210 â€“ Build in Progress â€“ Pictures

mkarston · 08/19/2006, 06:19 AM

210 â€“ Build in Progress â€“ Pictures

OK, well I finally had some time to take the pictures of my camera and get this thread started. I have planning this 210 build for about a month, and like all projects it started with a story.

About 3 months ago I only had a 90 gallon reef tank, then I started become more active in the hobbies again after not giving it too much attention over the past year or so, and wanted to upgrade my lights. Since, I really wanted MHs for the â€œshimmerâ€ affect and the canopy was only 8 inches tall, I decided to put together a 65 gallon reef that I could cost-effectively plan, and build the way I wanted. Well, this 65 wasnâ€™t even 100% cycled and I knew I had a serious heat issue that wasnâ€™t going to go away. The tank was right next to my thermostat, and was causing my A/C to run 24/7, and the tank water was around 85 degrees and I wasnâ€™t willing to make the modifications to my house that would have solved this problems. (cutting holes in the wall for chiller, moving thermostat, etcâ€¦)

Then realizing that I wasnâ€™t going to be able to have the tank I wanted in this new 65 either I was done fooling around, sold my 90 gallon, and started to plan this 210 gallon build! I new that with a few adjustments I could pretty much use the equipment I had running my 90 gallon to run my 65, and take all the newly purchased equipment I had bought for the 65 and use it on my 210.

08-12-2006:
Here is the night I bought the lumber to build the stand.

08-13-2006:
Here are a few shots of the stand built on the wall its going to go against.

08-15-2006:
Here is a picture of the sump and fuge. The Fuge will be the large 37 gallon column tank with the hole in the top, and the sump will be smaller 29 gallon tank to the left. I have since moved a couple baffles in the 29 gallon to allow for a larger return area and more overflow room to accommodate this 210. This should put me at about 260 gallons of water volume.

08-18-2006:
I got the 210 tank and got it set in place.

Before getting the actual tank, I had already decided to order custom wood cabinet doors, paneling, molding, trim, etcâ€¦ from Home Depot. It is a bit expensive, but it will come ready to use finished in the style and color I pick. This allows me to set the tank up on its bare frame, and then once the stuff comes in from Home Depot I will just tack the â€œskinâ€ on to the frame.

I will try to keep this thread up-to-date with my progress, but would love to hear your comments.

As far as equipment, I plan to pumps for all my circulation, a pan-world 50ps-x for the main return, and a Sequence Dart on a close loop. I currently have nearly 300 lbs of live rock, and is a good mix of hatian, figi, and tonga.

For the lights have been back and forth, but as you can see I have a really open floor plan in my house and would really like to try to make my canopy hang from suspension wire to allow some natural sun light to hit the tank as well. Right now the plan is to squeezes 3 250W XM 10K SE MHs and 2 57â€ 80W T5 HO Blue plus bulbs in to a 7â€ tall canopy that will hang about 6â€ above the tank.

I already have 2 of the MH setups (bulb, ballast, reflector, & mogul) or and either a IceCap 660 or 430 to use depending on which I keep to run my 65 gallon.

I think if I hadnâ€™t already bought the MH setups for my 65, and could have done it again, I would have gotten the DE HQI for solely for their smaller size.

Thanks, and look forward to all your feedback.
Craig

compulou · 08/19/2006, 09:54 AM

NICE!!! Good luck dude. I don't know why so many people have heat related issues with the 65's. I have one with MH and don't need a chiller. Tank stays pretty much stays @ 78 all the time. My House's A/C is on @ 78 during the days in the week, 75 @ night and on the weekends.

Good luck though looks like it will be a lot of fun putting together!!! Keep us informed.

thesaent14 · 08/19/2006, 10:11 AM

hey just to give you a head start firts you tank is coming really good take youre time it toock me a yyear to startup my because the time and all

now to help you out the return to the refeugium try to install somting to stop most of the micro bubles and then add a scund one from the refeugium to the sump because you only have one buble trap and it will be lots of flow

secund you canopy is to low my is 14" hi i use lumenarks now i have a clearence from the water to the reflecto of 3" and my water gets really hot 83 and some and i use fans on my canopy and sump to, you will need to add more hi to you'r canopy if is only 7" hi youre water will get hot really really fast

the last one i see now is the refeugium add at least 2" hi then the sump because the bulkhead is to hi on the glass plus add a T not a 90 elbow like that youre water will flow beter allso the skimmer if you have the 37g refeugium put the skimmer not so close to the return because all the bubles from the skimmer will go back to the tank putit in the secund area before the buble trap like that the trap will help you out to stop the bubles

daywn · 08/19/2006, 12:14 PM

i think he's doing an open top with the canopy hanging from the ceiling,from the way he described it.i could be wrong though.

mkarston · 08/19/2006, 12:31 PM

Thanks for the advise so far.

