. What blows me away is that you got all that livestock and coral in there within 3 weeks. Not having read the entire thread yet I assume they were all moved from another tank? Any issues with cycling?

[reefmutt]

Nick, I just loved reading this thread.
Whenever I find tv shows I want to watch, I will pvr the entire season and then go back and watch the episodes back to back...
Well 'Nick's Miracle Build' was JUST AS SATISFYING!
Loved watching the space come together and the tank.
My old tank was very similar in dimensions to yours.. I loved that tank. Your dimension are pretty much as good as it gets and I love the scape you did.
And serious points for discovering your handiness.
So, how much do you think you saved by doing it yourself?
Maybe enough to justify an even bigger tank.
.. ok.. enough to justify another spectra..
Looking forward to watching it grow.

[this is me]

John,
The livestocks are from this tank.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2450494

I bought all new liverocks from local members and dry fiji rocks from BRS. They have been in a rubbermaid container with a pump for over a year. I originally planned to set up the tank upgrade over a year a go. But I couldn't do it due to many reason and the tank was sitting in the crate in the garage.
After I got the tank plumbed and the aquascape completed, I let the tank ran without any livestock for a week. I did pump about 60gallons or so of the Elos tank water into the new tank as I was doing water change on the Elos. I tested Ammonia and Nitrite and they were not present. I decided to add 3 yellow tangs from my local club. After a couple of days monitoring them, I decided to moved the giganteas and the pair of clowns into the tank and wait til they picked their spot so that I can place the corals. Luckily, the gigantea barely moved more than 3" where I placed them.
I spent a whole Friday night dipping the LPS in Bayer. I like to dip the corals before going into a new tank. The benefit of dipping all the corals in Bayer is worth all the work, IMO.
I then spent the whole weekend dipping and transfering the SPS. By Monday night, the fish had been transferred and the Elos tank drained and cleaned and posted for sale.
My originally plan was to still run the Elos after everything was transferred just in case if there's any issue and I need to transfer the livestock back to their previous tank. However, with all the corals extraction and moving the rocks to catch the fish, the Elos was a stinky cloudy soup. So I decided to just drain it and clean it out.

[this is me]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Nick, I just loved reading this thread.
Whenever I find tv shows I want to watch, I will pvr the entire season and then go back and watch the episodes back to back...
Well 'Nick's Miracle Build' was JUST AS SATISFYING!
Loved watching the space come together and the tank.
My old tank was very similar in dimensions to yours.. I loved that tank. Your dimension are pretty much as good as it gets and I love the scape you did.
And serious points for discovering your handiness.
So, how much do you think you saved by doing it yourself?
Maybe enough to justify an even bigger tank.
.. ok.. enough to justify another spectra..
Looking forward to watching it grow.

Thanks for taking your time and read through the thread. It means a lot us who spent the time gathering our thoughts and put them into words and post them up.
The tank dimension is a dream. I think my wife would divorce me if I go any bigger. Lol. But seriously, I was very fortunate to have someone who is not only supportive of my hobby but also a tremendous help in setting it up.
I spent about 25K on finishing the basement so far. Half of that cost is spent on the Mitsubishi mini split system. We still have flooring and trims and doors to go. I probably won't be doing the floor until the system is more mature. I'm still spilling water every now and then and it's nice that I don't have to worry about it right now since it's concrete.

As I'm looking at this picture of the tank, the darkness is pretty apparent and it's starting to bother me. I think another fixture is in the work or at least I'm looking at ways to add more T5s.
I was looking for the ATI 60" Powermodule with just 2xT5s but I can't seem to find that any more. Thinking on adding 2x80W T5s on each side to get more light to the side of the tank.

[Johnseye]

Originally Posted by this is me

As I'm looking at this picture of the tank, the darkness is pretty apparent and it's starting to bother me. I think another fixture is in the work or at least I'm looking at ways to add more T5s.

Are you running the MH at 250 or 400?

[this is me]

Ahhhh John!
You just reminded me that the spectra fixture is capable of doing 400W bulbs!
I'm running 250W bulb with a Luxcore ballast that is set at 250W. I may crank them up to 250W HQI(300W) and see if the light is improve. Otherwise, I might try the 400W Radium.
Thanks!

