205G Tank Build

[Fish4Me2]

In other news, I got home last night to find a notice from the power company informing me that my house will be without power from 9 am to 3 pm on Monday. With some of my fish in my old tank, some of my fish in QT, and the new tank running, this is a bit distressing. I decided to rent a generator, but after calling all of the rental places, it turns out that Sunday is the LA Marathon, and there are no generators to be had. :worried: Oy!

 

[Rotknee]

In other news, I got home last night to find a notice from the power company informing me that my house will be without power from 9 am to 3 pm on Monday. With some of my fish in my old tank, some of my fish in QT, and the new tank running, this is a bit distressing. I decided to rent a generator, but after calling all of the rental places, it turns out that Sunday is the LA Marathon, and there are no generators to be had. :worried: Oy!

Whoa!!! So what do we do now? It may be an inconvenience to you but I am sure a generator is available in other communities. You got a warning, that's a good thing.

Thank you again for the "intel" regarding Lee-Mar. No, I don't have a delivery date yet. Fortunately, I put myself in a position where I paid my LFS but am dealing with Lee-Mar directly. When I placed the deposit for the tank I just wasn't that comfortable that Lee-Mar would truly build per my specifications. As we know, disappointment can often be avoided when both parties communicate effectively. Lee-Mar just got the green light to go forward with the build a week ago today. When I spoke with my contact last Tuesday he said they would be done closer to the four week mark which puts the tank in my hands around the week of April 11th. One thing this hobby has taught me is patience. Based upon what I see in your build, Lee-Mar is worth waiting for.

So, the good news is that through a series of unforeseen events I have now secured a sweet steel stand that should be here in ten days or less. If I'm in town the day of delivery I hope to have my current tank emptied and out of the way so I can plumb the new tank and be ready to go.

 

[teacherthomas]

What size did your overflow end up being to have the 1.5" and the 1" bulkhead?

I considered Bean Animal style, but I'm not willing to give up that much real estate inside the tank for the overflow, and the builder I"m using will no longer do external overflows, which was my first choice.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Whoa!!! So what do we do now? It may be an inconvenience to you but I am sure a generator is available in other communities. You got a warning, that's a good thing.

Just like you said, I managed to find an older model a bit farther out. We pick it up tomorrow morning to make sure it will work. Worst case scenario was to buy one at Costco.

So, the good news is that through a series of unforeseen events I have now secured a sweet steel stand that should be here in ten days or less. If I'm in town the day of delivery I hope to have my current tank emptied and out of the way so I can plumb the new tank and be ready to go.

That is awesome! The steel stand gives so much space/flexibility. I'm quite happy to have gone that route.

 

[Fish4Me2]

What size did your overflow end up being to have the 1.5" and the 1" bulkhead?

Sorry for the delayed response. I just pulled out the tape measure to confirm, and it's 10" by 7.5". It could have been much smaller than 10", but I've got plenty of room for a durso with this design, so no complaints from me.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Well, it's update time, and few of them are good.

Let's start with the positive: the fish in the QT are doing great and show no signs of ich. My clown fish is getting more food than she's had in years, so that's a plus.

Now, the rest:
-The generator we'd reserved for the outage didn't actually work. Thus, I made two decisions: 1) I'd find another generator to rent further south; 2) I'd spend the money on a vortech battery backup/pump system. It was a 90 minute round trip drive to the LFS that sells them, and when I got home I discovered that the battery back up, while in a sealed box, was missing all cables and had the connectors falling out. The LFS was great to swap it out for me, but it was another 90 minute drive.

- Anyone remember the "bathtub" I built under the stand? Well, that same week I came home from work to find it full of water. The plumbing wasn't leaking, but I couldn't be sure of the source, so I pulled the sump, and discovered that it had bowed enough to break free of it's baffles. There was also some ominous looking action going on at the bottom seam. After examination, I do not believe this was the source of the leak, but it worried me for long term use. To his credit, the manufacturer took it back and patched it, and has told me that he'll replace it within the next few weeks. I'll update with new pics when that happens. In the meantime, here's how it looked when I pulled it.
Baffle

Bottom seam:

The real downside of the sump being out was that the repair took a full week, so the 205 went without skimming or much water movement for a week. It's been another week and the water is only just starting to clear again. :worried:

 

[Fish4Me2]

But wait, there's more!

Back in January, I picked up some frags I couldn't resist from a LFS. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed something small and red at the base of one frag. I scraped the stuff off, and went on with life. . . .fast forward to last week, when I start seeing noticeable bite marks on my valida. Yup, AEFW. Now, most of my corals are just tiny little frags, so if I destroy the parts that are encrusted in order to kill the AEFW, I've basically destroyed everything.

My plan last night was to start using FWE to at least keep the population down until I can free up the QT tank for the corals. But when I went to clean the glass last night, I saw red planaria. :furious:

So, that's my week. Any suggestions on how to deal with AEFW when your frags are tiny little nubs, and you've still got fish/softies in the tank?

 

[Fish4Me2]

Progress! Last Sunday I added 5 snails to the 205, and they've spent the week mowing down the small amount of algae I had on the glass. I've got starboard coming on Monday, to line the bottom of the tank, so I should have new pictures soon.