Yes, I want to suspend the canopy about 6-8" off the water, which would put the MH about 10-12" above the water.

I am working on getting water in the tank and doing the plumbing today. I will hope fully have some updates tomorrow.

Craig

Husky_1 · 08/19/2006, 01:03 PM

Glad to see you started your thread, did you start curing your rock yet?

Rogger Castells · 08/19/2006, 01:33 PM

Craig, Great looking tank project, one suggestion I will make is to place at least two drains from refuge to sump, in that way you reduce the posibility of flooding due to air lock , algae stuck, snail.
Also, if I was to do another tank I would like to have the shell of the stand be able to slide out to get access to all three sides, If you could come out with something like this it would be very convenient in the long wrong. Maybe you can velcro the panels. I am working on your pump should have it ready by tonight if not tomorrow morning.

mkarston · 08/24/2006, 06:18 PM

ok.... finally an update. I spen all this past weekend finishing the plumbing. I'm not settled on the large intake pipes to the Dart for the closed loop, but otherwise I'm happy with the way it turned out. As you can see I put up a sheet to cover the "water works" until I do the finishing work on the frame.

The next steps are:
- clean currently curing live rock
- stack my live rock
- complete the finishing work for the stand
- build my light canopy

what do you think so far?

mkarston · 09/07/2006, 04:26 PM

OK, I have made a little more progress. The rock has cured and is now stacked. I still need to get my lighting, RO / DI system, and complete the finishing work on the stand.

What do you think?

Craig

bckane · 09/07/2006, 04:35 PM

Looks Great....

Ludwigia73 · 09/07/2006, 04:58 PM

rockwork looks awesome... can't wait to see it without the curtain... expecting toto to pull it back and the wizard of oz behind it! LOL

mkarston · 09/07/2006, 05:04 PM

Thank you, thank you! Yeah, I can wait until the curtain is gone and is replaced with a nice wood cabnet. You did see the pictures above without the curtain right? It shows all the plumbing.

Craig

Rogger Castells · 09/07/2006, 05:25 PM

Craig, great job! Looks like you are advancing pretty fast, you will be stocking Dorothy in no time.

ek9vboi · 09/07/2006, 10:58 PM

How did I miss this thread? Looks great so far... giving me ideas on a bigger tank already!

mkarston · 09/08/2006, 04:56 PM

Thanks guys. Yeah hopefully it won't be too long before I have some lights over it. Luckly, as you can see from the pictures, the sun light hits the tank pretty good during the day.

Craig

mkarston · 09/10/2006, 05:17 PM

I just added my fuge lights today. Figure I'd post a couple pictures.

gregbot9000 · 09/10/2006, 05:54 PM

what kinda of lights are you using for your fuge?

mkarston · 09/10/2006, 06:24 PM

This one here:
http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page...ctors/1P381951
I got it from:
http://melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

cubano2480 · 09/10/2006, 06:38 PM

looking good!!! keep it like that ...............

mkarston · 09/19/2006, 07:41 AM

OK, I my light rack for this tank is just about finished. The only thing left is to wire the fans, pop in the bulbs, and put it over my tank.
What do you think so far?

As you can see there will be 3 250W DE MH (Phoenix 14K), and 3 80W T5 HO overdriven to about 100W each by an IceCap 660. For these I went with 2 ATI Blue Plus, and 1 ATI AquaBlue Special.

Craig

ek9vboi · 09/19/2006, 09:44 AM

Very nice, clean work.

racermike27 · 09/19/2006, 09:52 AM

looks great

mkarston · 09/19/2006, 09:44 PM

Let there be light!!!

Ok, I finally powered it up. I added a bar in the back of the rack that has 3 fans, and wired them along with the other 2 fans.
I also mounted the ballast inside the stand.

What do you think?

mkarston · 10/06/2006, 06:39 AM

Thought I'd share another photo since a couple of weeks have gone by and I've move in a few tanks and some softies from my other tank.

CiroFuentes22 · 10/06/2006, 07:05 AM

hey can i ask you why you made the hood so small and not the full top of the tank.

