250 Gallon room-divider project log

[jeffbrig]

Well, I've been a member of RC for about a year now, and soaked up tons of information. Now it's time to give a little something back. After months of reading, learning, and planning, I'm finally getting the ball rolling on my own dream setup.

First things first, I'd like to especially thank members like wooglin, gregt, melev, travis, (and many others) who detailed their expeiences so well in their own tank threads. Reading through all of these helped me decide what I ultimately wanted to do.

In this thread I plan to cover the planning, setup, cycling, and stocking of the tank, so come along for the journey.

The first major decision was location. Just how big a tank could I handle, and where would I put it? An opportunity presented itself when we decided to remodel our kitchen (BTW, this is by far the biggest DIY project I've ever undertaken). A 6' long wall separating the kitchen table area from the living room seemed to be taking up valuable real estate that would be perfect for a room-divider tank. A few minutes with a reciprocating saw and that problem was taken care of:





While I have the walls open, I pre-wired for two new 20A circuits where the tank is going. The is in addition to the 15A circuit already on that wall. This will be MORE than enough power to run the tank. Since my electrical panel doesn't have any open slots, I had to order a thin quad breaker to replace an existing 2-pole breaker. When this comes in I can finish wiring up the new circuits. (The yellow wire is a 12-3 for the new circuits).





I also bought an RO/DI unit from airwaterice, which I will install under the kitchen sink (when the kitchen is finished). While the cabinets were out and the wall was open, I ran a 3/8" line that will carry pure water from the RO/DI to the tank stand (you can see it dropping out of the ceiling in the first picture). This will allow me to maintain a topoff reservoir under the stand. I don't believe in connecting an RO/DI directly to the tank as an auto-topoff -- if the float valve fails it would likely be fatal due to the endless water supply.

Obviously, there's still a bit of work to be before I can get the tank in here. I still need to fill in the floor, install and wire up a box for the 20A circuits, re-route the light switches that used to reside in the demolished wall (don't they look great hanging from the ceiling ), patch the drywall, and paint. No problem! Just a coupla hours, tops. Really....

[jeffbrig]

Did I mention that my tank came in on Monday? Actually it came in last Friday, but I was too busy hanging kitchen cabinets to be able to pick it up.

I decided early on that I wanted to go with acrylic (for peace of mind), and that I wanted a eurobraced top. James at Envision Acrylic is THE person to go to for eurobraced acrylic tanks (at least, as far as I'm concerned). I started emailing/talking with James back in July and he was very helpful. At one point I was planning to do 72x30x30, but lowering the height to 27 inches (at James' suggestion) allowed the tank to be built from 1" acrylic. Going to 1.25" would have cost a bit more and just didn't seem worth it. Plus, at 27 inches, reaching the bottom should be a bit easier, and lighting is somewhat less of an issue. Final dimensions were spec'd out to 71.25" x 30" x 27" for easy of stand construction.

I picked up the tank from the local freight terminal, and had 7 friends over to help unload the crate (listed as 650 lbs on the shipping paperwork). Here's a picture from when I opened up the crate:





James did a fantastic job building this tank, here's a look at one of the acrylic joints (looking down from overhead):





The overflow is 3/4" black acrylic, pre-drilled on the inside for four 1.5" Hayward SCH-80 bulkheads. Two of the holes will be drains with dursos, one will be the return, and the fourth will simply be a conduit for wiring into the canopy. I went with a flat top overflow (no teeth) and plan to use gutter guard to keep critters out.

[jeffbrig]

Since the tank is part of the kitchen project, I bought matching doors (and mouldings) to build the tank stand and canopy. Definitely not cheap, but my wife and I wanted a clean integrated look. Like the kitchen cabinets, this is maple in a ginger glaze finish. The stand will be approx. 42" high, and the canopy will be 18" on top of the tank. The top of the stand will be a granite slab matching the kitchen countertops, with a 1.5" bullnose edge.





And now for the rest of the stand:





Okay, you may have to use your imagination a bit, but there are 20 2x4s, and 4 sheets of 3/4" birch plywood (plus some 1/2" for the canopy). I'll be sure to take plenty of pics when I start building it this weekend.

MyReefCreations is currently building me a large sump (to hold a Euroreef CS12-2 skimmer), a container to hold ~30 gallons of RO/DI water and another for mixing/aging saltwater (also ~30 gallons). With these hidden in the stand, 10% water changes should be a breeze. I had these custom sized to maximize space utlization in the stand, as all of the equipment needs to fit in there. I should receive the order from MRC in the next week.

