Finally joining the club - Krogh's 240 in-wall

[ozkrogh]

Hey all,

I first signed up for RC back in October in 2003 and one of the first threads I stumbled upon was Weatherson's 240 build and I have to admit I was inspired by the sheer beauty of the tank but also by all the gadgets and solutions to common problems. Over the years, I've been intrigued by all of the different build ideas and enjoyed following threads from folks like Sanjay and Melev to name a few. I had to take down a 125gal reef tank when I moved back in 2000 and I've missed the enjoyment that a reef tank brings.

When my basement was finished late last year, I decided to pull the trigger and start the process of getting a new tank. Based on the amount of room I had to work with, I decided to go with a 72"L x 30"W x 28"T glass tank with a few different options:

The sketch above isn't 100% accurate as I've added holes in the overflow and ditched one of the holes in the small box on the right. Here are some more details:
- Front and left sides starphire glass. Tank will be place in-wall with these two sides viewable. Perimeter braced. 3/4" glass throughout.
- External 48" overflow centered on the back of the tank with 5 holes drilled
--- One 1.5" return line
--- Three 1.5" drains (Primary and two backups. Considering feeding a future frag tank with one of the drains)
--- One 1.0" drain to serve as gravity feed for a skimmer.
- External box on the right side to house a Tunze wavebox outside the tank.

 

[ozkrogh]

Some background on my tank...

As I mentioned, I finished off a basement late last year but here are some older pics from when we bought the house:

Can't remember the guys name but he was with the builder we bought from. Ironically enough, he's standing almost directly in front of where the tank would eventually be:

Here's another shot from inside where the fishroom will be:

I wanted a tank that would be viewable either sitting or standing which meant a taller stand. It also meant having to struggle with the cold air returns overhead.

 

[ozkrogh]

So fast forward a few years to a couple of in-progress pics of the basement coming together:

and even more recently:

 

[Phyxius]

Nice to see a local guy finally with a in wall build happening. Post some more pics as it looks its been planned out well so far

 

[ozkrogh]

So after some research and price comparisons, I plunked down a deposit for my tank in January of this year with Aquariums For You out of New Jersey. The back and forth of negotiating every little detail from recommended overflow length, # of bulkheads, and exact dimensions for everything was stressful but also rewarding in that I felt that much more a part of the build process. The communications back and forth went on pretty consistently until about a week before my tank was supposed to arrive. I had been pestering the builder for pics of the tank while under construction and kept getting excuses as to why they couldn't provide them from one day to the next. Finally, I ran into a thread posted by RyanBrucks who happens to be about 40min from where I live. Turns out that he was also waiting on a tank from AFY and was expecting to get the very last tank to go out their doors. Turns out I was one of the many victims of AFY shutting their doors for good. No need to relive that entire ordeal here on this thread and I counted myself lucky to have used a credit card for the original deposit. I was able to dispute the charge and got every penny back. I also want to thank RyanBrucks for a couple of the PMs we exchanged that put me in touch with the AFY owner and were instrumental in the restitution process.

So after nearly a 4 month setback, I worked up the courage to try another builder. This time, I opted to go with Aquarium Obsessed. John and Will were great to work with and I happened to call at the right time (or caught some sympathy for the AFY experience) and wound up getting some leftover starboard for the tank bottom. Now, another 3 months later, I finally had my tank arrive and couldn't wait to share it with the rest of the RC community.

First, here's a shot of the tank on the table in AO's shop:

I was home alone when the tank showed up so I grabbed the camera and managed to get a few shots off:

oops... got a little too close to the garage door...

in the truck

If you look closely at the last pic, the crate cover had been taken completely off (lifted off from the base) so I could inspect the tank. The load had shifted badly in transit and the entire crate had slide off the two pallets it had been sitting on. I have to admit, my heart sunk when I first climbed into the truck. I expected the worst but was amazed to see that there wasn't even a scratch on the tank. The FedEx guy was great and after some careful jockeying, we managed to get the tank slid back up onto a pallet and down off the truck:

 

[ozkrogh]

Finally, after another hour and a half of four of us grappling with the tank, a pair of moving dollies, and a couple of plywood sheets we managed to get the tank into it's final resting place:

Now the real adventure begins! I have a bunch of the toys acquired already and I'll try and get some more pics of the fishroom, pumps, and other stuff up soon.

I'm both dreading and looking forward to the plumbing work. I still have a ways to go before I can get water in the tank. I still need to complete my sump plans and get them implemented but right now I have a 75 gallon tank drilled and a 2" bulkhead installed to feed a Dart return pump. I just need to get the glass for the baffles and get them siliconed in place.

