My 220 upgrade tank

[Judson_f]

Been working on an upgrade from my mediocre 75 gallon to this! Took me 6 months to even get a handle on the very basics of the hobby with a lot of help from here, and another 3-4 to finally get the opportunity to start! I’ve only been in the hobby since last September so just over a year. But by the first 6 month mark I was hooked and obsessing over large tanks.

I went to get a reef ready 75g to upgrade and the guy had a used 220 reef ready with stand & custom sump for 500. And that was all it took. Lol during this - I actually was moving houses too, so .. it’s been a little messy.

Included is a pic of a friend next to the tank. I live in a small town and I don’t personally know anyone else here that is into this hobby so it was quite the spectacle for people.

 

[Judson_f]

Friends over in one of these pics below while I was working on the stand.

First step was building a water station for RODI and mixing! That was fun.

Sanded down the whole stand and doors real good, reinforced it as recommended by someone on this site somewhere (thank you), let the wife pick out paint color, and got some cool kraken knobs

 

[Judson_f]

Then it was off to reinforcing the foundation on the sunroom addition to the house we moved into - in July - I lost weight digging those holes for the concrete piers lol after I finished I found a couple extra 4x4’s and said screw it and notched them into place too

And cut the power off to the whole house so I could run a dedicated tank circuit. I know - no GFCI but I placed the receptacle up higher and it doesn’t bother me. Knock on wood lol

 

[Judson_f]

Scrubbed the tank out really good. I regret not doing a better job on the right side but the front glass looks great and it’s the main view. I don’t have pics of the 4 of us carrying it inside but that was a MESS lol got it roughly in place and painted the back! Daughter loves it and getting in the tank turned into a game lol

 

[Judson_f]

Plumbed it with Durso drains and moved it back into the final spot! I was torn between two returns but was limited on space in the sump and decided to get a backup pump instead of having two running.

 

[Judson_f]

Pulled my hose to the window and brought the RODI inside to fill it up. Burned through those filters quick because of that - we also have pretty poor water around here.

Threw some rocks in to get the cycle going, I put a gallon jug of Fritz in it to get it going.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Nice clean up job, I had to do the same. It's amazing how they turn out when done.

 

[Judson_f]

Realized I was about to have messed up two chances to aquascape in a row (the 75 was AWFUL lol) so I got to work drilling and tryna make something out of nothing. After the cycle was about finished I hung an A500 as best I could to get by with til I get the rest of the stuff I need!

 

[Judson_f]

Nice clean up job, I had to do the same. It's amazing how they turn out when done.

Thank you! Lots of white vinegar and elbow grease! Lol

 

[Judson_f]

My MESS of a fish tank room. Lol this weekends project is finally ending the 75g for good. My pale frags that are still growing and encrusting? Suspecting PAR is the problem. I have a post on that as well lol
And a video of the tank as it sits a couple days ago. I should’ve wiped the glass down first but oh well. I was tired of not having a build thread for THIS tank and only having that other crappy one

 

[Judson_f]

Okay well the videos won’t work? Here’s a lazy FTS that’s relatively recent instead


There is currently a regal blue tang obviously Dory courtesy of the daughter. Biota yellow tang, two snowflake clowns in the display, and both of my very first fish ever from the 75 - two more clownfish in my refugium in the sump lol uhh black ice and lightning? Designer clowns

 

[Judson_f]

But for detail oriented people!

Todays parameters:
December 1
No3 Hanna: 3.7ppm
Po4 Hanna: .08ppm
pH Salifert: 8.15
Alk Hanna: 7.5 dKh
Calcium Hanna: 496ppm
Magnesium Redsea: 1520ppm

I mixed up enough solution of reef code B and RODI to bring my Alk up to 8.5 but only poured about a third of the gallon into high flow area of sump. Gonna do another third in the morning and the rest around lunch. Let it sit for a day or so and do it again to get around 9.5

Sunday take down 75, move my apex over to this tank and program that.

