New 220 Accountability Thread

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I've posted here and there about my build but I needed to start a thread just so I could keep myself accountable to keep working on it since there won't be anyone in the house to keep me accountable for a few months.

It started with short notice buying of a new Marineland 220 at the lfs. Not being too sure of the dimensions I did some research and built a stand in preparation for its delivery:

I also bought a light, a pump, and a few other things:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/7-stage-pro-plus-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/leopard-l90-circulation-pump-2375-gph-skimz.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/60-h...re-with-led-mounting-system-aquatic-life.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ruby-sump-36-trigger-systems.html

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Stand was completed, tank was delivered, possibly regrettable mistakes were made for the future (it got pushed very close to the wall):

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Enter the plumbing, where I opted for a combination of flex and rigid piping.

I also turned the bottom of the stand into a waterproof basin with pond liner that drains to the outside of the house in the event of "catastrophic failure" (or, more likely, catastrophic human error).

Around 200 lbs of dry Rock in 30 lb of live rock from the lfs later, we arrive at today, where I have been rearranging rock and second third and fourth guessing decisions for 2 weeks:

Most of the rocks are held down by gravity alone, with the exception of the small cave in the front which has some JB water weld and gel super glue holding the pieces horizontally. I'm not happy with the rock structure yet, but the arrival of supplies today should get me back on track.

 

[scattered]

Nice start! I will follow along...

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

As I'd hoped, the arrival of new supplies today is helping with motivation.

Low iron 25 gallon cube that will be acting as a display refugium on the bottom left of the stand. This is the first in a long line of aquariums that I've ever had shipped. I'm glad to see no cracks.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Nice build to follow. Like your rock work.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Forgotten: I also installed a gyre 330 a few days ago
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/gyre-xf330-pump-kit-with-controller-2350-gph-maxspect.html

I really appreciate the distributed flow. I have it at just 60% output and it is pushing some water.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I also just got off the phone with Jeff from Life Reef for my new 30-inch skimmert, many thanks to all the feedback I've gotten from this site that steered me away from getting yet another Octo. It's been an efficient day.

 

[Jinko]

Looks good so far, look forward to seeing more.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I got a little set behind this weekend when I found that four of my tanks had jumped to 84-86 degrees (F) for some inexplicable reason. For one of them that was a 12 degree leap from last month. I'm a little irritated with eheim right now. The house has gone up to 75 due to weather, but the heaters were not struggling to keep up even during the winter months.

Today I'm going to aim for lights (t5 bulbs are in), display refugium shelf, and getting the specific gravity up for the 220.

... after yard work.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Progress, slowly but surely. Lights are up but one of the bulbs I got came out of the package broken in half. I'm also rethinking how I will hang the lights so that I can have them set back a bit.

Display refugium ended up being too big to fit against the pipes in the back so I will have to modify the display refugium stand to overlap with the main stand in the front. Measure twice build once.

 

[BeejReef]

You're making it look easy. Nice build.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

You're making it look easy. Nice build.

It's not feeling easy today, I appreciate it!

After finding the refugium did not fit against the pipes in the back, I decided to take off the front brace of the refugium stand and attached it directly to the main stand.

I will add support under the frame later today. This will give the refugium a nice flush look against the main stand, but it may limit the trim that I can put around the edges.

I'm also going to drill my refugium... I bought an eshopps overflow (I usually make my own but for this one the price was right for the full kit including the drill bit).

Let the stress begin! One of the things I have found with my recent relative solitude is that if things like this fail I can just toss it and I don't have to tell anyone. In the spirit of accountability, however, I will let the reefing community know what happened one way or the other.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwGGSz8lEAc/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1cgcqzszmpsfj

I did all of the right things. I went through the usual reefing ritual - if this fails I'm leaving this hobby, muttering something about hobbies being more stressful than work, reconsidering using a hob overflow instead....
And the result:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwGIueTl1Xl/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=iwo7dlh1i5dt

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Interesting thing about drilling through a rimless low iron tank: you can tell exactly how far you are from the side, and also how your tilt looks. I was definitely favoring right halfway through this hole:

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I added the overflow today over break and promptly realized that I can't get the tank in the stand with the overflow attached. It will have to wait until tonight.

I like the clean look of the out of the box solution, but the small overflow chamber might not have been my first preference if I had built my own. If I don't like it I might switch to a coast to coast design and then just keep the external piece. It does save a lot of space in the aquarium, however.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Refugium is in, complete with overflow.

Today will be a bit of plumbing for the refugium and readjusting salinity (the sump level is high due to some ATO prototype quality issues).

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

I finally got two lights that survived the mail. None of the lfs around me carry the 60 inch variety because "they always arrived broken." And they sure do. I might have gotten two smaller fixtures if I new the failure rate for the 60 in.

I'm going to spend another few hours working on rock work. Now that I see it top-lit I am seeing some things that I need to fill in.

 

[PYRU]

What flex hose did you use on your plumbing.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

What flex hose did you use on your plumbing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/EASTMAN-1-1-2-in-x-1-ft-PVC-Flexible-Schedule-40-Hose/1000365073

A couple of observations:

• The word flexible here is a... liberal definition of the word. It is not parpicularly flexible and it does not come off the roll easily. I found that it became much more flexible after being put in a tub of hot water.
• I glued this the same way as I do all PVC, but I would not trust gluing it directly into a bulkhead. It does not insert as far into the fittings as rigid PVC and combining it with the smooth edges of a bulkhead could spell disaster.

Thus came the combination design, with the flexible pieces comprising the middle of the connections only.

I will not go back to all-rigid PVC. This got rid of all the vibration from the return pump and I haven't had one leak. Not to mention how forgiving it is in design.