Starting the BIG TANK -- 220!

[BonesCJ]

Time to step into the big leauges at our house, we found a used 220 tank with stand sump and canopy for a killer deal and are now in the process of getting everything setup for the transition from our 90 gallon system. The new tank is 7 * 2 * 2 and will occupy a long wall in our living room, it came with a 50 gallon sump already chambered and I will be using our Octo NW-150 on it till I can afford to get a bigger skimmer. Lighting will be with t5's only with a mix of 3 and 4 foot retro fixtures to cover the entire length of the tank.

Background will be foamed and it has a single overflow with a 2in drain and 2 1 inch returns though I will probably only use one return. Return pump is a Little giant 4 pushing about 900-1000 gallons an hour. Stand and canopy are both custom made with what appears to be marine grade 3/4 ply, and just to play it safe I reinforced the corners and the middle with 2*4's and resealed the bottom and 2in's up the side with marine grade paint to seal the bottom.

I will get the build on this going soon, I am taking a ton of pictures.

 

[ray0266]

Chris,
Congrats on the new tank. Is the new tank going to go next to that sliding door or across it? I bet that’s gonna look real nice. Let me know if u need any help. I have nothing big enough to hold that much water though. What about the old tank? Frag tank maybe?
Good luck…

 

[BonesCJ]

Here are some pictures -- the project is officially underway

my "Workshop" aka garage. just enough tools to keep me happy

the stand after a little initial scraping

the stand is 3/4in solid furniture grade plywood and has been in use for 5 years but a little unconventional in design, it was built by a professional stand builder. The top and bottom sheets of ply are held in place by what I believe is a screw and dowel system along with lots of woodglue to the sides of the supporting walls of ply. There are then supports under the edges of the top and bottom sheets for extra reinforcment. This stand is extremely sturdy and there is no give on either the top or bottom sheets however being an engineers son I decided to reinforce it anyways. I cut six 2 * 4's to the right height and screwed and glued them into place in the four corners as well as 2 in the middle to strengthen the stand even more. I also cut two 8 1/2 * 14 holes in the back sheet of ply for ventilation.

After reinforcing the stand I used a marine grade paint to refinish the bottom of the stand, 2 inches up the wall and the six reinforcing legs of the stand.

Here is a long shot of the aquarium, I have since scraped and cleaned it and found it to be in really good condition, talk about a diamond in the rough. I'll get photos of that soon as I eggcrate and foam it.

This is the aquarium canopy, it needs to be sanded, finished, vent fans cleaned and some actual vents installed on the ends. Still amazing solid wood construction, it has four doors in the front and a topcap (leaning behind it) that give it a really nice finished look.

 

[jjk_reef00]

This will be a nice build. Keep us updated.

Post a pic of your 90 gallon, I might be interested when you finish setting this one up.

 

[BonesCJ]

Sorry to say the 90 already has a new home lined up.

 

[BonesCJ]

The tank is up and running thanks to a long 4 day weekend, here are some pics. Oh and for size comparison the lightfixture on the tank is a 4 foot unit. Its there untill I get my retro's for the canopy.

me and my brother in law putting ro/di in to mix(i'm in white on left)

second shot

under the cabinet

little giant return

Full tank shot with flash on

Full tank without flash

as the water settles and things get in their exact spots I'll have more pictures.

 

[BonesCJ]

Here are some updated photos, I have all of my undercabinet equipment finally up and running including my auto top off, media reactors and frag chamber.

The whole beast

Right side of cabinet

Left side of cabinet

Left side of the aquarium

Center

and Right

Inside of the canopy, the light in their right now is temporary till I get my retrofits

this acro has always puzzled me, its peachy brown in color with relatively thin branches and really long skinny polyps, but it does not look like a milli, grows nice and fast.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos, I'll keep updating as things mature and the rest of my equipment comes in.

 

[outcastjra]

Your Tank looks AWESOME!!! What kind of light are you using? It looks a little small for all of that tank. Are you going to run MH's?
Your sump looks cool. Can you tell me more about it? Does the water from the tank feed into the left? Whats in the 2nd chamber, live rubble? Is the 4th chamber a freg section? Last question whats the little white trash can looking tub? Is that your auto top off? Thanks a lot, and Great Photos!!!

 

[BonesCJ]

Thanks for you complements

The light is from my old system, I have t5 retros on order and should be coming in end of march

The tank drains from the right side and I have plumbing to the left chamber of the sump. Here is the order of chambers
1st skimmer
2 LR rubble
3 Cheato
4 its divided into two parts by eggcrate, the part to the left of the eggcrate is a frag section with the pump inputs on the other side of the eggcrate.

yes the garbage can is my autotop off, holds about 2.5 gallons, need a bigger one though

 

[2006]

Bones can post a close up of your pink zoa's left side of tank so I can compare with mine. I had what I thought were cats eye zoa's. They lost there green centers and if I remember they look like what you have. Thanks.