Nuts and Bolts
Nearly eighteen months ago, I made the six hour trip over to Chicago, IL from southwest Ohio to purchase my "new to me" Miracles 240 gallon tank.
The tank is 72" L x 32"H x 30" D with an external overflow, at least I think. I went to measure it a few minutes ago and spent ten minutes looking and couldn't find any of my three tape measures...I'm pretty positive those are the dimensions though.
Either way, it is finally up and running. I built the stand myself, which was a massive headache. I am a novice wood worker and took the time to mill the dimensional lumber, worthless endeavor. The lumber had moved by the time I got home from my cousins shop, but I was able to make it work. I built the stand from 2 x 6's and I think my design is different from most, my goal was to eliminate the vertical supports in the middle, I will post pictures of it at some point if anyone is interested.
The filter is also DIY, but loosely based off of the Royal Exclusiv Dreambox design. I would love to have a dreambox, but unfortunately the shipping costs just don't make sense at the moment. My plan is to have a 300 micron filter bank, followed by a 100 micron filter bank, room for the skimmer return and maybe some reactors and then the outake for the return pump. I had to use a 50 breeder as space was limited.
The return pump is a blue line 55HD. I think i'm getting about 3 - 4x tank turnover.
The work horse of the system is my Euroreef RC500.2 skimmer. I bought this used from another RC member, and like everything else with this build so far, there have been issues there as well. The skimmer arrived heavily damaged (not the fault of the RC guy), and took some serious work to get it operational. It's working like a champ now.
I purchased two used Gen 1 Radions, again from another RC member and those are providing the lighting for my tank. I'm very happy with these lights, though I had some initial struggles getting them programmed. I also bought the upgraded TIR lenses from Dmorty (thanks BTW). No intentions of keeping coral right now, I just wanted a sleek looking light that was programmable/dimmable.
Most of the live rock is from my previous 120 FOWLR with some added rock from several other broken down tanks. It has all sat fallow for somewhere between 6 - 18 months in rubbermaid trash cans. I wanted to create a canyon running through the tank and failed miserably, but I think i'm somewhat happy with how it ended up. I did want to create an overhang and I was successful at that; hopefully my fish enjoy it.
Attempted Canyon
Initial Overhang - it looks different now.
Fullish Tank Shot
Lastly, would be the overflow. I have three holes in the overflow box and decided to go with a modified version of the "silent and Failsafe/Beanimal design". I could not be happier with this, it is so quiet and truly eliminates almost all of the sound. I still need to add the emergency stand pipe for anyone that notices that.
Upcoming Equipment
There are still a few items needed before I'm complete on the equipment side of life.
I plan to add two Ecotech MP40s around Christmas time.
Sooner than later I need to add an ATO system, I'm planning to go with Avast. The tank is in my basement and I plan to have the Water Reservoir in a non-finished part of my basement and run the line through my ceiling.
Also need to add an Avast Swabbie, this will be the next thing I buy. The skimmer barely fits under my stand and cleaning it is kind of a pain. I plan to add a swabbie in the next few weeks.
I may add a media reactor at some point, though it's lower on the priority list. I've never run a reactor before, just typically GAC bags. I think I will probably end up running GFO and GAC at some point.
Nearly eighteen months ago, I made the six hour trip over to Chicago, IL from southwest Ohio to purchase my "new to me" Miracles 240 gallon tank.
The tank is 72" L x 32"H x 30" D with an external overflow, at least I think. I went to measure it a few minutes ago and spent ten minutes looking and couldn't find any of my three tape measures...I'm pretty positive those are the dimensions though.
Either way, it is finally up and running. I built the stand myself, which was a massive headache. I am a novice wood worker and took the time to mill the dimensional lumber, worthless endeavor. The lumber had moved by the time I got home from my cousins shop, but I was able to make it work. I built the stand from 2 x 6's and I think my design is different from most, my goal was to eliminate the vertical supports in the middle, I will post pictures of it at some point if anyone is interested.
The filter is also DIY, but loosely based off of the Royal Exclusiv Dreambox design. I would love to have a dreambox, but unfortunately the shipping costs just don't make sense at the moment. My plan is to have a 300 micron filter bank, followed by a 100 micron filter bank, room for the skimmer return and maybe some reactors and then the outake for the return pump. I had to use a 50 breeder as space was limited.
The return pump is a blue line 55HD. I think i'm getting about 3 - 4x tank turnover.
The work horse of the system is my Euroreef RC500.2 skimmer. I bought this used from another RC member, and like everything else with this build so far, there have been issues there as well. The skimmer arrived heavily damaged (not the fault of the RC guy), and took some serious work to get it operational. It's working like a champ now.
I purchased two used Gen 1 Radions, again from another RC member and those are providing the lighting for my tank. I'm very happy with these lights, though I had some initial struggles getting them programmed. I also bought the upgraded TIR lenses from Dmorty (thanks BTW). No intentions of keeping coral right now, I just wanted a sleek looking light that was programmable/dimmable.
Most of the live rock is from my previous 120 FOWLR with some added rock from several other broken down tanks. It has all sat fallow for somewhere between 6 - 18 months in rubbermaid trash cans. I wanted to create a canyon running through the tank and failed miserably, but I think i'm somewhat happy with how it ended up. I did want to create an overhang and I was successful at that; hopefully my fish enjoy it.
Attempted Canyon
Initial Overhang - it looks different now.
Fullish Tank Shot
Lastly, would be the overflow. I have three holes in the overflow box and decided to go with a modified version of the "silent and Failsafe/Beanimal design". I could not be happier with this, it is so quiet and truly eliminates almost all of the sound. I still need to add the emergency stand pipe for anyone that notices that.
Upcoming Equipment
There are still a few items needed before I'm complete on the equipment side of life.
I plan to add two Ecotech MP40s around Christmas time.
Sooner than later I need to add an ATO system, I'm planning to go with Avast. The tank is in my basement and I plan to have the Water Reservoir in a non-finished part of my basement and run the line through my ceiling.
Also need to add an Avast Swabbie, this will be the next thing I buy. The skimmer barely fits under my stand and cleaning it is kind of a pain. I plan to add a swabbie in the next few weeks.
I may add a media reactor at some point, though it's lower on the priority list. I've never run a reactor before, just typically GAC bags. I think I will probably end up running GFO and GAC at some point.
Don't forget the battery backup for one of the Vortechs 
