210 Build

[Fiziksgeek]

Well, this weekend was fairly fruitful. The room has been completely painted. Despite the warnings, I am going to procede with the laminate flooring in the finished room only. I've been pretty good with water spillage so far (knock on wood, even fake wood will do)!

The fish room will remain mostly unfinished. I have a dehumidifier down there already. My 135 has been up and running all along, but it has glass tops, so the evaporation is only a couple gallons/week. I am planning to put in a vent fan on a humidistat, and possibly putting an intake to the air handler in the room.

I am hoping to grab a couple of guys from work and get the tank down there this evening, before I start working on the floor.

JonTarutis--I am not dead set on the closed loop. It seemed the easiest, and most cost effective to set up at this point since I already have a pump for it.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Its in !!!!

Its in !!!!

Only took 2 of us.

From the front

From the rear

 

[PL-Reef]

looks really good.... now get some water in there.

 

[blokrocbet]

Well if you are going to use laminate you can get three grades the top grades have a wax coating, it will help in the event of a spill and protect aganst humidity. Im a land lord and i use it in all my units with goodluck (except for mine with a leaky 120). Go to lumber liquidators in hartford i have found they have the best price. http://www.lumberliquidators.com/home.jsp

 

[cato]

Lookin' sweeeeet! Keep the pics/updates comming for those of us following in your footsteps.:thumbsup:

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Soooo many toys!

Soooo many toys!

So I actually made it to the meeting on Sunday. My goal is to become more social within the group now that life is settling down a bit...or at least I think it is...Once the tank is up and running I will feel comfortable participating in the raffle! There were some awesome frags up for grabs there.

Things are still progressing..but of course slower than anyone, especially me would like. But I got the last of the lighting and plumbing in today. Here is a pic of all the goodies!

Along the top are my 6ft vho actinics still in the box. On the left are tons of fittings, valves, unions etc. Flex PVC in the middle, Loc-line across the bottom, and on the right are my Ice caps, lumenarc mini's, XM10K's, and my Pan World 150-ps return pump.

Unfortunately, I wont get to play with anything for a while. We are going out of town for the long weekend. But I did just pick up my first set of golf clubs too, so I will get to play with them at least!

-Ken

 

[kroe]

Nice! You need something in there for scale. Everything looks tiny .

Edit: I just read your post again.... "6' VHOs in the box".

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Need a new sump

Need a new sump

So after a small vacation, I tried to get things moving again. I drilled my first tank today. I started with a 20H that I plan to use as a fuge. That went pretty well, so I moved onto the 55 I WAS going to use as a sump.

Guess what...the tank was made entirely of tempered glass!

So..I am in the market for a new sump. If anyone has something they are trying to get rid of let me know. I am looking for a 55 at minimum.

 

[JonTarutis]

OUCH!!!! 55's are the tricky one! Was it AGA or Perfecto or both that made them out of tempered then not then back again?!?!?
Can you bring some Jif and diet coke to the next meeting?

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I think this was an AGA tank, but not entirely sure. I've had it for many years. It was my first salt water tank actually. I was about half way through with the hole before it cracked...I thought I was home free.

I can also bring some Downy, Heinz Ketchup, SOS pads, some Bounty paper towels, and a million tiny shards of tempered glass!!

 

[cato]

Bum deal!

 

[dfiddy]

ouch! sorry to hear that.. i just read that nemoG was selling a 55 here.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Since I have to get a new sump tank anyway, I am considering something bigger. Unfortunately I dont have room for a stock tank as I want it to be under the stand. This also means it cant be too tall. I havent quite made up my mind as to what to do yet.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Who thought I was dead???

Who thought I was dead???

So its been quite some time since I, or anyone else have updated this thread, so its time to revive it. Today, I plumbed the closed loop and an doing a tap water leak test. More details to come!

 

[Fiziksgeek]

More Details

More Details

In our last episode, I was discovering that the 55 I was planning to use as a sump was all tempered.

Since then, I have purchased a new AGA 75 and drilled that for 3-1.5" bulkheads. I also took the tank down off the stand, and drilled it for a closed loop with 2-1.5" intakes, and 4-1" returns.

I also put some self leveling concrete under the stand to make a nice smooth surface for the sump. That worked so well, I went ahead and put a good thick layer of the stuff on top of the stand too.

I have plumbed the closed loop which is powered by a Dolphin Amp Master 3000. The flow looks great! I am very happy with the outcome. I filled the tank with tap water up to about 6 inches from the top for the CL leak test. Not one creak from the stand! I have one tiny tiny leak, its about a drop every 10-15 minutes. Should be an easy fix, so I am not worried at this point.

We are having a family BBQ next weekend, so I am really pushing to get the tank up and running before then! I got into work early this morning so I can leave early this afternoon! On tap is return and skimmer plumbing!!

More pics to come!

 

[dougie]

top work! :thumbsup:
keep the pics coming, and good luck!

Cheers.

 

[ctopal]

I'm looking forward to seeing the final results on this, thanks for walking us through it with you!

 

[Fiziksgeek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7943774#post7943774 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctopal
I'm looking forward to seeing the final results on this

Me too!! hahaha

Well, the plumbing is 99% finished. Here are a couple of pics.

I also started the light rack. I have the main chunk of the frame complete. Its just made from some angle aluminum. The lumenarc mini's just sit in it. I will make some brackets to hang the VHO actinics off each side. And I hope to have it all hang from a sliding rack on the ceiling!

To prepare for the move, I have been increasing the system volume of the 135. I picked up a couple of 44 gallon Rubbermaid brute trash cans and drilled each for a bulk head down low. Each day I have been mixing up about 15 gallons of new water to add. I simply put an extension on the overflow tube connected to the bulk head. I disconnected my skimmer and am using that pump to run water up into the two cans, and it gravity drains back into the sump. By tomorrow, both cans should be as full as I want to make them. Maybe 38 gallons in each. So, including the tank, sump, and two brute cans, I should have over 200 gallons of water to start off the new tank with. I plan to do a one day move (at least its only about 6 ft away!!).

Once the move is done, I will be using one of the cans for RO/DI and the other will be a mixing tank.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Well....Its actually "done". Finished moving the contents of the 135 into it a little past midnight on Saturday. Its was a hit at the party on Sunday! haha. So far, everything appears to be doing very well. The only fish I haven't seen is my Royal Gramma. My corals seemed to peak up when the MH came on. I put on 3 layers of screen to shade them a little. I will post some pics tonight!!!

 

[PL-Reef]

your royal gramma is more than likely just hiding, and getting used to his new home. looking foward to seeing the pictures. nice work on the whole setup.