monkiboy's 265g build thread

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

i've been spending more and more time on R2R and figured i'd share my current build as things are just really beginning. this way i can pull ideas from a larger population and share my passion for reefing.

so i have a journal on my local reef club and will be updated the next fews posts with basically a massive sequence of posts and photos from inception to where i am now which is just started moving water and cycling. thanks for coming along on the journey and feel free to post up thoughts, ideas, criticisms, etc. look forward to any/all feedback!

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

at the moment, the tank will be located in my basement next to my existing small fish/maintenance room that is really my heating room.

i will be taking down the wall from the existing fish room to allow for access behind what will be the in-wall 265 setup.

things are just beginning with sizing, getting material, framing, and overall design.

this is where the 265 will go:

i've already run electrical with 3 20A circuits to the panel. i also trenched a drain to the area which is the standpipe you see in the photo.

this give you a better idea of the wall we are knocking down to provide access behind the 265:

all the existing filtration will be moved behind the 265. i have not figured out what i want to do for my water reservoirs. i currently have ~35g brute trash cans and i want to make room, somewhere, for at least a 60g RODI for top off, and mixing, and a larger salt water bin. i can likely leave the reservoirs in the heating room once i figure out what shape and size will work.

i am contemplating moving to a tank-less water heater to free up a good bit of real estate in the existing fish room for a larger water reservoir. anybody have one of these care to comment on efficiency, ease of install, etc?

started removing baseboard, and to framing the new wall:

working on the design of the stand and was anticipating going with a steel built stand to offer maximum space available under the stand without the need for too many vertical supports but didn't like the idea after getting fair estimates knowing that i should be able to come up with a proper solution on my own. decided to go wood and would use some properly sized microlams/LVLs to structurally build a stand like the titanic that would span the 7 feet without vertical supports in the front to allow for maximum ease of use while conducting maintenance or looking to place things. but more on the stand later.

picked up my 265 today which was exciting.

thankfully the guys already had it loaded on a truck and all i had to do was slide it into the bed of my taco when i got there - easy peezy.

getting it down from the truck and into my basement will be a completely different story!

i started thinking about how i was going to get this monster into my basement. good time to consider things like that right after you come with it

i figure the easiest will be to enter from the main floor, and get it down my stairs. thankfully my stairwell has a large opening on one side as you make your way to the bottom which will allow for the tank to rotate and enter the basement ... easily?

in doing some prep work for tomorrow's move, i started taking down my railing.

like this, i should be able to enter with the tank, place it on the floor, have two or three guys on the stairs supporting the tank, have a drop cloth down with a sheet of plywood and another drop cloth and be able to slowly slide the whole thing downwards until we get to the opening and carry it the 20 or so feet to it's resting spot until the stand is done.

this is what i mean but how it's open on one side of the staircase that will hopefully allow for room for the tank to pivot and rotate nicely without too much back breaking vs having to try and stand it on it's end at the bottom.

well, that's all for now. i'll be sure to update with photos and videos as progress is made.

thanks for following along!

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

tatic line and harness...check

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

it's too cold right now to be moving this tank and will be warmer by afternoon - getting started on stand instead

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

i'm going to have to have some studs for the drywall on the outside facing so there will be vertical supports there anyway so no microlam/LVL on that side but will likely use the two 2x9 1/4" i have on the 7' span that will be completely devoid of interior vertical supports. way over built but i have two ten footers laying around so i might as well use them and feel 200% about a seven foot span from a 265 being very well supported without any vertical supports other than the legs.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

PVC rollers:

used some webbing and made a simple harness around the tank and clipped in!

nice and easy and before you knew it, we have it downstairs!

railing back up and clean up a bit -

able to get it done pretty easily and without a smudge on a wall or on the stairs - score

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

after that, i wasn't looking forward to any more heavy lifting, haha, so back to work on the stand and wall framing and header.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

i decided that i did want it pretty quiet so i actually am using acoustic insulation and i'm going to be using 5/8" drywall instead of doubling up. then install a vapor barrier over and should be tomb-like silence.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

i wanted to be sure to get a non reef-ready so that i wouldn't have to deal with removing overflows and could build it out the way i want. a friend of mine is building me a coast to coast and i'll the herbie or bean animal overflow design.

he is also converting a 150g acrylic tank i picked up for cheap into my sump. it will be 90g when we cut its 30" height down to 18". this is what it looked like before:

outside of that, i plan to run a 40B filled with LR and a 20L with macro as a fuge. i was going to put my new breeder setup in line with this but for ideal conditions that it requires that do not match that of my reef, they will be run independent on the other side of my basement.

the 46g bow front i have now upstairs that has it's fish/maintenance room next to this 265g's area will be run in line with the 265 as well and filtration will be handled by one system instead of two independent. that way i can utilize my existing automatic water change, top off, and top off for my fresh water setup on the entire shebang. still need to figure out water storage and space limitations, though.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

stand is complete...

some electrical...

some drywall...

