dear journal,here we go again-200g build: to be continued.....on to new dreams:)
 

well its been decided im shuttin it down and startin it up,im buyin another tank then im dropping my other 4 tanks selling it all but my skimmer,pump and some coral and starting on the tank ive been wanting since the beginning:) i never like the look of rectangle tanks and i hate being limited for space and especially view.the plan is still early in the makings but a tank design has been chosen and the spot has been picked:) i am selling my 110reef and 33gmixed reef and 20mantis tank and 120g oscar tank plus all thats with it to fund this little project:) the tank i have chosen is going to be 48x42x20 and is going to go in my dining room as i dont have a dining room table anyways lol its going to be roughly 150gals the exact dimensions are still being worked on,i went this direction so i can walk right around the whole tank,should be easy to maintain with lots more places for corals and dedicated areas:).i am going to have the tank custom made with a trimless top and beveled and polished edges.my sump will also be custom made to include a large refuge and fragtank, another bonus with all the room underneathe:)im really undecided on lights reactors dosers etc as ive always bought second hand or done without:)

the tank is going to have a section roughly a quarter of the tank floor boxed out just for my snowflake eel as his appetite for delicates is getting bigger :) its going to be made from acrylic drilled with many holes and removeable for any reason necessary.

the tank is going to have a coast to coast overflow with three return lines and three drain lines, two return's for the tank and one for the eel's den,the eels den will be built onto the overflow.im still looking for suggestions on if i should have more return lines to the farther corners where it will be 36" wide , or leave it at two from the back?? trying to stay away from powerheads for a bit anyways:)

im awaiting some quotes this week for my tank and in the meantime i will be going into my basement to build a loadbearing wall,and posting a for sale add for my fish and coral, im going to be keeping a few items as i cant bring my self to sell it all especially my zoas and carpet plus ill be keeping my puffer,eel and cinn clowns:)

wish me luck and hopefully ill have an answer about my tank this week :)cheers:):)

heres a pic of the spot in my living room where the tank is going it holds my 33g now but soon it will be the only tank in the house:)

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1283931465


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1283931465

im going to be looking for help and suggestions from you guys on designing my sump and using up the space i have down there as best as possible plus im looking for suggestions for lighting,also on other things i should add like reactors.i want to have a large refuge plus ill be having a frag tank also.im going to be keeping my skimmer a vertex in-sump 180 and my mag 12 the rest is from scratch so all or any suggestions are greatly appreciated:) thanks

Wow! Ambitious project, Reefwars. I wish you luck and will be checking your posts for you journey. Wish I can get mine going soon. That lottery ticket just won't do its job!! I love this hobby! Lenny.

thanks lenny, im really excxited and happy plus it will be alot easier and cheaper with one tank:) its going to be all new too not much being bought second hand and i want it to be as modern as possible with everything running automated and controlled by controller or pc:) im going to be spending alot to get a nice light and have my sump running with everything i can think of.

pmed:)

hey guys so ive been thinking about the lights for my new tank really undecided on what i want. i have 4' of square space to light up at 20" deep the livestock is going to be mostly zoas and lps and clams i will have some anemones in there maybe some sps depending on what kind:)

what are my best choices for lights im going to be buying new and ive never bought new lights before lol i want to get something with moonlights and id like to stay with halides but the times they are a changin so someone pls sell me on something else:) thanks guys:):)

Got one quote in waitng for another To compare:) also got my tanks for sale and sold about 75% of my livestock yesterday:):) hopfully I'll have something to take pics of soon but wanted to keep you updated:)

I have also decided to go with the centeroverflow to gain a little more viewing space and hide everything:):)

well the first step is done i have most of my stuff sold and my main display went out the door today:) i have a 50g tank which was my sump from my 110 mixed reef and i have my rock im keeping plus some fish and coral they will be stored in there untill dec-jan im hoping anyways lol:):)

finally got my first payment of two made for my tank, and it will be finished in one month, tomorrow i build two load bearing walls under my floor to support the weight then i can start to build my stand.the plan is to frame and ply the stand then im going to be doing a drystack stone similar to fishoholic's beautiful tank ,thanks laurie hope your not mad im stealing your stand design lol:):).afterwards it will be a granite top with a cut out of the tank in the middle where it will sit on 3/4" plywood and 2" s&m styrofoam:) thanks

so far so slow lol well im hoping my tank will be here on the 24th of october so ive started on the stand so as i can get my sump measurements into the builder . ive decided because of the room that i wont be doing a 6" shelf now its just going to be a 3" shelf. here are some pics of the stand in its framing stage ive built a viewing window into the stand using acrylic , from there i will be able to view my frag tank and refuge and on the opposite corner will be 2 large magnetic doors with enough room for me to enter if need be , also from the large doors in the back i will have access to all the equipment easily enough:):)

here are some pics although untill i get my final measurments for the overflow box i have had to leave out some of the framing and braces:)

