My Bigger Piece of the Reef (LotsOPics)

K

Kannin

New member
This is my 220 build thread. I would like to thank SVTour, steve the plumb, PCostanzo and mostly... jnarowe for contributing to my pre-build thread. Without their help (and others)... who knows where I would be on this build.

I started in the hobby about 11 months ago when my wife got me a used 54 gallon corner bowfront for my 40th birthday. It had 3 fish, a rock, a 32 watt light and an h.o.b. filter. I quickly learned... mostly on this forum that I had a lot to learn. Skimmers, reactors, liverock, livesand, rodi, lps, sps & lfs. Don't even get me started on lighting.

Here is a 3 month old photo of my first tank:
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So... a couple of months ago... I walked into the lfs by my home to buy a bucket or two of rodi and this is what I saw:
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Tank: 72" L x 30" W x 24" H. Glass with low iron front panel. External overflows. It also came with a 3 fixture 750 watt Guiseman light, a 50 gallon acrylic sump and a stand.

It took me close to a month to convince my beautiful wife that WE couldn't live without it.

This is what it looks like in my garage:
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The cabinet that it came with doesn't suit my needs so I have spent the last month of Saturdays building a new one:
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The stand is an extra 7 inches wide so that the plumbing can go thru the top. It is also 38 inches high to accomidate plenty of equipment. It's built with 4x4's and 2x6's and plenty of dado cuts. It is completely water proofed on the bottom 6 inches.
 
jnarowe: I can't find any time. Between the old tank, the new tank and my kids... I want to come out there bad. It's not everyday a guy gets an invite to see a thousand gallon tank in person.

FOSELONE: Thanks. I've tried to incorporate a couple of convenience features in the stand. It'll be located in our formal living room... surrounded by white carpet and a long ways from a sink / faucet.

Here's the shelving unit in the front right of the cabinet. The pumps and power board will be located behind it with access from the side.
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Here's a lazy susan type mechanism that'll hold 2 5 gallon buckets which will be used for top off / dosing.
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My favorite thing to do is spend an hour on my tank every morning... dosing, testing, feeding etc. So, I am going kind of hands on which translates to low tech. No calcium reactors or fancy monitors at this time. If I end up needing them later... than so be it!
 
I was leaning toward the Marlin but, I ended up choosing 2 Baracuda's. They are smaller, (once I got 'em home... I can't believe they're smaller) and they use less power than the pressure rated pumps.

Here are The Girls:
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Thanks all... Does anyone know where I can get a foam pad for the top. I'm installing it in the house next weekend. And, what kind of foam?
 
home depot have it in the insulation area...it call r-tech r value styrofoam insulation. Your tank is sweet especially you can get it at demo price since glass is easy to clean and no scratch. I just got a 84''x30''x24'' starphire front and I love it.
 
Very nice tank, try and make some room in the back of the pumps so the exhaust air from the fan has room to escape.I don't think you will find 2x 5 gal buckets enough for top off.In a large tank like that if you have an open cover you will find yourself having to fill those buckets often.I have a 20 gal bin(maybe 25) and ever since I took my acrylic covers off I find I am evaporating twice the amount of water.I am thinking my bin is to small.If you can store a larger container somewhere else or maybe run a line to this container or straight to the sump it might be more simple.It all depends how much time it takes to run out of water(maybe 4 days).If you want to go away for the weekend or something will this give you enough leeway.You can do the 2 part instead of a calcium reactor its much cheaper on the wallet.You did a nice job on the stand wood is so much cheaper than buying a steel stand.Have you decided on a skimmer yet.I would give shaun at protein skimmers.com a call or e-mail him.His prices a vary fair for what you get.
 
Is there a closed loop on the tank it looks like there is and then the returns come up and over.I would check for leaks before adding any livestock just to make sure none of the bulk heads moved when transporting the tank.This is going to be fun you are going to love this size tank.Will you be adding any sps to the system?You know I would invest in a controller it makes life so much more simple.Its nice to have but not cheap.I didn't have one on my old system and now after having one I think its a great tool to have.If you are going to dose kalk I would get some kind of PH controller and a float switch just as a back up in case something goes wrong.I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT IT WILL HAPPEN.Mine just screwed up on me defective Ph bus thingy and good thing I was there to see it my controller kept on dosing kalk even though my ph was fine.I then installed that emergency float switch I bought over a month and a half ago(I procrastinate sometimes)
 
Steve: The tank will be located miles from the nearest water source and water drain. I will have the rodi unit in the garage with fresh and salt storage out there but I will only be able to store 10 or so gallons in the stand for top off and dosing. The lazy susan will help make it easier. I have designed a cheap but (hopefully) effecient way to do the top off/dosing... that can be upgrade at a later time. The tank will have a canopy. I will be adding sps but plan on more lps and polyps. I have decided on the ASM G4X for the skimmer. It comes with a sedra 9000 and is rated for 450 gallons. Some have said that ASM's are under rated but several have recommended them too. The lfs that I bought the tank from is making me a great deal on the pumps, skimmer, lighting etc.

Thanks for the pointer on checking for leaks. I didn't think that the bulkheads might move. I am replacing the one for the closed loop intake Saturday and then I will fill the tank in the garage to check it.

Yes... there is a closed loop. The intake is near the center of the back of the tank. As I said... I'm replacing the bulkhead because the old one was capped off and beacause it was scaled back from a 1.5" to a 1" pipe. There are 2 bulkheads in the lower rear corners for the CL returns... I am adding one more return that will be in the front center. Each of the 3 returns will be split in two. The Barracuda should pump close to 3500 gph to the 6 outlets.
 
Here are both manifolds. The front one is the filtration return manifold and the back one attached to the wall is the closed loop.
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The closed loop has 3 returns to the tank and this one... I
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t's plumbed to the front, with an extra valve so that I can drain water easily for water changes.
 
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