A 240 peninsula Many Many Followed Reborn in Tampa

[jmarko]

Hello Everyone

This will be a build thread about a 240 Gallon Tank I have been putting together as part of a 400 gallon system.

This tank was the star of one of the larger build threads here at Reef Central called "250 Gallon room-divider project log" by jeffbrig. it is three separate sections;

1. http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=514675&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

2. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=708066&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

3. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1041413

If you have some time and have not read them or want to reread them they are a great read.


Jeff and his wife did a awesome job with the original design and layout. Originally I had doing a rimless open top tank in mind but after reading all the horror stories about peoples new or favorite fish ending up on the floor and the unbelievable deal I picked up on this used tank I decided to go this route. I even decided to keep most of the cabinet work the same. I reused almost all the plumbing and auto top-off system.

The main Tank is a 240 gallon acrylic tank. its 72 x 30 x 27 (L x W x H). It was custom made by James at Envision Acrylics. Its 1" everywhere with a small Euro at the top. It is the nicest built tank I've ever seen.

I decided to take out a non load barring wall/closet area between my pool table and my master bedroom.

before pool table side :

before bedroom side :

 

[jmarko]

no drywall :

wall coming down / old doorway :

old hallway side :

drywall gone:

more :

closet and wall area gutted :

 

[jmarko]

After gutting and tearing out the wall we had some damage to the floor that needed attention before it could be painted and marine epoxied.

after some cleanup work and paint and epoxy :

Floor done before we make the trip to Miami to get the tank. :

So after finishing up the final coats on the floor we load up a 15 ft. U haul truck and take off from Tampa and make the drive to Miami. As we leave town we hit the gas station and fill the beast up at $4.35 a gallon. On the way down I manage to wedge it under the overhang at the McDonald's drive thru. luckily they had a metal plate there at just the height of the truck so it was just a squeal.

When we arrive at Jeff and his wives condo and go up to the second floor this is what the tank looked like at the time.

here we are pulling it apart.

and getting the stand into the truck. This was a fun one the stand has a custom solid granite counter top permanently attached to the top and some unbelievable serious construction so it weighs in the 500 lbs area. Thank the lord Jeff had some local reefers come to help we needed every bit of there help. He had one friend come that was an ex britsh military guy that really saved the day getting that monster beast down the stairs. not to mention the doorway where we had maybe a credit card with on each side the counter top mind you with the door removed.

After loading and packing and driving it all safely back to Tampa we got to my home about 11 PM and I had about 10 friends come to help move everything inside.

Room Shot Pre Move -

carrying in Stand (check out the Egyptian style. hahaha)

Just the stand in place by itself :

 

[jmarko]

tank and stand :

test fit of canopy and cabinet door look :

Next we had a few things to fix and a wall to rebuild and wire.

ceiling issue :

wood rot in main structural wall :

that wall fixed up -

wall goes up :

gets finished and epoxied on both sides :

 

[jmarko]

wall finished Pool table side :

wall finished bedroom side :

Next we had to design and build an add on to the original stand that holds my QT tank and Frag Tank and has a pass through cut out over the skimmer for service.

stand base :

counter top cut out :

more :

finished counter top after painting and epoxying :

 

[jmarko]

Finished up the old doorway and bedroom wall area :

Then came Electrical; I knew I was doing a ProFilux Controller and set everything up for that. I have 32 outlets 12 with switches all spread over three circuits (two 15A and a 20A)

wire work :

more :

Stand and Counter finished from Bedroom side but missing false wall piece that covers up wires.

After finishing up the build out and construction stuff we were finally ready for some water. Here is the first test

Real Nice water looks great dont you think.

Wow now I had a new problem. I knew my water sucked but holy crap I had no Idea how bad it had gotten. It turns out I have a well system and the city is currently putting in a sewer and septic system in my neighborhood and its screwing with my well and cave ins.

After thinking it over and waiting for my new RO to get here from Spectrapure I decided to use my neighbors city water and feed it to my new RO til I get my water dealt with. So after two more days of making water through the new RO here is what we got.

 

[jmarko]

After filling the tank with really clear water and thinking about it hard I decided I could not live with the small scratches that covered the tank. They were very very slight and hard to see with the water in but the more light i put over it the more I felt I could see them and I knew this was my chance before its full of stuff.

So I made some calls and picked up the Novus 1-2-3 polishing system and we went to town polishing the whole tank we did each step twice then filled it. I still felt we could see a haze everywhere so we drained it and polished number three and number 1 some more until it was so clear it was hard to tell the tank was not brand new. It was allot of work and the tank is huge with using 3 sides but it was totally worth the time and the stuff to do it. I would do it again any time.

