Non-Garbage Picked 210 Journal

[tekknoschtev]

Buh bud da bah! We have returned. We're still licking the wounds from the losses we incurred when we had two 150 gallon aquariums leak or blow out within a weeks time. But, for some insane reason we persevere and have begun the process of rebuilding officially.

Last Thursday, I ordered a 210 gallon Aqueon (former AllGlass) aquarium with dual overflows I'm fairly certain that I don't entirely grasp the scope of what we've just done, but what's done is done and next Friday we should be driving back home, tank in tow. Today we began the process of modifying the stand to accommodate a much larger tank, most notably the 6" added width.



When we built the 150, we built it to last forever (think surviving the nuclear holocaust, the next ice age, or a combination of earthquakes and tornadoes simultaneously) which included gluing and screwing every joint. We embarked upon this task with the trusty Milwaukee sawzall and a fresh "demolition" blade called "The Ax."



Here's my pop, happy that we're done with the construction. We added a top plate to raise the tank up an additional 1.75 inches to give us a little more room in the sump area.



There I am, acting all tough inside our fish tank stand. All tough while I try ever so hard not to get any paint on my shirt or shorts (they literally are one of the only combinations of clothing that don't have paint on them, a symptom of perpetual remodeling syndrome). We decided that this time we're not skipping out on any steps. The paint is a gloss paint so as to provide a water resistant coating to the inside. The wood inside the old stand was nasty, all of the screws rusty, from the saltwater environment, so anything we can do to prevent that is worth the effort.



Here it sands with one coat of paint. We're probably going to end up putting another coat on, or two, whatever we can do. We still have to put the plywood floor in for the sump, but this is where it stands now.



You know you have a problem when the four garbage cans in front of your house are not full of garbage, but rather RODI water. We remembered how long it took to fill the 150 + sump when we first set that up, so she decided to get the jump on it this time. We're going to continue filling more jugs and containers so that we have the 210 gallons, plus the 40ish for the sump.

I'm excited to have a tank that is drilled. I've loathed our renditions of hang on back overflows since the day that we set it up. We had three or four different setups and now we'll finally be able to have a drilled tank that will work properly (it will dangit). I am so encouraged by everyone who enjoyed the "Garbage Picked 150 Journal" and it has motivated me to do the same thing for our new setup since it will essentially be entirely new. There are provisions for drilling through the wall eventually to have a 100 gallon sump and other stuff in the laundry room. But that'll be next summer, as it'll require a lot of demo in the laundry room.

We have (I hope still) two silver scats in our frag tank as the aiptasia has run rampant since our last one died during the 150's second explosion. We've already begun the process of assembling a list of fish we'd like to have in the tank. My mom picked up two percula clowns, and are hoping that they'll take up residence in the RBTAs. I don't know how likely that is as they've been in the same 40 gallon tank with the anemones for a while now and have show no interest other than to chew on my finger when I stick it in.

So, now that the cats out of the bag, I kind of feel a bit weirded out by this whole situation. But it'll be a fun experience, I hope.

[fishtal]

Cool! Welcome back Good to see someone else with a big project

[lemkerailroad1]

sounds good cant wait to see more pics and info

[wrestler669]

Oh come on I loved the mad scientist overflow. Can't wait to see what becomes of this.

[Mike]

Very nice on the non garbaged picked tank stand

[Tim!]

Cool... Glad you went with a "real" tank this time around - and also got the built-in overflows.

It does cost a bit more but over the life of the tank (well, MOST tanks!!!), it'll be more than worth - plus the improvement in plumbing / filtration aspects.

Can't wait to see more!

[tekknoschtev]

My dad and I continued work on the stand today, installing the floor and the side supports for the door and electrical. We're going to have a new setup for the electrical, which should keep things more organized. Its all got a nice coat of paint to help keep water from ruining it. Were money no object, I'd dip or coat the thing in plastic so it was truly water proof.

We also managed to cut the skin pieces out of the birch plywood. My mom is going to take some time this week and stain them to match the doors that she did a bang up job finishing! Then we're adding some nice molding to really finish it off nicely. While the tank is cycling I'll be rebuilding the canopy as well, to get it really looking nice.

I've gotta get the sump cleaned up and reconfigured next time I'm home. Having had the experience of knowing how it should work, I'm excited to finally get it to that stage! We're probably still going to use the Mag 12 for a return pump, but I might try and configure it to be run externally. The Mag 9.5 is still going to drive the skimmer, which will still be the Kent Marine Nautilus 24 EX. In the tank, we're going to have to figure out some new things for flow. I'm thinking about looking at those new hydor pumps, maybe getting 2 or three of them in there. We'll still have the two 250W visitherm stealths to heat the tank, given that they barely turned on with the 150's system.

I'm definitely going to be building racks to support the rocks. I am dead set against having a rock wall in this tank. Ideally there will be lots of open spaces, some open sand bed showing, and lots of room for coals ranging from SPS corals down to softies, and everything in between. It'll actually probably end up being mostly "in between" LPS corals but I want to have the ability to do whatever. Given that the tank is 29" deep, I think we'll be able to handle it. All in all, it's going to be sweet - I guarantee it.

