The Few the Proud the Tank Movers

[Cove Beach]

Well my tank move didn't go as planned with 6 guys. At 6:30 tonight it was just myself,Smmscott, and my buddy John and his son JC. I was ready to cancel for the night, but after some discussion we decided to go for it with the team at hand. Here are a few pics... The main obstacle

Here is where its going

The Crew and the tank in its new home.

I'd like to thank Scott for coming out and lending a hand, we may have only been 3 guys and a 10yr old boy but we got it done with NO DAMAGE to the tank or the house or the people involved. Now comes the fun part, getting it pumbed and running!!

 

[calypso1]

ive moved a couple tanks in my day and i know it sux!lol. have fun gettin her goin.

 

[mike660r]

Sorry I wasn't able to make it out to help. I fully intended to. I am glad you were able to get it down stairs without any issues.

 

[funkyman]

Ditto Mike.

 

[smmscott]

I was kind of surprised how easy it was with the 3.5 of us. Mark had it all planned and it went smooth. The 2x4 trick was the best.

 

[Cove Beach]

In case anyone needs the use of the carpeted 2x4s i have them ready to go for whoever needs them.

 

[Thinslis]

That blue cement block reminds me of the siding on my house =( Ugh.... This spring I swear!

 

[jjmg]

I'm willing to bet that 10 yo put every ounce of muscle into that move and will be sore tomorrow. Way to go when the adults found other things to do.

 

[funkyman]

We didn't "find other things to do". The commitments were there before the night of the move was picked.

 

[Thinslis]

Don't listen to jjmg there isn't much to do in Pensacola besides hit the clubs and run your mouth.

 

[scottfarcuz]

Whats the dimensions on the tank? Looks like an all glass tank, but I didn't know they were making a 220

 

[smmscott]

I Believe it is a perfecto. I think it was like 6 foot by 2 foot by 30 inch high.

 

[scottfarcuz]

Weird all glass calls those dimensions 210 , but if you use the outside measurements it works out to almost 225. I love the look of taller tanks, but depending on what you want to keep they can be a pain to light.

 

[funkyman]

............and reach the bottom.

 

[scottfarcuz]

nah..Ive learned to enjoy dosing deodorant, and walking around with wet sleeves

 

[Cove Beach]

Just so no one gets bent about it, life happens, I myself had to cancel helping Mike660 on his tank move, so no big deal, just wanted to say thank you . We managed with the resources at hand.
On the note about the vert. dimension, i have a Pacific Sailfin. I figured since that fish is so tall it would be cramped in a shallower tank. I plan on it being a mixed reef so the lower areas will be the less light hungry corals. I'm probably going to go with Marco rock seeded with some LR from Dan. As far as flow i am leaning toward Vortechs and a wave box. The sump is going to be a 110 tub with a 40tub Refugium and my DIY 35 frag tank. If i can pick up a holesaw or just find someone to drill a tank i have for me i will plumb that in for a qt tank. With all the plumbing i figure close to 425gal system.(read tall Skimmer)

 

[scottfarcuz]

Just for a heads up. The corner overflows are going to be a little bit of a challenge to get silent with the wavebox. I ended up ditching my durso in my aga megaflows, and going to an adjustable (gate valves)siphon/emergency drain method. This way I can control the water level in the overflow, and not have any splashing noise from the wavebox. Another big advantage is you can push a LOT more flow through them.I also have a pretty good sized sump compared to the tank so I run what is probably close to 1200gph each drain. Just something to consider.

On the other hand when I added the wavebox I sold off my controllable streams. I don't think the pulsing action is needed at all if you get the wavebox working well all you need is some supplemental flow to get crud to the overflows.

 

[Cove Beach]

I was planning on using the factory returns as emergency overflows. What are you using at the top of the drains for entry?

 

[scottfarcuz]

My emergency drains are actually 3/4" pvc just openat the top of the overflow. I think I did buy strainers for them, but never got around to cutting down the pipe enough to put them on. I've been running this method a little over a year now. :lol:

The actual 1" drain has a strainer but it submered under about 18" or so of water. I put a small pc of pipe on them just to make the strainers easier to reach for cleaning. right below the 1" bulkhead I have a gate valve that controls the flow. Really not much to it. Its dead silent, and creates NO bubbles in the sump.

Kevin tried this first and runs his 75's with ball valves. After seeing his I thought it would be great to get more sump flow. I run a dart wide open, and plumed it with 1 1/2" PVC all the way to 2-1" sea swirls. Its a nice amount of flow, and IMO would be plenty along with a wavebox for lps/softie tank. I run the tank BB/SPS dominate so I run a few 6080's and a couple MJ mods also for the jacuzzi effect.

 

[Cove Beach]

The drains i have are 1.5 going through a 1" bulkhead. I was wondering how far from the bottom should i chop the drain?