280g Mixed Reef
 

Well I figure I should finally get around to doing a tank journal. Unfortunately, it won't have the detail of some of the other great build threads here. My 280g has been running for almost four months now. The majority of the livestock came from my 125g which was established for a year and a half before this upgrade happened. Thanks to Canreef, the 125g which was my first saltwater tank was a great success. A year and a half after getting the saltwater addiction it was time for an upgrade.

I picked up the tank used off of a fellow canreefer and I must say without those suction cups I don't think the tank would have made it home in one piece.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P5230575.jpg

Made it through the door
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P5230578.jpg

Tipped it down the stairs
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P5230579.jpg

and into the basement
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P5240583.jpg

Here is the stand that I slapped together and I have still yet to finish it
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P6190602.jpg

and the sump on wheels waiting for its resting place
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P6190600.jpg

A few more pics with water in the tank:

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P7090698.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P7090699.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P7090702.jpg

Nice overflow! Man I wish my 280g was like that.

Tagging along, can't wait to see the rest of it all, if since it's already running! :)

It has four 1" bulkheads which probably wouldn't have been my first choice if I had built it custom but has ended up working quite well.

I like the sump design, especially the dropped down edge for skimmer accessibility.

Look forward to seeing more pics... :mrgreen:

Awesome tank man.... We need more pictures though!!!

+1 somebody was thinking when they designed that one!! :mrgreen:

I'm looking at building a tank stand something along that design. Can I ask why you reinforced the top part of the stand but not the bottom (the cross pieces)?

I'm glad I had the foresight to do that. It was a DIY project with a hole saw and an angle grinder with a diamond wheel. Now I can get my skimmer in and out for cleaning and am able to upgrade if I choose to.


I'm working on it.:biggrin:

My guess would be so the sump can sit flat on the floor... and not perched up higher on "rails".

so the stand doesn't really need them then? Sorry to hijack, I just wanted to clarify for my own info :biggrin:

Ya Sean.....bout time you got around to bragging about your beast:biggrin:

Yes that is one reason. I knew the space between the top of the sump and the stand was going to be tight. With a 30" tall tank I need a ladder to get into it as it is. The cross braces on the top rail are to keep the 6' lengths from twisting/warping. I read that was a possibility in another stand building thread. I contemplated using a 2x8 for the top rail with no center support, but again that would increase the overall height. I can live with the center brace.

Nope, all the weight is distributed among the bottom frame. No need for a plywood bottom. Similar in design to metal stands.

Cool! Thanks for the info.

Keep those pics coming! :wink:

Now isn't that interesting .. hmm. I didn't notice that at first because the first picture of the sump doesn't have that !!

So I'm curious how that came to be. Diamond belt sander? Dremel?

(Scissors? :lol:)

I still can't believe that sump cutout was all DIY...that's awesome.

I also love how tall these dang 280s are.

Oh and your electrical 'hub' behind the tank is scary haha!

Drilled two holes with a 1.5" hole saw then used the angle grinder with a a 4" diamond wheel on it. Used the bottom 1/4 of the holes for the curves in the cut. Took all of 15 or 20 mins. Couldn't believe how easy it was.

Yeah, that was temporary. The was a partially finished bar sitting where the tank is now. The bar was wired, conveniently with 2 circuits, those where the wires from it.

Sorry I didn't notice you explained the sump cutout already. :redface:

How far from the edge did the holes go?

Ok here are some more pics. The tank transfer ended up being somewhat of a spur of the moment decision but it ended up going as smooth as you could ask for. Its easy when you have a fully functional tank sitting 10' away to transfer everything into.

Here's the 125 right before it came down:

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...me1980/125.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...e1980/125l.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...e1980/125r.jpg

And a couple shots of everything a day or two after the transfer. Well not everything, there are still a lot of corals in my sump at this point.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P7140750.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/P7140753.jpg

No worries. The chunk of glass I cut out ended up being 2.75" wide. Valuable space.:biggrin:

Things are looking really good :)

Tangs look most happy with the new home.. :mrgreen:

Fast forward. These pics were taken last night. I think a new camera will be on my christmas list this year.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/PA260613.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/PA260618.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/PA260619.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/PA260627.jpg

Shag-a-delic baby!! Love the carpet. :cool: How long have you had the Achilles?

(I almost want one myself, but am scared to try.)

Where on earth did you get that crazy U-shaped piece of rock you have those zoas nestled in? Never seen rock like that before.

Very nice! I remember when you were just talking about putting a tank there. Love these fast build threads. Instant gratification for the win!! If only those other large builds showed this kind of progress. Ya you know who you are :lol:

nice lookin tank there, i'll bring my camera over this week for some shots

My rock is in Washington. Things are going to proceed very quickly come Monday!

I don't want excuses, I want results!

By the way Sean, I noticed that there were 4 pipes leading in (or out) of the overflow. Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the thread, but was curious what they were. I can see that two of them are herbie overflows (one main and one emergency), but can't tell what the two middle ones are?

Nice Tear drop you have in their. Maybe I will come with Jtaylor420 and have a few beers this weekend so I can check it out.

Hmmm, make you a deal: Take back the YTOOL problem fixing and I'll release more progress pictures in my build thread. Geez, don't you work for a living?? What ridiculous company do you work for that lets you slack off so much? Get a job you bum.

I would be more than happy to take it back! It was only taken off my plate because the "specialist" was going to get it fixed much much much much sooner than I would have ??? :lol::lol::lol: AND, I would have more work to do if a certain someone would fix the ytool already so that I could get some data to play with :P

Okay, enough with the hijacking. I have another question! Are you going to sell your old tank ? Or have you already sold it?

Only had him a few days. So far the rest of the crowd is giving him too hard of a time and he is eating well so I'm hoping for the best.

I picked that piece up as well as a couple other crazy shapes off of a fellow canreefer who was shutting down his tank. And the best part was I only paid like 2 bucks a pound for it all.

Of the four pipes one is completely shut off with a ball valve. The second is partially shut off with another ball valve then with the third one I have a gate valve to tweak the herbie. Then of course the fourth is an emergency drain.

I already sold it.

I started this thread a while back and figure its time to update things. The biggest disappointment was the achilles not making it. The others tangs stressed him out too much and he never had a chance to settle in. A couple months ago I added a purple tang my cousin wanted me to have when he shut down his tank. He get along just fine with everyone, wish I could have said the same about the achilles. Other recent additions include a tailspot blenny, long nose hawk as well as numerous corals. Here are a couple pictures of some new toys as well as some decent livestock pics.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_0858-1.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...IMG_0856-1.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0764.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0780.jpg

Looking forward to this frag growing out.
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...G_0782-1-1.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0783.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0790.jpg

A few more pics including the "mandatory" FTS.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0795.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0803.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0807.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0850.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...0/IMG_0838.jpg

What lights are you using at the moment?