Mike's 240 Peninsula Build

[mike810]

Hey guys,

Recently purchased a new house so you guys know what that means?!?!?! Upgrade time!!! The previous owner put in a freshwater "in wall" tank. Half of the tank was sitting on a pony wall and the other half was sitting on a mickey mouse stand he built. Very unstable and very unsafe. The other side had a poorly built cabinet not up to par with our taste.

Since the wall the tank was sitting on was not structual, we blew that wall out to make a true peninsula style tank. The tank will be a Leemars 8x2x2 tank, starphire one three sides euro braced. I decided to go with the Bean Animal Style drain since it is reported to be dead silent and fail safe. My current 65g with a durso drain is so noisey. I want this tank to be as silent as possible.

Equipment list:

Four AI Vega Color Led
Bubble King Double Cone 250 Skimmer
RKE
MP 60
MP 40
Bubble Magus Doser
ATB Flowstar 3200 GPH Return Pump
Hanna pho, alk, ca checker


Ordered some Marco rocks and sand. Will build some pillars with those. Going for the minimalistic look. I want more open space for fish to swim instead of a bunch of rocks stacked together. Also ordered two 55g tanks to make a water changing station. Will post pics when available. Enough jib jab, on with the pics.

This was the tank the previous owner put in. The new tank will sit in the same spot minus the wall.

Forgot to take pics of the demo but here it is finished.

Posting these pics one by one is a drag. Is there another photo hosting site that will allow me to upload multiple pics at a time instead of one by one? Thanks guys, looking forward to updating this thread as things progess. This will be like a journal for me.

 

[worm5406]

For photos, I would use smugmug or flickr, maybe even google.

I like the way the room(s) turned out.

This should be a pretty sight when complete.

 

[lbj]

looks good so far what is your stand made out of who made it

 

[CRJ]

sub'd

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Nice parts list. When should this thing be getting wet?

 

[mike810]

For photos, I would use smugmug or flickr, maybe even google.

I like the way the room(s) turned out.

This should be a pretty sight when complete.

Thanks for the recommendations, appreciate it. Yes we are very happy with the demo. Before the rooms were sectioned off, now it is open and airy.

looks good so far what is your stand made out of who made it

Thanks, the stand is made of steel and powder coated to protect it from rust. My contractor made the stand.

Nice parts list. When should this thing be getting wet?

Thanks! The new tank should be here in a couple of weeks. Then it will get plumbed and freshwater tested. If all goes well, we will start cycling the tank asap.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Congrats on the new house. Thats a big difference after removing that wall. The new look is beautiful.

 

[mike810]

Congrats on the new house. Thats a big difference after removing that wall. The new look is beautiful.

Thanks! We are very happy with the open look. No clue why the previous owner didn't just demo the wall before installing his freshwater tank. It would've made my life a lot easier. LOL :headwally:


New sump made by AA. John does fantastic work, the corners are rounded and the rim polished. Looks very nice IMO. :dance:

60 x 19x 17

It can hold 84g but will operate at 45g roughly.

 

[agcneves]

This project certainly promises success.
Congratulations on your new residence.

 

[mike810]

This project certainly promises success.
Congratulations on your new residence.

Thanks!



Marco rocks and sand came in today. I immediately went to town working on the the rocks. I used a 5/8 masonary bit and a hammer drill to drill thru the rocks. Everything went smoothly considering this was the first time I drilled rocks. I only split one rock.

I used half inch acrylic rods to lock the rocks into place and reef epoxy to bond the rocks together.

I managed to build two structures before it got dark. I will need to build one, not sure if I want to just stack the third structure to make some kind of cave for the fish to hang out under. I still have plenty of rock left so some will probably end up in the sump.

Sorry for the bad pics, good old point and shoot camera.

 

[worm5406]

Not bad at all. Did you think to add any small holes for frag plugs yet?

 

[mike810]

Not bad at all. Did you think to add any small holes for frag plugs yet?

I won't be adding any holes for frag plugs. I plan to cut off any plugs leaving just the base. I'll attach them to the rocks with reef epoxy so when the coral encrust. It will make an easy transition to the rocks so it will look more natural when it encrust onto the rock. Well that's the idea anyways.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

If u have any extra rocks, let me know. I'll be needing to buy some for my new tank. Nice structure. I suck at aquascaping

 

[mike810]

If u have any extra rocks, let me know. I'll be needing to buy some for my new tank. Nice structure. I suck at aquascaping

Hey Nick,

I'll probably have some rock left, I'll let you know once I finish with the third structure. At first I wasn't sure how to build the structures but once I got to drilling, it all came together fairly easy. I just kinda threw some random pieces together and started drilling and that is what I came up with lol.

 

[mike810]

New toys!!

Ai Vega Color Led with Controller, 4 of these will go over the tank

ATB Flowstar 3200 GPH return pump

Bubble King Double Cone 250 Skimmer with adjustable Red Dragon Pump

MP60, Vortech battery back up, Next Reef MR1 XL Reactor. Man is this MP60 HUGE!!

Pic of the sump with the equipment. Still waiting on another Next Reef reactor to ship. The BK is so freaking big, it takes up so much sump space!

I was able to get the LED lights set up. Firmware updated and synced. I haven't hung them yet, I need to go to home depot and pick up a stronger drywall anchors. I don't trust the clips that AI includes in the hanging kit to support 4 lights + the rails. The anchors I will be picking up at HD can support up to 100 pounds. I also need to pick up a small shelf to hold the four power supplies. I have an outlet installed high on the wall just for the lights. I need to mount a small shelf under the outlet.

If anyone can share their AI settings it would be much appreciated it. I haven't played with it much yet. Please share your color and intensity along with ramping info. Thanks!

Thats it for now, the tank needs to hurry up and get here! I cannot wait any longer!!

 

[SchnitzelReef]

No t5s with those lights? Your gunna miss those t5s when ur SPS start looking....well not so great. Lol

 

[mike810]

No t5s with those lights? Your gunna miss those t5s when ur SPS start looking....well not so great. Lol

I'll see how it goes and take it from there lol.

 

[Oldude]

I like the free standing rock sections, they should look great.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

The aquascape looks good and nice equipment to run your system.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

I'll see how it goes and take it from there lol.

Any update?