Matt's 227g Mistress

I'm getting fully prepared to setup my tank when I move next month. I have what I feel like is an incredible list of equipment. I'm very excited about this setup! Pics will come soon! :)

The Tank.
I absolutely LOVE the dimensions of this tank. 72"x27"x27" In my mind a tank can't be too long, but in my wife's mind, 6' is as long as she would like. So... It's the perfect length. If I had it custom built I would have made it 30" wide, but it's not! The price was right, and it's very nice!

The Stand & Canopy
The stand is being skinned professionally. I'll be painting it white on the inside and black on the outside. Everything will be sealed to look all shiney as well as be water proof. The canopy will rest on the top rim of the tank, but will be able to be suspended above the tank during maintenance. Should be finished by this week!

The Overflows
Two overflows. Each 12"x6" in each corner. 3/8" glass interiors, black acrylic exteriors. Two 1.5" drains with dursos and two 1" returns. An extra 1.5" emergency drain as well.

Under the Stand
Acrylic 40x20x20 approx sump with dual sock filters and simple two chamber setup. NextReef SMR1 Solid Media Reactor for biopellets. Dual BRS Reactor for carbon and gfo as necessary. Reef Octopus Triple Recirculating External Skimmer. MRC CR-2 Calcium Reactor. P303 220mg/hr Ozone Generator. Reeflo Dart 3600gph return pump.

The Rock
One Hundred Pounds of pukani/shelf from BRS mixed with another 50+ lbs of hand selected live rock by me.

The Flow
One MP40 w/ battery backup, One Tunze WaveBox and other koralia powerheads as needed.

The Controller
Reef Angel Plus Controller with several add-ons. PWM Expansion module to control LEDs, WiFi module for wireless control from my phone/mac, pH/ORP modules to allow me to monitor two pH probes (one for display, one for calcium reactor), and ORP (for my ozone reactor). Also has 8 controllable outlets. Being controlled will be my heater, a fan (hopefully the combo will keep my temp within 1 degree), my Calcium Reactor (two outlets, one for the solenoid, the other the feed pump), the feed pump to the biopellets/skimmer, ozone generator and powerheads.

The Lights
LEDs of course. I'm going to try for a full spectrum LED setup. My three main heatsinks will have 28 LEDs each, then I will have several 1.5" wide heatsinks pointing different angles across the aquarium with 12 LEDs each. After I set those up I'm going to look at the color temp and decide what other colors I will add. In the end I'll have 9 different color LEDs. Neutral White, Warm White, Blue, Royal Blue, UV, Cyan, Green, Red and Red/Orange. Whites will be about half and half. A few blues with mainly Royal Blues and just a handful of the rest to give that full spectrum coverage. Going for 18-20k when everything is at full blast. Will be able to fade between colors with the Reef Angel Controller.
 
Sounds like a sweet setup. Very well thought out with one exception, your plugging this awesome setup to a mac. [smilie=rofl.gif] jk

Can't wait to see pictures of it set up.
 
@sunfun wrote:
You're plugging this awesome setup to a mac. [smilie=rofl.gif] jk said:
Yes it is true. I have been enlightened. [smilie=wink.gif]

I'll say this about Macs. I worked four years as a computer tech repairing 6-10 computers a day, and during those four years I repaired exactly two Macs. They don't break! After four years of pc repair... I'm sick of fixing pcs! Hahaha.
 
@matt_longview wrote:
[I]@sunfun wrote:[/I][quote="You're plugging this awesome setup to a mac. [smilie=rofl.gif] jk said:
Yes it is true. I have been enlightened. [smilie=wink.gif]

I'll say this about Macs. I worked four years as a computer tech repairing 6-10 computers a day, and during those four years I repaired exactly two Macs. They don't break! After four years of pc repair... I'm sick of fixing pcs! Hahaha."]

With that knowledge I'm suprised you aren't running Linux!! Best of both worlds, cheap hardware and reliable. In my 10 years of IT support I hate fixed exactly 0 Linux machines (not counting hard drive failures), 3 macs, and enough windows machines to stretch to Jupiter and back 50 times

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2
 
@niteowl03 wrote:
[I]@matt_longview wrote:[/I][quote="[I]@sunfun wrote:[/I][quote="You're plugging this awesome setup to a mac. [smilie=rofl.gif] jk said:
Yes it is true. I have been enlightened. [smilie=wink.gif]

I'll say this about Macs. I worked four years as a computer tech repairing 6-10 computers a day, and during those four years I repaired exactly two Macs. They don't break! After four years of pc repair... I'm sick of fixing pcs! Hahaha."]

