250gal Marineland deep dimension tank build [Archive]

bjgf15

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:12 AM

Let me start by saying that I have always loved large reef tanks. I had a 225 gal before I moved to Texas and the large amount of swimming space allows much more ‘natural’ swimming patterns and behavior in marine organisms. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a place in my heart for nice medium and nano reefs but these tanks often lack the depth to convey that ‘natural’ underwater feeling.

Now, I was never planning on setting up another tank while I was in Texas since I already had a 70 gal SPS tank and a 120 long LPS/Soft tank, my condo is relatively small, my budget was tight and the condo will not be my permanent home. In fact, most (including myself) would think I was crazy to even consider setting up a large tank based on those factors.

That’s when it happened….. It was about 5 min before my alarm was set go off and it was still pretty dark when my girlfriend got up because she heard a noise and thought the cat was playing with something it shouldn’t be. “Um, I think the tanks leaking,” she said. I thought that maybe the skimmer waste collector had over filled or I hadn’t tightened down the PVC union enough, but no, it was much worse!

I discovered that the tank had sprung a leak along the bottom, back seam and water was pouring down the stand and onto the floor! It took me all morning and many calls to friends for favors to get the tank drained and all the critters situated in new temporary homes.

I needed a new tank ASAP so I started looking around for tanks from various manufactures and discovered that Marineland had come out with a new Deep Dimension series of aquariums. One of which was the same length as the 120gal (60”) but 36” deep and 27” tall. It looked amazing! I was hooked!

A friend managed to get me a great deal on one of these tanks (which I am still grateful for) and so I figured I would document the progress for those on MAAST who may be interested.

Here are a couple of pics of the stand: It is a modification of a design posted on Reef Central

Bill S

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:27 AM

Wow - that's a DEEP tank - LOTS of swimming room. Looking forward to this build. If you need anything from SA, let me know, we are down in CC most weekends.

If you don't already have the tank on the stand... I'd put something under the stand, and hook up a bilge pump. The single biggest mistake I made on our tank was not being able to handle that occasional leak.

bjgf15

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:38 AM

Here are some pics of the tank on the stand:

You can see the amazing depth that the Deep dimension series gives.

As a side note, when designing the stand I wanted to make it tall enough so I didn't have to bend down to look into the tank and the stands that Marineland makes for these tanks are very short. The reason for this is that because the tanks are so wide, they need to be turned sideways to get them through a standard doorway. Because of this, if you make the stand taller than your doorway is wide, you won’t be able to get it in your house. I weighed this option and decided that I would rather have the tall stand so the decision was made to remove a window and bring the stand in through that instead… the girlfriend was thrilled! :)

Also, the tank took 4 people to move it into the condo and went about as smooth as possible for weighing almost 500 lbs empty.

bjgf15

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:40 AM

[QUOTE=bstreep;683733]If you need anything from SA, let me know, we are down in CC most weekends.QUOTE]

Thanks! I appreciate it.

bjgf15

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:45 AM

If you don't already have the tank on the stand... I'd put something under the stand, and hook up a bilge pump. The single biggest mistake I made on our tank was not being able to handle that occasional leak.

The plan is to eventually invest in one of those monitors/controllers from Lighthouse which has an optional probe that can send you an email/text message if it senses water on the floor.

brewercm

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 11:50 AM

bjgf15

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 02:48 PM

Nice looking setup. I figured you were going to say that you just built the stand inside. That's what I would have done, just make it easy to semi take apart to move it back out. I love the tall stands also to have they perfect viewing height.

In hindsight I will have to agree with you :) However at the time I was trying to minimize any building and disturbance in the condo so I figured it would be easier to remove the window. The window turned out to be a pain to remove but it all worked in the end… thankfully!

ballardjr2000

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 06:35 PM

i have the 90g and love it can't wait to see it when your up and running

mercedesvaughn

Tue, 7th Jul 2009, 07:10 PM

Looks like a great tank! Can't wait to see the way it turns out!

glennr1978

Wed, 8th Jul 2009, 02:33 AM

Sweet tank!! It looks like it could be my 40 breeders big brother!!

aggman

Wed, 8th Jul 2009, 05:16 AM

man that tank is sweet. it has a great breeder look to it. i think i might have to consider this for my next build.

~alex

bjgf15

Wed, 8th Jul 2009, 08:58 AM

Sweet tank!! It looks like it could be my 40 breeders big brother!!

