240 gallon build TOTW 5-27-09

[chssain]

First off i would like to say hello to everyone here on Reef Land. This is a great forum with LOTS of info!
And thought i would share my new project!
BY THE WAY!! I have a pretty strict budget for this project, and i will slowly put more money into it, But for the time beeing this is all i can aford!!

Yall probly know Chuck one of my good friends, he is helping me with the build of this tank, for his skill level in the hobby is far above mine!

First off the tank is going to be 8 foot long by 2 foot deep by 2 foot tall. We are going to pick it up on tuesday the 28th!!!!

The stand is custom made by me and it is all steel!! So i wont have to deal with any wood settleing or anything. and BTW i have a concrete foundation on my house, so i shouldnt have any shifts there eather. Here are some pics of the stand, its not completely done yet for i still have to build the rack for the fuge. It will be gravity fed and on the right side of the tank.






After i get everything plumbed and set up i will cover the stand in some type of plastic,maybe what a shower door is made of, and paint it black, where it can be removed easily for maintence.

Here is a diagram of how everything will be set up, It looks like a 3rd grader made it, but its the best that i can do!! sorry for the bad artistic ability.



with 3 1200 gph, 2 650 GPH, and a 850GPH power heads, and the 1200GPH from the return to you think that it will be enough flow? I am going to keep soft corals and LPS for a majority, and some SPS..

Another thing that i dont know how it will work out is, i am going to use 2 400 Watt Metal Halides, the reflectors im going to use are 3 foot long 18 inches wide and 6 inches tall, I am going to try to use just 2 MH, and put the LPS and SPS directly under the HM and the Softies in the middle, Then im going to have 8, 4 foot 54 watt T5s that will probly all be actinics. And if it looks to dim in the center of the tank i will add a 250 watt HM over the center.

For skimming, i have a Euro Reef 8 inch diameter with a Sedra five K pump, and i have a CoralLife 220 skimmer. I realise that this is not going to be enough skimming and i will be upgrading ASAP! Me and chuck might even build a skimmer based on the Euro Reef.

As for CA Reactor, and the Kalk Reactor me and chuck are going to try to build them based on the reactors on the system he has at ASU.

As you can tell from the diagram the sump is going to be a 55 gallon, and also there will be a 55 gallon frag tank. This tank will probably rarely have anything in it. But it will be that much more water that most of the time will have no lights over it, and will help cool the water from those 400 watt MH.

The return pump is only going to be a 1200 GPH for now. I think it will be ok for it will just give the skimmers more time to skim the water before it goes back into the display.

Also how many GPH pump do yall think i should do to feed the fuge?

Any Ideas, or any opinions that yall might have would be greatly appriciated!! I am always open for others thoughts!!
Thanks!!

[denhay14]

Sounds like quite a project. Stand is looking pretty good so far, and make sure to keep us updated with pictures and news. Good luck.

[charlie]

First off:



Secondly, with the help that you have, I don't think there is anything we are gonna have to add. We can just sit back and watch this one.

Why don't you take some of the T5 bulbs, and just make them 10K's, that way you won't have to think about adding another halide??? Might save yourself some money on the electric bill too!!!!

Can't wait to see the progress!!!!!

[denhay14]

Who is Chuck? Is he a member on here?

[charlie]

Yep, he's a member, goes by "Samper".

Look into some of the stuff this guy has done. Pretty neat!!!!

[chssain]

yeah, chuck is a very intelligent guy! And one of the best things about him is that if he doesnt know something, he wont give you some big spill acting like he does, he will just simply say, i dont know much about that. And that means alot because i know a lot of people that will just rattle off about things just to make themselves sound smart!
But dont get me wrong, RARELY does chuck not know!!!! lol

[chssain]

Im prolly going to go with a mag 2 for the pump to supply the fuge, chuck said it should be alright..

[denhay14]

Yeah i've read some previous post by him somewhere. Sounds like a good helper good luck.

[chssain]

Well, i got the stand all finished up and moved into the living room today! had to completely remodel everything, for i had a bear hide, and cougar hide, and a deer mount that were directly above the tank! so i didnt want a bunch of salty fur so we moved all that! But after getting the stand in it looks much larger than it did in the garage. it is going to be very LONG!!! But here are some pics of the finished stand!!

[denhay14]

That is a long tank. It's going to look great there. Guess your a big hunter since your room is decked out in animal trophies and a camo chair.

[chssain]

OHH YEAH!! one of my favorite things to do!! Duck, Deer, Goose, turkey, and dove is mostly what we have here.

[chssain]

Well this morning i woke up and left the house at 8 to take the 3 and 1/2 hourdrive to pick up the tank!! We drove straight there and straight back! When we arrived back at the house i started calling up friends, i ended up getting 6 others so that it would be easy to move the tank and wouldnt be to much strain on anyone. It worked out well, for the tank was heavy, but with that many people we moved it with ease. Chuck was one helping move it in.

After placing it on the stand we realized we had to cut our holes for the bulkheads a little bigger in the plywood. heres some pics of that!!





Then my girlfiend cleaned the tank for me, and i glued the overflow covers in place. and we started filling,

Here is how much water i had after 15 min of the RO Running!!! Didnt even cover half the bottom!!

And tomorrow comes the plumbing!!!

[chssain]

well,, after getting a little bit of water in the tank i have figured out that my floor is a little more unlevel that i had thought.. One end of the tank is about 1/4 inch lower than the other.. So heres my question, How do i shim it over an 8 foot stretch, and not put any uneven pressure anywhere?

[charlie]

When I set mine up, I shimmed the stand, and it has held up for 5 years so far.

[chssain]

It ended up being 1/2 inch low on one end, so i took a pice of 1/2 inch plate and put under it, then took 3/8, 5/16, 7/16, 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick plates to stair step it down.. So i didnt get any "bumps".

[chssain]

yup, still waitin on the RO to fill it up!!! been filling for 60 hours straight now!!! Should be done tomorrow tho! Ill update pics tomorrow.

[charlie]

Do you have have a bunch of dedicated electrical circuits to the tank?

[chssain]

yeah, there are 3. and the tank will be the only thing on that breaker.

[chssain]

It's Finnaly full!!! Now im filling the sump. Waiting on some bulkheads to come in before i conect the other 55 gallon underneath. It will be the frag tank, if i have frags, or it will be the water change tank. It is setup so that i can shut off the water flow to it. but heres some pics...

After 48 hours of filling


After 72 hours.

[chssain]

Well i now have the frag tank in operation! I have had it full and just sitting here for 4 days waiting on bulkheads but they came in today!! so i got her all plumbed up. One thing i was wondering, When the water goes from the frag tank to the sump i just have 2 bulkheads that the water flows straight into, but it is gargleing? What do yall think i should do? Would a T with a 90 pointed down and a cap on top with a hole like i did my overflows work???



And as you can see in those pics i have some base rock in the display, Some came from chuck, some i had, and some is fiji that i bought off a guy and have had it all in a tank for 3 weeks waiting to be moved somewhere else.. So i figured id go ahead and add it in.
Also as you can tell I only have one Metal Halide over it, its a 400W 20k, and that is not the reflector im going to use, On the other end of the tank, just for the time beeing i threw 8 65 watt PCs, just to add somelight. you can deffinately tell a BIG difference in the 400watt MH and the 520 watts worth of PC's, But heres a full tank shot.



And here is the overflow i built for my fuge, i had to do a box like this so that the overflow itself is higher than the display. It ended up beeing a little bigger than i had planned, but it gives me plenty of room to plumb.
I will begin filling it up tomrrow,