Aquarium update: Bigger is better!

hocky

hocky

Member
Well, today I picked up a larger home for my aquatic animals. I really didn't want to do it because it is going to be so much work and my tank is just starting to fill in well, but the deal was right and I couldn't walk away. I ended up with a 225g all glass aquarium, among the largest of glass tanks. It will be a total system volume of 325 gallons. While I was in there, I just couldn't keep myself from picking up all the goodies. Going to such a large tank means that you needs some good equipment, so I upgraded. Along with the tank and stand, I picked up a large EuroReef Skimmer, a big Iwaki pump, a very nice heater, nice electronic timers and the stand is complete with many, many switched outlets, sea swirls, and another couple hundred pounds of sand. So much for my tank looking like it is filling in, but this one will allow for much more flexibility for me to do what I want. :)
Current running system... I really wish I could get good pictures of it. These will be the last pictures of the system, though.





And finally, the introduction of the new tank. lol

 
brandan

brandan

Member
Looks like you caught onto what I did up at Extreme. If you noticed that his middle tank was gone, I took it!!! Looks like it should be fun to setup!!!
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Originally Posted by Brandan
http:///forum/post/2749666
Looks like you caught onto what I did up at Extreme. If you noticed that his middle tank was gone, I took it!!! Looks like it should be fun to setup!!!
I stumbled on it by complete accident, actually. Stopped in there during lunch to look for some sps stuff and decided I was spending a shitload more money. lol
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Got started on it today. It's all painted up, next on the agenda is to get the tank cleaned out, then design a sump system, and then plumb it all up.
Starting sanding / prep for paint:

First coat:

Finished up and replaced the cabinet locks with handles:
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Thanks! I picked up another 75 gallon tank tonight to go under the stand and act as the sump. If I can find a glass drilling bit, I should start plumbing it up within a couple of days. Any suggestions of somewhere in town to get a bit? Or a company to drill it and cut my baffles?
 
brandan

brandan

Member
Originally Posted by Hocky
http:///forum/post/2750692
Thanks! I picked up another 75 gallon tank tonight to go under the stand and act as the sump. If I can find a glass drilling bit, I should start plumbing it up within a couple of days. Any suggestions of somewhere in town to get a bit? Or a company to drill it and cut my baffles?
Bob at Glassworks here in Brownsburg handles all my glass needs. He does a great job and has been doing it for years. He has drilled probably 4 or 5 tanks for me. He isn't in it to make money either, he just wants to pay the bills.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Better check to see if the glass is tempered because if it is it cannot be drilled me thinks. I would bet that a pc. that large is tempered.
JMO
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Getting to work on building the sump and plumbing it up. This is the first time that I have built a glass baffled sump and has been an interesting experience. I have learned that I fail at using a caulk gun and glass shops feel that +/- 1/4" is an acceptable error margin when cutting. 3 of the 5 pieces were cut too wide and, being that I am on a bit of a time crunch, I just had to make do with them. Oh well. I got the sump done, but cannot test it until tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed that the sections hold water. I really gooped on the silicon being that it was my first time and I want to make sure it had good coverage. If the sections don't hold water tomorrow, that is a major hit to my schedule. We'll see.
Picked up some fittings, pipe, silicon, glass baffles, 75g tank, and had the 75g tank drilling in the center.

The sump all put together. You can see that the inner most baffles are slightly angled... this is due to them being too wide for the tank. :-( Oh well. From left to right, you're looking at the skimmer section, the return section, and finally the refugium.

I picked up 2x 100 gallon rubbermaid tanks and 1x 50 gallon rubbermaid tank. Currently, they're filling and mixing salt water. The remaining water that I need will be salvaged from the old tank's system.
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Wow, what a weekend. I worked on the tank for about 2 hours Friday night, 12 hours on Saturday, and 12 hours on Sunday. On Friday, I just tested the sump and got it under the stand, making sure everything was working right. Saturday morning, I plumbed the tank up and then we moved the old one out, new one in. We then proceeded to fight plumbing problems all day. Every piece of plumbing that I didn't replace leaked... bulkheads, ball valves, everything. I continued to fight the plumbing issues for most of the day on Sunday with a few stops for other things, such as going to buy more live rock. I had to drain the sump once and both overflows twice. Crazy problems. Looks like everything is buttoned up leakwise now, but there is an air leak on the intake side of the main pump causing a whole lot of bubbles / air in the main tank. I was going to fix this tonight, but everything closes at 8pm on Sunday. :-( So, I started wiring everything up. It is not 100% yet, but almost everything is in. A couple of more plugs and then some cable management and it is ready to rock. I will fix the air leak tomorrow, finish the wires, and then start aquascaping the rock and laying out the corals. I hope that I find all of the corals in there..... lol.
Leak testing the sump... all water levels are maintaining properly:

Got the sump underneath the stand:
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Got the plumbing done (or so I thought... things changed.):



Working on emptying the old tank:

All emptied, rock and coral in buckets / totes:

Bringing the new tank in, yay. It is heavy and a tight fit. It took some sweet talking and some hydraulic jacks. lol :
 
hocky

hocky

Member
The tank is in place on the wall, but this is totally inappropriate:

Another shot of it in place:

The sand is in and we're filling her up! It took a couple of trips for replenishment, but we eventually filled it up with about 275 gallons.


An additional 150lbs of live rock to help fill in the space:

Starting to wire, halides light up for the first time:

250 watt light over refugium. It gets hot, but it is OK because it will run opposite hours of the halide lighting.

Wall of power:

Sump running, skimmer cranking. I'd better be careful while I am setting up this skimmer or we're going to be having a foam party at my house. This thing is crazy:

Pfew.... lots of work still to do. My garage / car probably miss me.
 
hocky

hocky

Member
Fixed the major air leak on the intake side of the pump, but I still am sucking in air somewhere. I'll have to dig more into it later. I gave it my first attempt at aquascaping, too. In the process, I accidentally popped a power head nozzle and impeller off and they fell to the rear bottom of the tank. I had my entire upper body under water and could not reach it. I decided that those pieces are now sacrificed to the tank. lol
Water is starting to clear up a bit... hear is where I started:

And here is my first shot at the aquascape. I am not sure if I like it or not... we'll see, it'll probably change. Of course, the water is still quite stirred up and no corals are open yet in the pictures.



 
silverz28

silverz28

New Member
hey man nice setup thanks for the screaming deal on the other stuff waiting for some more cash to buy a filter to get the water right. then she will be getting filled
 
hocky

hocky

Member
I have been spending the last couple of weeks playing with different lighting combinations trying to find something that I like. The depth of the tank and the black background made my old lighting set up appear to be too yellow and it was washing out some colors. So far, I have been through 2 sets of halide bulbs and I didn't like either, one way too blue and one way too yellow. So, I decided to change out my actinic (blue color) supplementation. I swapped out my power compact actinics bulbs for some 70" VHO tubes, true actinic and 75/25. It was a major PITA, but I think it was worth it. It has brought back a lot of colors in the tank (although the camera doesn't show it that well... stupid point and shoot) and helped to get rid of the yellow feel that the light had with the PC lights. I am not completely satified yet, though, because I am missing a little bit of the spectrum in the blue range, so I have another set of halide bulbs on their way. Hopefully those will be the magical ones that pull everything together.
Here are a few shots from a today after I pulled my arms out of the tank (and got off of the ladder... lol).



 
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