Lol! It does have a proportionally similar footprint to a 40 breeder, in fact I believe that the 300gal (6ftx3ft) that Marineland makes has a proportionally identical footprint to the 40 breeder (3ftx1.5ft) with a length to width ratio of 2:1. The 250 gal has a length to width ratio of 2:1.2 so proportionally it is actually slightly wider than a 40 breeder. Marineland also makes a 4ft (200gal) and 3ft version all 36" wide. The 3ft is basically a 150gal cube. I really liked that one as well.

apedroza

Wed, 8th Jul 2009, 10:39 PM

Are these the new tanks with the starphire gl*****? I saw those and loved the way they looked. Those are the exact dimensions I want in my next tank. BTW are they braced at the top??

bjgf15

Thu, 9th Jul 2009, 09:22 AM

Are these the new tanks with the starphire gl*****? I saw those and loved the way they looked. Those are the exact dimensions I want in my next tank. BTW are they braced at the top??

Yes. Most of these tanks come with the starphire front panel although you can get them without starphire but the price difference really isn't significant.

The 4ft (200gal) and 5ft (250gal) tanks have one center brace and the 6ft (300gal) tank has two. The 3ft (150gal) has none.

bjgf15

Fri, 10th Jul 2009, 11:34 AM

Because size and swimming space in this tank can allow me to keep some larger fish that require a lot of room to roam and space to keep aggression down, the main focus is going on the fish. Therefore, I am leaning towards making this tank primarily soft corals (zoas, palys, mushrooms, ricordea, some LPS, colorful carpet anemones etc) as these tend to be more noxious to fish and will allow me to keep fish that traditionally are not 'reef safe' because they tend to nip and certain LPS, clams and SPS corals. Plus, I already have a stony coral tank and I have seen certain soft coral dominated tanks that rival the beauty of the most amazing SPS tanks out there.

This decision was made easier by the fact that I got a great deal on a dual 250W HQI setup and two 250W bulbs over 250 gal wouldn't allow me keep much in the way of light demanding corals and clams.

Because of the fish focus, the bioload in this tank will be quite high. So I needed a larger, powerful skimmer. I looked around and couldn't find a skimmer that fit my needs and was within my budget so it was DIY time!

I had already made an acrylic sump (36"x24"x20") and had some flat 1/4" pieces leftover. I had seen a few people online building skimmers out of flat acrylic sheet so I figured I would give it a try.

You can see from the pics how it turned out. It is about 36" tall and 12" wide. From my understanding there is no reason why a skimmer needs to be round. As long as you include a diffuser plate at the bottom to minimize any excessive turbulence created at the 90 degree corners as the bubbles move up the reaction chamber it should function just like a round one (for a fraction of the cost!!!!). The whole thing cost me about $150 including the gen-x 6000 NW pump.

Note: In the pic I hadn't quite gotten it 100% finished as I still needed to get the neck installed but it gives you a good idea of what it looks like.

Mr Cob

Fri, 10th Jul 2009, 11:40 AM

Nice looking skimmer. Can't wait to see how it works.

bjgf15

Fri, 10th Jul 2009, 04:09 PM

Nice looking skimmer. Can't wait to see how it works.

Thanks! I'll try and get some 'in action' pics up tonight

R.Allard

Sat, 11th Jul 2009, 07:20 AM

i only have one issue with the skimmer and thats the square corners... seems like it would be hard to clean the collection cup etc on maintenance day....

bjgf15

Sat, 11th Jul 2009, 10:27 PM

i only have one issue with the skimmer and thats the square corners... seems like it would be hard to clean the collection cup etc on maintenance day....

I use a soft bristled brush with a handle (same as with my traditional skimmers) and so far it doesn't seem to be any more difficult to clean than a round collection cup.

bjgf15

Mon, 13th Jul 2009, 11:27 PM

Here are a couple of pics of the skimmer in action.

aggman

Mon, 13th Jul 2009, 11:47 PM

have you got water in yet? or is that working on a different tank. i am very interested to see how it turned out. i am looking into getting this tank. but my bank account is pulling the leash...

~alex

bjgf15

Thu, 16th Jul 2009, 01:12 PM

Yes, I have water going in the tank now. I had to rush things along since I had fish and corals sitting in friends tanks that were wearing out their welcome :) I will post pics once I get back from my trip next week.

aggman

Thu, 16th Jul 2009, 02:01 PM

Bill S

Thu, 16th Jul 2009, 05:20 PM

Any chance you are down at IZE? If so, please tell them the "No Ice in Paradise" folks said hi. We watched the NBA finals there a couple of years ago.

bjgf15

Tue, 28th Jul 2009, 03:16 PM

oh yeah i forgot about the trip. so how is belize? are you taking tons of pics?

man i totally picked the wrong major! we never travel anywhere. :cry_smile:

well, have fun and be safe out there.

~alex

Any chance you are down at IZE? If so, please tell them the "No Ice in Paradise" folks said hi. We watched the NBA finals there a couple of years ago.

Belize was great! I got everything done I needed to for my research and the research fish I brought back all made the journey just fine. I did take lots of pictures and if I find the time I may start a new thread in the lounge and will post some of them there.

