220g Starphire:LED:4 sided viewable: with a Basement Sump

[LivingRoomOcean]

Hello All,

I just joined the Forum not to long ago. This site has been huge in helping me gather my information and start my build. In the past, I have had a successful 90g reef system and it ran fine until I had to move. A lot has changed with the hobby over the year and somethings remain the same. Due to the home values in our area, I think that my family will be staying put for a while... So the time is right for us to move forward with the Build-

My Dream has always been to have a large tank in a area of the house that can be viewed easily throughout the day. Actually, it's to have a tank that I can dive in. The Ga Aquarium is only 10 mins from my house so I figure it would be more cost effective to pay the couple hundred dollars to dive it... the Main tank is a pretty neat dive however, it is very short... here is a pic from one of my dives...

So my Plan is to have a 210 Marineland Starphire (Tank is ordered) on three side with corneroverflows... Flow will be provided by reeflo Hammerhead and 2 Vortech mp40's. Lighting will be AI (4 or 5 units) - I am building a Stand for the Tank now (will post some picts soon) Since it is viewable from 4 sides the back has to be finished-

The Tank will be viewable on Three side in the house and the back side of the tank will be seen from our outdoor living area.. (where we spend a ton of time in the Spring and Fall evenings-

The house doesn't get to much sun and I am not worried about heat (LED will help a ton!) the Window has heavy shades that can be lowered to block out any unwanted early AM sun. Here are a couple pictures or the intended area-

the only think i am concerned with is the White Grids on the window are in the Glass and cannot be removed- so My thoughts is to build a backing that i can put on in the winter when I am not outside a that much. They might not be that much of a distraction once I get the LR in place.... I will have to wait and see....

Work has Already begun on the Basement (fish Room)

Stay Tuned ......

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

here are some more shots of the setup:

One of the 150g Holding Tanks - the other one will be mounted on top of the one in the pict- the top one will contain the RODI water and will feed the bottom one by gravity- should have the other one mounted tonight! Fit Perfect with existing structure of the house- currently has about 140g of RODI in it .....

Here is a pict of the Sump :

The Sump is connected to a wall Drain that is connected to a dedicated Ejector pump - still need to clean up the PVC - you can also see the Reeflo Hammerhead Gold pump ready to be plumbed I will prob get another one and have incase this one goes down or need servicing.

the QT Tank (Marineland 70g with Dual biowheels
I wanted to get a large QT incase I need to QT many fish at once

A Shot of the RODI Sink Area: Temp supports added going to add some 4x4 to bracing -

Here is a shot of the Stand in progress.... It is built out of 2x and poplar again it will be finished on all 4 sides.. I know that many Furniture makers used just Hard wood to build Stands ... I just didn't trust myself building it that way -

Canopy will be built once tank gets here -

one of the columns .. still needs some work ....

Here is an overall shot of the setup- I would like to add more shelves and work area

More to come!!

any Comments ... Suggestions ... are welcome!!!

 

[indydog1]

nice start to what should be an awesome piece of ocean.
i am going to be moving soon and can wait to redo my 7x2x2 tank...with as basement fishroom.

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

Thanks IndyDog1-

how long has yours been up and running? any picts

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

second 150g is in place ... this will contain RODI......
Should be able to get it all plumbed tonight - My ATO Level Loc arrived today as well.....

things left .... finish the stand/ sand/condition/sand/stain /sand ... uggggg
order lights... Plumb Supply and Return and manifold for Reactors I might have down the road .... what is everyones opinion on UV ???? I have looked at some HO units.... might be something I wait on...


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[SimonSKL]

Nice start. Tagging along.

 

[H2OKIE]

Very nice! I'll be tagging along for ideas! How large of a pump will you need to get the water back up to the main tank?

 

[patmack]

Looks nice! I like the storage tank stands. Is there anything under them for support?

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

Yea,

2x6 frame with another 2x6 going right under the feet of the tanks -
1/2 ply on top of the the 2x6 frame - both are tied into the house - not moving anywhere ... I am going to add a couple of kickouts to make sure it stays Square... all the 2x6 are sitting on Metal Hangers - the Tanks don't sit flat ... they sit on 6 inch wide feet. the bottom tank has 150g of Mixed up salt water already -
The post on the Front are 4x4 and the back has a 2x6 header with the joist sitting on top of that.

before I add water to the top Tank - I will give it a once over .. but I think that I am fine -

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

H2OKIE

The Pump is a Reeflo Hammerhead Gold



It's 5500gph with 0 head pressure- at 14 feet it pushes around 4200 gph
however the Hammerhead can be dialed back and will reduce not only the Flow but the Watts used and I am told it will save the life of the motor... This pump will run possible UV/Manifolds and any reactors that I might Add... the DT will have Vortechs already have 2 mp40's might add a third to the back ....

I have only heard great things about Reeflo's pumps ... a lot of CL run by a Dart on these forums .. its hard to believe that this pump will only pull around 300 watts max... I will gets some numbers once I dial it back a bit to my liking

 

[Chihuahua6]

Everything looks great but i can't get over your avatar!
That is prescious.

 

[Athena1]

Yea that is Devon and my 14 year old rot/lab mix Athena .... That pict wasn't posed ... She was sleeping and athena thought that is was perfect height to take a nap ... Pretty cool how the dogs understand they need to me careful with the little ones.... Although, I will never 100% trust my dogs even though they have been in our family many years ! They are still animals .....

 

[H2OKIE]

I'll be interested to see how that pump works out. I've read some good things about it and the dart also. But if you can turn this one down and save some on operating costs, that would be well worth it

 

[1mbrews8]

sweet man! i'm in..
mike

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

This Arrived Yesterday - Another Piece to the Puzzle ...

 

[silentscream]

Vortechs on a quarantine tank = gangster

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

Plumbing is all done with the Holding Tanks - no leaks :celeb3:

Salt tank is full (150g) and the RODI is starting to fill (should take about 3 days to fill)

I added two hoses that are connected to ball valves incase i every want to fill up any buckets ....with RO or Salt water

I plumbed the float valve on the front of the RODI tank so I can inspect it from time to time -

I also cut off the plug on a pump and drilled a small hole in the Salt tank and put on a HD plug and now I have good surface agitation...

Tested the Level loc and it worked great the solenoid shot off instantly as soon as i removed power... or the float switch is activated ... I am going to add another float switch as well so there will be at least 4 layers of protection from flooding my tank .... plus email alarms to the APEX

Silentscream - trust me those bad boys are going on the main tank and not staying on the QT tank .... I have been messing around with the settings and getting to know what setting does what....

for those with mp40's what are your fav settings ?
also ... should i Put a pump in the RODI tank to keep the water moving like i did for the Salt tank? ... I figure i could put both on a timer to save some Wattage

 

[silentscream]

I think there was a recent poll on vortech settings in the SPS forum. It found that most people used the reefcrest setting if I'm not mistaken. I've heard with the new ECO controllers, people really like the nutrient export setting. I've been using the reefcrest setting because of I have not had time yet to sort through all of the settings, I haven't had my vortechs any longer than but a couple months.

 

[Surfjnkie9]

Looks great so far. looking forward to future developments

 

[LivingRoomOcean]

I was able to get some more work done on plumbing -

Drilled bulkhead for the Pump - the Reeflo is in place all i need now is a rubber mat to put underneath to help with vibration-

I picked this up today - 40g breeder - it will go above the manifold station and will be refuge feed by the Hammerhead - should be able to get this in place tomorrow - Pre Drilled so it is ready to go -

also was able to get a little more done on the stand - another couple hours on the stand and I should be ready to sand -

about 3 weeks out on Tank .....