My 225gal. from the beginning

[mskohl]

I'm in the very early stages of getting my new 225 gal tank started. I've purchased some of the things I'm going to need and figured I could start my new tank thread now.

Here is my list of what I'm going to use:

Aquired or On it's way:
1. Tank, stand, canopy, sump, and plumbing
2. Sump pump: Mag 18
3. Protein Skimmer: ASM g3

Still Need:
4. UPS: APC 1500

5. Lighting:
a. 6 T-5 bulbs (still deciding on which colors)
b. 6 2" reflectors from reefgeek.com - aquired
c. 6 endcaps - aquired
d. 3 workhorse 7 ballasts
e. 3 power cords

6. Rock : 350-400pounds

7. Tunze Trubelle 6000 x2; I may get a controller later

8. Controller: still undecided, maybe Reefkeeper since it won't contol the tunzes

Pictures are coming soon. I need to go snap some of the stand and hood.

[mskohl]

This is the hood and stand. Look familiar? I'm going to strip, sand, and stain it to make it match my cabinets.





This is my new ASM g3 skimmer that I am excited to get going.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Looks great Stephanie. I was hoping would post a build log. You're going to love that ASM. We have one going on the Kyoto tank and it does really good.

[mskohl]

This is from Travis's recipe. I started with a 3:1 salt:cement ratio, but I really don't know what I ended up with because I had to add more cement when I put in too much water. Not bad for my first try.

In this first picture, up front is a the rock I formed around a blown up glove. It makes a nice cave that you can easily see in the second picture. The other large rock I formed around a pvc pipe. I'm planning on making more like this and stacking them on a pillar like Paul W. Two of the smaller rocks are formed around clumps of salt to make nice caves as well. Both of these pictures are after they've hardened, but before soaking. I've got a few of the smaller ones in the toilet tanks and the larger rocks in a rubbermaid tub in the back yard. Waiting 6 weeks will be frustrating.

[mskohl]

Many of my choices on my list of equipment were recommendations from Paul W. and 2Ras I'm still trying to make my decision on the color of the bulbs, but Ray's tank really helped me decide that they are going to be t5's.

This tank was Paul W.'s 'practice tank' (just joking) and I'm utilizing his experience and knowledge not only regarding the particulars of this tank, but in reefkeeping in general. He recommended the ASM and, of course, it fits perfectly in the sump.

I'm going to start stripping the stand tonight, I hope. I've got a long 'to do' list of other chores, but I'm actually looking forward to this work.

[Travis L. Stevens]

You gotta get your hubby to take pictures of you working on the tank so we know that you didn't hire someone else to do it I'll eagerly await updates. Do you know what you are going to keep in the tank yet?

[mskohl]

Russell will probably be too busy helping scrape to take pictures. (By this I mean that I'll probably be helping him. )

[captbunzo]

I am very excited about this tank thread and am certain your tank is going to be amazing, Stephanie. Keep us posted and take lots of pictures!!!

Btw - one tip from me - skip the controller. I am pretty convinced that 99% of the time, switching current is completely unnecessary. It is much better simply to create LOTS of current and leave it on all the time.

For instance, if you skip the switching current aspect, then you can go for the non-controllable Tunze Streams, save money, and end up with higher flow. 2 Tunze Stream 6080 will end up with a turnover rate of approximately 20x per hour. That is very respectable.

Just my opinion.

[Russ Braaten]

Looking at the missing hood door I suspect this is the same stand our great leader had with the 225 when it was in his home.

Why is the rock so brown? Is the color from the cement? Because Travis' recipe does not use any sand.

Russ

[captbunzo]

Btw - good work on the rock. That's going to look great!

[mskohl]

the rock is really a dark grey. I think it's just the lighting in the house and the background color of the counter that messed with the camera. I need a new camera, this one is on its way out.

[captbunzo]

Come on, with a 225g tank, you've GOTTA have a good camera!

Get a Nikon D50 - I have one and it is AMAZING. Look for my vacation pics to be posted soon. Check out this review.