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344345

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344416

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344416

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344416

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344345

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344345


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287344344

ill add some more pics later as im still working on the stand today:):) cheers!!!!

word on the wire is tank will be here on sunday:) cant wait to get this in my house:)

I love building stands and that looks hella beefy nice start to it. Makes me wanna start sawing lumber again.

Few other things:

- the rock type and layout in that tank in the bg looks awesome. Can't recall if I commented on it in your build thread but I really like that.

- that is the most overbuilt t5 retro fit I have EVER seen! You could stack a small tank on top of it! RAD.

Haha thanks being a carpenter def helps when it comes stand time lol and that little tank is my 33g zoa tank, Ive never been happy with the layout untill lately, it started off as just zoa's on round rocks and PVC tunnels running throught out for my snowflake eel now it's all grown over you can't see any piping and I've added about 20lbs of tonga branch which purpled up nicely in just 3weeks:) now when my tanks a little more mature I'll be glueing spsto all the branches. It's got a million caves and overhangs but the downside it's horribly packed lol I don't even have room for a tiny zoo frag I sit there twenty mins going where in he'll am I going to put this lol. That tank has been running for a few years and has had about fifty overhauls and 5 new dirEctions lol but someday I'll be happy with it:) and some day I may even get a good FTS.

That t5 is something else lol it's all actinics 39w blue and I use them during the late evening or to show off some zoo colors but it's gonna be in storage soon like the other ten lights I have lol:)

if anyones curious the square hole in the front of the stand is a window to view my refuge and fragtank from the couch, its hard to tell but the window is in place:)

Holy cow it is. Gotta love (new) acrylic sheesh.

tank was delivered today, and i have a minor set back the tank was broke coming into my house it was dropped on its corner by my helper and now i need to replace some panels so i get to do some cutting for the next week, it wont be too hard to replace the two panels im just glad the bottom didnt get affected. on the plus side we got some measurements for my sump and when its built ill be getting two replacement panels and getting them put in when the sump gets here:) so ....all in all im pleased:) and the tank is magnificent its huge ill post some pics later when i get a camera:)

id like to thank the builder for doing such an amazing job on this tank every inch has perfection written all over it and im very very impressed with the built in sanctuary and everything eles right down to all the beveled holes:) this truely is a tank i can have displayed in my house with no crap black plastic showing or no cut corners.thanks guys you did an amazing job:)

Oh man what a bummer about the broken glass. :(

heres a few quick phone pics of the tank the last one is showing the crack:)http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287957283



http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1287957283





here is the crack ill be taking out the cracked panel and putting in a new one while the sump is being built:)

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...uild/008-1.jpg

the second pic is going to be the front so my tank is split into and from the front you should see a mix of both.....im still way up in the air on whats going to go into what but lately ive been thinking small mini reef in the small section which is about 60g and some sort of non reef friendly section in the " L " part of the tank , i have a snowflake eel and at least one of the sections needs to accomodate him as he grows , i gotta say though im loving the dimesions so far im going to be figuring out the flow here soon and i think i will run both sections off different pumps and use a powerhead in the end of the " L "


all together there are 3 return drains coming from the over flow and 4 drains in the overflowbox returning to the sump so i have quite a few options for flow without having to use powerheads but we will see how it works and i guess its time to go pump shopping i already have a mag 12 at my disposal i could use for the 60g section and i could match it up with a higher mag for the rest but ill have to gather up some info and who knows i may not even use the mags:)

Hey Denny the tank looks awesome! Cant wait until you get this one running. Bummer about the glass, it looks like its gonna be a lot of work. Congrats!

I have seen the tank and its AMAZING :mrgreen: The workmanship is second to none, but considering its done with a CNC you could expect nothing less. Cannot wait to see this thing with water in it (whenever that may be)

I hope that it'll be as good as new, but you will be the envy of Edmonton reefers when it's up and running with your zoa collection and fat healthy yellow tang.