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

yay - drywall compound...

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

i'm struggling to figure out the most efficient and well-designed way to go about incorporating my 46g nem/clown tank upstairs with this 265 build downstairs. i think it would be best to combine the two to minimize equipment, maintenance and have one fish room and system aside from the breeding system which will be on the other side of the basement. the only think i was thinking of is that if the upstairs overflow ever clogs, i'll have 265g+ of water pumping up overflowing upstairs and that worries me.

i have a glass-holes overflow on the tank upstairs. i was thinking of taking my return (3/4") from the tank upstairs via bulkhead in the tank and removing it. then using that as a back up with a 1" reduced street 90Â° in the tank facing up. and use a sea swirl to the existing braided pvc line for the return. problem is the glass holes overflow is a 1.5" opening/bulkhead and the drilled return being 3/4". if tune the water flow for the uptake of the 3/4" then my flow decreases dramatically and i'm a firm believe in not having powerheads in a nem tank. then again, how likely is it that something will block the overflow? if i ran it without it's cover plate then worse case it gets sucked down into the overflow, right?

i also don't know how to design the pump arrangement downstairs. i imagine i'll have a separate pump downstairs from the main sump for both tanks to pump upstairs to this one externally run from the sump through a bulkhead in the return section, then another pump externally run to a manifold for return to the 265 and peripherals?

i plan to have a 20L or so for macro and don't know where would be ideal in terms of plumbing for it's placement nor idea placement in the filtering process, perhaps fed off one of the manifold's outlets and then overflow via bulkhead back to the skimmer section of my sump?

how many outlets you think i need to have under the stand? i was thinking with two quad-outlet GCFI, i should be fine, right? i have an apex now from the GB i just put together and have two EB8s i'll probably put to use and then one of those dj strips perhaps so i dont think i'll need too many, right?

then lastly are water containers. at the moment,i have two ~30g brute cans i use for my 46 upstairs and they work well. i was thinking of upgrading to a 125g fresh water and around 100g salt water so that i have a nice supply of salt water always ready for the AWC system and any emergencies. thoughts? i prefer to have a separate fresh water bin and run my ATO off of that vs refilling a saltwater bin with RO/DI for a day and then adding salt. that would also leave more room under the stand without a ATO container there. do you think i should larger or smaller on these sizes? with the removal of the water heater in favor of a tankless water heater, that will clear up quite a bit of floor space for storage containers so thought i'd take advantage.

i really need to sit down with a designer or get my hands on sketchup and draw this out i think.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

do i need to kilz/waterproof my stand? about to get the existing sump for the upstairs back up and running temporarily and the 265 on the stand.

also, can i use this stuff on top of the stand. about .5" thick and perfect size or should i go get some foam insulation sheet at HD and in what measurement?

quick answers appreciated!

how thick is required or needed for a tank this size?

the whole point is just to eat up some, if any, of the unlevel-ness over time, yes?

also, should i remove the lower trim from the tank. it is not structurally doing anything. it does not have any bracing crossing the bottom pane. it is just a square frame trim. didn't know if having no trim and an edge to sit on would be better to allow the entire lower pane to absorb the force/pressure vs just having the edge/border of the trim taking it all as it lifts the tank by about .5"

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

trying to get a lot done today. running an additional 12-3 line to add some GCFIs on separate breakers. looking to have at least three of four 15-20A quad boxes in the fish room and under the tank.

did a final skim coat, sanded, and primed:

then started breaking down the existing fish room to be able to demo the wall to allow access behind the 265.

with the sump removed and fish filtration goodies out of there, time to knock down some wall!

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

sliding her from her resting spot to the opening with some 3" and 4" PVC pipe i had laying around...

getting ready to put her in place. thankfully i had another strong soul visiting and between the three of us we got her up and in her final destination. don't know if just me and my dad could of done it without the extra muscle so that was a swell surprise.

tank is in, trim work done, baseboard and bullnose, just needs some mud tonight and i'll skim tomorrow.

got the existing sump running temporarily while i figure out design of the layout in the room, figure out the water storage, etc.

monkiboy · Sep 22, 2013

getting filtration systems back online including the RO/DI. waiting on information on a few new larger water containers and on some hose clamps to mount things neatly to the wall.

thankfully when i finished the basement i put plywood along the entire large rear wall behind the drywall because the space was intended to be a bar. now i can securely mount anything i like there, like the RO/DI. on the side, i mounted up a sheet to hold my AWC, ATO, and other systems within an easy guide path for the lines to drain, sump, and to the water containers.