Why I need new frags: Scott's 250 build

[Barney121]

I've been saying I'm going to post these pictures for a while, so now I guess I finally will.

My new 250G tank went operational in December 2007, just in time for my annual Xmas party (thank goodness). Plumbed to the basement, flat back hex, 2x400W Halides. Said bye-bye to my old 75, my first (and only other) tank.

This project started back in April 07 or so. Here's a clue: EVERYTHING takes longer than you think! The tank came from Concept Aquarium in Edmonton, Canada. Beautiful tank, beautiful cabinetry, super nice people. I got a lot of planning help from Sanjay and Bill Straka here in State College, and Rick Pucciarella helped me drill my top off and refugium tanks. Great plumbing parts from Savko, approximately one million trips to Lowes.


Here's the build sequence. We start with an empty corner of the basement, under the tank site...

 

[Barney121]

The tank had to run parallel to the floor joists, which is not ideal, so I braced the floor with a 4x4 on a 2x8, and 2 metal posts (I moved the post out further after I took this).

You see the beginning of the wiring above, I ran 2 new 20Amp circuits from the electrical box (way on the other side of the basement). The final wiring looked like this:

Most of the outlet boxes have 2 outlets and a switch so I can turn them off without having to unplug. The conduit up the middle (with the wires still out and an open box) actually was later run upstairs under the tank, and that box has 3 way switches so I can turn on/off my overflow pump, and my closed loop pump, from either upstairs or downtairs.

 

[Barney121]

I bought a 75G glass tank to be my sump, and a used 29G to be a refugium. Later, I hooked in a 20G that I can use for quarantine or for frags. You can see the two main pumps there too - 2 hammerheads (by the time it goes up and in, there's probably 15' head above the pumps).

Somewhere along the way I decided I'd better build a room around all this. It would have been smarter (and normal) to do that first, before I had my water change system in (and full), but better late than never.

 

[Barney121]

The water change system is a direct copy of Sanjay's. These were used 30G tanks that Rick helped me drill. The top tank is where my RO water is stored. It has a valve and pipe to feed to the bottom tank, where I mix in salt.

The pipe out the front of the top tank is just so I can get a bucket of RO water easily (thanks Rick!).

Complete with wiring, it looks like this:

There's a controller above with 2 float valves to turn the water to the RO unit on when the level in the top tank drops about 4", and turn it off when it gets back up. The blue/white pump feeds RO to my sump for evaporation. At the bottom you can barely see the pipes and valve that run from the mixing tank over to the left toward the sump. I have a submersible mag pump sitting in the bottom tank that's constantly runnig for circulation, normally it just circulates in the tank, but I can close off it's flow back into the bottom tank and open a valve to the sump and it pumps water over to the sump.

You can also see a pipe at the left side of the sink, that comes from a valved line off the return to the tank. When I want to do a water change I open that up, and some of the water going back to the tank dumps into the sink. Close that off, open the valve from the mix tank, and refill the sump. I am so happy I don't have to lug buckets up and down the stairs anymore.

 

[Barney121]

The plumbing in the basement is like this:

and a detail of the plumbing from the return is:

From the sump, pipe goes to the hammerhead. After that, it splits, with most flow going up, and some going around to the left. What's going around goes a few places: the chiller (way to the left, and which then feeds back to the sump), 3 lines to go to carbon, phosphate, UV sterilizer, and 1 line to the sink for water change. I have an extra closed valve way on the left in case I want to send water somewhere else later, like my frag tank.

 

[rickyfins]

WOW Scott! You have been busy! I am glad those holes we drilled are working out for you! I think we did 11 holes that day. That was a lot of drilling.

I hope to be able to come see the tank once its full of frags for me to get pieces of!!

 

[Barney121]

The final basement setup with everything in is this:

Then 3 tanks in order from the left are the frag/QT tank, the refugium, and the sump. The pipes coming down just behind the floor support are my overflow pipes. There's 2 1.5" pipes as overflows. One is normally in use, and the other is a backup and sticks up higher in the overflow. At the bottom of the main overflow is a valve that I have closed to the water just flows through without backing up. That plus an inverted-U shape pipe within the overflow (not quite a durso) has made it pretty quiet. If the 1st pipe ever became blocked for some reason, a full flow down the open 1.5" pipe would make a lot of noice and let me know there is a problem.

The overflow pipe splits with some of it gravity feeding my skimmer. The remainder goes into the sump and the refugium. The refugium tank is elevated so water going of it (just through a bulkhead with strainer) goes back into the sump.

Right now I'm feeding the frag tank with a small pump sitting in the sump. When I am feeling like another plumbing project, I'll hook up from the return lines into the frag tank and get rid of that pump. Its overflow gravity feeds back into the sump (that's the first diagonal pipe in the picture).

In the back corner you can see the Lumatek electronic ballasts up high (very nice so far) and my Aquacontroller. The wiring from the ballasts to the lights, and the temp and PH probes for the Aqua, run up through the floor to the tank.

