Piscez 2nd go around fresh start 220Gal - no buckets no barrels please

[Piscez]

Hello all, well its good to be back after a 5 year absence. Won't bore you all with details but basically I previously had a 120 Gal : http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=62786 back in 2009, all done with Anthony's help but due to family issues I had to shut it down in May of 2010, the plan was to move it to my new home, but after losing all my fish at a fish sitters place, it kind of killed my spirit so I sold the complete tank to a fellow Canreefer. Back to present day... I have a co worker who also used to be in the saltwater game and we got chatting and we both decided to get nano's. So out I went and got a 24gal, I had been poking around the forum looking and Anthony noticed asking if I was coming back. When I told him I was getting a nano he humorously knew that wasn't going to cut it and asked what I would really like! I told him since it would be going in my dining room in place of the buffet I really wanted a large viewing pane so a 220gal 72"x30"x24" with emphasis on the 30" height and ideally on a stand that would be 40" high as I have 10 foot ceilings and would like to do a wainscot paneling all the way around the dining room with drop out panels covering the stand to give to a clean finished look. Well Anthony doesn't mess around, the same day I picked up my Nano he calls me to tell me he has a friend selling the exact setup, so I purchased this:



Even the stand was a close to perfect 39.5"!!!

So what a great start, I had a one other requirement if I was going to make this happen and this system fit the bill. I wanted a large sump as I wanted to section off a 50 gallon portion to use as my water change and ATO reservoir. Low and behold this system had a 125 gallon sump. Other supplied equipment was a 6 Ft T5 lighting with built in timer and moonlights, Euroreef RC-250 skimmer, Titanium 1000watt heater , tunze powerhead, Vortech MP40 wavemaker, plumbing etc, all the live rock and sand.

I had a custom home builder friend come over to see about the weight issue being this was going on the 2nd floor of my 3 level home. The wall behind the tank is a 3 level load baring one as well as the outside wall to the right of the tank and even better it is all over the garage with steel girders running underneath... perfect!

The next plan was to get my plumber pal over to run me a water line and a drain system, I decided buckets and barrels were not going to be part of my water change regime I've got say this was mean't to be everything just fell into place even the drain setup ran perfectly a turn of a ball valve to stop the flow into the sump and another to direct it into the drain from the dining room into the garage out the garage though the ceiling into the gutter down pipe!.... sweet. To add the 50 gal new water I just turn off one return pump turn the ball valve, open another ball valve which is connected to a 3rd return pump sitting in my reservoir and the job is done
The reservoir then once again becomes my ATO. I know there is a bit of a debate about using tap and Prime VS R/O water, but I just went with the easier route and trusted the advice I was given from a couple of seasoned reefers they have been using tap and Prime for over 4 years ( since the pre Olympics GVRD water treatment upgrade) with no issues so I'm good with that.

I will post up pics of my tap and drain system very soon stay tuned, thanks!

[Piscez]

On the move, sure pays to have friends and family, especially those with a truck!!!!




Prep for position:




Setting up:



Getting ready for placement:



Tank in place:




Sump baffle build:

[FishyFishy!]

Looks like a great re-start! I'll be tagging along for the ride.

[hondas3000]

yeah I ran into Anthony too and he helps me out a lot, and he close to my house . They said salt water tank is easy to upkeep once its running but I find that its not, beside the water change, salt have to get mix and dosing and testing for coral. Your sump is nice, it do multi things and save space as well.

[Myka]

Looks like a great start! You might learn to dislike the 30" depth though once you realize you have to use tongs to do anything. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished renovations though. It looks like a nice tank - Aqueon/AGA mega flow? I like the trim on it. Although I imagine you're going to cover up all the trim with your renovation...?

Fwiw, your tank is 72 x 24 x 30" (not the other way around). Length x width x height.

[Piscez]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Looks like a great re-start! I'll be tagging along for the ride.

It is thank you I'm lovin it

Originally Posted by hondas3000

yeah I ran into Anthony too and he helps me out a lot, and he close to my house . They said salt water tank is easy to upkeep once its running but I find that its not, beside the water change, salt have to get mix and dosing and testing for coral. Your sump is nice, it do multi things and save space as well.

The sump with built in mixing station/ATO, with plumbed line and turn key drain were essential for me, which IMO make things EASY'r

Originally Posted by Myka

Looks like a great start! You might learn to dislike the 30" depth though once you realize you have to use tongs to do anything. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished renovations though. It looks like a nice tank - Aqueon/AGA mega flow? I like the trim on it. Although I imagine you're going to cover up all the trim with your renovation...?

Fwiw, your tank is 72 x 24 x 30" (not the other way around). Length x width x height.

thanks Myka for the correction, my bad, but actually I love the 30" depth for the rock scaping etc I wanted specifically this depth for the overall view when on the the stand its close to 6 ft tall to give you that TA DAH factor which I wanted in the dining room. Fortunately I'm 6"2" with arms like an ape so on my 3 step stool I can reach the sand bed which is pretty deep!

[rishu_pepper]

Saw this tank yesterday, looking awesome, Andrew! Take a pic of the majestic when he comes out

[Myka]

Looking good! Man you have a ton of rock in there!

[Piscez]

Originally Posted by Myka

Looking good! Man you have a ton of rock in there!

LOL thanks, actually that's half as much as it originally came with! I'll post a couple of recent day shots later, there's a lot of tunnels etc it's not just a piled up wall, and almost every rock has some corals so don't really want to remove any more

[Piscez]

Here my latest day pics, dealing with a little bit of a cyano issue but anyway.

Left side:




Center:





Right side: