Innovative Marine EXT 200 Peninsular Build

[coweyes298]

I have been reefing & keeping fish for 9 years. Current tank is 100 gallon 4 ft x 2 ft x20 inch external ghost overflow from crystal dynamic back in 2016. This tank is currently a FOWL tank since I am on hiatus with coral since COVID. Got the ich to upgrade last year and ordered the IM tank last Dec. whole crate comes in today, and oh boy this thing is huge...

Delivery guy doesn't have 2nd pallet jack and he couldn't unload from lift gate... He called his coworker on other truck near by to save the day. Poor delivery guy waited additional an hour for his coworker. There are some jacked up fastener on the wooden box itself. I made a bold decision to sign off the delivery paper before opening the crate. Figured it shouldn't damage the tank inside and the tank sure looks undamaged after unboxing. All the IM tank now comes with the leveling base which is very nice.

Equipment list :

2 sets dedicated 20 amp circuit
Sump : custom made GEO reef U shape race track style sump. with built in SK5000 fleece roller. 40" x 23" x 15".
Skimmer : NYOS 220
Return : Dual GHL Versia Flow 7 ( same as Sicce SDC 7)
Heater : Fine 300W titanium x2
Power head : Tunze 6105 eco x2
Control : GHL P4e
Light :GHL LX7 x3, Mitras light bar 3 x2

and a lot more to come....

Being busy between works so I will try to update when progress made. This build will be slow for sure.

 

[coweyes298]

Quickly put the stand together for size perspective. Going to order 80/20 hardware to make cantilever light rail and mount. Sump will be ready by end of April so I have plenty of time to tinker.

 

[coweyes298]

I was looking for 80 20 light mount idea and came across some reefer's idea in the DIY section. Measured all I need and draw it on sketch paper and ordered the parts from TNUTZ. I have compared the price between 8020 and TNUTZ and it is like 200 dollar difference for my parts, so TNUTZ is a no brainer. All profile are 15 light series. Mounting hardware for the LX7 light are M4 screw type T nut, also bought from TNUTZ. The long cantilever rail is 71 inch long. The 90 degree turn rail that anchored with 71 inch one and attached to linear bearing is 40 inch. The 2 wings run perpendicular to the 71 inch rail where I have my wire hanging kit attached to is 10 inch.

Spent today to put the light mount together. I am using anchor fastener for the cantilever rail and it is closed to wall, so need to figure out the order to put things together. Same as the wall mount with the linear bearing.

Need to put the linear bearing first before bolt both sides into the stud.
This plate can be ordered with 2 counter bore hole on each side which I found out is perfect fit for 1/4" diameter, 2 1/4" long self drilling construction screw. And the distance between these 2 counter bore hole is matching my in wall stud.

Everything together. with the handle I can lose the break knob on top and bottom and raise the light to height I want. Need to figure out the minimum height to not crush the light into tank.

I first have this setup without wire hanging from ceiling, and the cantilever of the long rail's sag is not that obvious. But for the piece of mind I decided to have hanging wire attached to the far end wings. All the light cable can be hide in the 15 series profiles groove for cleaner look. The 2 10 inch wings at the front and end of my 71 inch rail is reserved for 2 GHL light bar 3 (model 170, 64 inch long) which will come next week.

I was pulling my hair out when trying to figure out how to get the light mounted on the peninsular style tank. But after meticulously measurement and planning what parts to be ordered, I am really happy with the outcome of using 80 20 to build my light mount. Next will be moving the tank in and wait for sump to be arrived and starts plumbing.

 

[Anna K]

I am following along with your build. I've looked at snagging the same model, so I'm excited to follow along with your journey and see what you do!

 

[coweyes298]

Programmed all the LX7 for now. Will change to proper time schedule once the tank is in.
The outer and inner one is LX7 7206 Marine Water. The middle one is LX7 7506 Coral Pop. Will be adding 2 Mitra's light bar 3 on left and right wings. The Mitra's LB3 will be deep ocean model.

 

[coweyes298]

My sump is custom made by GEO Reef, a race track style. This style was kind of prototyping when I ordered. Now Geo has the detail in their website. Link is here.
https://www.geosreef.com/product/geo-su40r-pro-afr-uv-coming-soon/
ETA for my sump to be finished will be 3 weeks from now. Geo is currently at ReefaPalooza Orlando and he's showcasing this prototype sump there as well.
I omit the refugium light, but it comes with all the other bells and whistles as UV and SK5000.

 

[REEFRIED!]

Looking good. Nice work. That sump is sweet. One suggestion is to possibly use and inside corner bracket for your light mount/rail where the vertical and the horizontal pieces meet

 

[coweyes298]

Looking good. Nice work. That sump is sweet. One suggestion is to possibly use and inside corner bracket for your light mount/rail where the vertical and the horizontal pieces meet

Thanks! I did research and find out the anchor fastener is probably the strongest in terms of cantilever. Inside corner bracket is on the weak side in terms of strength. There is a down side if you use anchor fastener like in my case, since the vertical arm is close to the wall so you need to lock the horizontal and vertical piece tight before putting it to mount.

