The 210 Reef begins...

L

lucky_snapper

New member
Step one Growing Rock...

So I am starting my 210 Reef tank build and I wanted to get a jump on things so I set up a rock farm.. Here is what I am starting with.. 50 gallon feed trough from tractor suppily, 2 250 watt metal halides one blue one white, marineland c-360 canister filter, 50 lbs of sand I bought from a guy for $10, and a couple of korola water guns that were freebies..

The first 2 pictures were taken with nothing but the Halides glowing.. it gave an errie blue hue to the pics..

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When I bought the tank they guy who I got it from gave me a 35 gallon tote full of branch coral fragments and a few large pieces of dry live rock. I would say there is at least 50-75 lbs.. I really dont know if this is a good base rock to start with but I figure I would try to get a jump on the cycle and try to grow some live rock in the process. I do plan to go to the Gulfarium (mini-seaworld that also has a LFS) and buy a few pieces of rock that are full of coraline and cridders... I also wanted to do this because I have been trolling through the paper and getting automatic craigslist updates on my phone anytime someone lists a tank in my area for sale in hopes of getting some live rock with out having to pay "live rock" prices...

It is days like today that I am glad that I am not married because there is no way my wife would ever let me do this...

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I set it up in a spare bed room closet..


In these two you can see all the branch pieces and even a few brain corals..

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SO I am totally new to this so if anyone has any suggestions on how I can be successful at this please feel free to offer advise.. Tomorrow I will begin building the stand with a buddy of mine.. Pics will follow.. stay tuned..
 
So the build is coming along...

Here is the tank its self. A 210 Oceanic Reef Ready drilled and with overflows.
If you are wondering what the acetone is for the guy who had it before me painted the sides of the glass black and I want to be able to see my inhabitants so I am slowly taking it off.

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The frame of the stand is now built according to the plans I found on RC. I plant to buy some mahogany sheet to skin it with and I want to inlay with black granite to surround the base of the tank with.

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The sump has been completed. Its a 70 gallon that I had and I bought 1/4 plate for the baffles.. It was actually kind of fun building it..

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One thing I did learn is that it is not always a good Idea to try to silicone glass baffels in at 2am after a few drinks with your buddies.. Its not perfect but as long as it holds water thats all that matters...

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I picked up this skimmer from a guy on craigslist.. from what I have read here on RC it should be a good one.. Lifereef svs-240

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I found this at lowes for half price it was on the clearance table because it was "missing pieces" just a clamp.. Yes I was cutting wood on the kitchen island.. I'm single so I can get away with that.. it was 100 degrees outside..

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And finally here is a slightly better picture of the live rock farm I got going.. today was the first signs of life as a algae bloom appeared on some of the corals and rock.

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I also picked up and installed a Spectra Pure 5 stage RO/DI System for $80 on ebay..

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The build is progressing ever so slowly but this weekend I hope to put the tank up on the stand to test fit it and check for leaks....
 
More progress as I was able to get 6 of my friends to come over and help me move around these tanks.. not such an easy task when you have 2 200+ gallon tanks that need to be shifted around...

I was able to get the 210 test fitted on the stand for the first time.. Thankfully everything fits ok...

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The tank still needs to be cleaned out so please excuse the mess

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The 220 seems to be holding up well after the patching it and resiliconing the support brace back into place.. You might not have seen but I first posted on reef central when I bought the 220 and it got damaged in transport... You can see the thread here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2020745 I ended up getting 2 1/2 pieces of glass and sandwhiching the chip/crack..

Here are pics of the original damage to the 220

B]Right Side Damage[/B]

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Close up of Right Side Damage
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Left Side Damage
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[/QUOTE]

The tank has been filled for 3 days with out leaks or signs of trouble.. I am planning on leaving it in the back yard for a few weeks and if it checks out good my Oscar will have a new home.

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And here is the tank with the 70 gallon sump fitted underneath

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Coming soon... Rock Sand and lights...
 
Gotta love the DIY builds... not much of a DIY'er myself, but I can always live vicariously through these types of builds.

-Chad
 
I used that same skimmer on my 100g and it work pretty good. I upgraded to the 4' lifereef on the new 210 I just set up and I love that one as well.
 
Ah, remember being single and getting away with doing that stuff in the house -- not now, lol -- I am enjoying your posting this -- best of luck and I will follow along.
 
Just thought I would update the 220.. The patch seems to be holding.. in this pic you can see the origional crack in the red circle.. Siliconed the patch on with RTV108 there is 1 5/8in of glass holding that crack so all should be good..

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LIVE ROCK !!!

Picked up 140lbs of new seasoned Live Rock last night from a local guy who used to have a store. This stuff is great it is loaded with purple coraline and dark green algae and lots of pods..

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Had to get a second container to hold it all.. I also got a bunch of sand and water from the guys tank to help seed my rock and sand.

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I was even lucky enough to get a little purple mushroom polyp

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Rock showing lots of sponge.

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I even picked up some cheato

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good progress, and ah yes, the joys of being single and being able to get away with stuff like that! keep it up and be sure to check your output TDS of your RO unit. Filters look like they could use a changing. Be sure to start the tank off right, dont want to run into more algae blooms than necessary.
 
krjackso said:
good progress, and ah yes, the joys of being single and being able to get away with stuff like that! keep it up and be sure to check your output TDS of your RO unit. Filters look like they could use a changing. Be sure to start the tank off right, dont want to run into more algae blooms than necessary.
Click to expand...

I know that I am going to have to buy a tds meter and get new filter elements for that RODI.. It was cheap though so I could not pass it up..
 
I'm trying to figure out which mag pump to get.. the sump is a 75 gallon.. It will have the skimmer, a refugium with a DSB and algae and mangrove, then be pumped back in to the tank. I would like to run an in sump design .....so should I run a mag 18 ora mag 24?l
 
Tagging along, looks like a cool build. Please do something a little safer to hang your halides, when they fall it will likely be because you bumped them when you were working in the rock tank. Just my advice:)
 
I appreciate all who are following along.. I hope to have some more progress to post about soon.. I did just pick up a mag 18 for $50 on ebay.. I am still undecided as to weather I should just use the Gen X PCX150 I have or try to a mag.. I really want to do an insump return pump because of the convenience of it and I really don't want to be drilling a tank and have the slim chance that it could crack... I hope to be ordering my LED's soon from Rapid LED as well as buying the mahogany to finish out the stand..
 
Here is a quick update.. I setup the skimmer yesterday and after allot of help from jeff at lifereef and some adjustment it is producing skimmate... I can not say enough good things about Jeff he was extremely helpful and went out of his way to help me even after I told him I bought the skimmer second hand. I would not hesitate to buy anything from Him in the future.. He takes customer service to a new level !!

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