Originally Posted by fishtal

Cool! Welcome back Good to see someone else with a big project

Glad to be back. We never really left but its nice to be back with a big tank.

Originally Posted by lemkerailroad1

sounds good cant wait to see more pics and info

Its going to be a long process, that's for sure. I'll try to updated more info sometime this week in regards to equipment and other details.

Originally Posted by wrestler669

Oh come on I loved the mad scientist overflow. Can't wait to see what becomes of this.

It had its time and place. It worked, but just. I'm so very excited to have a drilled tank now - its really impossible to put into words. We're going to have to DIY up some nice plumbing, but once that's done we'll be in business!

Originally Posted by Mike

Very nice on the non garbaged picked tank stand

We're off to a good start! Thanks

Originally Posted by scooby doo

Cool... Glad you went with a "real" tank this time around - and also got the built-in overflows.

It does cost a bit more but over the life of the tank (well, MOST tanks!!!), it'll be more than worth - plus the improvement in plumbing / filtration aspects.

Can't wait to see more!

I blame/thank you for your suggestions to look into the AGA style tanks. It did cost a pretty penny. Actually it cost 28 times as much as our "garbage picked" tank, but we'll try not to think of it in terms of $$$s, but rather in terms of happiness, which is sure to be great!

[redrocket]

its great u didnt give up on the hobby. i cant wait to read more

[skoltuniak]

I followed your last thread and I'm glad to see you back!

[fecay886]

and no doubt follow this one too!

[Detroit_306]

cool man, good to see you back, im gonna have to come check this thing out when its up and running

[John]

Very cool, btw one pic link is dead.

[tekknoschtev]

Originally Posted by Johnos

Very cool, btw one pic link is dead.

Fixed, thanks for catching it! I'll have to see if my pop can send me the photos from Sunday's work as the stand looks a bit different now too.

[tekknoschtev]

Lots going on in the Schroeder household these days. I'm in Lansing, working full time and working on getting the house fixed up. My folks, brother and sister are home working on the tank and getting the house ready for a potentially cool surprise.

This past weekend we finished cutting out the skin for the tank, and yesterday and today my family took to staining the skin and getting it poly-ed as well. My mom isn't thrilled with the results, since we opted for 1/8" birch plywood instead of 3/8" oak plywood ($16 vs $40, and we need at least three sheets for the skin and canopy) and it doesn't quite match the oak doors in color, and the grain is running orthogonal to that of the doors. I'm confident that with some nice molding, no one will balk at the tank AND given that its comparison is to an unfinished dirty stand before, this is going to be sharp. It is my understanding that the front skin was glued on and is currently sitting under bricks to hold it down nicely. Tomorrow they're going to tack on the side skins and then begin the process of recessing the hinge mounts so the doors close nice and flush so as to prevent light leakage from the fuge light.

I've made the executive decision to not use VHOs for the fuge light. Too much excess light leaked over to the skimmer causing an unusually thick layer of coraline algae to grow on the inside. That, and it really was wasted light because it just escaped to light up the inside of the stand. We're, instead, opting for a clamp lamp or two with some CFL flood lamps (buggered if I could remember the brand that seemed to be the hot choice around here a while ago, but we're going with something similar). The chaetomorpha we were able to save from the blow-out of the 150 is growing violently and I know is ready to be in its new home.

We're going to redo the electrical a bit, and move the plugs to the back and out of the way, pushing the switches more forward in an easier to access area. I'm also debating whether or not I can hide the ballasts on top of the canopy. The new canopy design will allow for them to be there, structurally, but I'm not sure if they'll be far enough back to be hidden nicely. That'll free up a ton of space in the stand, and get some of the heat-producing equipment out of the way. In that same line of thought, I keep tossing around the idea of plumbing the return pump to run externally, which I think I can pull off without too much hassle. I do know that plumbing this thing is going to cost a small fortune though, especially since we want to do it right. I'm going to hunt down some DIY adjustable drain pipe ideas, I think I have one sketched out mentally - just need to squeeze in a trip to Home Depot to think things through. Adding to the plumbing cost is the fact that I want to build a rack for all of the live rock too.

All in all, I am very excited with how things are progressing. And why shouldn't I be, my family is doing most of the work at this point! (For which I am very thankful!) Ideally speaking, the tank should be to Preuss by Friday and we'll be picking it up in short order. My dad has already planned on taking a half day Friday to drive up and get it. We're just going to have to bribe a few of my friends back home to help unload it. After that, the fun really begins.

Again, I am thankful for the kind words everyone. Hopefully I can foster this thread to be somewhat of a sequel (and a good one at that) to the Garbage Picked 150 Journal, a thread for which we have received countless positive comments about.

[schroeders5]

Hmmmmmmm! Something is wrong with this picture. The son is away while the parents do the work. I'm going to have to see what we can do to change this around a bit. Or should I look at it as "I realy trained him well"

The Dad