Polishing #1 -

Polishing #2 -

Final Polish -

more -

During this whole time I was cooking about 150 lbs of liverock I have had for 13 years from my last tank in a barrel in my garage for about 10 weeks. rinsing and cleaning it each week.

I also purchased about 150 lbs of base rock and cleaned and
rinsed it to mix with my other where I needed too

some rock on back porch day of rock install -

 

[jmarko]

the cooked rock layed out in front of tank as we worked on it -

The Final Rock structure in the main tank :

The First Full Tank Shots after a few new items, the temp tank stuff and rocks are added :

The hallway long shot :

 

[jmarko]

The look from the bedroom :

Half Tank from bedroom side

 

[jmarko]

Here are some of the Corals

Old stuff from temp tank;
green carpet anenome

Really nice large Aussie Acan :

Pink Yuma's :

A few I bought from a fellow local reefer that was downsizing:

Acan Frag :

Two Color Frogspawn - really really nice

The First Hard Coral Added 12/18/08 from Coral Corral

then next day I had to go back and grab this super pink acan :

Jeff

 

[jmarko]

Then a few from World Wide Corals in Orlando on 12/31/08 :

Green Slimmer :

TriColor Acro -

couple others ;

pink and white aussie acan :

pacific long spine urchin:

pink gonapora frags :

So that's the basic story of getting her fired up. Ill keep you posted on changes and additions. Please feel free to ask any questions or request a closer photo or more info on anything. Thanks for reading.

Jeff Marko

 

[Montdj]

WOW Nice setup. Ar you going to leave it bare bottom?

 

[jmarko]

Thanks Mont. Ya I am planning to try to leave it bare bottom if I can hold out til its covered in Coraline. but I do like sand for the look I'm just scared with the acrylic in the long run. So we will see

 

[mflamb]

Nice setup. What equipment are you using?

 

[Emory Speight]

It's great to see what was such a beautiful setup being brought back to life, even if in a new location. I love the way that you set up your rock work. The open space in front of and behind the rock makes it so much easier to keep that sparkling acrylic clean and I'm sure the fish will love the open spaces also. Great job!

 

[j4mypets]

WOW- beautiful tank!

I also love how you have done your scaping. I really like the open space it provides for swimming.


Great job!

 

[stunreefer]

Looks awesome man, GREAT work! :thumbsup:

 

[WLDSHARK]

Awsome work man... Thanks for sharing...

 

[jmarko]

Thanks mflame. you asked about the equipment

skimmer - Euro RC12 updated to RC500

sump - 100+ gallon custom made

refug - 65 gallon 1/4 cylinder corner tank (the old reef)

frag tank - 20 x 20 x 20 rimless with a 1/2" seaswirl

qt tank - 24 x 24 x 16 on its own sump and skimmer

Profilux Controller doing Salinity, PH, controlling (2) Tunze 6101 pumps and all lighting control and timing

Flow - (2) Tunze 6101 pumps

Main Pump - was Dart now running a Snapper

Extra Flow - (2) WavySeas on the Snapper Returns

Lighting - Currently I have a barrowed Current Fixture with 3 x 150 MH's and (2) 96 watt PC's and my Profilux SimuStick LED's

Soon to be (2) 250 Watt and (1) 150 Watt MH with Pheniox 14k bulbs in Large Lumabright DE Reflectors then I have (4) Dimmable 54 watt T5's I am thinking of doing the new URI 75/25's with the internal reflectors here and then I want to do some 420 nm actinics either (4) 54 watt T5's or maybe (2) 72" VHO's. I thinking maybe the VHO's cause I already have a couple Icecap VHO ballasts with endcaps I could use and I dont see needing to be dimming the actinics plus of course Ill have the LED sticks as well


Other Future Plans- I also have the profilux 3 pump doser I need to set up. I currently dose 2 Part by hand and add in Kalk by hand once a day. not sure what the best route for setting the kalk up on the doser. The two part looks pretty easy but I think i need to look into a kalk stirrer and tap the third pump through that looks to be the best path on the kalk.







Thanks Emory, j4mypets and stunreefer, I thought over the rockwork for along time and I like the open feel. It also gives me lots of room to work with in placing corals. The fish seem to really like it. its quit an upgrade from the 65 gallon last home. still deciding what else to add. I know I want a school of something.

 

[FishyBiz]

Awesome!
I have always liked this tank. The rockwork looks fantastic. Im a sand guy and would like to see a shallow sand bed.