Mike's 225 Reef Tank Log

[MdM31]

My family and I will be moving to Houston Texas in late may this year. We got a new house, and decided it was time to upgrade our reef tank aswell. We will be going from a 58 gallon BB reef, to a 225 SSB reef. Im going with a SSB because sand is so beautiful, and I think sand would be more practical in the family room. Dont get me wrong, I do love barebottom! I will keep the 58 gallon set up in another room. So until then, we will have to wait to see the installtion of the tank. Its gonna be a headache, but will be worth it!!! Updates to come!


3/25/06


This is the start of my oficial 225 SPS reef tank. Some of you may have been following my old thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=781842

The tank's dimensions are 72" long, 30" wide, and 24" tall. I have ordered the tank with Miracles in Glass (great customer service!) So far Derek has been great to work with. I highly recommend the to everyone considering a nice glass tank.

Tha tanks specs are:
72 long x 30 wide x 24 high (225 gallons total)
-all edges machine polished
-3/4" bottom
-starphire front and sides
-1/2" front and ends
-5/8" tempered back with 2 notches
-2 external overflows, 2 holes in bottom of each (one with two 1.5" holes, one with one 1.5"hole and one 3/4" hole)
-black acrylic adhered to inside of back panel, teeth where notches are located
-4" eurobrace, polished edges
-Heavy duty bulkheads included

After seeing Seans work (sonofgaladrial think i got that right!), I contacted him on building a stand and canopy for me. He said he would love to take on the new project, and we are both very excited to see the end result. He will ship it to me in a HUGE crate via a freight company. Some of you may know he has built several pieces of aquarium furniture, including Bebo77's gourgous aquarium furniture. I really can't wait to see the finished product. Right now hes in the framing stage, and will have some trim work done by tonight. Here is some pictures!

Top Front view of stand framing


The Front


And the Back


Heres what my stand is going to look like. The stain is 'warm walnut'


The stand will be 40" tall and the canopy 20" tall. I think it will look very proportional. Also, he is providing me with side covers, so the furniture is flush with the wall, and you wont see any plumbing or wiring when you walk into the room.


For filtration, I am going to be using my MRC MR-2R reccurculating beckett skimmer. It will be ran on a panworld 200ps pressure pump. I also have a GEO Kalk reactor, and GEO 618 calcium reactor to keep up with calcium demands. I will be running ozone, and I am considering using a UV unit. My return pump is an Eheim 1262. I will also run 3 phosban reactors; two for phosban, and one for carbon.

I will be using a 40 breeder as a sump ( I know its small.) I chose this sump, because it was cheap and a good size to fit under the stand. Remember, everything has to fit under my stand. If I had more space, I probably would have went with a 75 gallon sump. The sump has a few baffles, a 1" return hole drilled, and a 1" drain hole for the skimmer.

Lighting with consist of 3 250 watt 10k XM bulbs in Luminarc III reflectors. I will be running them on PFO HQI Metal Halide ballasts. I will also use two 72" VHO super actinic bulbs for supplementation; ran on a PFO VHO ballast.

For water flow, I will be using my tunze streams I have now (two 6100 streams on a multicontroller, and one tunze 6080.) I purchased a wave box aswell; I am very excited to hook that up! I am also considering either a sea swirl or way sea device on my return for 'random' flow.

I just had the electrician put two more 20amp circuits (GFCI of course!) in the game room. I have a total of two 20amp circuits, and one 15 amp circuit.

Thats all I can think of right now. Surley I forgot something, if I did I will add it in later. I think that was my longest post of reefcentral ever!!

-Mike

[MdM31]

3/25/06

Heres a sample picuture of Miracles in Glass's work.


My tank will be very similar. It has all the same features as that, except I will only have 2 holes in each overflow, and that tank is a bit larger (280 gallons). I believe that is NOLACLS's tank, he lives about an hour away from me in New Orleans. One day I will have to check it out!

Heres a picture of the equipment I have accumulated (I left out the wave box and the reactors. I will get some pictures of those items sometime later.)


I still have to order the Luminarc III reflectors. Do you guys think I should purchase the AC Unit with my reflectors??? I do not have any experience with Luminarcs, so all input will be highly appreciated!

Let me know what you think! Im open to all suggestions, comments, questions etc.

-Mike

[Genin]

I have no suggestions because I am not really a DIY type guy and I cetaintly have no experience with large tanks. Your stand and canopy are going to look awesome when the staining is done. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how things turn out for you.

[MdM31]

The Stand is coming along nicely.

Here are some pics.







Thats all for now. I will update you guys as I get more pics from Sean!

-Mike

[Julio]

GREAT WOOD WORK!

[MdM31]

You will have to give al the kudos to Sean (Sonofogladrial) I think I got his name right! lol.. I can;t wait to get this thing into my hands!!

I also got a call from Miracles today asking what type of bulkheads I wanted. So they must be drilling holes in the overflow boxes. I want to see some pics, as they havent sent anything yet....

-Mike

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

Excellent woodwork! That stand is very nice.

[MdM31]

here are some updated pictures of the stand/canopy. The canopy fram has been completed, and some more trim work has been done aswell.







That's all for now! Goodnight!

-Mike

[asnatlas]

The stand / canopy looks great

[MdM31]

Thanks for the comments!! Im gonna contact miracles to see if they hve started on the tank yet. I'll keep yall updated!! I am kinda thinking about getting a new sump. Some thing little larger with more features like probe holders, larger refugium, maybe even a propogation area.

I have been looking at melevs sumps and have been thinking about contcting him about building one for me. What would you guys do??

-Mike

[Black71gp]

amnazig woodwork. .that is how i want my stand an canopy to look...

[ShiftNation]

If you can do that kinda woodwork you could easily build your own sump with a little research .

[asnatlas]

Originally posted by ShiftNation
If you can do that kinda woodwork you could easily build your own sump with a little research .

MdM31 is not building it (stand / canopy), he is having a fellow RC member built it...

[asnatlas]

ShiftNation, check out Gabriel's thread as well... Sean also made his stand (cover) and canopy...

[alien9168]

Nice molding.
How long did the fabrication take you?
-alien

[MdM31]

I am not building the stand unfortunatly...... I wish I had the talents Sean does have with woodworking. Hes been working on it now for about a week. Im guessing it will be done in another week or so.

-Mike

[alien9168]

Oh. Tell him he has some admirers here at rc
It really is a beutiful piece of woodwork.


-alien

[Gundo5000]

I love the woodwork.

make me one

[MdM31]

algundo: you are in Kansas??? Sean (the guy building my stand/canopy) is in Kansas also. If you really wanted one, he could make you one easily. He does alot of local work.

-Mike

[jjackson]

Hey man all looks good what part of houston.... make sure to check out www.marshreef.com if you havent. Also I am pretty sure melevs melevs in Dallas so wont be a far transport.

[MdM31]

I have checked out marshreef.com. I will probably become a member in the begininning of the summer. We are gonna be north of the airport, living in The Woodlandds, Texas.

-Mike

[MdM31]

Almost all the trim work is done. Should be done in about a week!

front view


angle view


another angle view


close up of trim work and columns


-Mike

[alien9168]

BEUTIFUL
Love the pics of the stand and canopy!

-alien

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

beautiful...

[MdM31]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! I wont let yall down.

Expect some more pictures sunday night!

-Mike