Wednesday of next week I have
60” quad reefbrite xho kit
2 more A500’s
2 mp40’s
MQ-510 Parmeter kit
1 QT’d purple tang
1 QT’d blonde naso tang
1 QT’d lawnmower blenny
1 Duncan coral arriving

And the following Tuesday I’ll have my first battlebox ever coming in!

Getting close! Feels like a year in the making. Certainly at least 6 months lol I’ve had the tank since last spring before I even moved

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Okay well the videos won’t work? Here’s a lazy FTS that’s relatively recent instead


There is currently a regal blue tang obviously Dory courtesy of the daughter. Biota yellow tang, two snowflake clowns in the display, and both of my very first fish ever from the 75 - two more clownfish in my refugium in the sump lol uhh black ice and lightning? Designer clowns

Up load to you tube and post it that way.

 

[Judson_f]

Up load to you tube and post it that way.

I don’t really mess with YouTube lol maybe I’ll try once I have it nicer to look at lol

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I don’t really mess with YouTube lol maybe I’ll try once I have it nicer to look at lol

I use you tube for my own documentation of the reef tank. That way you can see the growth and change in your reef without using your computer memory. Bonus is video is way better then photo for judging your progress.

 

[Judson_f]

I use you tube for my own documentation of the reef tank. That way you can see the growth and change in your reef without using your computer memory. Bonus is video is way better then photo for judging your progress.

Yeah that’s a good point!

 

[Judson_f]

Quick recap, I had surgery on my right hand last week. And I’m right handed. So it’s extra frustrating and clumsy to do stuff. My friend helped me break down the 75 and moved it out. Today I moved I the apex over to the new tank, very excited to have that supervision back.

THEN went to set up my MP40’s. Figured knock the hard stuff out first. Got the one on the side next to the wall slid into place. Went to start feeding the controller cable behind the tank. And dropped the controller into the tank. So very upset with myself. I pulled it out instantly and held it upright, I’d say about nothing actually came out of it, besides a little bit from the power plug/port area. So I got it sitting upright in the hopes of everything drains and dries nice it’ll still operate as normal. At that point decided to take a break for the day lol my reefbrites and parmeter and more fish get here Wednesday - counting down in excitement. Lol

Lastly Alk was to 7.3 even after the reef code b. Must’ve been old or something. Baked baking soda & made some of Randy’s two part, it’s now up to 8.1, I added another 2 ounces of the solution (mine is half strength to Randy’s exact recipe) and interestingly enough about 18-20 hours after that it was again an 8.1 reading … I know I’m burning alkalinity but I didn’t think it would be that much nor that fast. Idk.

pH was at 8.3 (before dosing any alk water) so that’s very exciting. Best pH I’ve had at any point of either of my tanks yet & attributing it to the fresh air line I drilled through the wall for my skimmer

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My MESS of a fish tank room. Lol this weekends project is finally ending the 75g for good. My pale frags that are still growing and encrusting? Suspecting PAR is the problem. I have a post on that as well lol
And a video of the tank as it sits a couple days ago. I should’ve wiped the glass down first but oh well. I was tired of not having a build thread for THIS tank and only having that other crappy one

Love the frags you have!

 

[Judson_f]

Love the frags you have!

Thank you! Most of them are from a member on here Fishyfish22 if I remember right! Highly recommend their sales! Some of my favorites off that rack are
Blueberry Fields
JF fox flame
PC rainbow
Hugo’s rainbow stag
CRs electric miyagi tort
ORA Pearlberry
JF pumped out tenuis

Lights & Parmeter get here Wednesday so I can finally mount them exactly where they need to be! Lol they’ve been encrusting their plugs so well it surprised me! Just need to fix the PAR issue

 

[Judson_f]

Annnd totally forgot about the k-link cable requirement sooo still only have one primary fixture. Dang. Lol but the apex is fully transferred and the reef brites look great!! Tonight is cable management and clean up, then test par and parameters lol