Project 240 "Puffys Palace"

[Scuba Dog]

Well next week Im going to start ordering some of the equipment for the 240. As most of you know i have been chewing around on adding a larger tank, It will be a glasscages.com 240 long 8feet in length and the other two measurments will be 24 inches, I will have it reef ready, and Want to have it drilled for a closed loop system. It will basicly be a FOWLR but I will add my 175 hallide retrofit kit to it as an experiment to see if the baby puffer will nibble on some frags i toss into the tank, if he dosent mess with the corals then Ill have another reef up and going. Jeff down in Monroe will build the sumps for me whenever I have the cash to pay him lol......But Im having this tank set up to be perhaps a sps clam set up down the road so all i have to do is add stronger halides if I so wish to do so. On the sumps Ill have them baffeled and compartmentilized for equipment and a built in macroalgae fuge as well,. on the 240 I want a prop tank section as well...
as far as the skimmer Im looking at a euroreef, for the top off system Im sticking with the tunze osmulator, for pimps I want a sump pump to suply at least 10x turnover rate, and for the closed loop i want about at least 20x turnover rate...Im going to experiment with my calcium rx and see if i can rig it up to feed both tanks...also going to have a new simp built for the 75 gallons reef as well so i will have my hands full tearing down the 75 reef and adding a new stand plus the sump and moving the system over some to acomidate the 240 since they will stand side by side...any ideas are most welcome, perhats after a the 240 has been up and running i might move the pufer to the 75 and have the 240 runing as my sps clam reef....thanks for reading this way large post...Roy

[tiger_eyed1]

WOW!!! I only understood 30% of what you said. Forget the pictures, I'll have to make a trip down to see this when you are finished.

[Scuba Dog]

LOL I know Marcus Im a terrble writer..I write like i speak...But basicly Im looking at buying some equipment like a skimmer ,and the pumps, top off system ....sumps...and some goods for the curent reef tank...

The big head ache at the moment is planing out the closed loop system, like what pumps do i need, at the moment Im considering three different pumps, one sump pump that will have about 10x turn over rate...and two exteranl pumps that would supply about 20 times the turn over rate....The head ache is planing out the holes to be drilled what size and what location...plumbing is far from my strong poing...problay even worse than my writing ability...

[jerryc]

Roy Glad to see you get to start working to word you're new toy
you might be able to post for feedback on the plumbing in the
main forum here

[jeff967]

try agin later

[Scuba Dog]

Is that a drain plug for the closed loop jeff in your gallary that ya dug up for me? by the way did the Rowa clean up the wamp for ya lol...So far the rowa has done pretty darn good for my tank...I have a groweth spirt going on....

[mcanavan69]

for pimps I want a sump pump to suply at least
Now your talking my language :bum:

[Scuba Dog]

mcanavan69

lol no torts for you! I know was to lazy to edit lol.....

[jeff967]

gallery, yes phone line cr p d out. some are kind of bell looking might flow better IMO. swamp is looking good but changing soon with photos. and how is the little piece of tort?

[Scuba Dog]

The tort is doing pretty good, really hasent colored up yet my 175s are mounted high up in the canopy, lol still waiting on the new canopy then ill put the new lights up...im sure when i get the new lights it will color up...but has great polyp extension and I think its growing some...just been reasearching closed loiop threads....Im wondering if tunze streams would be a better option, lol and a lot less plumbing...

[jeff967]

go with the flow, pipes ant hard

[Scuba Dog]

Ok jeff Ill go with the closed loop just be ready to hear me hollar for HELP lol

[thedogofwar]

what pumps are you considering? That will have everything to do with plumbing sizes, outlets and locations. As well as where they will be mounted in relation to the tank. When in doubt, Always go bigger on the inlet to avoid cavitation.

I think you'll have a really hard time getting that reactor to work on both systems. If you're gonna do that, you might as well just plumb them together completely and be done with it.

