Jacob 240G build

[Jvesche20]

I had a 220G build and I had a leak. I bought it in November and left it in the snow. It started to snow and it was too heavy for my dad and I to pick up so we slit it most of the way in the grass. When doing so it caught on a sprinkler and ripped off the bottom trim. I tried to build my own stand and it might have caused an issue with the support. Not sure what happened but it ended up leaking. I got a new place and it started to leak around when it was at 200G. It started to leak at 6am. It was so scary in the middle of the night not knowing If the tank would explode or not. I had to hurry and set up my old 125G tank. I had all the rock built for my 220. I was so close to giving up and selling everything. All my sps died. Had about 20 frags/colonies die. Only thing that survived was my zoas. I had a few colonies and they are 2k+. I ended up keeping everything and all the rock I built. I lost 5-8 fish sadly. It was awful all the stuff that died in the process. Now everything is happy and healthy. I recently started to get into sps again months later. Well I found a 240 acrylic tank for $300 and $300 for the stand. So $600 In total I thought is was a steal. I had to drive 3 hours and got a speeding ticket on the way. Thought $300 was a lot for a stand. I tried to find another but finding a local 8ft stand was way to hard. I didn’t wanna try and make my own again and screw it up again and break the tank.

well now that the story is over here’s what I got. Might take a little while to update everything cause I’m gonna take it slow. I gotta buy a low more supplies cause I have a 6ft tank now I’m gonna have a 8ft tank.

The tank is acrylic 8x2x2ft

 

[Jvesche20]

I cleaned all the algae and painted to stand to black. Gotta do another coat tomorrow with black stain. Here’s what I got so far. This is before

 

[Jvesche20]

Here’s after

 

[Dragon52]

Looks like you got a great deal, $600 for both!!!

 

[Jvesche20]

I cleaned this thing and used a magic eraser to clean all the algae and not scrape the glass. There’s a lot of scratches on the tank. I tried to talk the guy down cause of it but he wouldn’t budge. I got 400, 800, 1000 and 2000 grit sand paper. I tested and tried to remove the scratches from one area and it worked. I have novus polish to fix the end product. I’ll finish more scratches tomorrow. The guy tried to use some type of blade or scrubber and it messed up the front of the tank. Plan on fixing it. Here’s what it looks like before.

 

[Jvesche20]

Looks like you got a great deal, $600 for both!!!

Yes thought stand being the same price as the tank was kinda a rip off but said screw it I could resell this tank for way more than $600

 

[Jvesche20]

Here’s what I did to the stand now. I painted everything black. I gotta paint and sand this trim part on the stand

 

[Dragon52]

Yes thought stand being the same price as the tank was kinda a rip off but said screw it I could resell this tank for way more than $600

If you bought a new stand that size it would cost way more then $300.
What size wood is used for the corners & mid support

 

[Jvesche20]

Only problem I have is the slots are kinda small on the top. I have very thick rock in my current tank I’m not sure what to do or how to get it into this tank. I’ll post a pic of my 125 tomorrow

 

[Jvesche20]

If you bought a new stand that size it would cost way more then $300

Thought about buying a new one. Got a quote for over 2k for a new stand for 8ft. Tried to find one online used but couldn’t find anything for 8ft only for 180G

 

[CO_reefer]

Sorry to hear about all of your troubles, but sounds like you found a good deal on a tank to move forward with. This hobby definitely has its share of learning is not cheap. Cant wait to see what you bounce back with!

 

[Jvesche20]

Sorry to hear about all of your troubles, but sounds like you found a good deal on a tank to move forward with. This hobby definitely has its share of learning is not cheap. Cant wait to see what you bounce back with!

Yes I’ve lost more then what I’ve gained so far. Only been in for 3 years. Kinda scared to keep going right now because I’m going to finish school next year and possibly move next year but not sure if I’m gonna do my masters and go 3 years. But I plan on moving to colorado and I currently live in Michigan. Only thing I’m scared about is keeping all these corals and trying to set up a new tank when I move. I moved 15 mins and all my sps corals died. I also did have a leak and I didn’t get to acclimate my cross properly so they all died. Hopefully if I move I can somehow keep these corals Alive and healthy

 

[Jvesche20]

@CO_reefer i see you’re from Colorado. Got any recommendations for lfs? I went to about 4 near Denver but wasn’t too impressed. Only place I like was elite reef. They had a decent selection but nothing high end

 

[CO_reefer]

As for moving, it can be tricky with an established tank. I suggest investing in a good frag tank, that way if you have to move you can setup the frag tank a bit quicker and take time on your DT. Yea the local stores are ok, elite is probably the best in Denver, but there a couple good ones in Boulder as well.

 

[Jvesche20]

Time to start water testing

 

[Jvesche20]

Alright it’s been a while but I’m finally done with the tank. It was a long and painful process.

 

[Jvesche20]

I live in a small apartment and I had to move my 125G and put the 240G in the same spot. I needed a stock tank to hold the extra water. I filled it up in one spot. I had very little room to deal with so it made this extremely difficult

 

[Jvesche20]

I kept all my fish inside of here while doing so. Sadly all my sps corals decided to bleach on me during the transfer.

 

[Jvesche20]

Here’s some videos of my tank pre stages

 

[Jvesche20]

Here’s a little tour of my small apartment. I had to put the suitcase on the ground cause the dog kept trying to eat the tubing for my rodi unit and this prevented it. On top of this giant mess the dishwasher broke so we had to do all our dishes by hand. What a nightmare