Starting my 300 gal build

[cobraden]

Hi all,

I started this tank build tread on Marsh and Reefcentral back in mid January. Figured that since I’m on this board every day, I might as well share with you guys as well. So here are the cliff notes…. I’ll keep it current as of today.

January 15 2007

I'm kind of new to posting on this board but I've been lurking here for quite a while.

After reading about many of you starting new tanks, I finally get the chance to post a build page of my own.

I just moved into a new home (or at least new to me) and while looking at houses, I was always looking to see where I could put a big tank. So much so, that my realtor started making suggestions when we would walk into a house.

Well, I ordered an aprox 310 gal tank from Glass Cages a few weeks ago. It's scheduled to be delivered this Sunday.
The tank will be built into a wall. The dimensions of the tank are 96x30x25 and the front is made with low iron glass. I didn't ask my friends to help move furniture but a few of them have been put on notice to move the aquarium this Sunday.

Once the tank gets here and I get it all plumbed, I'll combine everything out of my 110g and 210g aquariums.

Anyway, the person building my cabinet has finally started and here are a few pictures of the progress.


http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/built_ins_rr.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/builtinsgone_rr.jpg

Here the framing has started. I added 3 20A dedicated circuits to the cabinet

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/Standandwallsframed2_rr.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/outletsincabinet_rr.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/outletsinabovestand_rr.jpg

[cobraden]

January 19, 2007

Starting to enclose the cabinet and start the trim work

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0025.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0029.jpg

On Jan 21 the tank got here

Met the Glass Cages delivery truck this morning and picked up my tank. They happend to be delivering less than 10 minutes away from my house.

After looking over the tank I can say that I'm pretty satisfied. After hearing the stories of poor quality and sloppy work, I'd say this was not the case as far as my tank. Looks pretty clean and the work seems pretty nice.

Here are a couple pictures of the pick up and then it finally being on the stand.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/sideviewintruck2.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/intruckwide2.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/viewfromabove2.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/finallyonstand.jpg

[cobraden]

January 22,2007

Here’s a couple equipment pics


Sump, PM Bullet 2 skimmer (soon to be switched to a Bullet 3), waste collector, Iwaki MD-55RLT and Pan World NH-200PS

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/equipment2.jpg

Tradewinds 3/4 HP chiller

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/chiller2.jpg


January 25, 2007

Well the doors are on the cabinet and I like the way it turned out. I now have to paint it to match the room and do
my plumbing.


http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0061-1.jpg

Here are a couple more pictures of the progress

different view of the cabinet

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0062.jpg

The bottom doors are designed to open in sections to give me full access

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0063.jpg


http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0064.jpg


Now I just need to paint the room so I can get to plumbing. I'm hoping to have the room painted, the plumbing done and at least fresh water in this sucker to check for plumbing leaks by the end of next week. Then I can start the transfer of all the rock and corals from my other tanks into their new home.

[cobraden]

January 30, 2007

Well here is the latest pic. I will start the plumbing tomorrow or Wednesday. I may end up being a little ahead of schedule and might be able to run it with freshwater by the end of the week.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0075.jpg


Things are starting to really get interesting now



February 10, 2007

Anyway, did a little work on the tank this week.

Since the tank is in the living room, I wanted to make sure it was quiet. The drains and vibration were of particular concern.

I used a thick rubber mat (about 1/2" thick) to line the the floor of my cabinet. That should take care of any vibration and is pretty water resistant.

For the drains, I was about to make a couple durso type drains but decided to do a little reasearch and I came across something called the gurgle buster (http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/index.html) so I decided to give them a try. Here is a pic of how they turned out. The outside sleeve is adjustable up and down so you can "fine tune" it for you flow rate.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/standpipes.jpg

After doing a little more work I finished the plumbing and decided it was time to water test. So....SHE'S ALL WET NOW!!!!

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/sheswet.jpg


The water test is going well. so far only one pin hole leak. Can't seem to get it to stop so it looks like I'm going to have to cut that section out of the plumbing and do it again.

The gurgle busters work great. I fired the pump up and let her rip wide open and the drains were very quiet. Now to fix that leak and fill it with salt water.