 

[coweyes298]

Received another piece of puzzle today. Mitras light bar 3.
This is deep ocean 170 model. I haven't setup my Profilux 4 yet so the light bar LED will blast at full power when hooked to power.

 

[Kasrift]

Quickly put the stand together for size perspective. Going to order 80/20 hardware to make cantilever light rail and mount. Sump will be ready by end of April so I have plenty of time to tinker.

Looks nice. I setup the same tank, still working on setup. I bought it a year prior, just got around to assembling and I'm jealous of the levels that come with the new stands. Funny enough I have the same wood flooring you do.

Let me know what you do for 80/20. Been looking at options as well.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Darn, man, you are all-in on this! Very happy for you. (I can't say I've ever seen someone set their light schedule over a phantom tank, though. Lol! Getting that tank up there on the stand seems like saving the hardest part until last.) ;)

Will this be a FOWLR? By the lighting, I assume not.

 

[coweyes298]

Looks nice. I setup the same tank, still working on setup. I bought it a year prior, just got around to assembling and I'm jealous of the levels that come with the new stands. Funny enough I have the same wood flooring you do.

Let me' know what you do for 80/20. Been looking at options as well.

Here is my build list from TNUTZ. You also need "Flanged Button Head Screw, 5/16"-18 Thread, 1" Long to attach LM-015-H to EX-3075. The 3/4" long screw is not going to work. My list has some excess stuff so please do the calculation your own.
The M4 type screw to attach to light are from Amazon.

 

[coweyes298]

Darn, man, you are all-in on this! Very happy for you. (I can't say I've ever seen someone set their light schedule over a phantom tank, though. Lol! Getting that tank up there on the stand seems like saving the hardest part until last.) ;)

Will this be a FOWLR? By the lighting, I assume not.

Oh I have coral QT tank, IM NUVO 20 running with same LX7 light (4 cluster) so I am replicating the light schedule I have to this new setup. Will need to tweak it once the tank is running. I am waiting my friends to be available to help moving the tank from garage. Soon.
And of course it is for coral!

 

[coweyes298]

Had 6 dudes help to haul the tank inside house onto the stand. Bought six 10" suction cups (metal handle) from Amazon and 3 dolly carts to get the move going. I also received GEO's sump couple days ago and his work is definitely an art piece. Checking the leveling one more time before sealing the bottom panel and will move the sump into the stand. This memorial weekend will be fun!

 

[jayteerq]

Nice! Following

 

[JumboShrimp]

That's some pretty impressive hardware!! :)

 

[coweyes298]

I spent these weekend to move the sump and ATO container into the stand. The controller cabinet is IKEA's Besta, which has perfect size for my application. I need to run 2 power bars (each bar has 5 switchable switches + 1 permanent) along with one extension power strip to cover all my stuff. 2x Light bar + 1st power bar is on the left pair of 20 amps circuit, which has about 800 W when fully on. 3x LX7 light + 2nd power bar + power strip is on right side of 20 amp circuit which has about 1000 W. Since I have 2 DC return pumps so I managed to have each return operates on its individual 20 amps circuit, same as the 2 x 300 W heater. I didn't go too crazy for wire management, but I did try to combine multiple AC/DC power bricks as I can. The 2 Tunze 6105 are using single AC/DC power bricks (calculate the total wattage of 2 units and bought appropriate power bricks from DigiKey. The same thing is done with 2x GHL dosers + KH Director and the 2 refugium lights. I don't have enough space in the controller cabinet for all my LED's power bricks ( There's combined single power bricks for 2 light bar units, and each LX7 light has it's own brick). So I placed them in the narrow spacing in between my ATO container and cabinet. All GHL's LED power bricks are heavy duty MeanWell bricks with IP67 rating all the way to cable connection so I am not too worry about the accidental splashing here. Next will be plumbing and aquascaping.

 

[coweyes298]

Get the plumbing done today. A mixture of schedule 40 and 80 PVC. 3 x 1" drain, the gate valve one is the main drain. 2 x 1" return with flow sensor. Flow sensor is 1/2" and tank return is 3/4" so I need to steep down the pipe diameter from 1" to 1/2" and back to 3/4" at very last section. The black spa flex tubing helps with those gnarly run. I have been using them on my 100 gallon for 8 years without issue. Left side return has 57 W UV (the blue PVC thing) plumbed as inline setup. Right side return has manifold to reactor that will be using with GFO. The plumbing is fairly straightforward because this sump has all the drain and return closed to the short side which is specially designed for peninsular tank.
Next thing will be rock work.

 

[coweyes298]

I put a preliminary rock spacing today. Majority of the rock is Tropic Eden Morocco rock, with 40 lb of Marco Rock hybrid and reefsaver rock in the mix. I have a lot of arches and pedestal with tonga branches so I try to create a down ward slope from the overflow end. I am not sure about gluing the rock since there's no high rising structure and the rock pile seems very sturdy. I didn't glue any of my rock for my currently running 100 gallon so I might omit that for this new build. Will try to find time to ge

t the rock in and get tank wet these days.

 

[marcus aurelius]

Looks great.