agent462's 220 rimless shallow peninsula reef

[agent462]

Ok the tank is moved and in the house. It ended up being way easier than all the worrying about it. I ended up getting two sets of shoulder moving straps. Four of us did the bulk of the lifting while two others helped keep her straight and guided us. To get it up to the house I screwed the side of the crate to my carts I made and we wheeled it up pretty easy. Once inside we set it back down on the cart and then flipped it back on it's bottom. One lift up and some aligning and all done.

If you want to see the entire album, you can go to the link below. Sorry that some of the pictures are not the greatest as the GF was taking the pics with my DSLR and I did not turn on the flash for her.

Picasa Web Albums - 10726650846271751... - 2010-03-20


The stand in its place

Figuring out how to get it on the little cart we made for it

Strapping up with the shoulder straps

LIFT

Through the door

Towards the aquarium room

Hey let's get the cart and set it down and then flip it

On three load this sucker on the stand

Thanks Ben for climbing underneath and pushing up slightly while we align it

 

[agent462]

I was able to get the base plumbing done. I still need to secure it up a bit more. In the future the only thing I'd do a bit different is add a few more unions and better check valves. I originally was not even going to use the CV's and I tried to design the sump large enough for overflow.

Made water for a little over a day because the water tanks stand is not made yet so it's not plumbed. Cleaned the 5 bags of sand a little bit and poured it in. The salt went in and then the skimmer.

I hung the lights from the ceiling. Not too bad except one is slightly crooked. Probably not enough to bug most people but it bugs me a little. I wanted to put some 2"x4" in the attic and screw them up but it was going to be impossible where they were going. I got stabbed in the back a few times by nails scoping the situation out in the attic. I had to use some toggle bolts instead. Not my ideal way but I'm not sure what else to do.

The rock went in next. I had some in a tub for a few weeks so it had already started an algae bloom. I had to go get a clean-up crew today.

Pictures you say...ok

Tank Shot

Overflow and return plumbing

RO/DI

Pumps from the sump

Skimmer

Drain

Joist Support

Hole in my floor

PAR right next to the bulbs

 

[chris goetz]

Looks great Bryan. I might have to try to bribe you to bring that apogee and check the par on my new lights in a few weeks.

 

[agent462]

Looks great Bryan. I might have to try to bribe you to bring that apogee and check the par on my new lights in a few weeks.

NP, just let me know

 

[MAKcorals]

WOW! Amazing looking setup you have goin on. Keep it up and keep the progress pics coming. BTW i would live in that room if i were you haha

 

[byeung]

amazing setup man

 

[johnanddawn]

very nice tank - that foot print is awesome

 

[agent462]

Just a little progress. I ran some extra electrical in the basement. 4 GFCI outlets behind the sump and then next to the frag tank one regular (for halides) and one GFCI.

I played with the overflow a little tonight. I need to go get some plumbing stuff tomorrow before I can really do much. I'm going with the Herbie method. I also put the two mp40's in the tank tonight just to play with. I originally wanted to put them on the same end as the overflow but that's not going to really work with the plumbing and overflow. We'll see.

I built a pretty ghetto stand for the water tanks. I just wanted to get it off of the floor a little. It's ghetto because the ply top doesnt really match up with the frame. I was just using a leftover piece I had and cut it with no guide and a circular saw

I was just thinking through some of the plumbing for the water tanks. The pump on the left is for the water tanks. The pump on the right is going to replace one of the bigger return pumps I have. I've got a good amount of head but the beast of pumps I bought handle it better than I calculated. I'll keep one big one because it will also provide the flow to the fuge whenever I get around to that.

 

[agent462]

Ok,

So the ghetto water tank stand I built bothered me all day. I built a new, much better one and finally did the plumbing for the water tanks.

The freshwater (right) will gravity drain down and I have a pump that can either provide circulation for the saltwater or pump in more fresh water. I'll have a couple other outlets for filling jugs and such. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do for my ATO for both the main tank and frag tank. It will clearly be driven by the water tanks I just havent thought it out yet. Right now I'm just manually adding everyday.

I moved the RO/DI machines into the middle of the tanks. Next I need to tap in after my water softener (thanks TCMAS) and run two lines to them. Then I'll make all the tubing nice and neat. I also need to get a booster pump for my air/water/ice RO/DI because the water is so cold and the pressure is lower. The puratek already has a pump.

 

[inactive]

Dude.... WAY hardcore!

 

[agent462]

Thanks Travis. Just think how good those frags from you are going to look one day in there.

My first couple basic frags are probably going to go in next week. Water Parems are looking good and everything is stabilizing. I'll slowly move the collection in there.

 

[inactive]

They're gonna look sick man... I'm excited for you!

 

[soccerbag]

Very nice build!! Thank tank is really nice with great dimensions! Looking foward to seeing everything finished!

Good job.

 

[stedfast82]

very nice

 

[DCG1286]

Awesome build!!! Definitely tagging along for this tank!

 

[Rickyrooz]

Nice set up. Do you think you could've gotten away with one 60" 10 bulb ATI Powermodule? Also, who build your tank?

 

[agent462]

Nice set up. Do you think you could've gotten away with one 60" 10 bulb ATI Powermodule? Also, who build your tank?

Most likely yeah. In my mind their are a few benefits of the two seperate fixtures.

I can run a wider bulb range across the whole tank. With the ten bulb centered over the tank the bulb on the right will do no help to the stuff all the way on the left. I can spread my bulbs out better. There is about a 4 inch gap between the two fixtures that I have.

I can also raise and lower each one independently. If I choose to dominate one side with higher light items I could lower the fixture accordingly with a smaller impact to the other side.

Each fixture is controlled by two independent cords. One cord is used to power two bulbs and the other controls the other 4. I can have two bulbs on each side come on for sun up and sun down. I think I'll actually be running the tank like this:

Sun Up:
Left: 2 on, 4 off
Right: 2 on, 4 off
Day:
Left: 2 off, 4 on
Right: 2 off, 4 on
Sun Down:
Left: 2 on, 4 off
Right: 2 on, 4 off

The tank is REALLY wide so I wanted ample coverage with the most flexibility I could get. One fixture didn't seem to do that for me so I sought out comparing and asking advice on two fixtures.

The PAR meter I picked up will be able to help me guage how to run each side and distance over the tank. Right now it's looking like I'll probably run 16"-18" above.

Edit:
Forgot this: Miracles built the aquarium for me. Best quote I got by far. Highly recommend them.

 

[foxyb]

sweet build love the tank

 

[Chops30]

Where'd you get them big water tanks. Looking for something like those tall and slim'sh. Agree very nice set up shallow tanks definently have some appeal to them.

 

[NaClCrocodile]

What's your bulb combo? It looks really crisp. This is a dream tank for sure.