[cobraden]

February 11, 2007

Here are a couple plumbing pics. Hope they don't disappoint because the plumbing is really simple.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0092.jpg

The center valve on what i've dubbed my "neptune's fork" goes to the chiller which will connect with flexable hose.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0093.jpg


Also though I'd add a few pics of some of the livestock. It's spread out over 3 tanks in 2 houses so this will just be a few pics of some of the things in one of the tanks

My clown fish decided to take up residence in this bunch of mushrooms. Just for reference that rock is about 11" long.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0095.jpg

Just a couple tanks and a leather. The leather is about 9" wide when open.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0102.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0109.jpg

Sohal tang

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0111.jpg

[cobraden]

Misc Coral pics

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0110.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0106.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0104.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0096.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0097.jpg

Going to drain the tank tonight and start filling it salt water in the next couple days.

[MattK]

Sweet! Where do you access the tank from (front, back, side)?

[LoneStar]

Awesome!

What a way to make an entrance :)

btw where are you located at?

[cobraden]

sorry about that. I just changed my profile to show my location. I am in Houston Texas.

However the livestock in the last few pics came from San Antonio.

[cobraden]

all access is from the front. The top doors all flip up so it's totally open and without obstruction.

[cbianco]

The tank looks great! :) I really like what you did with your living room. Now all you need are two leather arm chairs to view the tank.

Do you have rear access to the tank?

EDIT: You beat me to the post, no rear access.

Christopher

[LoneStar]

How are those overflows working out?

[cobraden]

The overflows are great. very quiet. They were really easy to make.

[DaBird47]

Great post, thanks for all the pics and info. I've been searching for a real good quiet overflow pipe, now I'm off to my plumbing bucket to see what I still need ...

[watson0720]

somebody post up when they try these i am wondering if they are better than the megaflow standpipe i have in my 90 gallon.

[DaBird47]

wow ! finished and very quiet, thanks a million !

[watson0720]

what did you have before dabird

[DaBird47]

what did you have before dabird

I'm not sure, just a 1 1/2" in. pipe with slits cut into it at vairous hights, this mod is silent , don't know if you can get better than that.

[Bill S]

One thing I noticed on his - and I've done to my overflow pipes - is a piece of plastic tubing that extends from the top of my durso, all the way down past the intake. This allows trapped air an exit. REALLY quieted mine down.

[lhoy]

LOVE the cabinet doors for the access!! What a great idea. Beautiful living room and can't wait to see it stocked. I love the clean look under the cabinet.

Lee

[cobraden]

Got around to hanging my light system.

The lights are on a rail so that I can slide them all out of the way when I need to work on the tank.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/lightsonrail.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/lightstotheside.jpg


Each light is also on a retractable hanger so I can adjust the height of them individually.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/lightsdifferentheights.jpg

I'm going to start adding my rock this week.

[cobraden]

Took advantage of a free weekend to finally move all my live rock into the tank. The rock was in 3 different tanks at 2 different houses so it involved a little driving as well as some heavy lifting over the 2 days. My guess is that I have somewhere between 500 and 600 lbs of live rock in the tank. Here are a couple pictures that I snapped about an hr after I put the last rock in. I still have come cords to clean up and I also need to add my Tunze pumps and the black plex that I'm using for a background behind the tank but she's coming together.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0127.jpg

And of course the king of the aquarium hanging out in the "hidden cove". This damsel weged himself into a rock when I was breaking down one of the tanks. I think he just wanted to be first into the new aquarium.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/cobraden/DSC_0129.jpg


Plan on moving my sand into the tank over the next couple of days and then I'll add the various fish.

Everything is doing fine but I did get one surprise when I got home. My lights were off and they shouldn't have been. I have them set to go out if the temp gets to 80 degrees but that shouldn't happen given the air flow in the cabinet and a 3/4 hp chiller. However that's taking for granted the chiller is working, which is isn't. Didn't think I'd get to use my back up chiller so soon but the little guy (1/3 hp) worked it's magic and brought the temp down.

Hey if nothing went wrong how fun would that be :D

[taldrich13]

I'm diggin' those cabinet doors...and I'm gonna have to try that HGB thingy