Hey, Denny thanks for the kind words and I am glad you like your tank. That was a shitty thing to have happen, but we will get it cleaned up and looking new soon with your new sump. Try and have a good night.

no worries , tomorrow night im taking out the panels and going to clean any silicone ,the way i see it stuff happens and you got to think positive and tomorrow evening me and a buddy are gonna get it fixed right up and ready for new glass:) all in all though i must have spent a few hours this evening looking at it and thinking how glad i am so far to have added the divider section:) really gives me a good ability to mix things up a bit:)


im looking forward to getting my sump built i think its gonna be a really nice layout with finally enough room to play with:)

well tonight i am taking apart the tank lol well some of it anyways, i have already removed some of the eurobracing that came off easy enough and now we are working on the broken panels , i wanted to get this done while everything is still new and setting:)


and the plus side i just about got my lights gathered up i have 2 pendants coming from a friend plus some live rock and i am picking up the other two pendants plus a t5 fixture tomorrow evening from another friend:)

here are some more pics of the tank and the crack:)


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1288051922

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1288051922


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1288051965

Looking good so far Denny! Hope you got a decent discount on the new glass. When are you planning on getting water in there?

it wasnt anybodys fault so im not expecting anything whatever needs to happen im completely willing to take on and "reefcanada" was more than happy to help get it fixed so while im getting my sump built i will have 2 more panels also made to fit back in.

more good news!!!!:):) i got all the tank cleaned up and glass is out with no damage to the rest of the tank plus i got every little shed of silicone off and tank is cleaned and ready for new glass:):)


john it will be quite a while untill water hits it my plan is to move in april so untill then i am going to build a teamporary stand i can take apart and ill use the time i have untill then to get everything gathered up and anything built that needs building then i will run a freshwater course hopefully in december and see if everything runs the way i like and then once i am in my new house i will start building it up to where i want it:):) untill then ill just keep stockpiling the ol zoa tank lol

Denny, I just read about your crack! Oops. The tank, I mean.
Sorry to see that. You have such wonderful out-look on life, are you a yoga practitioner?
And I see that the stand is looking wonderful. Cannot wait to see it!
I would love to see how you rig up your sump and the plumbing, so I can show Tim how it's done. We are trying to figure all that ourselves.
Chin-up. But of course you don't need that. Cheers.

Awsome that you got the glass out, did you have to break it or did you get it with a razor?

well really its not that big a deal i mean it took us under an hour to get the broken glass out and since i am having my sump made by the same guy were going to get two more made up.and he was nice enough to offer to come up once the sump is done and get the new panels in:) so im happy and i dont see it as a set back at all:):)


as for the plumbing well thats gonna be a doozie , im gonna have quite the sump made up using just about all my space so its a big sump from the front view in the window there will the section with the low flow refuge and frag tank it will be split in to two it will take up roughly half my sump im also having it made so theres two main drains both ending in filtersock holders.there will be a large section also for my skimmer and enough room to accomodate either two decent pumps or one very large pump in case i change my mind about that.there is also a section just for media reactors etc. :):) sump should be finished within a month im hoping anyways:)

i did it with about 30 brand new razors some of which was given to me some i went and bought i wanted to be sure i got it all off. so now i have two almost full pieces of glass which i will be giving back if he wants them im sure they could be used for something else i really didnt want to break them lol:):)

The sump sounds like an all in one sump anyone could ever ask for! Glad to hear that you will be getting help on replacing the panels. A guy like you deserves the best! By the sounds of it your tank guy seems like a good guy, I might get his number from you in case I need one made for myself in the future!

very good guy was very fast getting back to me with prices ,invited me down to see his tanks and took care of delivery plus he kept me informed and then the tank speaks for itsself its done perfectly as i looked it over every edge is perfectly in line with the other all the holes have been polished and beveled and he was more trhan willing to help me find the dimesions i wanted and make them work.....plus i should mention that he gives a fair price for great quality work:):)

Good call on saving the glass cause I am sure there was at least two 3' sections of good stuff that can be reused and its saphire glass too?

No tank was too expensive as it is lol so just standard glass, the pieces that all came out are full sections with just a small triangle out of the corner:)

wicked news I got a file fish today :) finally getting my zoa tank cleaned up with any luck:)

Hey Denny,
Would love to comer over to see your sump build when its done.
2nd frag party?? Hint, hint:wink::wink:
Lenny.

what happened to your other filefish?? where did you get the new one? I need one as mine didn't make it through the whole anemone getting chopped up and poisoning the tank episode :(