new 240 project

T

tolthoff

New member
As a newbie, any thoughts, suggestions or opionions will be helpful...

First a little background. I began in the hobby approximately 1 year ago. I currently have a 125g FOWLR tank and a 30gal biocube with a few types of coral.

I decided approximately 6 months ago to install a large reef tank in my family room. The first steps included having a whole house generator installed and supporting the floor where the tank was to be located. I decided that a 240g (72 x 24 x 31) was as large as I could go for the space that was available (without my wife kicking me out of the house!). With the help and suggestions of a few local reef enthusiasts I put together a plan for a system that would be plumbed to the basement with a total water capacity of approximately 350gal. I called upon my brother, a carpenter by trade, to design a cabinet for me and here is what he came up with...

The cabinet is solid maple and stained dark mahogany. The base cabinet is reinforced with 2x4s and 2x6s. The tank sits on 5/8" styrofoam over 3/4" plywood. All hardware is stainless steel. The canopy is low-profile, as I will be using LED lighting. It slides off from the front for cleaning/etc. the top is open. Nice extra features are the side cabinets/bookshelves all of wich are adjustable.

Briefly, the rest of the system includes:

-240g reef ready glass aquarium with starphire glass on front and both sides, 2 overflows and drilled for closed loop
-65g sump tank with small refugium/frag partition
-70g sump tank/refugium (to be stocked with live rock/macroalgae)
- 2 reeflo hammerhead pumps (one for primary circulation/overflows and the other for a closed loop system)
- Aqua-C 240EV skimmer
-(most likely) the aquaillumination 72" led light fixture

I will post more pics as the build progresses. Any comments/thoughts/suggestions are welcome. Thanks!!

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Thanks for looking, everyone!!

The cabinet total length is 10 feet. The base cabinet is 6 foot and each of the side cabinets/bookcases are 2 foot wide.

I will be posting photos of my equipment area in the basement soon.

thanks again, tolthoff.
 
I might have to copy your idea for the stand. My nedw 220 is 6' but so id the 100gal sump. Those side cabinets would be a great place to stash my skimmer/ca reactor/pumps/etc... Can't wait to see it up and running.
 
Thanks againi everyone for the compliments. I'm in the process of plumbing it now and have a concern... the 2 overflows drain to the basement and are each 1.5" pvc. They drain directly into a 70gal sump (that will be stocked with live rock). this will be connected to a 65gal conventional sump (with baffles and a small refugium area), then return to the main display tank. I had planned to connect the two sump tanks with a single 2" pvc connection. I was wondering if this would produce enough flow from one sump to the other, or if I should connect with (2) 2" pvc connections. I will be using ballvalves/unions at all connection sites. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

rodeo klown, feel free to copy... let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer. If there is a particular angle or area that you would like to see better, I will try to photograph it and upload it. Also, I might be able to get the plans from my brother, if you are interested.
 
Oh, i forgot to mention, the side cabinets are really nice to isolate electrical outlets or other equipment, if needed. that was my original plan, but then I decided to send everything to the basement to keep things more quiet in family room. FYI, my original plan also included a side opening to slide a large sump in to the base cabinet from the side. this opening would then be hidden with the cabinet/bookcase in place...
 
Well, progress has been slow as of late, due to work-related issues. I finished the plumbing to the basement, water-tested the system, and have now been working on my aquascaping. I will be supporting the live rock on PVC frameworks that incorporate my closed loop plumbing. I have 2 bulkheads on the bottom of the tank that serve as output (to the display tank) for the closed loop. Two drains for the closed loop are located at the top rear of the tank, one in the left corner and the other in the right corner. The drains join using a "y" and head to the basement to a Reeflo Hammerhead that pushes the water back up to the display. Flow to the display is divided by a "y" fitting to the two bulkheads in the bottom of the tank. In the display tank, I made two manifolds that arise from the closed loop outputs. These will provide lateral flow in both directions, in the front of the tank and rear of the tank. I built the structures out of PVC and will coat them with GreatStuff and epoxied sand. The rockwork will also hide these outputs. I will post photos soon....
 
OK, obviously that didn't work. Sorry, I'm trying to add an album in photobucket... Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon enough.
 
Seemed to work better that time. Is there a way to post a link to the photobucket album, rather than putting all the pictures on reefcentral?

Hopefully the pics show what I have in mind for the closed loop described. I will continue to post pics as progress continues. Thanks.
 
It's been a while since I posted. I finished the plumbing and pvc rock substructure, coating it with GreatStuff and epoxied argonite sand. I put in 4" of crushed coral/argonite sand and began my rockscaping. Currently I have 2 pc light fixtures above it that will be replaced with led lighting in the next couple of months. The rockscaping has been a work in progress and I will be tweaking it over the next couple of months while the tank cycles. Any comments/suggestions are welcome as always.

photos:

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/tolthoff/project 240/
 
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