With that knowledge I'm suprised you aren't running Linux!! Best of both worlds, cheap hardware and reliable. In my 10 years of IT support I hate fixed exactly 0 Linux machines (not counting hard drive failures), 3 macs, and enough windows machines to stretch to Jupiter and back 50 times

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2"]
out of the 10+ Macs I have owned and 25+ apple products, exactly 0 have broke.

Well, I did have a track pad stop working properly that was promptly replace at $0 cost by the apple store.
 
@matt_longview wrote:
I'll say this about Macs. I worked four years as a computer tech repairing 6-10 computers a day said:
I have a bricked power book sitting at home and I'm on my 3rd iPhone. They are not without there problems!

Awesome setup btw. Can't wait to see it setup!
 
@M@! wrote:
Awesome setup btw. Can't wait to see it setup! said:
Thanks! I can't wait either!!!! I'm hoping to have my pukani at the end of this week, then I can put some of it cycling with my other rock. :)
.
 
@matt_longview wrote:
[I]@sunfun wrote:[/I][quote="You're plugging this awesome setup to a mac. [smilie=rofl.gif] jk said:
Yes it is true. I have been enlightened. [smilie=wink.gif] "]

[smilie=clapping.gif] +1
 
I like the reef angel controller. Did you get the optional dosing pump. Have they gotten away from serial conections yet?
 
They still use the serial connection between the head unit and the display/probes. I didn't get the dosing pumps; I'll be running a calcium reactor! :)
 
I've got the stand skin coming in today! Excited about that and my pukani coming in tomorrow! Should also get a few other parts and pieces in like an iwaki pump, mag 9.5 for my zoa frag rack system and some shoulder length gloves.
 
A local cabinet shop. A buddy of mine had them do his tank stand for a 2' cube. I basically said, "give me the same style... you're the stand experts!" Haha. :)
 
Got my pukani! 100lbs of this rock is much more than other types of rock. I've got several large pieces. The largest is 22"x15" and still doesn't weight over 35 pounds. There's a piece several inches larger than a basketball and can't weight more than 20. OH MAN this stuff ROCKS!!!


:p get it? Rocks! Lol. Okay couldn't help it. Here come the pics!

The first here just gives an idea of how porous it is. Incredible.
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Here's an example rock layout. My BTA island is over to the left, and the larger sps dominant island is over to the right. This would leave about 2-3" clearance from the back wall and 5-6 inches clearance from the front glass. Highest point on the rock is about 17".
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pukani12.jpg
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That's the rock update. I love it. Would do it again 1,000 times. If you're considering pukani rock... go for it. You'll love it.

Also I picked up a used Melev's Model G Modified Sump today (Check it out!) as well as two Sequence 4300gph pumps; one for a backup. I'm going to sell the Dart pump ($185ish?) and upgrade.

All in all, a good day for the tank!
 
I've officially started packing. Many of my prized items for this tank build are boxed and taped up, waiting to go. Most of them I've yet to try out and can't wait to. The tunze wavebox and mp40. The calcium reactor (which I cleaned up tonight, looks great), and my NextReef SMR1 are snug and protected by an unusual number of blankets. I'm yet to have a single bit of buyers remorse on any items for the big tank, so that's a good sign! I'm patiently waiting for the orp and ph modules to release from reef angel. Should be this week I hear. I'm considering purchasing the ph controller and orp controller separate from the reef angel to keep things simple on coding. Coding=time, and I'm short on that at the moment.

Maybe I should keep my eyes peeled on some good deals for those items. More importantly, I'll keep myself focused on this upcoming interview in StL! :)
 
GL on your interview. Can't believe your teasing us with a 227g build then moving away!!! :) You'll def have to keep us updated on the build.
 
It's highly likely that I'll stay on this forum, so don't worry... I'll keep the updates going! I leave for my interviews on Thursday. Will have my first interview in StL. Then I'll drive to IL and see some family for a few days. Back to StL to look at houses and interview number two before heading back here to Texas. Will be pulling out with the Uhaul the first week of July! :)

So hopefully I'll have some of my coral back and fish in Oct.
 
Finally! A pic! Just the unpainted stand and unfinished tank... but it already looks beautiful. You'll just have to imagine the thousands of dollars worth of fish and coral in there. ;-)

Thank you to my buddy Terry for hooking me up big time on the stand! Great work!
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NOTE: Loved installing cabinets on the ends also for full three sided access!
 
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