Juskr
Senior Member
This tank is going to be awesome. Watching the progression is going to be fun. Whats the next step?
DarkSky's 220g Build (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter DarkSky
- Start date
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I bought a 100g Rubbermaid Tub from @ikserk, so today I'm going to start a one week bleach soak in all of the dry rock.
Plumbing is done as far as I can get it, acrylic for the baffles and top of the sump have come in and @jlanger will be using his work's CNC machine to cut up the pieces. I whipped up some 3d models for how the design of the sump acrylic will look and will send him the measurements so he can program the cnc to do the cuts.
I take it the walls of the tub are straight? Any anticipated bowing with water in them?
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It's a stock tank, made for holding water for livestock to drink out of for farmers. No concern.
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Well I just got off of the phone with BRS, turns out you don't get their store credit for custom orders. Going with standard black instead of white since that 10% store credit was going to pay for bulbs. Haha.
Hockeyfan
Senior Member
Your baffle design is for the 75 or for the stock tank?
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75g.
The stock tank is just for curing the rock, which I did today.
Staying down wind.
Still staying down wind.
Rinsed enough, into the tub!
Smells like someone pooped in a pool in my garage now.
I really like this awesome build! Following along.
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Overdue for an update!
First, the sad news. I went on a long weekend vacation a few weeks ago, and it was at that time my anemone decided to release and take a spin through the MP40. When I got back, my alk had skyrocketed because the corals weren't taking any in, and I had some RTN. Battling this for a few weeks, I ended up losing most of my SPS aside from a few pieces (5 gallon pail of dead colonies is always a sad thing to see). I eventually lost my copper band too, he was acting a bit strange since it happened and I found him stuck to the side of the MP40, dead.
Seems like this happens every time I start a new build... it's a curse!
Anyway, on to the new build.
The rocks are curing in salt water and are heated to 79F with circulation. The water quickly turns green and my ULR Hanna Phosphate checker is always maxed out, so I'll be changing that water frequently.
I just finished plumbing in the drains and returns for the tank, and decided to jump the gun on a leak test.
The bean animal drain and return loc line aren't installed so it's a tad loud, but the piping looks leak free so far. Also haven't finished the manifold plumbing yet, but the manifold itself is done, so I just have to finish plumbing it in - once that's done I can plumb the external skimmer in and throw away my pvc cutter I hope.
Planning to have that close to done tomorrow.
Also - I have a meeting coming up soon. Sign up and come check this out in person! I should have rock and salt in it by then.
First, the sad news. I went on a long weekend vacation a few weeks ago, and it was at that time my anemone decided to release and take a spin through the MP40. When I got back, my alk had skyrocketed because the corals weren't taking any in, and I had some RTN. Battling this for a few weeks, I ended up losing most of my SPS aside from a few pieces (5 gallon pail of dead colonies is always a sad thing to see). I eventually lost my copper band too, he was acting a bit strange since it happened and I found him stuck to the side of the MP40, dead.
Seems like this happens every time I start a new build... it's a curse!
Anyway, on to the new build.
The rocks are curing in salt water and are heated to 79F with circulation. The water quickly turns green and my ULR Hanna Phosphate checker is always maxed out, so I'll be changing that water frequently.
I just finished plumbing in the drains and returns for the tank, and decided to jump the gun on a leak test.
The bean animal drain and return loc line aren't installed so it's a tad loud, but the piping looks leak free so far. Also haven't finished the manifold plumbing yet, but the manifold itself is done, so I just have to finish plumbing it in - once that's done I can plumb the external skimmer in and throw away my pvc cutter I hope.
Planning to have that close to done tomorrow.
Also - I have a meeting coming up soon. Sign up and come check this out in person! I should have rock and salt in it by then.
Love that plumbing, turning out really well.
acharpenter
Pitas' Pita
Lifetime Member
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Yeah, I have a controller, but it doesn't test for alk. No sitter, I was gone for three days so I set up an auto feeder.
acharpenter
Pitas' Pita
Lifetime Member
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Time to post for a sitter!
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Perhaps! It was such a short weekend I didn't think about doing it. I do get alerts for major issues, but an anemone going through the grinder wouldn't have triggered anything. Best case, the tank sitter would have had to do several water changes.
I noticed and started doing water changes immediately upon returning. The thing that probably saved the test of my fish was the carbon reactor I started up for the trip, just incase something did happen.
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Rock had finished curing, no more phosphates showing up after 6 weeks in water!
Nox came over at night for the last few days and lent a helping hand with the rock work. A pile of rock has been sitting on my garage floor as we try to decide how this will look, now we've finalized gluing everything together so it'll go in the tank tonight. I've filled the tank about 1/3 full of RODI so far, so once the rock is in it'll get filled the rest of the way.
Hopefully by tomorrow evening, it'll be up and running so I can begin the process of cycling the tank. I'm still waiting on the light, ATI said it should be here sometime by the end of this week or the start of next week.
Nox came over at night for the last few days and lent a helping hand with the rock work. A pile of rock has been sitting on my garage floor as we try to decide how this will look, now we've finalized gluing everything together so it'll go in the tank tonight. I've filled the tank about 1/3 full of RODI so far, so once the rock is in it'll get filled the rest of the way.
Hopefully by tomorrow evening, it'll be up and running so I can begin the process of cycling the tank. I'm still waiting on the light, ATI said it should be here sometime by the end of this week or the start of next week.
Juskr
Senior Member
Did you settle on an idea for the end of the peninsula? Any major changes to the middle section in the last day?
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Yep, a lot has changed. We pulled out all of the barn wood on the back of the wall and instead trimmed out the tank with white trim. The end cap is going to be tin siding - we have a bar top installed on the tank on the right side so you'll be able to sit and have a beer/eat while at the tank.
Forgot to take some pics, so I'll get some tonight and update.
Forgot to take some pics, so I'll get some tonight and update.
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Pictures as promised!
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A bit of detail work remains on the trim, the front side needs finishing trim, I need to caulk and paint the white trim where it was nailed in, but I think it looks a lot better than the barn wood that was there from before. I also have to fix the wall where the barn wood was, it's full of nail holes now for some reason...
We've gotten about half the rock in so far. The front 1/3 of the tank will have a few smaller pillars that won't be attached, and form sort of a semi-circle, which will make that small archway in the front a sort of sand lagoon once the sand in in there.
It's hard to tell from the pictures how large the structure is, but it's probably about 3 feet long.
For the light lift, I have a linear actuator coming from China, I'll be wiring it up with a 12v power supply and controlling it with a DPDT switch which will allow me to raise/lower the lighting.
We've gotten about half the rock in so far. The front 1/3 of the tank will have a few smaller pillars that won't be attached, and form sort of a semi-circle, which will make that small archway in the front a sort of sand lagoon once the sand in in there.
It's hard to tell from the pictures how large the structure is, but it's probably about 3 feet long.
For the light lift, I have a linear actuator coming from China, I'll be wiring it up with a 12v power supply and controlling it with a DPDT switch which will allow me to raise/lower the lighting.
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For the lift, this is the rig that will go inside the false ceiling, pictured as if you were looking straight up at it. The cables will drop down from each of the green pulleys in the corners.
