My 240 Gallon Build Thread

[Picard's Lionfish]

Good advise. Sometimes it's hard to wait. It will be well worth it in a while. Richard is a good man to work with

 

[Brian Drab]

No problem waiting. It's most important that we all stay safe. Just wonder if the right thing to do would be to get credited 50% of the payment since we are in uncertain times and don't know if/when the 2nd half will happen. I'll follow up with Richard on that.

Take care everyone.

 

[dwest]

No problem waiting. It's most important that we all stay safe. Just wonder if the right thing to do would be to get credited 50% of the payment since we are in uncertain times and don't know if/when the 2nd half will happen. I'll follow up with Richard on that.

Take care everyone.

Great build!

If I were you, I would be setting up a tilted cup with bait in it every night for a while. I’ve had live rock from the ocean several times in my career. It’s absolutely awesome and you will get great results, but guaranteed there are some crabs in there that you won’t want later.

 

[Picard's Lionfish]

There are almost always gorilla crabs in TBS rocks. Mantis shrimp are a common occurrence as well. I think this rock was the part that I loved best early in my tank. New surprises everyday. My rock still has some life. The urchins are doing well as are the pistol shrimp. I still have the large bristle star and another star. I still see the sea cucumber once in a while. RIchard added a flame scallop in my package, and its living great after 3 years. All the sponges die. I had gorgons that diminished over time. I hope Brian can get his delivery soon. RIchard will help him as best he can. I hate the current state of affairs.

 

[omar jawad]

Following. Do you have any pictures of your lighting. I'm using a similar combo.

 

[Brian Drab]

Following. Do you have any pictures of your lighting. I'm using a similar combo.

I have no light set up at all. Unfortunately the LFS doing the install never had a chance to get to it because of the current state of affairs. I'm not very hands on so am dead in the water and don't have the ability to do this myself. Lots of challenges in the future I fear...

 

[omar jawad]

I have no light set up at all. Unfortunately the LFS doing the install never had a chance to get to it because of the current state of affairs. I'm not very hands on so am dead in the water and don't have the ability to do this myself. Lots of challenges in the future I fear...

I'm also waiting on a cabinet builder to finish my canopy. It's been agonizing. Hope things come together for you soon.

 

[Brian Drab]

It's felt like an eternity hasn't it? What a horrible time to try and set up a tank. I hope everyone is doing well.

The LFS made it over today to hook up the LED/T5 lights and a couple power heads. The T5 didn't have any bulbs so were going to order those but the LEDs are functional. Woohoo! Following are some pics.

The most exciting thing about the tank the last few months was watching this spiny thing roam around the tank. Must have been hidden in the rocks.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Water, rocks and lighting-- the magic three. Starting to really look like something familiar now! Obviously keep us posted when Mr. Fish arrives.

 

[Brian Drab]

So more updates. My second and final shipment came from TBS today. Unfortunately the LFS was busy doing some other installs so I had to try and tackle this myself. I've learned I really suck at aquascaping.

Here are some pics.

 

[JumboShrimp]

That is indeed a very serious CUC! I can’t seem to place that type of fish, however ... (?)

 

[Brian Drab]

I have no idea what kind of fish it is.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Seriously? Your very first fish is a ‘no-namer question mark’ (?!) From what I can tell, that doesn’t seem like you...

 

[Brian Drab]

Ha! I didn't order it so I'm just not sure. Has to be some sort of sand or rock fish though.

 

[Brian Drab]

I explained it to my LFS and he said it was likely a Flounder.

Also some more updates. The water changing system is mostly done and also got the final coat of stain on the wood that will eventually go around the tank.

But first I had a scare last night. I looked in my bin of RO water and it looked really dirty. I used my TDS meter and it reported over 5,000!!! Yikes. I knew my LFS was coming over today to actually hook up the water changing system so crap. I immediately drained all the water down my sump. Following are some pics on what it looked like. It was slimy.

Now knowing it takes about 3 hours to fill up 10 Gallons of RO there was no way I was going to make enough RO and Saltwater in time for when he was here. Also, my tank is cycling so if I get an ammonia spike I'm screwed. So after thoroughly cleaning the bin out, I went up to Drug Mart and filled up 8 five gallon buckets of RO ($0.25 per gallon) and drove back home, down the basement and into the bin. Took another trip and filled up 8 buckets again, brought home and mixed each one with salt to 1.025. Put powerheads and heaters in as many as I could. TDS meter reported 4 on the water from Drug Mart. Way better than what I had and it will have to do. Finished around 11:30PM.

Now the fun stuff. LFS put together the water changing station.

You can see the ATO cable connected to the RO one in the back.

And finally, the 2nd and last coat of stain on the trim for around the tank.

 

[Brian Drab]

Some more updates.

Got the trim put up around the tank. Had the four Blue Plus T5 bulbs installed (previously only the purple plus were installed).

RO/DI System got mounted. Woohoo! Very excited to get this off the floor.

Purchased a 25' 1/4" line from Home Depot for the RO to connect from the back wall where the RO unit is mounted to the tank area. Some pictures hopefully showing that to get an idea of where things are at.

The Grow light was installed in the sump area.

Auto feeder was installed.

The salt mixing station is working and the ATO is finally hooked up. No more dumping a couple gallons in a night because of evaporation.

I'll still need to handle the water changes manually with a pump and hose though as that's not hooked up or automated yet.

Also the Carbon and GFO Reactors won't likely be hooked up for a couple months.

Lastly, shoe molding still needs to be installed to consider the job completely finished.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Great work. And the trim really finishes out the look. You are getting closer every day to the point where you can start to just sit back and really enjoy the tank. ;Cat

 

[Brian Drab]

Great work. And the trim really finishes out the look. You are getting closer every day to the point where you can start to just sit back and really enjoy the tank. ;Cat

Thanks. Yes can't wait until that day!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nice work from the onset !!!

 

[ReefSentinel]

Great build, well done