mjt82's 220 build/progress thread!!

mjt82 · Jul 27, 2018

Hello reefers!

I'm starting this thread to document the progress of my 6' Marineland 220, which is an upgrade of a many-years-old 5' 100 gallon softie reef. I originally purchased this tank approximately two years ago, but life happened, and I wasn't able to get the tank up and running until about one year ago. It's easy for me keep up with the age of my tank, as it's the same age as my daughter - I finished up the swap over from the 100 gallon to the 220 the day before we brought her home from the hospital. (Many props to my lovely wife for allowing me to do that!!)

A little about myself:
I've been keeping saltwater since 2002 when I purchased a used 55 gallon setup (complete and running) for $200. My experience in the hobby has been through many iterations - from the 55 I went to a 180, then to a 100, then to a 30, then back to the 100, and now to the 220! I am a self-described lazy reefer, which I am trying to change as I have found myself desiring to keep more difficult corals and fish. I'm inconsistent in my testing and water changing - Looking for ideas on how to make myself more consistent.

The plan for the 220 was initially to continue keeping soft corals and some LPS. I've found myself looking more into SPS, however... So we will see how this moves along. I hope this thread is a candid glimpse into my journey as a reefer, including the ups and downs!

As this will begin as being retrospective, I have documented the majority of the progress of the set up of the tank, so the first few posts will be historical.

Thanks for reading!! Please, feel free to ask questions or make suggestions!

HotRocks · Jul 27, 2018

Look forward to updates and Pics.

Here at R2R we love Pics! Thanks for sharing and look forward to seeing progress! Happy Reefing!

mjt82 · Jul 27, 2018

Let’s start with the tank....

It’s a 6’ Marineland 220 gallon with dual overflows. My LFS got a great deal on it for me - The size really appealed to me. I love the 31” depth. Like I mentioned before, I purchased the tank in 2016 (October I believe) but life happened, and I wasn’t able to make any progress.

Here is the obligatory “kid in the tank” pic, taken April 22, 2017:

mjt82 · Jul 27, 2018

I placed an order for 150 lbs of Pukani rock from @BulkReefSupply July 2017, and was extremely excited to see the awesome shapes I got! It nearly aquascapes itself!

I familiarized myself with the curing process, as it was immediately evident the rock was VERY dirty. I purchased a 100 gallon Rubbermaid tub for the curing process. I started a thread about my curing process - Long story short, I got the best results in driving down the phosphates by using SeaKlear lanathum chloride. I’ll post a link to my rock curing thread as soon as I dig it up...

Found the link!
My experience with curing BRS Pukani
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...e-with-curing-BRS-Pukani.324197/&share_type=t

Here’s a shot of the rock in the curing tub! As you can see, BRS sent me some great pieces!!

mjt82 · Jul 30, 2018

I have always built my own stands for the tanks I’ve had in the past... I’m lucky enough to have a dad that has excellent carpentry skills, that I unfortunately didn’t inherit! With this tank, however, my wife requested that the stand be of a more furniture-grade quality than my 100 gallon stand. My LFS pointed me in the direction of Aquarium Wood Products, and I found one that met my height requirement and my wife’s quality requirement. I chose to have it finished locally, again to my wife’s specifications to match the décor!

mjt82 · Jul 30, 2018

It became immediately apparent to me that I had a problem when I placed the stand in the spot I had chosen for it to sit...

The floor was EXTREMELY uneven. The new "tank room" was formerly a porch that had been closed in by the previous owners of our house, therefore the concrete beneath our flooring was severely uneven.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about a solution and discussing options with my dad, who's job is in structural steel - He has a lot of experience dealing with loads and load-bearing surfaces. We decided to shim the stand to get it completely level.

There were areas where we had to do tons of shimming, while in others, not so much shimming was required.

Once the stand was shimmed, we used a quite unorthodox method for getting the tank onto the stand...

And ultimately we got it up, shimmed the heck out of it, and got it level! Thanks to my dad and uncle for their assistance!!

And a shot of it in place, shims trimmed and painted black:

mjt82 · Jul 30, 2018

Looking back through my pictures, I didn't document the construction of my sump, unfortunately. I employed @melev to construct some custom baffles for my sump, which I planned to build out of a 40 breeder tank. The 40 breeder fit nicely under the stand, and could easily be removed through the double doors on the right of my stand. He put "Minion" to work, and in a couple of weeks, I had my nice, new baffles that fit nicely in the 40 breeder!

Now on to my plumbing.

My plan was to use a dual Herbie style set up. I researched and researched my options, and landed upon this as my best bet. Each overflow would contain one full drain and one emergency overflow, with gate valves on each full drain to create a nice, quiet, safe system. I'm not much of a plumber, but I worked my way through the plumbing, using unions periodically, as per the advice of the @Bulk Reef Supply videos that I watched so many times! There are several things I would do differently now, seeing as how hindsight is always 20/20, but for the most part I'm pleased with how the plumbing turned out. I may make some changes in the future, but for now, everything works as planned, and is very easily managed.

Here are a couple of shots of my plumbing progress - Feel free to ask questions!