I wasn't at IZE, but we did go right past South Water Caye on our way to Middle Caye out on Glover's reef. The Wildlife Conservation Society has a marine research station out there so that's where I spent the majority of my time.

I will try and get some pics of the tank up soon. I still need a lot more rock because with 15 sqft of tank bottom all the rock from my 120 gal plus another box doesn't even fill HALF the tank!!!

Also, I am going to do a mesh mod on the impeller for the gen-x 6000 I have running my DIY square skimmer because I would like a little more air than I am currently getting and with the big pump I can afford to lose a bit of water flow.

I have never done one of these mods before but it looks pretty straight forward. I am going to use the current needle wheel impeller to attach the mesh to. If anyone that has done one of these mods before has any tips or advice before I get started (it will take a few days before the mesh gets here) I could always use it.

blindside

Tue, 28th Jul 2009, 09:54 PM

Nice build :) and nice skimmer! Let's see some pics of this thing running :)

aggman

Wed, 29th Jul 2009, 02:04 AM

yeah i want to see pics of that shark cleaning station you told me about. that just sounds insane. can't wait.

~alex

blindside

Wed, 29th Jul 2009, 05:45 PM

Shark cleaning station? :) let's see!

bjgf15

Wed, 29th Jul 2009, 08:40 PM

yeah i want to see pics of that shark cleaning station you told me about. that just sounds insane. can't wait.

~alex

I don't have any pics of the sharks getting cleaned on the reef. It was a brief video taken by one of the WCS employees that accompanied us on the dive. I will try and get a copy of it and post it here on MAAST. In the meantime, I have started a new thread in the lounge with pics from some of my dives.

As an update on the tank, I will post a couple pics shortly. Although since I was forced to rush things, I didn't have time to make over 300 gallons of RO/DI water and had to use Texas tap water to fill the tank instead... YUCK!

So, basically I'm not very pleased with how the tank looks at the moment but it should give a nice before and after contrast once it it finished.

bjgf15

Wed, 29th Jul 2009, 09:04 PM

Here are a few shots of how the tank is currently looking. Like I said, I'm not exactly thrilled with the way it looks (lack of rock and plently of algal growth from the tap water) but it will be interesting to document the tank as it 'evolves'.

cpreefguy

Wed, 29th Jul 2009, 09:26 PM

Beautiful, I think it looks great as is, sometimes less (rock) is more...

d3rryc

Thu, 30th Jul 2009, 01:57 PM

Especially with the fish emphasis, downplaying the rock in order to allow more swimming room could look REALLY cool!

Mr Cob

Fri, 31st Jul 2009, 09:19 AM

I also like less rock. I think it looks great...lots of room for big fish! :)

Hamp

Fri, 31st Jul 2009, 03:40 PM

beautiful fish.

secretweapons22

Sat, 8th Aug 2009, 08:47 PM

Great looking tank, my wife wants one about that size, she likes the footprint so you can have more depth, bigger sand bed and still have lots of rock. Gives it several "layers" way to go.. hope to see more pics too.

bjgf15

Wed, 12th Aug 2009, 01:04 PM

Thanks guys!

I have added a bit more rock, mainly to aid in coral placement but it is by no means full of rock! There is still PLENTY of swimming room. I will try and get some pics up tonight.

On another note; I successfully converted my needle wheel impeller to a mesh wheel on my DIY square skimmer. I did notice a slight improvement in efficiency but nothing like I have read about on RC.

Last night I decided to change the placement of the skimmer pump because the way it sat in the sump required it go through a few of feet of tubing and several 90 degree elbows before entering the skimmer body which likely added a bit of head pressure to the pump. So I moved the skimmer a bit and mounted the pump directly onto the skimmer body so the outflow shot right into the diffuser plate. WOW!

When I fired it back up it instanly overfilled the collection cup so I opened the skimmer outlet a bit and it was still filling the collection cup with clear skimmate. I ended up opening the skimmer outlet valve almost all the way in order for it not to flood the collection cup! I knew the pump had some loss due to the added head pressure of the 90s but I never expected to see this big of a difference!

The algae from the tap water had been coming under control lately but I'm hoping now that it will all begin to die back for good thanks to the added efficiency of the skimmer!

Fingers crossed.

bjgf15

Wed, 12th Aug 2009, 11:22 PM

Here are some pics I took earlier this evening. You can see the tank has a bit more rock but still has PLENTY of swimming room.

JoshOdphi

Wed, 12th Aug 2009, 11:28 PM

thas some nice rockwork....

