Cobraden's 350 build :-)

[cobraden]

I've been meaning to put this build on this forum but never did so I'm going to add the info I already have on line and then continue. Enjoy and please add your ideas as I go. Picked the tank up the first week of April so its been a while in the works:

April 5, 2016

As I said at the conclusion of the "Cobraden's 270 build" after the 270 broke, " This tank failure could be the universe's way of telling me I just didn't go big enough. :-) " Well I listened to the Universe and will start on a 350 build. Got the beast home this weekend. It's a 1 year old Planet Aquarium box 96"x30"x28" with overflows on each end. Came with 2 48" Odyssea T5/MH light fixtures, Massive Bubble Magus skimmer, PM Sump, Dart pump, UV and a bunch of other stuff and some livestock which included a massive leather coral. Didn't come with a stand so I'm getting quotes on having a metal one built vs going wood. Once that is in place I will be moving full speed ahead given I have a bunch of brand new equipment from the 270 build that will get transferred to this tank.

This should be a fun build but first, everything needs to be cleaned up.






Beer bottle just there for size comparison...but I did drink it.




same beer

[cobraden]

May 14, 2016

This is turning out to be a very slow moving project but I have made some progress. I finally got around to getting the stand in place. I had great luck with the stand. I asked a friend if the guys in his shop could weld one up for me and he said yes. When I went to pick it up and pay him he said, "your birthday is in a couple of weeks....consider it my birthday gift" WOW! Got it home, cleaned it, primed and painted it and now it's in place. Got the tank in from the garage and the back painted as well. As soon as I arrange some help in getting it on the stand, the party will really get started. I also got a new lift table for my birthday (from me) so I think the lifting job got much easier. :-)

[cobraden]

About 3 weeks ago

Since I had to alter my plans due to weather, I decided to spend a little time on the build. Managed to get all the plumbing pieces cut and pieced together. I am going to let it set overnight and look at it tomorrow to see if what I have put together is actually how I want it. If I'm still happy with it in the morning, I will break out the PVC glue and get to work sealing everything up. Hope to be doing a freshwater system check by the end of the week.

You might be able to tell by the pictures that I like unions & valves. :-)

[cobraden]

June 21, 2016

Finally got all the plumbing done and filled it with fresh water to do a leak test. First run had a few leaks in the return lines and they were easy enough to fix given everything was put together with unions. I ran it for 48 hours and watched for leaks and then I felt lucky and went to Vegas for a few day. Came home to a dry floor and no leaks so I guess I won. :-)

Well almost won, after watching the tank during the water test, I decided I want it on another wall in the room. I drained it and now I have to trick...I mean ask my buds to come over and help me move it to the other wall. Wonder if they are going to fall for the beer thing again or if I'm going to have to break out the bourbon to get them over this time.

June 27, 2016

Had a chance to make a little progress this weekend. Started filling up the tank a few days ago and at the rate I'm going it should be ready for me to turn on the main pump tomorrow night. I added most of the rock that came out of the 270 that broke that has been sun baked, cleaned and stored dry for a few months. I will add some of the live rock and some Dr. Tim's once I start the main pump and add the rest in a week or so. Never used Dr. Tim's before, then again I've never started a tank with dry rock either so it will be interesting to me to see the difference over starting the tank with live rock only.





I was also able to find two wooden file cabinets that fit on either side of the aquarium. One I will use to store test kits and stuff but the other I decided to modify just a tad.

Took out the drawers and sliders



Took the fronts of the drawers off and removed the center divider. I then mounted them together and added a false wall to make an apex/wire management cabinet. The front snaps on and off as one piece but still looks like a file cabinet.





Mounting the lights will be this weeks project if I can get to it.

[Crush]

Looks like fun, good luck on this one

[texas_aquarist]

Very cool. Looking forward to the updates!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[cobraden]

Decided to try the Dr. Tim's method of fishless cycling of the tank. Well sort of. I did add Dr. Tim's but only about 1/2 the recommended dosage. I also added a couple pieces of live rock and a couple cups of sand from my 150. I used Dr. Tim's bottled ammonia to feed the bacteria and now after 10 days, my Ammonia and Nitrite are both below my test kit's ability to read. Maybe it's not zero but it's really close.

also got a chance to hang my light rack and add a couple of my LED fixtures just to see what it will look like. I like the look of the tank (the shimmer is awesome) and will lower the rack a bit before I add the other two fixtures. Will start using my lights once I add a few corals. The plan is to go with a short light cycle at first maybe 3 or 4 hrs per day and increase up to my full light cycle over the course of a few weeks to let the tank age a bit and control any algae growth as the tank settles in.


Going to start adding my corals and fish slowly over the next few weeks.

I did decide I need to replace one or 2 of the ball valves that I have on my drains with gate valves so that I can "tune" the overflow boxes. Right now I have the tank running almost dead silent but using the ball valves was a pain to adjust the levels just right.

[Ballinxalex]

Awesome build!!!

[Crush]

What lights are you using?

[cobraden]

Using Black Box LED lights. Coals loved them in my 150.

[cobraden]

A short video of my progress

[ptran]

Very nice. Some lucky fish for this new home.

[Crush]

Nice