200 gallon frag system

[HankstankXXL750]

I recently decided to QT my corals. Tired of hitchhikers and concerned about bringing in disease. So I bought a 75g from petco 1/2 price and also converted 1 of my 20’s and 1 of my 40B. I have fragged my tank once and placed them in the sump compartment in my S1000, but they are hard to see and manage. Ready to start dragging a lot of what I have, so decided I needed a Frag tank. Priced a 4x6x18 custom and decided I couldn’t swing it way too much $$.

Visited one of the stores in Omaha and saw their new set ups. Using 50g low boys. Way better prices.

So my setup:

4 lowboys
8 Noo-Psyche K7 pro
Eshops 200 sump
Current 3100 gph pump
4 Nero 3
Apex System
Red Sea 300 skimmer

Planning to add
Apex Trident
2 Apex DOS
1 Apex DDR

Pics to follow.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Stand. Nothing pretty, just functional for cost savings. I drilled all four tanks on each end. Planned return on one end and overflow on other.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Then I got concerned about no emergency overflow. The LFS didn’t do this. But I decided emergency on one end, main on the other. Then bringing return over the side of the tank on the emergency end. And installed lights last night.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Just found this crack. Oops.

 

[bud_rick]

This is awesome. I’ve got a lowboy setup I’m ready to start up here in the next month myself. Can’t wait to see your progress.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Bought new tank. Got it drilled. Now time to plumb it back in.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Got it plumbed. Organized all my wires. Leak tested the tanks, and now filling.

Keep your fingers crossed.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

That is beastly!

 

[HankstankXXL750]

That is beastly!

Thanks. Gonna give it a whirl. Hopefully I can trade enough to the LFS to pay for food, salt and supplies for my other 6 tanks.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

So an update. Had everything running then yesterday morning about 6:30 the bottom of one of the tanks ruptured and I awoke to water on the floor and running out the door through our family room. Cleaned up, removed the broken tank and capped plumbing so I could continue to run the remaining 3 tanks.

Haven’t determined why, but I did have the lights mounted to the sides of the tanks and that could have been putting some stress somehow. Not sure why it would affect the bottom vs the side. But out of precaution I designed and installed a hanging light rack for the tanks.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

With those zoo med frag tanks, I wouldn't be surprised that the lights caused some twisting of the tank. My importer hangs the grow light t5 fixtures from his ceiling for that reason.

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

With those zoo med frag tanks, I wouldn't be surprised that the lights caused some twisting of the tank. My importer hangs the grow light t5 fixtures from his ceiling for that reason.

Probably due to drilling the bottom of the tank. I have the same one and wouldn't thing of it. The glass is to thin to compromise.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Probably due to drilling the bottom of the tank. I have the same one and wouldn't thing of it. The glass is to thin to compromise.

Actually bought them as one of the lfs in Omaha redid their Frag tanks with these. And they drilled them.

However the glass did not break or crack at the holes that I drilled. They were completely intact with the bulkheads still attached. The breakage seems to be directly below where I had the lights mounted on the side wall.

 

[officialreefbros]

Following along! Once I get better at the hobby I want to make a system like that!

 

[David_CO]

you're brave not having any support under the low boy bottom glass!

 

[DIYreefer]

Very cool! That sucks that one broke, my wife would have killed me, lol.

I considered doing a few lowboys myself but ultimately decided to go with plywood and epoxy. Mine is basically a big AIO tub (100ish gallons) works great so far. I did leave enough space to add 3 lowboys (stacked verically) if I ever reach the point of needing them. I'll be following along to see how this works out for you in the mean time.

I do have one question, do you have anything planned to handle humidity? That's quite a bit of surface area so I would imagine it could get real swampy, real quick!

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Very cool! That sucks that one broke, my wife would have killed me, lol.

I considered doing a few lowboys myself but ultimately decided to go with plywood and epoxy. Mine is basically a big AIO tub (100ish gallons) works great so far. I did leave enough space to add 3 lowboys (stacked verically) if I ever reach the point of needing them. I'll be following along to see how this works out for you in the mean time.

I do have one question, do you have anything planned to handle humidity? That's quite a bit of surface area so I would imagine it could get real swampy, real quick!

Yes it is quite humid in that room. Not as bad as one might think.

I have 850 gallons in three tanks and a QT system in the family room before adding the 2 40’s 75 and the 200 Frag in what is now my “fish room”. I installed a large dehumidifier in our family room which keeps it down enough for my wife’s desert lizard. Have an exhaust fan I installed when my step son lived with us as he was doing rather large paintings. I run it all the time and our furnace has an air exchanger on it. But I am planning to add another exhaust fan or two to pull out more air down here.

 

[DIYreefer]

Looking back at your pics, I think I may know why your tank broke. It appears as though you don't have adequate vertical bracing on the corners. Unless I'm looking at it wrong, the weight of the tanks is essentially being held up by the tensile strength of the screws that you used. If so, this is a recipe for (further disaster). Regardless of the hardware/screws that were used, they simply cannot support the weight of the tanks once filled, particularly in soft/construction grade wood.

What likely has happened is one or more of the 2×4 supports has moved and essentially caused the weight of the water to be distributed unevenly. That would absolutely cause a glass (or silicone) failure. And will likely cause more failures moving forward if the stands are indeed built the way they appear to be in the pictures.

 

[DIYreefer]

Yes it is quite humid in that room. Not as bad as one might think.

I have 850 gallons in three tanks and a QT system in the family room before adding the 2 40’s 75 and the 200 Frag in what is now my “fish room”. I installed a large dehumidifier in our family room which keeps it down enough for my wife’s desert lizard. Have an exhaust fan I installed when my step son lived with us as he was doing rather large paintings. I run it all the time and our furnace has an air exchanger on it. But I am planning to add another exhaust fan or two to pull out more air down here.

Nice! All I have is about 25 Sq ft of surface area between my two tanks and that alone is enough to have to run a dehumidifier in my house.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Can't wait to see what the tank looks like when it's finished!!