Mr Cob

Wed, 12th Aug 2009, 11:43 PM

Looks great. Wonderful job on the rock work. That works. It's coming along nicely. bet it looks even more impressive in person.

ballardjr2000

Thu, 13th Aug 2009, 07:22 AM

Looks great. Gotta love the marineland series i was looking at one. i got the 90g from marineland and love my tank. Now you got me wanting a 250g man will my wife be mad lol.

bjgf15

Wed, 28th Oct 2009, 01:42 PM

Was just looking back at this thread and realized the tank (and fish) have changed a lot since I last posted so I'll post a few more pics tonight.

Also, the slight mods I have made to my DIY square skimmer have really paid off... this thing kicks some serious butt now!!!

I was a little skeptical at first but square skimmers are every bit as functional as a round one, and if you're making it out of acrylic... A HECK of a lot CHEAPER!

clamgal

Wed, 28th Oct 2009, 05:57 PM

Can't wait!

bjgf15

Wed, 28th Oct 2009, 10:44 PM

Here are a few recent pics of the tank:

I need to get a DSLR. The pics never seem to come out crisp with a point and shoot.

Fish have definitely been growing though!

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/IMG_1501Small.jpg

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/IMG_1507Small.jpg

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/IMG_1503Small.jpg

ErikH

Thu, 29th Oct 2009, 01:04 AM

Nice tank for sure!

lakers10

Thu, 29th Oct 2009, 01:05 AM

Nice Looking Tank

mabel_photo6

Thu, 29th Oct 2009, 02:01 AM

niiiice

Paul28

Thu, 29th Oct 2009, 08:55 AM

Man very nice that is the tank ive been wanting for the longest time , thats all my wife gives me is 60 inches, looks great :)

dipan

Thu, 19th Nov 2009, 11:01 AM

Looks very nice ... Gotta love that depth!

Worried at all about that juvenile Imperator eating coral later in life?

corruption

Thu, 19th Nov 2009, 11:16 AM

Simply amazing. I would LOVE a tank with this kind of depth -- the impressions supplied by those rock structures is just stunning!

Tank of the year -- it gets my vote ;)

-Corruption

txav8r

Thu, 19th Nov 2009, 11:18 AM

Awesome tank! How big is that eel?

Mr Cob

Thu, 19th Nov 2009, 11:24 AM

I love deep tanks! Looks great. Those fish have to be happy in there.

Man, Jack, took me a second to find that eel. Super cool shot!

bjgf15

Fri, 20th Nov 2009, 12:23 AM

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Looks very nice ... Gotta love that depth!

Worried at all about that juvenile Imperator eating coral later in life?

Nope! I don't have any corals in the tank that he likes. Large angels are notorious for nipping at; zoas, brains, acans etc but those types of corals are in another tank ;)

I definitely want to have corals in the tank because they are the keystone of reef ecosystems, but I really wanted to take advantage of the 3ft front to back to allow some big fish to roam and grow in as 'natural' a system as I could create for them. I want the fish to really be the showcase in this tank and I'm willing to restrict the coral species I can keep in order to do so.

bjgf15

Fri, 20th Nov 2009, 12:31 AM

Awesome tank! How big is that eel?

Thank you!

The snowflake is HUGE! I got it when it was less than 12in and pencil thin. It's my girlfriend's favorite fish. It definitely has personality, I'll have to get some pics or a video of it during feeding time. It's well over 2ft long and THICK! Definitely a gentle giant, it has never acted agressively to any fish and can be hand fed.

bjgf15

Fri, 18th Dec 2009, 12:52 AM

Here's a few short videos of the tank and some of the inhabitants;

Emperor angel (Pomacanthus imperator) juvenile just starting to transistion into adult coloration (look for the beginnings of horizontal stripes

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/th_MVI_1582.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/?action=view&current=MVI_1582.flv)

Snack time at the zoo!

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/th_MVI_1583.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/?action=view&current=MVI_1583.flv)

Snowflake moray eel (Echidna nebulosa) out for a swim

http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/th_MVI_1584.jpg (http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/bgemmell/?action=view&current=MVI_1584.flv)

Goofball310

Tue, 5th Jan 2010, 12:45 AM

Do you have any pictures of the stand and the equipment?

signal_4

Mon, 11th Jan 2010, 12:40 AM

Your an inspiration to all of us Brad !!!!!!!

bjgf15

Mon, 11th Jan 2010, 10:33 AM

Do you have any pictures of the stand and the equipment?

I have some pics of the sump area, plumbing fuge etc on my other computer so I'll try and post a few this evening. There are pics of the stand frame and skimmer on the first couple pages of this thread if you haven't seen them already.

I keep meaning to start a thread on my square skimmer build in the DIY section since I have been so impressed with how my $100 experiment has been able to keep up with my heavily stocked system that has total volume of well over 300 gal. I think it is a great way to save some serious $$$ when building a large system since a comparable skimmer is anywhere from $700-1500.