08/19/2006, 06:19 AM	#1
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	210 â€“ Build in Progress â€“ Pictures 210 â€“ Build in Progress â€“ Pictures OK, well I finally had some time to take the pictures of my camera and get this thread started. I have planning this 210 build for about a month, and like all projects it started with a story. About 3 months ago I only had a 90 gallon reef tank, then I started become more active in the hobbies again after not giving it too much attention over the past year or so, and wanted to upgrade my lights. Since, I really wanted MHs for the â€œshimmerâ€ affect and the canopy was only 8 inches tall, I decided to put together a 65 gallon reef that I could cost-effectively plan, and build the way I wanted. Well, this 65 wasnâ€™t even 100% cycled and I knew I had a serious heat issue that wasnâ€™t going to go away. The tank was right next to my thermostat, and was causing my A/C to run 24/7, and the tank water was around 85 degrees and I wasnâ€™t willing to make the modifications to my house that would have solved this problems. (cutting holes in the wall for chiller, moving thermostat, etcâ€¦) Then realizing that I wasnâ€™t going to be able to have the tank I wanted in this new 65 either I was done fooling around, sold my 90 gallon, and started to plan this 210 gallon build! I new that with a few adjustments I could pretty much use the equipment I had running my 90 gallon to run my 65, and take all the newly purchased equipment I had bought for the 65 and use it on my 210. 08-12-2006: Here is the night I bought the lumber to build the stand. 08-13-2006: Here are a few shots of the stand built on the wall its going to go against. 08-15-2006: Here is a picture of the sump and fuge. The Fuge will be the large 37 gallon column tank with the hole in the top, and the sump will be smaller 29 gallon tank to the left. I have since moved a couple baffles in the 29 gallon to allow for a larger return area and more overflow room to accommodate this 210. This should put me at about 260 gallons of water volume. 08-18-2006: I got the 210 tank and got it set in place. Before getting the actual tank, I had already decided to order custom wood cabinet doors, paneling, molding, trim, etcâ€¦ from Home Depot. It is a bit expensive, but it will come ready to use finished in the style and color I pick. This allows me to set the tank up on its bare frame, and then once the stuff comes in from Home Depot I will just tack the â€œskinâ€ on to the frame. I will try to keep this thread up-to-date with my progress, but would love to hear your comments. As far as equipment, I plan to pumps for all my circulation, a pan-world 50ps-x for the main return, and a Sequence Dart on a close loop. I currently have nearly 300 lbs of live rock, and is a good mix of hatian, figi, and tonga. For the lights have been back and forth, but as you can see I have a really open floor plan in my house and would really like to try to make my canopy hang from suspension wire to allow some natural sun light to hit the tank as well. Right now the plan is to squeezes 3 250W XM 10K SE MHs and 2 57â€ 80W T5 HO Blue plus bulbs in to a 7â€ tall canopy that will hang about 6â€ above the tank. I already have 2 of the MH setups (bulb, ballast, reflector, & mogul) or and either a IceCap 660 or 430 to use depending on which I keep to run my 65 gallon. I think if I hadnâ€™t already bought the MH setups for my 65, and could have done it again, I would have gotten the DE HQI for solely for their smaller size. Thanks, and look forward to all your feedback. Craig

08/19/2006, 12:14 PM	#4
daywn Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Okeechobee,Florida Posts: 797	i think he's doing an open top with the canopy hanging from the ceiling,from the way he described it.i could be wrong though. __________________ Paul and Dawn Current Tank Info: 180 mixed reef

08/19/2006, 01:03 PM	#6
Husky_1 Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: South FL Posts: 1,541	Glad to see you started your thread, did you start curing your rock yet? __________________ Out of the hobby, but thinking of rejoining Current Tank Info: 92 Reef, 10 Reef

09/07/2006, 04:35 PM	#10
bckane Premium Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Miramar,Fl Posts: 1,845	Looks Great.... __________________ Brian Current Tank Info: 75 AGA Megaflow ,40 Gal Sump/Refugium,6-54W T5 Lighting,120 Lbs. Liverock,ASM G2 Skimmer,2 Seio M620 PH,1 Percula Clownfish - Aquacultured,1 Fire Dartfish,1 Tiger watchman gobie, 1 Clarki Clowns

09/07/2006, 04:58 PM	#11
Ludwigia73 Reef Reef Reef Reef Reef Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Davie, FL Posts: 4,841	rockwork looks awesome... can't wait to see it without the curtain... expecting toto to pull it back and the wizard of oz behind it! LOL __________________ 14" cube (12 gal), LED's Current Tank Info: 125 gallon with 40 gallon sump, LED's

08/19/2006, 09:54 AM	#2
compulou Moved On Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 951	NICE!!! Good luck dude. I don't know why so many people have heat related issues with the 65's. I have one with MH and don't need a chiller. Tank stays pretty much stays @ 78 all the time. My House's A/C is on @ 78 during the days in the week, 75 @ night and on the weekends. Good luck though looks like it will be a lot of fun putting together!!! Keep us informed.