I have a pretty good list of equipment, some of which still needs to be ordered. I'll talk about these more as the project progresses. The major items I'm planning to use include:
4x60" T5s (with SLRs)
3x250W MH (PFO DE mini pendants w/icecap electronic ballasts)
Tunze Stream TS-24 kit (6100s and a multicontroller)
Schuran Jetstream 1 Calcium reactor
Euroreef CS 12-2
Sequence 4200SEQ12 for the return

I welcome any and all comments....

[LobsterOfJustice]

Definantly looking foreward to following this thread... It's so hard to get into the other threads when they have 40 pages but I'M THE FIRST ONE bwahaha

[zemuron114]

keep em coming!!!

[fishgeeksrus]

looking forward to following your progress. Looks like you did your homework. Good luck!

[alin2]

Superb. I just got my room divider tank up and running, although not nearly as large as yours. I just posted some pics to my thread...

[myreef]

Looks good Jeff! Your sump and other containers are shipping tomorrow! James makes an awesome tank!

[LOTUS50GOD]

awesome progress. Cant wait to see more pics

[jeffbrig]

Originally posted by myreef
Looks good Jeff! Your sump and other containers are shipping tomorrow!

Sounds great, Andy!

And a project update:
Not much direct progress towards the tank setup last night. I spent most of the evening wiring switches for under- and over-cabinet lighting in the kitchen. Tonight my goal is to re-route the wires hanging from the demolished wall area. I am considering taking Friday off from work to extend my weekend and get more done. By the end of the weekend, I'd like to have the walls and floor finished and the structural frame for the stand built.

[bj32482]

tagging

[jeffbrig]

Update:
I stayed at work a little late tonight, so I didn't get to do as much as I had planned. The hanging wires have been pulled back into the ceiling, and are being re-routed to their new locations. Some of them have to be re-run because they don't quite reach. I kind of expected this, so no real surprises here.

I also tried dropping the wire for the new circuits to the tank wall. Unfortunately, I found that the 50' roll of wire that I used is about 5' too short. So, here's my new rule of thumb: take whatever length of wire you think you will need, and double it when you purchase a roll. It's easy to cut it shorter, but much harder to make it longer. (No wire splicing allowed -- code calls for all connections to be made in an accessible box). So, it looks like I'll be buying a bigger roll and trying again.....

I was contemplating taking tomorrow off, but a hot issue landed on my desk at work, and that idea evaporated.

[javajaws]

You can splice a wire in a covered box in the attic. I had to do the same thing when I ran a new line for my tank...I was short by 10 inches. #$*@!

[jeffbrig]

javajaws,

Are you sure about that? My neighbor (who has 25+ years experience doing electrical work) told me that any electrical box needs to be accessible from the interior of the house. In fact, the previous owner did a box splice in the attic, and when we were crawling around in the attic he spotted it and told me it wasn't up to code. I'm not saying I trust his thinking 100%, but he seemed to be pretty certain.




I spent a few hours in the attic today pulling romex. Really wish I wasn't in S. Florida, as even in January it was easily 90+ degrees up there. I think I sweated off about 5 pounds, been drinking Gatorade like crazy this evening. Floor fill-in and sheetrock should be going in tomorrow. With any luck maybe I can get a coat of paint on the walls as well. I'm planning to have someone come in and patch the popcorn and repaint the ceiling of the room. I'm not convinced that any of the DIY ceiling patches will blend away properly.

[Tom N.]

Tagging along. I have a 55 in wall dividing my living room and kitchen and plan to go to a 180 soon. Can't wait to see your progress.

[adddo]

I will enjoy following your progress! Tagging along.

[javajaws]

Originally posted by jeffbrig
javajaws,

Are you sure about that? My neighbor (who has 25+ years experience doing electrical work) told me that any electrical box needs to be accessible from the interior of the house. In fact, the previous owner did a box splice in the attic, and when we were crawling around in the attic he spotted it and told me it wasn't up to code. I'm not saying I trust his thinking 100%, but he seemed to be pretty certain.

Section 314.29 of the 2002 NEC (Boxes & Conduit Bodies to be Accessible":

"Boxes and conduit bodies shall be installed so that the wiring contained in them can be rendered accessible without removing any part of the building..."

Now you may have additional codes you have to conform to, but around here the NEC is enough. There may be some other rule somewhere that contradicts this, but I wasn't able to find one. If you or your neighbor knows of one, please let me know.

- Jason

[jthnhale]

Awesome looking project! That tank looks great even in the box. I think it's so cool to be able to view the tank from three sides, it's like doubling the room for coral to grow, sort of. The amount of work to get one of these tanks set up is amazing. No one who looks at it when it's done will realize all the work you had to do before water even went into the tank. What other hobby combines so many DYI skills? I can't wait to see it when you get it on top of that granite counter top.

[Jamesurq]

Looking good!

You 100% sure that the wall you removed has no structural purpose?

