270 Gallon Shallow

[Dadekster]

Ok, so like many others in this hobby, I too have finally decided the time has come to start a large tank. A bit about myself first though. I work 12 hour shifts and am married with a kid, so my progress will come in spurts as I have the time and energy to do things. I started doing the aquarium thing about five years ago. It all started when we decided that my son was old enough to have his own pet. What could be easier than a goldfish, right? Well, of course it ended up being my goldfish, and of course he was lonely, then he had friends needed a bigger party house and one thing lead to another!

My first foray into reefing was about two years after that having done some post graduate work in African Lake cichlids I set up a reef ready 58 gallon Oceanic tank and learned a lot of things from it. I ended up setting up a sump, remote DSB, a 20 gallon fuge, going from PC lighting, to T5's and even a 250 halide and attaching another tank in line. Through it all I learned many things and while I still have a lot to learn I feel I am competent enough to move to a larger tank.

With that out of the way, let me explain what I have in mind.

96" x 36" x 18" TruVu
To get an idea of what it looks like
http://www.truvuaquariums.com/48cofl3.html

It is ordered and should be here either end of week or next week. I had the height added by 2" and the overflow will be external and on one end. It will be drilled with a total of four holes, two drains and two returns. I went acrylic due to weight and the fact I live in California aka earthquake country. I also don't plan to have any rock work any where near the sides.

Some of the other equipment either on hand or on the way.

Reef Octopus Extreme 300 Protein Skimmer
ReeFlo Dart/Sequence 3600gph
Octopus Dual Chamber Calcium Reactor
Tunze 3155 Osmolator Universal
JBJ Dual Gauge CO2 Regulator w/ kit
American Marine Pinpoint pH Controller
Tek5 six bulb setup
250 watt Hamilton w/20k bulb
40 gallon breeder tank/glass
29 gallon tall/glass/drilled
DIY kalk reactor
Aqua Logic Trimline Delta Star 1/3HP Chiller
Ton of pumps/heaters/ and assorted crap


Some things I still need to obtain. A 5lb or 10lb CO2 tank. Luckily there is a place local that sells lab grade CO2...never knew there was a lab grade CO2 tbh I have also not yet made up my mind how I want to go about lighting my setup. I am leaning T5's for the overall ability to pick the look and cost as far as bulb replacement plus less heat. But I really do like the glimmer the halides provide. I also need to buy a second small sized acrylic tank which will be a surge tank.

As far as the setup itself. The stand is going to be standard lumber, using 2' x 8' for across with 2' x 4's as support. I will probably add a center brace/leg for the reason I will skin the front leaving a rather big opening for ease of access to equipment. Overall looks are not primary as this will be against a 10' wall in my office. I plan to use the 40 gallon as my sump. The 29 tall will be for water changes. The acrylic (not bought yet) tank will be used as a surge device. I have some interesting ideas for the surge tank. While serving as a surge tank I also plan for it to be a fuge of sorts. I am hoping that this will provide the display tank with some additional food.

I knocked out a quick paint job to help those that hate reading walls of text.

Legend -

A - skimmer
B - heaters
C - pump
D - chiller
E - CA reactor
F - pump for water change tank
G - surge device for surge tank
H - lights
I - more lights
J - overflow



So being 3' wide the tank gives me quite a bit of rockworking choices. The tank is planned as a bio tope tank. I plan to have a bit of a vertical rock wall near the surge outlets and a lagoon type setting on the other side with an island in the middle. If I find the surge device unsatisfactory I can always go with a Vortech or similar I guess. So that is what is planned. I'd like to hear what some people think about this idea, especially from people who have similar setups as I hate making blatantly stupid mistakes. Unfortunately it is the one thing I seem to excel at

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[Novacaine]

i like the concept. Cant wait to see how this one turns out

 

[Dadekster]

Thanks. I am awaiting some of my equipment due today. I'll post the 'required' new loot in boxes pics when it gets here

I need to make a couple trips today as well for other misc stuff. On the agenda today is to pull up the carpeting where the stand and tank will be going as well as start building the stand. Spent about forty bucks on lumber last night including 2lb. of screws. Had no idea stands could be built so cheap. I still need to buy the top panel plus siding (sheeting) to give it added bracing for lateral movement since I'll be going with a surge tank for water movement.

The more I think about it the happier I am with going the shallow route. So many benefits to going that way versus a tall deep tank. I am designing this tank to be viewed as much from above as I am from the side Anyways hope to have an update later today.

