Ok everyone I'm finally going to try to start an official build thread! As you already Know a lot of my work has been completed, but I still have a bit more to go overall. I will continue adding until I get it caught up to where I am now.
The Process officially started around January of this year, we first started to get a mainland 180 from Pure Reef I believe. Then some genius on here said you can get a red sea for the same price and still save a bit, thanks a lot!!! I started the process in stages, as so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I will try to tell everything in stages along with pictures, please be patient with me. Thanks
Stage 1 - Floor support
I ended up doing this myself, as a company quoted me $3,000 to do it for me. Im a working man and not rich by any means! I picked up 6-15k pound rated floor support jacks, 6 cinder blocks, and 3-3' 4*4 post. Unfortunately the tank runs parallel with the floor joist, so I wanted to try to put in overkill. So I ran 1-3' post across 3 joist at every 2ft to support the entire length of the tank. I placed a jack at each end of the post for a total of 3 columns using 6 jacks. The hardest part was just being under the crawl space in July, damn I should have waited until Fall! Most of my equipment I bought new, a few items used, sold some items before I even used them, changed my mind several times and still doing it on some items, drove all the way to Charlotte N.C to get a deal on some equipment, drove to Macon for some lights just to turn around and sale them! So this has been a very fun journey already, I really appreciate all of the help, support, motivation, encouragement, knowledge, and guidance that I have received here already and look forward to more. Thank you all!
Stage 2 - Water Station
I was actually lucky enough to find a six stage BRS RODI system with extra filters and pump on R2R. I order 2 75 gallon vertical storage tanks from a place out in Griffin, GA, which was a pain o pick up! I did get a card for a store that can get them for you out there, so you don't have to wait for semis to be loaded. I plumbed this using a Jebao DCP 5000, which I got off of ARC. Im still not completely happy with it, I may make some changes as far as adding an auto flush, auto cut off to my rodi system. If I were to do it again, I may have just went with old fashioned brute cans but I was not going to pay almost the same price for brute cans. I would have gone with the cans if I found them used. I put a coupler on the end of my pic for a quick connect like on a fireman's house which I love. I have 50ft of hose that I use, I will need to get a reel or something to put this on when not in use. Later I will also have to order some actually heavier grade hose as my is kinda flimsy. I also took the tanks off of the blocks and just placed them on the ground. I only pump fresh water into the left tank and use a pump to move it to the right tank for mixing.
Stage 3 - Electrical
This was a fun one, as my electrical panel was a disaster. I had to have an electrician come in and re run all of my grounds and neutrals, as they were all bundled together before. After that was completed I went in added a whole house surge protector, replaced some 1 in breakers with 1/2 inch breakers so I would have space for the surge protector and another dedicated 20 amp circuit for the tank. Once that was completed I was able to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit with a gfci outlet, I only put in a double plug at first then common sense hit me so I switched it out for a quad receptacle which I'm already glad I did. I was really happy with the whole way the electrical turned out as it was needed plus I had never ran a circuit or switched out breakers before. I consider it a success as I didn't burn the house down or kill myself!!!
Stage 4 - Rocks!!!!!
The Process officially started around January of this year, we first started to get a mainland 180 from Pure Reef I believe. Then some genius on here said you can get a red sea for the same price and still save a bit, thanks a lot!!! I started the process in stages, as so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I will try to tell everything in stages along with pictures, please be patient with me. Thanks
Stage 1 - Floor support
I ended up doing this myself, as a company quoted me $3,000 to do it for me. Im a working man and not rich by any means! I picked up 6-15k pound rated floor support jacks, 6 cinder blocks, and 3-3' 4*4 post. Unfortunately the tank runs parallel with the floor joist, so I wanted to try to put in overkill. So I ran 1-3' post across 3 joist at every 2ft to support the entire length of the tank. I placed a jack at each end of the post for a total of 3 columns using 6 jacks. The hardest part was just being under the crawl space in July, damn I should have waited until Fall! Most of my equipment I bought new, a few items used, sold some items before I even used them, changed my mind several times and still doing it on some items, drove all the way to Charlotte N.C to get a deal on some equipment, drove to Macon for some lights just to turn around and sale them! So this has been a very fun journey already, I really appreciate all of the help, support, motivation, encouragement, knowledge, and guidance that I have received here already and look forward to more. Thank you all!
Stage 2 - Water Station
I was actually lucky enough to find a six stage BRS RODI system with extra filters and pump on R2R. I order 2 75 gallon vertical storage tanks from a place out in Griffin, GA, which was a pain o pick up! I did get a card for a store that can get them for you out there, so you don't have to wait for semis to be loaded. I plumbed this using a Jebao DCP 5000, which I got off of ARC. Im still not completely happy with it, I may make some changes as far as adding an auto flush, auto cut off to my rodi system. If I were to do it again, I may have just went with old fashioned brute cans but I was not going to pay almost the same price for brute cans. I would have gone with the cans if I found them used. I put a coupler on the end of my pic for a quick connect like on a fireman's house which I love. I have 50ft of hose that I use, I will need to get a reel or something to put this on when not in use. Later I will also have to order some actually heavier grade hose as my is kinda flimsy. I also took the tanks off of the blocks and just placed them on the ground. I only pump fresh water into the left tank and use a pump to move it to the right tank for mixing.
Stage 3 - Electrical
This was a fun one, as my electrical panel was a disaster. I had to have an electrician come in and re run all of my grounds and neutrals, as they were all bundled together before. After that was completed I went in added a whole house surge protector, replaced some 1 in breakers with 1/2 inch breakers so I would have space for the surge protector and another dedicated 20 amp circuit for the tank. Once that was completed I was able to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit with a gfci outlet, I only put in a double plug at first then common sense hit me so I switched it out for a quad receptacle which I'm already glad I did. I was really happy with the whole way the electrical turned out as it was needed plus I had never ran a circuit or switched out breakers before. I consider it a success as I didn't burn the house down or kill myself!!!
Stage 4 - Rocks!!!!!
