Subman's Jump into the big leagues (225g)
 

So after 4 years of enjoying my 90g I am taking the leap into the BIG tank club. I purchased a 225g from Chris (lapdog2020) It was un-built and I was able to set it up as I wanted. Its dimensions are 72x30x24 with a 48" sump (can't remember the exact dimensions) I wanted a 4' sump so I could build a waterproof enclosure for electronics in the stand under the tank. Here are some pics of the tank build Chris was nice enough to take and send to me.

Glass pieces
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...al/2_photo.jpg

Layout for drains and returns
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...l/2_photo1.jpg

Holes cut
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...l/1_photo3.jpg

Close up of the holes
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...nal/photo4.jpg

Tank assembled
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...l/1_photo1.jpg

Overflow placed
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...l/1_photo2.jpg

End view
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...nal/photo3.jpg

Black acrylic in place
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...nal/photo2.jpg

Thing of beauty!!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...nal/photo1.jpg

wicked!!!!!!!!

nice work!!

Thanks I'm pretty stoked to see it coming along so nicely.

One of the plans I have for it is to finally have a dedicated area in my sump for frags. I actually came from reading your tank journal Cuz. I am going to use tiles like this..
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...l/IMAG1218.jpg
(from a thread on RC)
I bought a AI sol from a canreef member and plan to use it for lighting the frag area. Mostly going to grow zoa's in there for now just because I love them lol
hopefully get some of the rarer ones and get a nice colony before putting it in the DT. (sound like a plan, hopefully it works out like I planned :wink:)

I should also mention it will be sitting on a stand made by grizz. I'm going to use mdf and magnets to make a removable wood fascia. Including a hole and a box mounted to the end with my profilux face pointing out.

It is?? Did I build it already? :noidea:

Tank looks like its comming along nicely! My 212g will be next thing on those tables hopefully... What kind of drain are you going to be using? Are the 2 holes for a herbie?

Yeah You built it for Chris a while back I guess I'm picking it up tomorrow from his place. It was a closer for me..top quality stand!

I'm thinking herbie as I have a durso now and it sounds like a waterfall lol

Tagging along! Welcome to the 225 club :mrgreen:

Herbies all the way, it's nice to be able to watch tv at a low volume when your tank is right next to it and be able to hear clearly. I would highly recommend it!

Couldn't agree more.

This tank looks nice! I can't wait to see this build's progress.

What are those holes in the overflow for?

Nevermind, got it figured out :)

A single drain over flow will also run quiet if it's set up properly. Mine is virtually silent.

I thought herbie was more based on dual drain safety.

Nice set up Subman. Looking forward to seeing more.

Awesome Jason!! I hope you'll also post pics of the skirt once it's built. I need to do one for my tank but would love to see some done before I attempt mine.

Thanks for all the comments everyone heading out to get the stand!

Will do I had the idea in my head for a while now but when I read through reefgirl189's build it came to life hers looks beautiful and is exactly what I wanted to do! Take a read through her build.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=81036

Here is some details on the tank it's extra beefy and heavy!!! (looking for strong volunteers!!)

The tank is 5/8" glass for the sides and 3/4" bottom, eurobraced and black silicone all around. The returns are. two 3/4" and the two drains are 1 1/2".

Whats everyone's opinion on some of my equipment?

Is my bk mini 180 enough skimmer?

3 mp10's?

what return pump?

Not that I have had a tank of that size, but I cant see the mp10's doing much especially with the length of your tank. If your gunna do vortechs I would say mp40 atleast if not mp60.

Yeah, I've got to agree with this. I've got about 12,000 GPH in my 225 and I may be adding some more. Can't have enough flow IMO

yeah I run them across the back of my tank now and they move a lot of water but I think your right :sad:
anyone wanna trade 3 mp10's for 2 mp40's

that's crazy! good luck on your new adventure. :)

funny thing, Jason's been gone for about 2 years. Now he's back with a vengance.

Good to see you back bud!