There's actually 5 pipes running vertically: 2 down from the overflow (far left), 1 return back up (far right), and the final 2 are the closed loop down and back up. I had a little annoying vibration for the first month that seemed to come and go, so I bought some flex PVC, and the closed loop pipes and the return now have about a foot of flex PVC in the middle, which has pretty much eliminated the vibration.

 

[Barney121]

I'm going to bed. I'll post more tomorrow. Takes a little less time to tell than to build, but not much.

 

[Barney121]

Because the tank is in the living room, I needed a full hood. It's 18" or so tall. Lighting in the hood is 2 400W Halides. I mounted them on two heavy duty drawer slides so that I can slide them a bit out of the way when I'm working. The lid of the canopy goes up on hinges. The front panels also open (and come off) when I'm doing normal work.

I also mounted 2 LED moonlights and two fans in there. I'm not sure I have the optimal fan setup for best results, but it will help at least a little, I hope. I have them set to come on when the temp hits 79 in the tank. The moonlights are on that cool Aquacontroller schedule that mirrors the real moon cycle.

From the back, the hood and wiring is this. The wiring runs down in one spot to the floor and into the basement. I wired in disconnects up here so that I can detach the lights and remove the hood easily.

 

[Barney121]

Now, finally, upstairs. Here's base and empty tank. They ended up delivering the tank (700 pounds) to a local moving company, and they brought 6 guys over to get it in and lift it onto the stand.

And now with water and plumbing hooked up.

The overflow box is in the back left corner of the tank. Left two pipes are the overflow pipes. The two holes in the bank of the tank are the closed loop outflow. They join together underneath and run downstairs to the pump. If I ever decide I need more flow, I can close them off and replumb so that only one is going downstairs, and I could put a Dart or something under the tank.

The two diagonal running pipes are the closed loop return (left) and return from sump (right). Going down I didn't worry about 90 degree angles, but since I had the space I figured I'd keep the angles at 45 where I could. Ball valves on everything going down, and on the return where it's coming up.

Finally, here's the plumbing on top. The pipes split with just 90 pipes going back in the tank, and one feed on each side going to a sea swirl. This is one thing I may redo someday. Not enough flow is going through the seaswirls (it gets cut down to 1" pipe, so most of the water goes out through the 1.5"). I also didn't make all of my elbows adjustable, so I've got a lot of flow at the top of the tank, but not as much down at the bottom/middle, where I want it.

 

[Barney121]

Then came aquascaping. Planned to be fairly open, with rock built up on fiberglass rods (another idea from Sanjay).

Finally, the canopy went up (it's 100+ pounds), and a skirt went around the front. The base cabinet is just a skirt - it slides over the steel base from the front. It has brackets that can be screwed on underneath to hold it to the steel frame, but it doesn't need them (it's probably 100 pounds too). Got new carpeting installed which runs right up to the base.

They did an awesome job on the cabinetry. The two front panels open upward with a stick to prop them open, but they also pop off. The two grates on the sides of the canopy also swing open to allow side access. The front doors on the base open, and also come off.

 

[Barney121]

Last post: Life!

So that's it. I wish I had a better camera for the live photos, the colors are of course better in person. Plenty of room for new frags, so bring your best to the swap!

 

[scott058]

WOW! Very nice job.

 

[rigleautomotive]

thats a nice clean set up.i love it.in a year or so everyone will be jealous.the planning is the most important part of a system this size and having the patients to do everything perfect like you did is what makes it great.good luck

 

[Barney121]

The planning before the first purchase probably did take 4 or 5 months. Lots of plumbing sketches, figuring out what equipment it would take, how to plumb to the basement, etc. I probably started the wiring sometime last spring (progress is slow when you have maybe 2 hours a night after kids go to bed). And even with the planning there were a few last minute adjustments where I said "What was I thinking when I planned THAT?"

 

[CarlC]

Pictures don't do the system justice! I got to see it last weekend after the BOD meeting.

Great job Scott!

Carl

 

[cccapt]

Awesome! Great job!

 

[shimmy_yaz]

I am jealous!

 

[insanefishguy]

Great looking tank Scott! WEll done. I really like the open look. Thats kind of the direction I want to go with my aquascaping in my new 125. Where did you (and Sanjay) get the fiberglass rods from?

 

[Barney121]

Hi Joe, thanks. I was trying to be open, definitely avoiding the rock wall kind of look. Lots of caves and gaps, and (so far) still plenty of room for frags with rocks of different heights and stuff. We've recently redone the HUB tank the same way. The main thing it does is allow much better water flow. It also leaves some nice open sand areas for bottom stuff.

The rods, along with various foam rubber pads to damp vibration and go under my pumps, came from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/). They have a ton of miscellaneous handy parts. I think a 5'-long, 1/2" rod was something like $5 or $8, and shipping wasn't much. Sanjay lent me a couple of drill bits that he had bought just for drilling his rock, and the rods slip right in. They have acrylic rods too, but I know Sanjay thought they were too brittle.