[reefmutt]

If you go to bigger bulbs, you might want to raise the fixture a few inches. It'll give a wider spread.

[Johnseye]

Originally Posted by this is me

Ahhhh John!
You just reminded me that the spectra fixture is capable of doing 400W bulbs!
I'm running 250W bulb with a Luxcore ballast that is set at 250W. I may crank them up to 250W HQI(300W) and see if the light is improve. Otherwise, I might try the 400W Radium.
Thanks!

Yea I'd at least run it at HQI until you get some 400w bulbs. Hopefully that brightens up the shadows.

[choss]

Originally Posted by this is me

Lots of fish. Lol

Nick - absolutely stunning tank and great pics. I can't believe this is what it looks like 3 weeks in. Can't wait to see it at 3 months! By the way, the Spectra looks like its covering the tank pretty well. Not really seeing shadows. Looks very natural.

Keep up the good work.

[mpsti05]

Looks amazing sir, well done!

[dtum]

Well done write up, great job on your basement and got to dig this Miracles tank and its dimensions.

[choss]

Any updates?

[MrsReefK]

Wow, absolutely stunning, sorry I'm so late to the party! Lol. Everything is looking amazing, basement included!


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[Benson0219]

You tank looks great! Also, how you finished your basement is excellent! Great work.

[foxrazr]

Beautiful tank Nick!!! Amazing work on everything.

[Andrew D]

I don't know how I've missed this build until now. Amazing tank - dimensions, aquascaping and livestock absolutely stunning. I can't wait to see this one mature, although you'd never guess it's only months old! Very well done.

[125mph]

Originally Posted by this is me

Today is a good day.
The movers came and got the tank moved. When they got off their trucks, I was concern right away. Only 4 of them! and looks very "experienced" if you know what I mean.

So you hired some movers to help get the tank moved into the stand? How much did an hours worth of work cost ya? Just curious, I'm trying to figure out how to move my 180 which is obviously smaller

[Reef Dude]

Dude, that takes some balls to sit that cordless drill on the top edge of the brand new tank as shown in the photo in your first post! Lol. Thanks for sharing this build. Basement looks beautiful, and the tank looks awesome... I love those dimensions. I enjoyed the basement build as much as the tank build.

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by Reef Dude

Dude, that takes some balls to sit that cordless drill on the top edge of the brand new tank as shown in the photo in your first post! Lol.

HAHA, you don't trust your self or those around you?

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by 125mph

So you hired some movers to help get the tank moved into the stand? How much did an hours worth of work cost ya? Just curious, I'm trying to figure out how to move my 180 which is obviously smaller

I don't know about his cost, but I know that it was just over $300 when I hired movers to get my 300 into my basement. For a 180, just have a couple friends give you a hand.

[this is me]

Originally Posted by 125mph

So you hired some movers to help get the tank moved into the stand? How much did an hours worth of work cost ya? Just curious, I'm trying to figure out how to move my 180 which is obviously smaller

I did hire a local professional movers. With such a large tank, I did not want to risk breaking the tank or worst, break someone else.
The cost was 600$ and it took 4 of them. Very well worth it.
For a 180, I would definitely get a couple of friends and move it myself.

[this is me]

Originally Posted by Reef Dude

Dude, that takes some balls to sit that cordless drill on the top edge of the brand new tank as shown in the photo in your first post! Lol. Thanks for sharing this build. Basement looks beautiful, and the tank looks awesome... I love those dimensions. I enjoyed the basement build as much as the tank build.

It's a flash light. But regardless, I should've been more careful.

[this is me]

Thanks everyone for the comment and compliment. I've been MIA for a bit since I'm still mourning about an almost total fish loss. After I shot the video, I added a powder blue tang and a whitetail bristle tooth. For the next 2 weeks, I had some serious Ick or some sort of disease. Long story short, I ended up with letting the tank go fishess for 8 weeks. Just started to restock. The corals were not affected. I will have some pics update soon.

[skanderson]

sorry to hear about the losses, but just found this thread. great job on the entire project. really like the placement of the rock.

[choss]

Nick that is really sad news. Sorry to hear it. Its an amazing tank so keep your head up and I'm looking forward to seeing how you repopulate.