I can sell you my two brand new mp60wes.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...-59-31_747.jpg

finally got all my rock together in one spot.....holy crap that's a lot of rock!! Even had the magical floating rock.

lol never really gone just hibernating :wink:

This is going to be an awesome setup
Whoever cut those glass holes did a really nice job

I'll wager you get this wet before I do mine
Seems I'm kinda falling behind everyone as I started mine back in Jan and am still fussing
Stupid anal-retentiveness :crazy:

Not seeing any replies on this, I thought I'd chime in.
I don't have a recommendation for you, but your's is only rated up to 200g.
I'd have to say it's only half what you need.
But, it's a quality skimmer, so it may get you by for awhile while you search for one larger.

I'll just call it out now... SKIMZ = poor mans Bubble King. Granted, I dont have alot of skimmer experience, but I rarely touch it and took very little to tune in.

When is the sub sponsored move event happening?

Yeah but...it's a bubble king!! lol. I think I knew the answer before asking just need someone to slap me upside the head and tell me its to small.


Im not sure I could go without a BK now they are sooo good.
I was hoping this weekend but I forgot its Easter sooo.....not sure
:sad:

OK, so I slapped ya
What's the hold up ? :lol:

I'm a Skimz man, but that's 'cause I spent all my money on a Powermodule :razz:

Down the road, who knows what I'll have

Tank is complete now. Trim is done and it's ready to come home....which is why I'm up at 4am in a cold sweat trying to figure out how to get everything done!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8.../3_photo-1.jpg

The main problem (besides getting it downstairs!) is it's going right where my current setup is so it looks like I'll need to tear down, move and re setup the current setup so I can place this tank and take my time getting the carpentry and plumbing done right.
I'm sure it will all come together just having big tank jitters!

Don't take any advice from me at this point as I have been taking things Very slowly. But I will say this;
Do not rush it, get it into place, have a look, plan stuff, take a week, plan it again, look it over, find the flaws, look it over, ...........
I re-made my sump 2 times and re-plumbed my tank once.
That's now my 3rd sump design and my 2nd drain plumbing, in case anyone is keeping track.

Hope all goes well for ya :smile:

I meant to mention, I'm up late too ......
Doing wiring and other stuff. Should be in bed and going that way soon but ran out of supplies and tried to find any little thing to finish before nodding off.
Damned hobby :smile:
Tank's lookin' great. Post more Pics

Actually, I should say, tanks lookin' HUGE :biggrin:
I'm gonna stick with my 75g for awhile, but you bigger guys are gonna help me talk the wife into going back to my 125g, or something the same 6 foot.
I got out of the 6' club due to living room space, but I can't help admire tanks like yours :wink:

Yeah I rushed the plumbing on my current tank and it's TERRIBLE!!! So for 4 years is been noisy and ugly lol

When I brought the stand home my wonderful wife just shook her head and walked away. I Promised this one would look amazing. Now the pressure is on.:razz:

I'm far from an expert but I'll tell you what we did, or you can read it in my build thread.

I had to set up the tank in the same spot as the old one, just like you. So I set up the sump and moved all the corals and livestock and a few live rocks into it with a powerhead and a heater and set up my light overtop of it. I moved the live rock into a rubbermaid BRUTE and stuck a heater and a couple powerheads in there.

Then we took our time. 3 days to move the old tank out, clean it, and help the buyer load it onto their trailer. We moved the new stand and tank into the spot and positioned it properly. Then I filled it, moved all the livestock back in and set it up with the heater, lights and powerheads. I didn't fill it to the drain though. I only had it circulating with a few powerheads. This buys you plenty of time to plumb everything properly. You can run without a skimmer for a few days, it's not a big deal, just do a couple water changes if you are worried about water quality or have a mdoerate to heavy bioload. Then when your plumbing glue cures and you do the leak test and everything's good you don't have to bother transitioning everyone again. They are already in your tank! We had no casualties and no mini cycle after doing it this way. Total days from tear down to having the plumbing finished was a 6 days. It was actually surprisingly easy. I wasn't expecting it to go so well.

Of course if you could set up a temporary tank that would be better but we didn't have one or want to spend the money on one and also we didn't have any other reefer friends up here who could lend us tank space in their set ups, so this was kind of the only option for us.

I have a 30G long hospital tank if you want to take it to house some fish?

I have 2 round tubs you can borrow up to 3 weeks. 40G and 25g.