 

[ozkrogh]

Lighting

I actually had the lighting system done and in place long before the tank arrived. If you recall the earlier pics of the unfinished basement, clearance above the tank was going to be at a premium. I needed to find a way to be able to get the lights out of the way to access the tank from above.

Inspired by some others here on RC, I went forward with building an aluminum light rack installed on rails to allow it to slide out of the way:
The rails alone:

Lights moved back in place:

A couple more pics of lights...

And finally the ballasts:

Details:
3 Lumenarc III reflectors with 250W 10k reeflux bulbs
4 T5 Actinic bulbs/reflectors placed perpendicular to the tank
3 IceCap 250W Electronic Ballasts
1 IceCap 660 ballast (only remnant left over from my old tank. 12 years old -8 of that in storage- and still ticking!

 

[ozkrogh]

Skimmer

Snagged this off the RC selling/trading forum:

It's an H&S A300-3x1260 External skimmer. Way oversized for the tank as it is now but I do have plans for a frag tank and fuge later that should get me up over the 500gal mark. I also wanted to be able to go with a higher fish load and I managed to get this skimmer for less than A200 so I couldn't pass it up.

 

[ozkrogh]

Water

Spectrapure MaxCap RO/DI system installed above a utility sink in the fish room.

I'm still waiting on a drain saddle and some extra tubing before I declare victory on the water supply. The feed pressure is only about 45psi which is low in the system's operating range (40-80 recommended) so I may end up getting a booster pump as well.

For water changes, I have a pair of 44gal Brute garbage cans that I plan on using. Plan is to use one can for mixing up salt water and the other as a fresh RO source for top-off.

 

[ozkrogh]

Some other misc. toys

Pumps:

That's the new Reeflo Dart with the Baldor motor for the main return and an Eheim 1262 for mixing up saltwater and pushing it to the main tank.

Tunze goodies:

A pair of 6101's with controller, a wavebox, and an osmolator all purchased NIB off ebay

Reefkeeper Elite:

Haven't gotten a lot accomplished on the RKE yet other than setting up the time for the lights. Had some hiccups with the original firmware settings and the IceCap ballasts but no problems since the August firmware update.

That's about it for now. I hope to have some updated plumbing pics in the coming days and with any luck I'll start adding water within two weeks!

 

[savethereef]

Alright im on board for this one. Are planning to paint the back of the tank? Noticed you did not leave some room on top of your tank on the front side. Its gona be hard to do any maintanace from the back though. But she looks beautiful already.

 

[Phyxius]

You will like the new dart. I got one of the first ones out with the new Baldor motor on it and its super quite. The fan on the back makes more noise than the pump.

 

[ozkrogh]

Thanks guys,

No access on the front of the tank. I really couldn't make it happen with the soffit I had to build to protect the cold air return for the furnace/AC. Reaching the bottom of the tank IS going to be an issue but I have a pretty decent reach and with the light rack pushed out of the way, I think I can manage it. Plus I have lots of room behind the tank and easy access from the back and right side. Bottom line, it's the price I had to pay to make the tank tall enough to be viewable either sitting or standing. It did have an impact on the overall tank height. I wanted a 30 or 32" tall tank originally but cut it down based on room available and my reach.

As for the back of the tank, I'm still up in the air on how to finally deal with it but I'm leaning towards applying black vinyl or window tinting instead of paint. Definitely something I'll have to deal with soon... and before I get water in the tank.

 

[drpo21]

wow, this is gonna be nice, subscribed!

 

[Jar*Head]

Nice, love the ext wavebox. does it work well for you? Let see it in action ...

 

[KEEPERZ]

 

[Ed Reef]

Look like another great build....

 

[twolfe98]

Sweet setup!

 

[ozkrogh]

Thanks for tagging along folks!

I hope to get water in the tank soon Jarhead. Once I do, I'll see if I can snag a video of the wavebox in action. I've dry-fitted the pump from the wavebox and it's a perfect fit!

Been busy the the past couple of evenings so I haven't been able to focus on the tank that much but I hope to get a jump start on the plumbing tomorrow.

I did, however, receive a shipment from the fine folks at BulkReef Supply. I had hoped to get their pukani but had to settle for the fiji. I'm please with the fiji pieces I got (mostly 6-10" across) and really thrilled with the large shelf pieces. With any luck, I'll start working on organizing the following pics into pillars and other interesting shapes

Fiji spread out on a 4'x4' pallet:

Hard to see the tape measure... but the big piece is about 26" across! :eek1:

The smaller shelf piece propped up by some fiji:

 

[ruhyanuff]

Must have more, looking sweet