The two fish in my QT are doing great. No signs of ich, still healthy and eating like pigs. In two more weeks, I start bringing the salinity back up, and they go into the DT around the start of May. After that, the last three fish go into QT and I'll be able to really tackle the AEFW in my holding tank.

 

[Rotknee]

Wow...the past few weeks have been, to put it mildly, rough on your progress. Sounds like you have a good attitude about the situation and that is a good thing in this hobby.

My first sump design was similar to what you have. Thanks to some of the good folks on this forum I was advised to build it this way incorporating some bracing at the top. I found a very patient "Acrylic Master" locally that took my idea (mistakes and all) and brought it to life. Point being, have you considered having Jon add bracing to the top of your sump as to avoid a repeat of the event?

 

[Fish4Me2]

Rotknee, wow your sump looks great! John had some suggestions about changes, so we'll go with that to start. If I have to do eurobracing to avoid trouble, I will, but my first tank had a eurobraced sump. I found that every weekend when I had to go into the sump for cleaning/maintenance, it chewed up my arms. I really wanted to avoid that this time, if possible.

 

[teacherthomas]

Sorry for the delayed response. I just pulled out the tape measure to confirm, and it's 10" by 7.5". It could have been much smaller than 10", but I've got plenty of room for a durso with this design, so no complaints from me.

Better late than never. Thanks.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Only minor updates this weekend, but at least they're positive: I received the starboard, and cut it to fit the tank. Thus, the bottom of the tank is now covered in sand colored starboard. It looks like sand, protects the bottom glass, and hopefully will be easier to clean than actual sand.

Also, today marks the last day of hypo for my first two fish. I'll start replacing evaporation from the QT with salt until I hit 1.026, and then they go into the big tank! :celeb2:

Pictures to follow.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Well, I came home today to a blood bath. Seriously. See below.

After calling my spouse to ask, "What in G*d's name did you do in the utility room this morning" I discovered the source: my bottle of TMPCC, in the cabinet above this counter, had tipped over. And slowly, over the day, had leaked out, creating this mess. So, up side is that my home has not become the setting for the next episode of Dexter, downside is that I need to buy more TMPCC.

 

[Fish4Me2]

It's official: the first fish is in! "Betty" the clownfish went into the tank yesterday evening. She's happily wiggling her way around now, so I think it's a success thus far. The other fish from QT, my blue hippo tang, will be going in later this week. I wanted to let Betty establish her territory first. Turns out she's a daredevil, and thus far likes to sleep right up next to the overflow. She's been with me for four years now, so I'll have to trust her judgment.

On the equipment front, I ran the aquabus cables from the equipment side to the tank side, and hooked up the Apex. Pictures to follow, once the lights are on.

Still left to do:
Install the chiller
Put together the light rack
Figure out how to hang the light rack
Set up GFO/carbon reactors
"skin" the light rack to match the stand
Move/QT the remaining fish
Eradicate AEFW from holding tank and move corals

 

[Fish4Me2]

Well, it's taken her two days to get bold enough to leave the back corner of the tank, but she's now out swimming! Now, with my photo skills, you have to play "where's waldo" to find her, but if you look in the bottom left, you'll see a little speck of orange and white.

 

[Fish4Me2]

:celeb1:
First two fish are in, and are doing well. The flow's a bit strong, so my timid clownfish isn't getting a lot to eat, but we're working on it.

Next up, plumbing in the chiller before the weather gets hot.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Since this thread has been lacking color for a while, I thought I'd add some photos of the frags that are slowly growing out in my smaller tank. Unfortunately these guys are battling AEFW, so the colors are marginal at best. Even so, I still can't leave the room without staring at them when the lights are on!

Frag rack. Not sure if this sunset monti needs more or less light.

 

[SuperDaveA]

Out of curiosity what made you decide on a welded base rather than a fully wood base? I'm planning out a 200 gallon build and was hoping to get away with a wood base (since I could build it myself). Is there a thread that talks to this or a widely know rule for what size tank starts to need a metal frame support? Thanks!

 

[Fish4Me2]

Out of curiosity what made you decide on a welded base rather than a fully wood base? I'm planning out a 200 gallon build and was hoping to get away with a wood base (since I could build it myself). Is there a thread that talks to this or a widely know rule for what size tank starts to need a metal frame support? Thanks!

The main driver for me was that I wanted lots of access to the sump area. In order to build an all wood stand, I'd have needed more structural stability from plywood sheathing, which would have meant smaller openings for doors, and/or a closed back. With this setup, I can replace my sump for a larger one if I ever need to, and get in any equipment I want to. The only downside with steel is that there aren't any good places to mount equipment.

If you search for a thread by RocketEngineer, there's an awesome tutorial on how to build all wood stands. It absolutely can be done, but you'll wind up with smaller doors, and therefor less ability to change out equipment if you keep your equipment under the tank. Good luck!

 

[SuperDaveA]

Thanks for the info! Is there a similar thread on the design and construction of a metal frame stand?

I didn't get a good understanding of how your stand went together around the metal frame. It looks like you put a sheet of plywood on top of the metal frame and then the tank sits directly on that. Does the metal frame then sit directly on the floor and the wood outsides are just fastened to the metal frame in a non-structural way? What type of metal is the metal frame? Is is stainless? Thanks!