Reef Empire 700g Peninsula Build

After much planning, lots of Newcastle, and some great friends and family, the RE 700g is a reality. A big round of applause and huge thanks to the people that helped make this happen.

Thom/CPC Fabrication
Joel/Mobile Plastic Works
Chris and Andrew/Custom Aquatic
Mike the Hoarder
Matt Schostag and friends
Anthony and Diana Leung

Here we go...
Stand
97"x41"x29"

2" box, 3/8" plate gussets in the corners, fully capped ends, machine feet, black powder coat. I told him 15,000lbs, and I think he heard 50,000.




Here you can see the 3" mainline that feeds the coral side of the shop. The 2" Spa Flex will be the main return for the 700g.

 

Delivery Day. A big truck shows up with a big tank on the back...


Joel and his "supervisor". You can see the external wave box and the external overflow here.


The crane maxes out at 1,200lbs, and he didn't feel comfortable lifting with it... That means this thing weighs ALOT! So we slid it off the back on to a pneumatic lift cart.



Mike Hoarder, giving it his all...

 

Great looking tank!

 

That thing is awesome!!!

 

The supervisor, doing what he does... We strapped it down and rolled it in. We lucked out with 3/4" on either side of the existing tanks.




Slide some 1/2" PVC rollers underneath, and give it a shove.


Do NOT let the stand move!

 

Judging by the coral you sell I'm going to keep an eye on what should be an amazing build.

 

Another view of the 8"x8"x32" external wave box we designed. More on this later...


(L) hole = Wave box (C) = Pick up for closed loop (R) = 1 of 4 returns from the closed loop.


Home sweet home... 1,100lbs empty, this thing is not moving anytime soon.

 

that is sweet cant wait to see the thing up and running...luckyy lol

 

i have a room where the wood floor has some nice permanent indentions in it from too much weight heh..

700g = approx 5800 lbs or so given the various density of materials in the tank, not including the tank weight itself.. or sump and equipment if it goes underneath..

so with the 8 feet on the stand your looking at maybe 1-1.5 square inches per each legs foot? say 12 inches square.. 486 lbs sq in. of pressure. on that wood floor, id be a little worried about leaving an indention in the wood. Ive done it before is all hehehe.. I would put an 1/4" thick aluminum plate under each one, make the plate 3x3 or so. that will spread the load out some.

 

Just because we could...


Big tanks need BIG rocks, right? Luckily we know somebody who knows somebody...

23 individual pieces of rock weigh in at roughly 850lbs. One of them was 85lbs alone...




Yet another late night at the shop... We whittled and chiseled some of the rocks to make them fit perfect. Nate is working on the rock that will become our elevated sand bed for clams...


This is one of the base rocks we drilled 2" holes in to hide the pipes for the closed loop returns. The bottom of this rock was ground down to sit 100% flush on the acrylic. We also whittled out room for the shoulder on the bulkheads, so it sits on the tank.


Rock #1 in the tank.


Another of the closed loop return rocks.