Okay...Finally got my avatar changed after my wife's demeaning comments about my last one. I have also been uploading a bunch of pics trying to find some more that I could share here.
That's probably enough of the pics during construction. Jumping ahead...my intent was to not start the tank for 6 months to a year after moving into the house. The construction was just exhausting, mentally, physically, and financially, and there was so much more to do inside & out. But after only a few weeks, I concluded that if I didn't do it now, it might get put on the back burner and take 2 years, plus I was tired of staring at a big empty glass box in the middle of the house.
I won't go thru the entire setup process on the equipment, other than to put up a few pics. First, I didn't document much and second, I'm not all that "equipment" savy so if someone starts asking technical questions, I might not have the answer. I got a lot of help from my lfs owner and another setup pro, so most of the technical issues were handled by them.
Here's some pics right after set-up, during the cycle....
I didn't have 300 gallons of mixed salt water, so I mixed it right in the tank (not recommended) and surprisingly had hardly any die off from the lr