Joe's Starfire 210

The Grizz · #1 02-13-2010, 03:47 AM

I totally agree with your bother-in-law about the cornor bracing it is a large stand / tank and you dont want a wobble. That is why I built mine like this for a 165 gal - 8' tank:

Nice build so far, that tank is shiny, how mant $$$ did that set you back?

plutoniumJoe · #2 02-13-2010, 03:52 AM

[quote=The Grizz;491839]I totally agree with your bother-in-law about the cornor bracing it is a large stand / tank and you dont want a wobble. That is why I built mine like this for a 165 gal - 8' tank:

I love your stand. In retrospect I would have put several more points of contact with the floor like you have . Right now when the tank is full I am not confident with it's stability and I think I will have to secure it to the wall to reduce vibration etc.

Love your stand.

The Grizz · #3 02-13-2010, 03:57 AM

You could just bolt in a couple more vertical braces in between the main legs, from the top frame work and make them touch the floor.

cole004 · #4 03-01-2010, 07:51 PM

Great looking Build can't wait to see more photos

plutoniumJoe · #5 03-09-2010, 01:31 PM

Well it has been a while with not much happening. I was off work for the two weeks during the Olympics and although it would have been a great time to get things done we escaped to Miami (South Beach) to visit family. My dad's condo is right on the bottom tip on the water and every morning we would go out and look at the fish by the sea wall. Beautiful Parrot fish and some said baby marlins. My dad's favorite quote as I did this was "Imagine that tropical fish in the tropics". I finally got fed up with the mocking and informed him that he was actually in the sub-tropics as my iphone indicated that they were at 25 degrees and not 22.

When I got back I finished off the plumbing and had initial problems with my return pump. Once the replacement arrived things were starting to look up... but the tank seemed "un stable". Even though the legs are perfectly level the tank still vibrated when you gave it a shot. It reminded me of the glass of water in Jurasic Park when the dinosaur walked by. I thought at first the stand just needed more points of contact with the floor so I welded in 3 more legs (2 in back and one center front) but I still wasn't satisfied. I added some plywood to the walls under the tank and built up the gaps and added shims which seemed to do the trick. I then drilled the the back cross beam and the side beam and bolted them to the studs in the wall. The city of Vancouver phoned and wants to put a sign outside the house indicating that the area under my tank can now be used as a safe haven in case of an earthquake.

I am going to try to start building some of the rock structures that will hide the closed loop this week. We will see how far I get. My plans for getting salt water into the tank by Christmas(last) now seem so unrealistic.

plutoniumJoe · #6 03-23-2010, 04:57 AM

Finally got the RO/DI water in the tank and raised Salinity to 1025. It has been running for a few days now and the water has cleared and things look pretty good.

I am pretty happy with the rock structures I built but the closed loop needs some modifications as the two back outlets are blasting all the sand away from the front of the tank.

I am hesitant to do the full tank move over and instead think I will cycle the new tank with a sacrificial chromis or two and see how things go that way. I just couldn't imagine moving everything and having it all die.

scherzo · #7 04-01-2010, 04:32 AM

Looks good!

We went to Hawaii during Olympic break too! Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay! So we got to see fishies too!

What are you doing for ATO? Are you still going to do it by hand?

(PS.. next meeting is at your house..

)