Sawdonkey's 220 Progress Thread

[sawdonkey]

Hello everone,

I've been lurking here for a while and chime in now and then. I thoght I'd start a build thread to track progress here. Some history: I've had an SW aquarium every day since 1999. I started with a 29 gal in college, upgraded to a 55 in college, got a 90 post college, and bought a 220 about a year and a half ago, and this is when I first started keeping corals. Today, my tank is mostly SPS, but my fish are pretty atypical for a reef. I have two triggers, two angels, two tangs, and two clowns. Here are some progress shots:

Here is my old 90. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't have had my tanks in there:

Here is my 220 after I got it home. It was a guy's in-wall tank, so I had to make some changes to the stand:

Here it is filled up with water:

Then, I had a guy build a walnut skin for the stand and canopy. The cabinet face is held on with magnets so I can remove the panels to get to business.
This is what it looks like in context with the whole room:

 

[sawdonkey]

For equipment, I use:

• 75 gallon sump
• 2 Evergrow IT 2060's with a DIY LED strip
• SKIMZ SM201 Skimmer
• One TLF reactor for biopellets run off a return pump stub off
• One TLF reactor for GFO run off a return pump stub off
• Smart top-off
• Jaebo DC12000 return pump run in-sump (I just switched from my external Reeflo Dart)
• 25 gallon top-off container that is full of Kalk solution
• Reefkeeper Lite that pretty much just runs my heater and sump light
• One Jaebo WP60
• One Jaebo WP40

Dosing:

• Kalk solution in my topoff
• I've been using acropower for a few months, but I think I'll stop this since i don't think it is needed with my large dirty fish

 

[sawdonkey]

For Fish, here is what I have:

This is Larry King a few months after I got him. I've had him for 1.5 years:

This is Larry King recenly. His mask has turned even more yellow since this pic:

This is Al Roker. He is the baddest fish in my tank and tries to bite my hand every time it hits the water. I've had him for 6-7 years.

Nice set of teeth:

This is Gary, my favorite fish. I've had him for 12 years. Check out this nice set of human-like teeth!

 

[eww]

That looks like an exceptional set up. I am particularly intrigued by your walnut skinned stand. Do you have any more pics of it or details?

 

[sawdonkey]

Couple more fish:

This is Soledad O'brien. Had her for about six years. Super sweet fish and the most docile in my tank:

This is Anderson Cooper. I've had him for about five years:

This is Diane Sawyer. She is a real jerk and also likes to nip at coral.

I recenly added a pair of black snowflakes too. I don't have pics yet.

 

[sawdonkey]

Here is a FTS from a few months ago. I'm close to fully stocked on SPS. Now I just need to grow it out. I'll week out some of the less spectacular colonies as the nicer ones grow. I just didn't want a tank full of tiny frags, so I added some fast growers when I first started adding corals. I'll post some coral shots soon. I need to do another FTS soon too, because growth has been good lately and I've moved a few things around.

 

[sawdonkey]

That looks like an exceptional set up. I am particularly intrigued by your walnut skinned stand. Do you have any more pics of it or details?

Sure, Here you go. the whole thing is made from 3/4 inch walnut plywood. The plywood is edged with about a 1/2 inch of walnut hardwood. The canopy is one piece. The whole front lifts up and is held up by a gas piston on each side. The cabinet is just screwed into the 2x4 stand. The panels are held in place with magnets.

The exposed 2x4 are the supports from the original stand. If I could to do it over, I would have moved them over so they lined up with the walnut piecies that serve to fill the gap betwen the panels. Overall, I'm happy with it since it was a retrofit.

Here are some more detailed shots:

 

[eww]

Very Nice. thank you for the detailed shots. Do you happen to have a full frontal shot with all the doors on? I hope you dn;t mind but I may be stealing this design for a build, at least in concept anyway.

 

[sawdonkey]

Very Nice. thank you for the detailed shots. Do you happen to have a full frontal shot with all the doors on? I hope you dn;t mind but I may be stealing this design for a build, at least in concept anyway.

Sure, copy away!

Here's the botom of the back of a front panel. The weight is held by these little angle irons and they are held in place by magnets.

 

[adam87]

Nice tank!!!

 

[djoutkast22]

Very nice

 

[revhtree]

Wow very well done! Love it. Please keep us updated.

 

[revsgirl]

Nice tank! Thanks for sharing!! Love Gary!!

 

[sawdonkey]

Thanks guys. I finally got a chance to photograph my new clowns (Tom Tucker and Trisha Takinowa) that were recently released from qt. I don't get new fish very often, so this is pretty exciting for me. I'll post some shots of some corals soon.

 

[ethridge78]

nice tank.

 

[Paulooliveira]

Amazing tank ...

 

[sawdonkey]

Picked up this Reef Raft Asia Ghostbusters at a swap yesterday. Also picked up a Turaki, Blueberry Shortcake, Christmas Mirabilis, and Tierra Del Fuego from Jason Fox. Can't wait to see this Ghostbusters grow out:

 

[sawdonkey]

I recently changes my scape to accommodate more sps and so my beginner sps (birdsnest) is no longer the centerpiece of my tank.

 

[sawdonkey]

I made a top down viewer this weekend and too some new photos:

Right side:

Vivid's Rainbow Delight:

Palmer's Blue:

Unknown. This was green for a whole and now it's turning into something cool!

Reef Tech Starburst:

 

[sawdonkey]

Green table.