BonesCJ & Kelzoa's 220 Reef

[BonesCJ]

Time to step into the big leauges at our house, we found a used 220 tank with stand sump and canopy for a killer deal and are now in the process of getting everything setup for the transition from our 90 gallon system. The new tank is 7 * 2 * 2 and will occupy a long wall in our living room, it came with a 50 gallon sump already chambered and I will be using our Octo NW-150 on it till I can afford to get a bigger skimmer. Lighting will be with t5's only with a mix of 3 and 4 foot retro fixtures to cover the entire length of the tank.

Background will be foamed and it has a single overflow with a 2in drain and 2 1 inch returns though I will probably only use one return. Return pump is a Little giant 4 pushing about 900-1000 gallons an hour. Stand and canopy are both custom made with what appears to be marine grade 3/4 ply, and just to play it safe I reinforced the corners and the middle with 2*4's and resealed the bottom and 2in's up the side with marine grade paint to seal the bottom.

I will get the build on this going soon, I am taking a ton of pictures.

 

[king4345]

can't wait to follow along on this one. Love the threat of a picture heavy build thread.

 

[kcdan87]

sounds exciting can't wait for some pics

 

[BonesCJ]

BonesCJ's 220 Build thread

BonesCJ's 220 Build thread

Here are some pictures -- the project is officially underway

my "Workshop" aka garage. just enough tools to keep me happy

the stand after a little initial scraping

the stand is 3/4in solid furniture grade plywood and has been in use for 5 years but a little unconventional in design, it was built by a professional stand builder. The top and bottom sheets of ply are held in place by what I believe is a screw and dowel system along with lots of woodglue to the sides of the supporting walls of ply. There are then supports under the edges of the top and bottom sheets for extra reinforcment. This stand is extremely sturdy and there is no give on either the top or bottom sheets however being an engineers son I decided to reinforce it anyways. I cut six 2 * 4's to the right height and screwed and glued them into place in the four corners as well as 2 in the middle to strengthen the stand even more. I also cut two 8 1/2 * 14 holes in the back sheet of ply for ventilation.

After reinforcing the stand I used a marine grade paint to refinish the bottom of the stand, 2 inches up the wall and the six reinforcing legs of the stand.

Here is a long shot of the aquarium, I have since scraped and cleaned it and found it to be in really good condition, talk about a diamond in the rough. I'll get photos of that soon as I eggcrate and foam it.

This is the aquarium canopy, it needs to be sanded, finished, vent fans cleaned and some actual vents installed on the ends. Still amazing solid wood construction, it has four doors in the front and a topcap (leaning behind it) that give it a really nice finished look.

 

[Antiguan]

I would never have thought that a stand like this would support a 220 gal (seen stands on smaller tank with 4x4s). Tagging along to see this.

 

[BonesCJ]

You know I thought much the same thing when I first saw the stand and aquarium. Admitidly the stand itself has to weight easily 150 lbs and none of it is pressboard, so thats alot of heavy duty wood, It has also been in operation for 5 years so I tend to believe that if it was going to fail it would have already. I have gone to the point of standing on it and there is NO give whatsoever. I figure with the extra reinforcment everything should be good.

 

[BonesCJ]

The tank is up and running thanks to a long 4 day weekend, here are some pics. Oh and for size comparison the lightfixture on the tank is a 4 foot unit. Its there untill I get my retro's for the canopy.

me and my brother in law putting ro/di in to mix(i'm in white on left)

second shot

under the cabinet

little giant return

Full tank shot with flash on

Full tank without flash

as the water settles and things get in their exact spots I'll have more pictures.

 

[sreef88]

looking good!

 

[Jade]

Great Background! Keep up the good work.

 

[reefkeeper16]

i noticed that your tank only have one overflow is that going to allow enough flow to you sump

 

[Jhardain]

Nice upgrade

 

[BonesCJ]

well the overflow has 3 holes, 2 1inchers and 1 1.5inch with a littlegiant pushing 1000 gph. The teeth are nice and big but what I had to do to acommodate the flow was use both the 1.5 and one of the 1 inch bulkeads as drains and the remaining 1inch as the return, its working really well and I even cranked it down alittle to reduce microbubbles.

 

[mikid]

foam back

foam back

how long did you let the foam back cure,and you should you used egg crate,did you install in tank first then shoot the foam or did you shoot the foam outside of the tank then install..........

 

[BonesCJ]

This is the 4th tank I've foamed so I have a pretty standard procedure.
1st Clean Glass and lay tank on its back
2nd Silicone eggcrate squares on back glass and overflow, let cure 24 hours
3rd Spray foam on tank while its still on its back, let cure 24 hours
Done!

all the foam and eggcrate is on the inside of the aquarium

 

[Antiguan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14543371#post14543371 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BonesCJ
This is the 4th tank I've foamed so I have a pretty standard procedure.
1st Clean Glass and lay tank on its back
2nd Silicone eggcrate squares on back glass and overflow, let cure 24 hours
3rd Spray foam on tank while its still on its back, let cure 24 hours
Done!

all the foam and eggcrate is on the inside of the aquarium

Great progress and everything is looking good. What brand and type of foam did you use?

 

[BonesCJ]

I use Handi Foam in black, its the stuff you can order through Drs Foster smith, I am in luck though that a local SW store here carries it.

 

[BonesCJ]

Here are some updated photos, I have all of my undercabinet equipment finally up and running including my auto top off, media reactors and frag chamber.

The whole beast

Right side of cabinet

Left side of cabinet

Left side of the aquarium

Center

and Right

Inside of the canopy, the light in their right now is temporary till I get my retrofits

this acro has always puzzled me, its peachy brown in color with relatively thin branches and really long skinny polyps, but it does not look like a milli, grows nice and fast.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos, I'll keep updating as things mature and the rest of my equipment comes in.

 

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

You have amazing axcess in the canopy and the stand, great job!!!

 

[Antiguan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14561964#post14561964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BonesCJ
I use Handi Foam in black, its the stuff you can order through Drs Foster smith, I am in luck though that a local SW store here carries it.

Thanks for the info!

 

[BonesCJ]

Yaaaah! My lighting is being ordered today through our local store and should be here in the next 2 weeks. I decided to go with the coralvue retrofits using 3 3foot and 3 4foot units so we will have no shadows or dim spots with the tank being 7 feet long. Each retro unit comes with 2 bulbs, individual reflectors and build in ballast.