 

[Dadekster]

Alright so I received a bunch of new toys today and I got some stuff done

I was able to pull back my carpeting as I don't want any of the soggy mess associated with it or the padding underneath. My last house was elevated, but my new house has a nice slab...and its even level :eek2: This is what it looked like before.

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I also figured I would need power and water as those seem to be used in abundance in reefing So I had a line spliced off from my hose in the back yard. It runs underneath the recessed wall of my house and through the wall. Same thing for the power except its comes from the master power with all the breakers. I had my brother in law do this as electricity frankly scares the crap out of me and he's a licensed electrician. In the end it looked like this.

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So as you can see we got power and we got water. So on to ripping up carpeting.

 

[Dadekster]

Myself and my son in law next ripped up the carpeting. We still have some work to do, basically we need to align the edge with the carpeting. I am going to try to keep a small strip of linoleum between the tank stand edge and the carpeting. The stand I started is approximately 43" wide. This gives me some wiggle room for the tank which is 36" wide and a little lip to set things on, like my beer when gazing into the tank So we went to town on the carpeting.

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Once it was torn up and cleaned fairly well I learned that I was one of those rare people that has a level slab in their house. This of course means I won't have anyone to blame when I build my stand crooked Regardless I went to Lowes and promptly bought the cheapest linoleum they had and we installed a 45" wide by 10' wide strip. It actually came out pretty nice. This hopefully guards me against the accidental spill and drips I know will happen. As a precaution we also ran silicon around the edges by the baseboard so water can't seep underneath there. Of course if I spill 20 gallons I am still screwed as this won't help in a large spill, but then I can only blame myself. So with that out of the way I started on the bottom frame of the stand. Being so large I have to build it sectional as there is no way in h3ll it will fit through my door or window (which is how the tank will get in by the way).

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The bottom frame is all I got done tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I will add the legs/supports and get the top done. I will then stain and seal everything to include the sheeting. I mentioned I received toys as well I think? :rollface:

 

[Dadekster]

I remember when getting GI Joe and Transformers toys was the best thing about being a kid. Now fast forward and I get giddy when the UPS guy shows up and gives me a CA reactor and an auto top off. Weird

Anyways, the stuff that showed up today.

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I plan on drilling my 40 gallon breeder and use that for my skimmer and as my sump. To that end I saw a pretty nice device to help me do that and to stop paying the over priced glass shops around here 30-40 bucks each time I need a stupid hole drilled. That would be the drill guide. I have never used an auto top off device but I have heard mostly great things about the Tunze osmolator even if there are DIYer's that can do this for 20 bucks. I am honestly tired of hauling buckets of RODI water around and doing it for 270 gallons would probably be considered training for some triathlon. I'll pass thanks and just get something considered reliable The Octopus CA reactor on the other hand is more of a risk. I have not seen much about them, but from the Octopus Extreme 300 skimmer I received about 2 weeks ago I figured if their skimmers were any indication then the CA reactor should be decent. Time will tell I guess. To go along with that I got the required JBL solenoid setup that come with bubble counter and so forth. I have never used a CA reactor before so this will be a learning experience. I also got the American Marine Pinpoint controller. Lastly I also received my Reeflo Sequence Dart that does 3600 gallons per hour and can be throttled accordingly. I will be building a manifold so this will be handy.

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So that's it for now. Tomorrow I should have some more updates and I will be calling TruVu to see if I can get a firm date for delivery. The plan is to have it all ready to go so when the tank gets here I can set it on the stand and go from there. As usual any comments or suggestions are welcome as well as anything that screams out *** are you doing don't stick your finger in that or whatnot!

 

[stunreefer]

Great build! Love shallow tanks :thumbsup:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14321763#post14321763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dadekster
Now fast forward and I get giddy when the UPS guy shows up and gives me a CA reactor and an auto top off. Weird

:lol: Funny how things change isn't it?

... I get giddy when the tracking website says its in the state!

 

[Dadekster]

Speaking of giddy I just got off the phone with TruVu and I was told I will have my tank early next week, probably Monday or Tuesday!!

Perfect as I am off for four days. Guess I should get cracking on my stand eh?

 

[Chrisrush]

I'm not following how you are going to try and incorporate a surge and a fuge in the same tank. A surge will drain all the water out of the tank. I think you are referring to an above tank fuge, and by the looks of your drawing, that's what I can tell.

