My 240 Gallon Reef Build

[bbauer01]

It is now my turn to setup a 240 gallon reef. I have been lurking here for a while and have been in the marine reef side of things for about two and a half years now. This has been a wonderful place to lurk and learn from others experiences. Now it is my turn to learn from my own mistakes and share my project. I have had a 90 gallon tank with a siphon over-flow box, 3x 175watt halides. When my wife and I purchased our house, we decided that it was the perfect time to upgrade to a larger tank and a good opportunity to do everything right. Currently I have everything that I kept living in rubbermaid bins awaiting the construction of the new aquarium.

We decided to go with a 240 gallon aquarium 96" x 24" x 24" from Tenecor. This will be an in-wall setup, but will stick out 18" from the wall for side and front viewing. I will be altering two rooms in the basement; one will be enlarged to make a huge family room, where the tank will be seen. The other room, which was a large office, will be made smaller into a nice size sump / tank room. We are currently in the process of framing everything out. I will have some pics to post tonight. We should have drywall up by the weekend.

For my basic equipment my current plan is: (subject to change... sharing suggestions, comments, and experiences appreciated)

Reeflo Dart for the closed loop
Reeflo Dart for the return pump
150 gallon Rubbermaid sump
Reeflo Orca 250 skimmer
30 gallon refugium

 

[bbauer01]

This is the office area (before the guy I bought the house from cleaned out):

This is the family room before any demolition started:

In this pic, I took out the angled wall and made it straight... that made the room a whole lot bigger. I placed the stand about where the wall will be framed to get an idea of how things will look.

 

[reefkeeper135]

looks like a fun ride!! so Iam tagging along

 

[mtome]

This is going to be great.

 

[bbauer01]

Last night I was up until midnight framing, putting up nailers for the drywall, re-routing wires, and installing recessed lights for the new room. It will feel so much larger and nicer without the drop ceiling in there. From the pictures, you should be able to get an idea of how the tank will sit out from the wall. Hopefully tonight I will be able to hang some drywall. I can't wait for the fun part of setting the tank up.

 

[harsh12ka4]

Hi
big project tagging along.

 

[harsh12ka4]

i wanted to ask you how you going to ventilate the area?

 

[bbauer01]

I am not sure what to do about the ventalation and humidity. I was considering some kind of exhaust fan setup to vent the air from the aquarium room to the outside. Any suggestions?

 

[bdif]

inline inductor fan

 

[chrisqueenz]

Looks like a great build, what type of st-up are you planning on going with? Reef?

 

[kdblove_99]

good start

 

[bbauer01]

Last night, I got a lot done, but not as much as I would have liked. As you can see from the picutres, I hung the ceiling and got some of the walls done. The room is really starting to take shape now. I can almost see how it will look once it is done. Tonight, I will try and finish up drywalling the bulkheads and work on the other side of the I-beam. I am hoping this weekend I can get the drywall taped and ready for paint.

bdif - In reference to the ventilation discussion. When you say 'inline inductor fan' what do you have in mind?

chrisqueenz - This will be a reef.

 

[bbauer01]

I made some big progress this weekend (with a little help from my friends). Most of the taping is done. I have some corner bead left to spackle in, but that is about all for this side of the room. I was able to box in the pole and the I-beam and start spackling them. I am hoping to be able to have this room painted by the end of the weekend, so next week I can begin setting the aquarium up.

The room these pictures are taken in is divided in half by the I-beam in the middle. The other half of the room doesn't even have the ceiling hung yet. A lot of plumbing was hiding under the ceiling. I am moving pipes and converting over to PEX piping, so that side will take considerably longer. I am planning on hanging a barrier from the bulkhead around the I-beam, once this side is painted, so I can continue with setting up the aquarium and letting it cycle. Then, while it is cycling, I will finish the other side.

My motivation for this project.... the aquarium in the corner:

 

[Nickde123]

Rooms coming out nice

 

[Graf-X]

Looking good, Is that wallpaper coming down as well in the fish room?

 

[mtome]

I'm paying close attention to your build up so when I setup my 220...I will know what direction to go into. Thanks

 

[bbauer01]

Thanks for all the compliments! Right now, things seem to be going slow. I hope to work on some more spackling today as well as the other "unseen" side of the room.

Believe it or not, the fish room is painted, not wallpapered. When we moved into this house almost every room was wallpapered, but the ones that were painted, were painted either strange colors or painted in "eloborate" and "different" ways. There were several shades of purple around the house, as well as a pine cone wallpaper that resembled bugs. That one happened to be in the kitchen. The other color I found, matches the greenboard quite well. Either way, it is all far from my taste and it will be re-painted. I have always been one to like my work rooms well lit and painted bright, glossy white. i.e. garage, fishroom, workshopt. It is easy to see and easy to clean. As far as the family room the tank will be in... I am undecided about what color to paint it. I will probably get some ideas this week, as I will need to make a decision soon.

 

[bbauer01]

Finally... I have made some more progress. The fish room and the family room are both complete enough to start setting up the tank. I am trusting my wife on the color choice in the room. It looks cool, but it sure makes a statement. I guess I will have to wait and see how it looks when the flooring, trim, and furniture are in place. I am hoping to start plumbing this weekend.

 

[bbauer01]

Finally Back at This...

Finally Back at This...

After almost a year long hiatus, I am back into this project full swing. I had to take a break on this project since we found out my wife was pregnant and since we had just moved into this house there was some major renovations that I needed to complete before the arrival of our son. Four weeks of paternity leave allowed some time to wrap up all my normal house projects and also allowed for some time to get started on the aquarium again. ...it's about time.

So far, I have completed the woodwork for the stand. (canopy will soon follow) The fish room now has a decent ceiling and an epoxy floor. I just plumbed my closed loop and leak tested everything yesterday. With all that said, I think that is significant progress for one week. Even though almost a year has lapsed since I last posted, it has only been these last few weeks that I have touched my project since last March. Pics will follow later on tonight.

 

[bbauer01]