[mskohl]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03...cd350cd500.asp
This is the camera I have. The sony CD Mavica CD500. We bought this 3 years ago, so it's a little outdated, but it was top of the line at the time. We decided on this one because it writes directly to mini cd. My husband wanted to take it to Iraq with him and the military wouldn't allow him to install any software on the computer to access photos.

I was actuallly looking forward to getting a small camera.

[captbunzo]

Small cameras are convenient. I just couldn't live without the option of switching lenses, etc. Of course, if you don't go the Digital SLR route, then you can probably save quite a bit of money.

We actually have 2 digital cameras - my Nikon D50, and a smaller Nikon point & shoot that my wife uses. She ALSO does not like the size of my camera. I think she has grown to appreicate the flexibility it brings, however.

I am SO looking forward to getting a nice macro lens for it.

[mskohl]

Well, we only got to the hood last night. Here are some pictures to prove (for Travis ) that we did it ourselves. I liked scraping better than the sander (as you can see from my expression), so Russell did that part.






Here is the hood scraped and sanded (except the trim). Now we've got to do the stand and then we can stain it all.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Looks very nice. Good job. So, how long did it take you to do all that?

[mskohl]

only a couple of hours. We painted some of the stripper on a section, then scraped it. Then when it was all scraped, Russell used the belt sander. It was pretty quick. We still haven't started on the stand though. Another night. This week our high temps are supposed to be in the 80's, so maybe it'll be cool enough one evening.

Here's where I think I'll put it.

[captbunzo]

It's going to like nice there...

[mskohl]

I don't really like the wallpaper and if I cover 6ft of it then I might be able to live without taking it down.

[mskohl]

I had basically decided to just get the tunze streams and not the controller to save money. However, I just won an auction on ebay that included the contoller, two streams, and two magnet holders. I'm really excited to get them and it saved me some money. woo hoo!
Now I'm almost done getting the 'stuff'

[dugg]

Once that tank is up and running, you better hope you can live with the wall paper lol. It's gonna be there a loooooong time.

[pwhitby]

I can attest to that......do the wall before you do the tank.

P.

[captbunzo]

Congrats on your new lights - that rocks!

[mskohl]

My goodness, it's been a long time since I've done anything on this tank. A couple of weeks ago, I had it drilled and had the overflows installed. Then we did the plumbing and this last week we got some of the rock in there. It's still dry, but I'll get my new RODI unit this week and can start making salt water.

I need to get some pics of under the stand, though there isn't much to see there yet, and then gather up all the equipment.

Sorry for the flash in these pics, I was just taking a few quick shots before I had to run out the door.



I tried different ways to aquascape. I was even in the tank at one point. My arms just aren't long enough. I finally gave up and Russell helped me build the arch outside and then recreate it in the tank.



It's hard to tell in this picture, but the small pillar of rock is toward the back of the arch and the arch is at an angle with the right side toward the front of the tank.





I'm leaving the left side open for now and I'll fill it with live rock from my 45g and some that I purchased from Paul T. I'll probably make a tall pillar and maybe a small mound. I just don't know yet. I have a lot of rock, so I'll see what works best in the tank. I'll probably have quite a bit to sell when I'm finished.

[mskohl]

Well, it's taken a few days to get all this water mixed, but I'm getting close to full.

I managed to get the water in without making a sandstorm, but I got pretty tired of toting buckets. Finally, Russell hooked up a sump pump (clean) and water hose (rinsed) and ran it from the barrell of water to the tank. It went much faster this way.

Anyway, I'm about 12" from being full and then I have to add some for the sump. But, I'm out of salt. So, the RO/DI unit is making water and tomorrow, I'm headed to the store.

In the pics, you can see the pvc pipe on the left. I'm saving that for the live rock going in. I'll also add some more live rock behind the small tower on the right. The water is fairly yellow, but I'm hoping that'll clear up with the flow from my Tunzes. Otherwise, it'll clean up when I get the rest of the saltwater made and my locline in and can start the skimmer.