Dmitri's 1000 gal DT journey!

Dmitri

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Hi Folks, I want to introduce myself first. My name is Dmitri and I’m a reefoholic ;)
I’ve been in a hobby for about two years, started with a 14gal biocube some basic soft corals a pair of clown fish and a goby. I quickly upgraded to more and bigger tanks, needless to say, I was well hooked into this hobby.

Six months into it I’ve upgraded to RSM 650S all in one system. That tank was a pure joy, fantastic great size and superior quality. Looking forward year and a half, I had a system of 500 gallons mixed reef with great success in keeping both fish and sps / lps corals.

In late April of 2018, I’ve started to feel dissatisfied and needed to make major changes. I was thinking of going even bigger, this time I didn’t want to have so many tank. My vision was to have one large 1000 – 2000 gal display tank with a fish room. And so I started doing research and getting ideas what it will take to get this done.

First I needed to find big enough house and at the same time quickly sell my tanks with live stock. Moving to the new house with all live stock wasn’t an option. I had big help from our local reef club, several members help me hold my fish and corals during my moving stages.

During my search for the house, I was also getting quotes from all major manufacturers for this new tank I had envisioned. My original plan was to purchase tank after I get settled in the new house 6-12 months. However, opportunity came and I was very fortunate to have purchase tank from a local member along with most of his major filtration system. This happened while I was still scouting for a new house. Finally in the middle of July we purchase a house and tank was ready to be moved.
1000 gallon display tank
Dimensions: 130x59x31
Weight of the tank: 2500lbs
Custom made, euro bracing, low iron display with 1” glass all around. Double glass 2” on the bottom with plywood attached.

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This is an image of the tank from original owner when it was first delivered to him.

And so this journey begins.
 
The biggest challenge was to safely move this tank from the owners house to my new house.
2500 lbs glass tank move with tight spaces and uneven terrain is a dilemma to solve.

For about two weeks we had multi companies coming and going to survey the site. We also had to hurry up because the owner sold his house and tank needed to be moved asap. By late June we went through several riggers with no luck / commitment to the job. Finally, we have exhausted all resources and needed to make a decision on the company to take this task.

We have reached out to Team MRC and Raj and his team came through!
The move was set for July 17th!

Here is a quick video of how the tank needed to be moved out of the owners house.
1000 gal moving strategy

And here are some shots of new place unfinished basement
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future place for display tank and fish room will be on the left hand side...
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future fish room
 

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You will want a MUCH larger mixing station. I have two 200 gallon tanks, one for fresh, one for salt. This way I always have 400 gallons on hand in case I need to do a 100% water change. Its been needed twice in since I set the tank up. Better to be prepared with systems this size.
 
Damn Dmitri, talk about getting the bug! I haven't bought a house based around the hobby... yet. lol

I had 110 gallons for RO storage and 110 also kept full for mixing. I cut that in half to fit a frag tank in the small room I have. I plan on upping the storage when I move next year.
 
Wow....100 percent change! I will be upgrading my wc setup as well. Doing many changes to make a huge effect kinda sux, but 100% I would jot have thought of before. Dmitri, that tank looked bigger tjan 200 gallons to me, are you sure of the size?
 
Here s
You will want a MUCH larger mixing station. I have two 200 gallon tanks, one for fresh, one for salt. This way I always have 400 gallons on hand in case I need to do a 100% water change. Its been needed twice in since I set the tank up. Better to be prepared with systems this size.

Yea I'd love to have more water as reserve, space is some what limited. I need to think about this some more. I do plan to use another 100 gallon tank for extra water storage with helping of water changes. Total maximum water changes could be 270 gallons at a time.
 
Here are some more pictures of the progress being made...

First what we did was put in french doors in place of windows for the tank to get inIMG_3516.jpg.

Then we ran water lines and put in mixing station with RO unit

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Here is a picture of 100gal QT tank I needed to set up right away for my fish and corals.
Its on wheels! :)
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July 17th, moving day!
Chris & Raj with Team MRC came out to get the tank out of the house. Unfortunately we didn't have enough people to move it up and out, so 8 of us were able to just get the tank/ stand and sump out and rescheduled the move up the hill for another day with more people.


Here is Tim strategizing how to slide the tank down on the dolly.
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Here we are getting sump out, it's around 389 gallons water volume. Custom I-sump, very heavy about 500 lbs.

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We finally got it all out, Raj & Tim in the picture. Both tank and sump were ready to be moved, however we didn't have enough man power to push it up the hill. We had to reschedule the final move for the follow week.
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Moving tank stand
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Stand is in and basement insulation is done.
I also had to put in a temporary AC unit, temperature was getting too hot.
HVAC system will be installed later on.
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July 25th Moving Day! Second attempt, we have man power this time. Very exciting and nerves !

Here is a link to the video about 30 minutes before crew shows up...


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