[clavery]

A few questions? You said you went with acrylic rather than glass for "peace of mind". Why? Is glass less stable? Will it leak more over time? Are you concerned about scratches on the acrylic over time? Also, did you have to get the floor reinforced? I noticed it's between an existing wall - was there enough support to hold the tank (I'm assuming you have a basement underneath the floor). You said you were putting lots of stuff under the tank. Where are you housing the reserve for water changes? Lastly, if it's going to be viewable on three sides, where/how do you put the flow outputs? I've been toying with doing the same thing between kitchen and living room, but it's a supporting wall on the second floor (basement underneath) so we may have structural issues. Also, can't really put a "workroom"in the basement, so don't know where we'd put all the water reserves/equipment, etc.

Looking forward to following your progress.

[jeffbrig]

Originally posted by Jamesurq
Looking good!

You 100% sure that the wall you removed has no structural purpose?

100% positive. The house is concrete block exterior with roof trusses sitting on top of the block wall. The interior walls studs are thin metal, you could actually flex the wall by leaning into it. Where it meet the ceiling, it did not tie in to any structural elements, only 2 screws into the runners holding the ceiling sheetrock, so the wall wouldn't fall over.



clavery,

My decision to go with acrylic for 'peace of mind' is due to my abject terror of a tank leaking or failing. I've seen way too many threads where someone had a silicone failure in a glass tank, and a properly designed and welded acrylic tank removes that risk. For a small tank (up to 75 gal) I think I'd be ok with glass, but when dealing with something this big, I just feel the risk is too great.

No basements in FL (unless you like getting wet ), we're only a few feet above sea level. However, this tank is actually going on the second floor (my place is actually a townhouse/condo). Fortunately, the construction here is concrete block with reinforced concrete slabs, even above grade. That means the floor I'm putting the tank on, although off the ground, is 7-8" of steel reinforced concrete. This gives me much less concern than if the place was made of wood. Also, with the tank placed against an exterior wall, the forces are much reduced compared to if it were in the middle of a span. I also spoke with some people who were familiar with the building's construction, and they assured me I would have no problem putting 2500-3000 lbs in the location I am planning.

The tank will be completely self-sufficient with all water holding and mixing containers under the stand. This was a requirement from my wife, who recoiled in horror when I suggested I may have a trash can in the kitchen for mixing saltwater every few weeks . I'll take some pictures of that setup once everything arrives (sometime in the middle of next week).

For the flow outputs, I'm planning to have the sump returns drop in with clear PVC at the open end of the tank (the one furthest from the wall). I stole this idea from gregt's 400g setup. I also plan to have 2 Tunze Streams, which I will put at the overflow end. If that doesn't provide enough random flow, I'll consider relocating a stream (or adding a third) to the open end of the tank, but we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

I'm currently waitlisted for the Tunze kit, as well as the Schuran Jetstream 1 reactor, it could be a few months before they come in, but that's probably ok, as I don't expect to have a serious need for either of these for a few months.

Javajaws,

We do also have the South Florida Building Codes, but I think those are more structural in nature (hurricanes, anyone?). Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of any of these codes, so my knowledge comes secondhand. I'll let you know if I find anything, though.

Now, gotta get back to work,

Jeff

[Michael7979]

I'll be watching. This will be interesting, keep up the good work.

James does some great work, glad he is just up the road. I'm looking to up grade soon also and james will be the "choosen one" when the time comes.

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by jeffbrig
100% positive.

The tank will be completely self-sufficient with all water holding and mixing containers under the stand. This was a requirement from my wife, who recoiled in horror when I suggested I may have a trash can in the kitchen for mixing saltwater every few weeks .

good deal!

You planning on including a drainpipe for water changes? That's one thing I wish I had incorporated into my fishroom. Somehow the thought that I would have to throw away water never entered my mind... DUH!

[jeffbrig]

Unfortunately, no drain. The kitchen sink is less than 10 feet away, but adding plumbing to get to that drain was a little more work than I wanted to do, with no easy direct route (unless I wanted to go up and over with a vaulted ceiling).

So, I'll just have to live with dropping a small pump into the sump and running a hose across to the sink for a few minutes when I'm doing water changes. Just have to remember to dump to the normal drain side of the sink, not the garbage disposal.

Then again, maybe I do have a drain. If I just start referring to the kitchen as the fish room...... hmmm, wonder what the wife would say about that......

[clavery]

Jeff, thanks for the detailed response. One more question on acrylic. If you need to remove/scrape off algae/coraline, what do you use to avoid scratches? My 70G is fully stocked and itching to start another one somewhere - would love a 200G+, but am concerned on the scratching of the acrylic.

Thanks for the advise/info. I've learned sooooo much from you guys on RC over the past 7 months.