I agree with the closed loop, it's not as hard as it appears. If you take the time and figure all the friction and head loss you'll do fine and have a much more natural appearance. I suggest you take a look at the oceansmotions valves for this project, very nice.

[Bastianelli]

Why not just tie the two tanks together as a big system? One big sump with one skimmer, one calcium reactor and so on. Have a more stable tank w/ a lot larger water volume. The only thing would be the 2 tanks would share problems with the water. But then you only have one system to deal with, one larger water change, and so on.

[Scuba Dog]

Bastianelli

I have considered that...But i think that idea will be a wait and see proposition on the water quality from the new tank...ya see my curent reef tank is a sps clam set up and my worry will be the inital alagae blooms in a new system plus the phosphates and nitrates...lol the household debate is at the moment my wife wants the 240 to be a fowlf I want a ultimate sps reef lol.....one of the early problms is that the new tank will house my baby striped dog face puffer, and there is a good cance he may be a coral nipper...but if the reef idea dosent pan out that will be ok..Ill just have to plan it out to be a nitrate free systemif i tye them together like a deep sand bed in the sump....a large sump fuge....and the addition of another skimmer curently im runing a euroreef but it would not be able to handle the extra 300 galons of water volume....still planing...but any ideas are more than welcome....just debating if a closed loop for a fowlr would be a waste of money or an advantage on that I don't know...

[jeff967]

drill it now use theaded bulkheads and plug them for later, will save you some coins and hassle later. pumps look into gen/x pcx-100 and pcx-40 good pumps for the price

[Scuba Dog]

Ok now I just need to figure out the pump size then, How many holes and the location...I believe it will have two corner overflows so ill need to figure out the size of the two sump pumps Ill use....also jeff Ill get you to build me a new sump for the 75..the one I have is way to small....Im really runing out of space lol

[Scuba Dog]

Im also wanting a new stand for the 75 one with out the front bracing so Ill be able to pull out equipment without having to drain the tank, would like to have a taller stand also so I can put as large sump as possible under it....with all the gagets and RODI resavore is creating severe space limitations.....

[Scuba Dog]

Well I have had a change of plans on this project, lol I know big suprise....Im purchasing a 450 gallon system instead!

[jerryc]

:hmm3: you going to get a extra job.:D sounds like a great project
wish i had room for one. :lol:

[Scuba Dog]

well im giting it delevered to my door step...and its going to be cheaper than the 240....

[jerryc]

Scuba its going to be fun to watch you but it to gather. cant
Waite for the pics to start.

[Scuba Dog]

Well Ill find out tomorow, picked it up from yahoo auctions...might be about the first of august before some more are ready...but so far it will be just tank stand and canopy, will need to have a custom sump built and a skimmer , will stick with the runze osmulator for top off...the fuge will be built into the sump....and will go with a couple of sump pumps....decided to keep it a FOWLR for my wife....a reef would be way out of my buget...

[thedogofwar]

thats awesome man!

[Scuba Dog]

tank stand and canopy will be delevered to my door step for 1300 bucks total...! they still one available possibly, I know there giting two more in....

[thedogofwar]

hmmm, so how is that cheaper than the 240? Can you get it w/o stand and canopy? Can you link me to it?

[Scuba Dog]

I think its a package deal....the 240 from glass cages was like 450 to 500 dollars not reef ready, the 450 is reef ready but acrilic...by the time I bought a stand and canopy and had the 240 set up to be reef ready and drove rented the uhall trailer the total would have been over 1300......

http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/86655885?aucview=0x23

[Scuba Dog]

I thought about building a stand and canopy, but then agen I would have had to go buy the tools and find a place to store them...so I took the simple route......being that its 36 inchs in height Would need at least 400 halides to penitrate that bad boy, so its more suited to a fish only...Ill get my dream reef when ever we add on to the house....Then Ill get the 500 gallon plus super sps reef with all the toys that go along with it, in wall equipment room and what not....

[Scuba Dog]

Well its bonified now I purchased the tank and it will be delievered in about two weeks....!