08/19/2006, 10:11 AM	#3
thesaent14 Moved On Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: miami lakes florida Posts: 1,591	hey just to give you a head start firts you tank is coming really good take youre time it toock me a yyear to startup my because the time and all now to help you out the return to the refeugium try to install somting to stop most of the micro bubles and then add a scund one from the refeugium to the sump because you only have one buble trap and it will be lots of flow secund you canopy is to low my is 14" hi i use lumenarks now i have a clearence from the water to the reflecto of 3" and my water gets really hot 83 and some and i use fans on my canopy and sump to, you will need to add more hi to you'r canopy if is only 7" hi youre water will get hot really really fast the last one i see now is the refeugium add at least 2" hi then the sump because the bulkhead is to hi on the glass plus add a T not a 90 elbow like that youre water will flow beter allso the skimmer if you have the 37g refeugium put the skimmer not so close to the return because all the bubles from the skimmer will go back to the tank putit in the secund area before the buble trap like that the trap will help you out to stop the bubles

08/19/2006, 12:31 PM	#5
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	Thanks for the advise so far. Yes, I want to suspend the canopy about 6-8" off the water, which would put the MH about 10-12" above the water. I am working on getting water in the tank and doing the plumbing today. I will hope fully have some updates tomorrow. Craig

08/19/2006, 01:33 PM	#7
Rogger Castells Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Weston, FL Posts: 7,495	Craig, Great looking tank project, one suggestion I will make is to place at least two drains from refuge to sump, in that way you reduce the posibility of flooding due to air lock , algae stuck, snail. Also, if I was to do another tank I would like to have the shell of the stand be able to slide out to get access to all three sides, If you could come out with something like this it would be very convenient in the long wrong. Maybe you can velcro the panels. I am working on your pump should have it ready by tonight if not tomorrow morning.

08/24/2006, 06:18 PM	#8
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	ok.... finally an update. I spen all this past weekend finishing the plumbing. I'm not settled on the large intake pipes to the Dart for the closed loop, but otherwise I'm happy with the way it turned out. As you can see I put up a sheet to cover the "water works" until I do the finishing work on the frame. The next steps are: - clean currently curing live rock - stack my live rock - complete the finishing work for the stand - build my light canopy what do you think so far?

09/07/2006, 04:26 PM	#9
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	OK, I have made a little more progress. The rock has cured and is now stacked. I still need to get my lighting, RO / DI system, and complete the finishing work on the stand. What do you think? Craig

09/07/2006, 05:04 PM	#12
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	Thank you, thank you! Yeah, I can wait until the curtain is gone and is replaced with a nice wood cabnet. You did see the pictures above without the curtain right? It shows all the plumbing. Craig

09/07/2006, 05:25 PM	#13
Rogger Castells Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Weston, FL Posts: 7,495	Craig, great job! Looks like you are advancing pretty fast, you will be stocking Dorothy in no time.

09/07/2006, 10:58 PM	#14
ek9vboi Registered Member. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: South FL Posts: 3,027	How did I miss this thread? Looks great so far... giving me ideas on a bigger tank already!

09/08/2006, 04:56 PM	#15
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	Thanks guys. Yeah hopefully it won't be too long before I have some lights over it. Luckly, as you can see from the pictures, the sun light hits the tank pretty good during the day. Craig

09/10/2006, 05:17 PM	#16
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	I just added my fuge lights today. Figure I'd post a couple pictures.

09/10/2006, 05:54 PM	#17
gregbot9000 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Orlando, Fl Posts: 405	what kinda of lights are you using for your fuge? __________________ _-Greg-_ ----------- "If I had a nickel for every time I was wrong, I'd be broke." Stephen Colbert" Current Tank Info: 20g Display + 10g Sump = my awesome mixed reef tank.

09/10/2006, 06:24 PM	#18
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	This one here: http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page...ctors/1P381951 I got it from: http://melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

09/10/2006, 06:38 PM	#19
cubano2480 Moved On Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: miami fl,on a nice raft Posts: 2,008	looking good!!! keep it like that ...............

09/19/2006, 07:41 AM	#20
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	OK, I my light rack for this tank is just about finished. The only thing left is to wire the fans, pop in the bulbs, and put it over my tank. What do you think so far? As you can see there will be 3 250W DE MH (Phoenix 14K), and 3 80W T5 HO overdriven to about 100W each by an IceCap 660. For these I went with 2 ATI Blue Plus, and 1 ATI AquaBlue Special. Craig

09/19/2006, 09:44 AM	#21
ek9vboi Registered Member. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: South FL Posts: 3,027	Very nice, clean work.

09/19/2006, 09:52 AM	#22
racermike27 Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cooper City, FL Posts: 958	looks great

09/19/2006, 09:44 PM	#23
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	Let there be light!!! Ok, I finally powered it up. I added a bar in the back of the rack that has 3 fans, and wired them along with the other 2 fans. I also mounted the ballast inside the stand. What do you think?

10/06/2006, 06:39 AM	#24
mkarston Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 449	Thought I'd share another photo since a couple of weeks have gone by and I've move in a few tanks and some softies from my other tank.

10/06/2006, 07:05 AM	#25
CiroFuentes22 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Miami (Westcheaster/ Olympia Hights) Posts: 790	hey can i ask you why you made the hood so small and not the full top of the tank.