240 SPS build

All i can say is I'm Stoked, The Stand and Canopy are the best I've ever had and match my house perfect. I think Mel could put every standard Mfg out of business Pronto! and this is perfect with full front access and doors on both sides with the Insides finished like expensive kitchen cabinets. I am truely grateful for a fine job and a good friend.
Thanks Mel
Bill
 
ok... back at it... i had the room... the tank... now i wanted to add water... so i decided to run a supply and drain line to the room... it makes for easier cleaning..
waterlines.jpg

went to the hardware store and grabbed one of them utility sinks.. theyre awesome for making changes... drilling holes and customizing the thing
sink.jpg

i think this is my favorite "perk" in the room
 
ok... so now for the rodi... this is a 7 stage i found on ebay 5-6 years ago... its cool tink i paid like 150 for it... im a bargain hunter... and patient :)
rodi.jpg

naturally... installed it over the sink...
rodi_sink.jpg
 
and the lighting... i decided to build a custom hood... i decided on 4 250W moguls using reflux 12k bulbs... standard spyder reflectors... (may upgrade some day) two ARO balasts.. and two coralife balasts... again... one of the down-sides of having a budget... i couldnt affors all new ballasts... and for suppliment lighting... i used 2 48" reefbright led strips...
hoodtop.jpg

another great feature i decided to add... was a roll away hood... i though about several different options... and decided i could use two garage door tracks... if you look closely... you can see the trackand the wheels... all bought at the hardware store in the garage door section... simple... and awesome!!
hoodtrack.jpg

here' the underside setup... with the light placed centered of the openings over the aquarium
hoodbottom.jpg

and these two photos to better show the "roll away" build
hoodout.jpg

hoodin.jpg
 
Now your cooking

Now your cooking

New Wave said:
and the lighting... i decided to build a custom hood... i decided on 4 250W moguls using reflux 12k bulbs... standard spyder reflectors... (may upgrade some day) two ARO balasts.. and two coralife balasts... again... one of the down-sides of having a budget... i couldnt affors all new ballasts... and for suppliment lighting... i used 2 48" reefbright led strips...
hoodtop.jpg

another great feature i decided to add... was a roll away hood... i though about several different options... and decided i could use two garage door tracks... if you look closely... you can see the trackand the wheels... all bought at the hardware store in the garage door section... simple... and awesome!!
hoodtrack.jpg

here' the underside setup... with the light placed centered of the openings over the aquarium
hoodbottom.jpg

and these two photos to better show the "roll away" build
hoodout.jpg

hoodin.jpg
Click to expand...

:bounce1::bounce3::bounce2: We want more Pictures, Please!
 
i plumbed in a temporary sump so i culd get the water started cycling and clearing while i continued to work...
tempsump.jpg
 
which, of course, the next step was a perminant sump... i went with the ORA 100 gallon premium ultra deluxe heavy duty pro sump... these are VERY hard to come by... but if youre in the right place at the right time... you might get lucky:)
sump.jpg
 
you could see from the previous post... i also began to install the controller... which happens to be a digital aquatics reefkeeper elite... with (2) sl1 (1) sl2 (6) pc-4 net mod... and all kinda other goodies...
rketemp.jpg
 
New Wave said:
which, of course, the next step was a perminant sump... i went with the ORA 100 gallon premium ultra deluxe heavy duty pro sump... these are VERY hard to come by... but if youre in the right place at the right time... you might get lucky:)
sump.jpg
Click to expand...

HAHA! :spin1: thats awesome! I actually went with the 150 model. works the same, just takes up more room!:hmm3:
 
rock and substrate... i went with 300-350lbs of marco rock... the price wasright and i heard great things... and i was certainly satisfied with what i received.. along with 300 lbs of premium sand... i only ended up using 200 lbs...but the bulk price gave me an extra 100 lbs for about 20 bucks... so... why not!
marco.jpg

i found this photo frm my home security system... some dude broke in my house and was stealing my rock..
stacking.jpg

oh wait... thats my good friend Bill... he was actually helping me stack it :)
... and the aqua-scaping please....
aquascaping.jpg
 
here's a little bit of a boo-boo i made... anybody building a reef from a fowlr tank take heed and think about this before you make th same misake... i could have saved about 6-700 dollars...

the sand and the rock you see above is nice... BUT,,, its not the stuff i was supposed to use... i already had 400 plus lbs off fuji LR and 300+ pounds of substrate... these are photos of the second time we set the tank...

i never gave a second thought to the PHOSPHATES built up over time in a fowler tank... not that big a deal for fish... but...

anyway... by the time i thought about that... i had already stacked the tank... i tested... and BOOM!!! i tried phosban... and other phosphate removers... but it literally was WAY to much to mechanically remove... i had PLENTY of time to bleach and acid bath the materials if only i had thought about it earlier... but by this time... i was under a time restraint.. and had no choice but to dump the old and buy new...

lesson learned for me... hopefully food for thought for you
 
and a dolphin amp master 6200LE pump... i like it alot... its a little overkill.. except the goal for the end was to have everything running off of one pump... the downside is.. if this pump goes bad... everything goes down... so... what ive done was get the upgraded "lifetime" seal... and plus i have a back-up amp master 5400 standing by in the garage... so incase ... the 5400 will fit inline exactly as the 6200 until i can have it replaced... this route is still much less expensive... both equipment and energy wise.. then having several pumps working the auxilary equipment...not to mention less noise
dolphin.jpg
 
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