lastlight's 225

[lastlight]

Well this one's going to be slow. The wife prefers me to pay the bills and keep our daughter happy so I'll build my new reef on the scraps she tosses me I guess!

Here's what I had planned:

- 225 gallon tank (72x30x24, all 1/2" except 3/4" bottom, black silicone, 3 sides starfire, eurobraced, black plexi back, external overflow)
- Sump (dimensions unknown right now)
- (3) 250w mh in Luminarc III's
- (4) 39w t5 supplementation
- Bubble King 250 Supermarine
- Geo 618 calcium reactor
- Geo Kalkwasser reactor
- (2) Eheim 1262 returns, each feeding a seperate manifold on top of the tank
- (2) Tunze 6101 Streams
- (1) Tunze Wavebox (This is a maybe if I feel brave)
- Profilux controller

Here's what I have actually done to date:

- 225 gallon tank (72x30x24, all 1/2" except 5/8" bottom, black silicone, no starfire, eurobraced, black painted back, external overflow)
- Sump, fuge and water change reservoir
- Sfiligoi Stealth 12x80W
- Bubble King 250 Supermarine
- Dart Gold feeding a seperate manifold on top of the tank
- (1) Tunze 6101 Stream, (2) Tunze 6100 Stream
- Tunze 7095 Multicontroller
- Tunze Osmolator
- Ranco dual-stage temperature controller
- Approx 150lbs dry rock
- Approx 100lbs sand (thanks Coleus)
- 4 stage ro/di (thanks Snappy)

[lastlight]

Sunday was my first bit of progress on the build. I went and picked up a bunch of 2x4's, wood glue, 3/4" plywood for the top and bottom, 5/8" plywood for the sides and a whole schwack of screws.

First step was to build the bottom. I assembled the basic bottom frame and then attached it to the 72x30 3/4" bottom to square it up. Every part of the stand is glued and screwed.



Next I attached the verticals bits that help align the top frame.




Here you can see the top frame which is the same as the bottom one.



I temporarily pegged the top frame up before I cut and installed the other vertical 2x4's.



There are 2 additional 2x4's pinned around each of the corners. These are the ones actually bearing all the weight. No screws are under load. The weight is on the top frame, then onto the 8 2x4's and then onto the bottom framework. The first 4 2x4's merely serve to help me get the load-bearing ones on straight etc. Things are leveled up by adjusting the height of each corner individually on the 4 guide posts. My floor was not totally level so this fixed that nicely.







Next I cut and put in the floor of the stand.



After the floor was in I added extra vertical bracing. Two in the front and one in back. The front ones are spaced as close as possible to allow a 4 foot sump to be pushed in straight.



The 3/4" top goes on.



And here's two views of where I finished at tonight. The 5/8" sides have been put on. These prevent the stand from moving from front to back. A front will also be put on to prevent shifting in the other direction. I can run at this thing and it budges not a hair.





Well that's a wrap. Not bad for a 'lazy' Sunday afternoon!

[Pan]

Looks good.

Do you use that fireplace a lot?

[mseepman]

Looking good so far. Looks like you found the perfect spot for the tank, but like he's indicating above, watch the use of that fireplace for heat.

[TJSlayer]

Very nice stand is very similar to the one I just built and setup

http://http://www.saskreef.ca/forums...?threadid=5263

[digital-audiophile]

Nice build! I love the picture on the wall too!

[Parker]

Looks great.. Look forward to seeing it come together!

[Tom R]

Great start.

Building the Reef on the scraps she tosses you looks like it will be top of the line. That equipment list is an impressive start.

Tom R

Originally Posted by lastlight

Well this one's going to be slow. The wife prefers me to pay the bills and keep our daughter happy so I'll build my new reef on the scraps she tosses me I guess!

Here's what I have planned:

- 225 gallon tank (72x30x24, all 1/2" except 3/4" bottom, black silicone, 3 sides starfire, eurobraced, black plexi back, enternal overflow)
- Sump (dimensions unknown right now)
- (3) 250w mh in Luminarc III's
- (4) 39w t5 supplementation
- Bubble King 250 Supermarine
- Geo 618 calcium reactor
- Geo Kalkwasser reactor
- (2) Eheim 1262 returns, each feeding a seperate manifold on top of the tank
- (2) Tunze 6101 Streams
- (1) Tunze Wavebox (This is a maybe if I feel brave)
- Profilux controller

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

Looks good.

Do you use that fireplace a lot?

We moved into the house in Feb and haven't even turned it on to burn the nasty film off the glass yet. We rarely used our last one either so I'm safe there.

Originally Posted by digital-audiophile

Nice build! I love the picture on the wall too!

Hey thanks! Im actually selling prints of that if you're *really* interested. Man that was shameless.

Originally Posted by Tom R

Great start.

Building the Reef on the scraps she tosses you looks like it will be top of the line. That equipment list is an impressive start.

Tom R

Hey everyone starts out ambitiously! I'm sure that list will change when I realize it's going to take me 10 years to get it all together hehe. My wife is actually really excited to have a tank in the house again and she's going to disneyland after waiting her whole life so I plan to leverage that after!

[Lance]

The wave box would be very cool! Go for it!