Chad's Simultaneous 225 SPS & 180 FOWLR Office Build

Great work on keeping everyone posted as well as including pics. Sometimes, I find myself skipping through your thread just to see the pics on the progress w/ the tanks, equipment and canopy/stand...haha. BTW, unless I missed it, what type of finish are you gonna go w/ for the canopy and stand? A wood stain or maybe a flat black paint?
 
Thanks for tagging along mcbaes! I'm going with a flat poly stain. I shipped a shelf from my desk to Jeff on friday. He's going to have his finisher match it as closely as possible. It will be a very dark stain with a hint of red. Glad you like the pictures haha, just wish I had more to post. Not much has happened this week. I have to get to a certain point with the 225 before I can really start on the 180. I need a place to transfer all that rock so I can tear down the 135 (the 135 sits where the 180 will go). I'll also be using a lot of the equipment from the 135 on the 180.
 
I thought I'd throw some more pictures up. I layed out the equipment that'll be going under the 225. The return Barracuda is in the back with a manifold that will feed the chiller, calcium reactor, and media reactors. I'm using gate valves on everything to allow for fine tuning. Sump will be dead center. I had my plastics guy add a dual sock holder and another baffle on the left to help reduce micro bubbles. After water passes under the first baffle it will be distributed evenly by the holes in the second baffle as it enters the refugium. Water will pass through Cheato macro algae. Then over the third baffle and through some live rock rubble with enough space between the rocks for copepods to pass through. Then the water will enter the third chamber where it will be returned to the tank. The media reactors will be on the right with the DJ power strip installed vertically to the right of the reactors. The calcium reactor and CO2 tank will sit behind the reactors. After reading about the August tank of the month, I've decided to run a calicium reactor only. I'm not going to mess with kalk or dosing. Trace elements will be handled by frequent water changes. Obviously the skimmer will be to the left. It will be drain fed from the overflow and will then drain to the first filter sock. I'm going to have a skimmer stand built to get the drain above the sump. I'll be incorperating a shallow sump into the skimmer stand to hold some water in case the skimmer overflows. I've decided to leave between 11 and 12 inches behind the tank. Just enough so that I'll be able get back there and remove or replace the Barracuda. On a side note, I'm setting up the return plumbing so that if the Barracuda ever fails, I'll be able to swap it out with any one of my three Darts. Most probably with the mixing station Dart as this will be the least needed pump. All of my pumps will be set up to be interchangeable with no plumbing modification required.

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This is the drain plumbing. The 1 1/2" adjustable stand pipe with the strainer will sit completely submerged at all times feeding a constant supply of bubble free water to the skimmer. The CJ stand pipe below is 2" and will pick up any slack left behind by the submerged stand pipe. It should be able to handle ALL the drain water should the submerged drain ever get clogged.
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The return plumbing with an OM 4 - way.
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Closed loop plumbing with a Dart and two Sea Swirls
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Look'n good!

That's a great plan to have all the pumps easily interchangable.

And tha's some pile of parts you've assembled ... now it's time for water!
 
I know bax I can't wait! As soon as the stand and canopy come in things will really start moving. I can't do much till then.

I should take a full pic of my office. It's packed with equipment and boxes of plumbing parts I'm not going to be using or that will be going in the 180. I had a meeting today in my office, I had to explain the mess. Most people can't understand the obsession. It's far more than just a fish tank. My employees are really excited to see it all come together. They call it my science project lol.
 
My employees used to think I was nuts. Two years later, they can't take their eyes off my tank. And in my buisness, there is little reason for a client to come to my office. Those that do come to see the reef.... and maybe have a brew :bum:

For two weeks my office looked like this ...
120justinplace.jpg



... and this ...
120startuppicsHOODFRAME.jpg



And, in the back, my "Lab" as they call it, still looks like this most of the time ...