Tank looks good though, might have to keep one of those in mind for the future.

 

[TandN]

I love the dimensions

 

[Dadekster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14325159#post14325159 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chrisrush
I'm not following how you are going to try and incorporate a surge and a fuge in the same tank. A surge will drain all the water out of the tank. I think you are referring to an above tank fuge, and by the looks of your drawing, that's what I can tell.

Tank looks good though, might have to keep one of those in mind for the future.

This will be a work in progress so bear with me. When I had a surge tank on my last tank even though quite a bit of water drained, there was still at least 25% of it left. So while it well be an above tank fuge, it will also drain like a surge tank. I plan to use egg grate or whatever else material I come up with to keep the drain free of debris. The hope is that through regular surges pods and other animal life go into the display on the current, sort of simulating a real current. I figure plumbed correctly I can keep some sand and some rock in there as well as cheato although I might keep that somewhere else as it tends to act like steel wool and I don't want it swirling around my display. I might even attempt to baffle the surge tank but I think that would restrict the pods too much. Like I said though, it will be a work in progress when I get to it. If it doesn't work out I'll just turn it into a straight surge tank and plumb a fuge in line somewhere.

Hope that explains better what I have in mind.

I am really excited about the dimensions as well. I am eating dinner atm but when done I will hopefully get the supports done on the stand. I was able to pick up my CO2 bottle today and the carpeting is done. I will try to get some pics up later tonight to show some of the progress.

 

[Bax]

Nice dims on the tank this will be a very cool shallow reef!

 

[SMOOTHIE]

Sweet! 18" deep you could even play around with the lighting. 175 will even do, or t-5 if you sacrifice the shimmer effect. Please keep us posted. Cool build

 

[Dadekster]

Well it was another productive day...bet my employer wishes they could say that about me more often Anywho, I got quite a bit done today even with the wife wanting to go shopping. I was able to add the legs to the stand as well as the top outer framing. I just need to add three additional cross beams for support. Not sure if I really need them, but I'll feel better and it won't add much additional weight. As is now I can easily move the stand around, ok, maybe not easily, but I can get er' done myself.

The carpeting was also finished. Nothing fancy here, basically just a cut and tuck using metal trim into the concrete. I have a little 2" gap along the front of the stand for the drips. Once I am able to move stuff over from my holding tank I plan to actually cut the carpet back a good foot or two and cut from the stand edge and install something nice. As is what I have now will serve its purpose. Once that was done I was able to completely seal the stand in Olympic water sealant wood guard. Guess it protects against water, mildew, UV lighting and adds linseed. I just want to make sure it beads water so I can clean it easy. So I coated the whole stand in that and letting it dry overnight. So here are some construction shots and where I am at.

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So while that was soaking up the sealant, I figured what the heck, let's go start on the panels. I went to the garage and sealed the top panel as well as the bottom panel. I then added a layer of Red Mahogany to what is going to be the front panel. I will cut quite a bit of the front panel out leaving access to the front. I am undecided on how to do the front. Doors, panels with velcro or magnets, leave it open for the muscle car with no hood effect? I'll have to ponder it some. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

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On a related note I put together my Octopus CA reactor. It came with one sheet which has a picture and I kid you not the following written near the bottom.

PLEASE ASSEMBLY ACCORDINGLY!

Anyone know where there are any online docs for this thing?

 

[Dadekster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14330012#post14330012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SMOOTHIE
Sweet! 18" deep you could even play around with the lighting. 175 will even do, or t-5 if you sacrifice the shimmer effect. Please keep us posted. Cool build

I am pretty sure I will be going with T5's as I had good luck with the one I had and I like the color it provides. I have one of the 3' long Tek5 six bulb setups. I think I will buy one more. That will give me 6' of coverage and some shadier spots for some livestock flexibility. I might do a spotlight halide for effect, but not sure. I'll have to see what I have with the two Teks up there. As I made my stand about 43" wide I have some choices on how to mount my lights. I don't want to drill holes into my ceiling and I am always paranoid that my lights are going to fall into my tank I get a bit anal about supporting them.

I do have to admit having a shallow tank and the shimmer would be really sweet, giving it that true lagoon look.

