220 build (Not Mary's)

[zryder]

Well, unfortunately I didnt take any pics of building the stand...
but the tank is on the stand, it has rock and sand in it, and she is holding water.
the beginnings of plumbing is done.
now to build the canopy and doors.
Instead of building overflows, since the tank was drilled without overflows when i got it, i am going to give these at try, and see how it works.
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050707.JPG
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050711.JPG
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050712.JPG

the sump is a 40g breeder that I made some acrylic baffles for. It is currenly housing my Turboflotor 1000 and my Mag18 return pump
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050719.JPG
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050720.JPG

And finally a wide out shot.
The doors and canopy are going to be made of the same material as the ring around the tank, and they are going to be flush, just like a cabnet.
http://www.godsofwarkilrogg.com/Aquarium/P1050724.JPG

more to come as things progress a little further. If you would like to see it in person, I am thinking of holding a meeting on the 16th of june, if the officers agree.

[mtfatwork]

looks cool :)

[zryder]

if anyone has the ability and time, please resize the images.. i didnt realize how big they were...

[David Grigor]

That's asking quite a bit from a turboflotor. I hope you plan to upgrade that as money allows.....

[zryder]

absoultely. when money allows, i will be building a skimmer out of 6" pvc. wont look all that pretty, but it should work, and be relatively cheap.
there is just no way i can justify the $500+ it would cost to get a good, professional acrlyic skimmer. way too many things and people that $500 could go twards.
I wish I could do more of that before I set up the 220, but as im sure you would all agree, it is much better to move into a new tank than to move an existing tank, and moving day came last weekend, so..

[thegrimreefer]

Can you tell a bit more about the flared PVC overflows in the main tank?

Are they noisy?

[storrisch]

I would be concerned with noise and evap unless it has an ATO. You will probably want to gutterguard them as well.....looks too much like a water park ride for snails as is.

[zryder]

they will be gutterguarded, as soon as i move my gutterguard over from the old place.
the bulkheads are 1.5", so I have a 1.5" street elbow, with the male part pointing vertical. I had to trim about a half inch off the male part of the street elbow. the flare part was a 1.5 to 3" adapter, found at lowes. to get it to be the proper height, I had to cut off the entire 3" section, right at the angle. they are suprisingly very quiet. I hear more noise coming out of my sump than I do out of the overflows. This wasnt the case when I had just a 1.5" street elbow.

as for an auto top off, that is next.. I have the RO system, I just havent gotten all that hooked up. In my 125 I used a simple toilet float switch.. when the water level dropped, RO came in.. I have seen a lot of people cringe when I say that.. but it worked, and it was cheap. so im not sure if im going to do the same for this, or if I am going to go the conventional route with a electronic float switch energizing a pump to fill in RO.

[epidemic]

Lookin' good! I think I would add some redundancy to the top-off. That seems to be a weak point for anyone. Even if its just a resiviour, anything would be better than having it plumbed straight to a infinite water source

[Jubei]

Zryder, I felt the same way about dropping a lot of $$ on a skimmer. I thought about going down the DIY project, but I had too many unfinished projects around the house. Also I would not be saving much when I broke down the cost of the DIY materials vs buying a cheap knock off. If you are lucky, you can possibly pick up an Octopus NW200 for $155 shipped on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Octopus-CoralVue-NW-200-Needle-Wheel-Protein-Skimmer_W0QQitemZ300111569171QQihZ020QQcategoryZ46 313QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[zryder]

yah, i think what i will do is get a little 10g or something to sit next to the sump, to put fresh ro water into, and then have a float switch to pump that on from.
as for the skimmer, i belive they say a turboflotor is "good" up to 250 gallons as well, but we all know that not to be true..

[morty]

resized:

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder1.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder2.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder3.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder4.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder5.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/morty343/zryder6.jpg

[zryder]

thanks!

[zryder]

New pics of the canopy build..
this is going to be able to be lifted to the ceiling by some pulleys to gain more access to the tank, and is going to be skinned with the same 3/4" oak MDF that the stand is skinned in... the lights are going to be my 3 250w 10K XM's, and 2 6' VHO Actinic. I am debating finding room to mount my 4' 12k VHO as well, just to add a little white light during the morning and evening hours... but I havent decided that yet..
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/zryder98/Tank/P1050734.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/zryder98/Tank/P1050735.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/zryder98/Tank/P1050736.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/zryder98/Tank/P1050739.jpg

[FISHEYES]

Thats sweet I wish I had the money for something like!!!

[zryder]

well, since most all of it is from the old 125, it really didnt cost much..
the price of the tank, and the price of the lumber.
Doing everything else yourself really helps to save a lot of the cost..

[epidemic]

thats hot!