120Nov07pumpsMRC.jpg


120Nov07pileostuff.jpg


April07assy400w.jpg


:lol:
 
I picked up another 40 lbs. of Fiji LR as well as a yellow and pacific blue tang from Harley-J, a local RC member. He's moving and had to break down his tank. Both tangs are fat and healthy, they're in the 55 qt for now. The pacific blue will go in the 180. I was going to put the yellow tang with my other yellow tang and a purple tang in the 225 but i'm not sure if I want to separate him from the pacific blue, they seem to be buds. I didn't have enough light to get a good pic tonight, I'll post some pics on Monday.

Almost forgot, Jerry (Harley-J) threw in a wrass, not sure what kind, he looks cool though, really colorfull. He'll be going in the 180.

The stain's almost finished on the stand and canopy, looks like I'll be picking them up in the next couple days. I can't wait!
 
The tangs are certainly "moving on up" Their gonna be in reef heaven!!
Wow...What a set up!!!...Everything looks so brand spankin'...Hey if I dress up like a Sohal...could I move into the 225g ?? :D

Dude great job...Keep rollin...:rollface:
 
Photo update:

The 25mm fans weren't quite cutting it so I traded them in for the 38mm version, just a bit deeper with a higher output. The fans are totally silent but make some noise once the screen is installed. You can here the air passing over the small holes if you listen closely.

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=FishTankBuild051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/FishTankBuild051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I'm going to need to find some extention wiring for the fans. Even if I put the controller in the middle the wires won't reach. Hopefully radioshack carries something that will work.

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=FishTankBuild053.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/FishTankBuild053.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=FishTankBuild055.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/FishTankBuild055.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I cleaned up the wiring, moved the skimmer to the QT, plugged the UV sterilizer in, added a heater and some macro algae as well as the new Vortech and a filter sock.

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New additions for the 180! A little early I know but I couldn't pass them up.

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<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=FishTankBuild063.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/FishTankBuild063.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
Nice looking wrasse!

I like those fans, I use the 25 mm fans and always thought they were a bid too small. I originally had a t-stat controller from HD like you'd use for a attic fan. Works OK, but it's just easier to have them on a timer. They come on 15 min after the first MH and go off 15 min after the last MH.
 
I plan on plugging them into the Aquacontroller. They'll be set to go on according to the water temperature, say at 78.5 degrees. I'll have another fan over the sump that will turn on if the temp gets any higher, say 79. I'll set the chiller to turn on at 79.5, then I'll set the lights to turn off if the temp gets up to 80.5. Seems like this is a pretty efficient way to go. I should be able to keep the temp pretty constant with minimal energy usage. I'll probably play around with the temperatrure settings to find a "sweet spot" where the chiller rarely turns on. i may have to get the corals used to a higher temp, it gets pretty hot in my office over the weekends, especially during the summer.
 
at 79.5 you'll probably have the chiller on all the time especially if your office is really hot to begin with... at least that was my experience...Are you going to have it coming on right at 79.5? or 1 over?
 
We'll see, I won't know untill there's water in the tank. The only thing heating it will be the halides and heaters. All pumps will be out of the tank. So a lot will depend on ambient room temp. We run the A/C monday through friday so I'm fine durring the week. I'll have to see what happens when the A/C isn't on. Most of the time I'll be fine. For the really hot months, like now, I think my halides may be turning off more frequently. Which isn't a big deal IMO. It'll simulate cloud cover lol.
 
Yeah good point, I was running all internal Mags..when i got my first power bill for $680 they were lucky they weren't in simulated cloud cover all but 1 hour a day!!! :D
 
chad

I am in a old warehouse (circa late 50's-ish?). Temp control is my most daunting issue. There's no AC except a window AC and poor insulation, if any, so when it's hot, it's very hot. It is also a very damp structure. My dehumidifier in my office dumps out at least 5 gal/day during the summer with the AC blasting at 73 deg F 24/7! When it's cold, it's also very cold at night. The system is actually a heat source in y office throughout the day. You probably wont have that problem in SC :D

I have to be content with the system swinging with the seasons in terms of high, low and average daily temps. SO, I adjust my temp controllers accordingly each season.

I agree, letting your halides cut off now and again for the summer months won't hurt the reef. It'll be their winter :)
 
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