 

[Dadekster]

Another day, another update. I got several things done today even though I felt like crap. I got the bottom of the stand put in, the top support frame put in and the front of the stand added. So other than some cosmetic things such as putting in the screw hole and staining over that the stand is ready for the tank to be set on it. I am leaving the sides open as well as the back for ease of access. I am still undecided on how to cover the front. I am not big on doors as I just find them in my way constantly when I am performing maintenance on the tank. One of the big things for this tank is to make sure that taking care of things is not a chore because its a PITA. I am strongly considering making panels that hang so I can just take them off and have the whole front open so working on things is easy. I may do the same for the sides if noise is an issue as well. So here are some progress shots and where I am at now.

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and finally the front panel.

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My son wanted to get in on the action and now he wants a club house built

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I am thinking that I will buy another 40 gallon breeder and plumb that in line with the skimmer sump. I will use that for the CA reactor, chiller, carbon running etc and then run the Dart into that. I have plenty of room and if I plumbed with unions and valves I can take them off line independently for maintenance as needed. This will also tie into my ATO tank. The Dart will be plumbed to be the return and also feed the surge/fuge tank.

So I still have some things to do but the next stuff I have planned is to order my other light fixture, get the front panel finished, figure out my doors/panels, get another 40 gallon tank, and plumb what I can until the tank gets here. As usual let me know if you see anything I can improve or if you have suggestions. I'd rather have something pointed out that I missed than find out the hard way.

 

[jpa0741]

This build brings back some memories for me. I miss waiting for the UPS guy. My reef is the almost just like the link you have in the beginning (96"x36"'16"). Just click on my red house for my build log. Please feel free to ask my any questions you might have. First thing I will do is try to persuade you to go with MH. I am subscribed and can't wait to see more. You will love the dimesions of your tank.

 

[Dadekster]

Thanks for the compliment, I can only hope my tank turns out half as good as yours. Yours was one of the big reasons I thought a widescreen high definition tank would be possible First time I saw a pic you posted of it in someones thread I was like, ok that's what I want my tank to look like.

I'd ask what you would have done differently, but honestly I think you have your tank down to a science...if you could just stay out of the LFS like you stated you'd be golden.

I am running down to Lowes today to buy some things. I think I will put some baffles into my sump today and buy some plumbing supplies I know I'll need. I have work today so won't get much done the next two days.

 

[Dadekster]

Been a couple of days, but I got a couple things done. As far as the tank goes, I am hoping it get here either tomorrow or Thursday. The stand as far as having the tank sit on it is all done. There are about a million minor things that need to be done like having these installed underneath the tank so I can see what the heck I am doing.

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I also found this at Home Depot.

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I am going to see if I can install it over the tank and use it as night lighting. If it doesn't work I just bought Christmas lights early.

I have definitely decided to go with T5 lights so with that decision made I had to figure out how I was going to hang them. I knew I didn't want to drill holes into the ceiling and I don't have the woodworking skills to build some crazy hood setup. I also wanted something that was adjustable as far as lateral placement as well as horizontal. As usual when there is something I want to try out but I'm not sure how to do it, I just cruised the aisles of various stores

This is what I came up with.

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And it actually doing what it is intended to to.

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My other Tek light should be here tomorrow so I can hang them both. With this light rack with just six bolts I can move the whole system sideways, front to back and up or down as needed. I can even add more beams, which I plan to do so I can use night lighting. Now the bad thing it isn't pretty. I still need to take it all down, primer it and add a sealant coat to the whole light rack system.

I also have successfully drilled my 40 gallon breeder tank and added baffles to it. This will hold my skimmer and at least one drain line will go to this. From the 40 gallon sump I will have a line going into a 40 gallon feed trough I bought. The 40 gallon trough has been drilled for the Dart and also to tie into the 40 gallon breeder/skimmer sump. The feed trough will hold live rock and be used as the mixing tank so to say. I will have the chiller outflow, CA outflow, top off etc go into this. I don't have pics as I still have to plump this and my baffle job is so ugly my nine year old son laughed when he saw it. He was like "Hey Dad, you blind it's crooked." Oh well, I water tested the whole thing in the backyard hooked up the Dart and it worked.

As usual, let me know what ya think, have any questions or just want to tell me I'm out of my mind.

 

[jpa0741]

Looking good. I am not sure, but I would think about building your light rack with aluminum angle. I got mine from Home Depot. I would think that the steel angle will rust like crazy. Just a guess. Maybe some others with experience using that will chime in.

Never mind, just re-read and see you mentioned sealing it. Sorry. Keep up the good work.