Sawdonkey’s 240 Gallon Peninsula Build

[sawdonkey]

I moved five months ago, downsized to a four foot 156 gallon tank, and quickly realized I hated the short length. So, I sold that for a nice loss and bit the bullet and bought way I really want…a 72X32X24 peninsula made by Crystal Dynamics. After waiting four months to have it built, it arrived today. Months ago I had an 80/20 stand built by Framing Tech.

I’ll be lighting this with three Coral Care Gen 2s from Phillips along with four 6 Ft mostly blue bars that are all powered by one driver and are fully and individually programmable. I ordered these directly from China through alibaba. They are totally dope. And yes, Orphek is dead to me after about 5-6 years of using them.

Other equipment:

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-Lifereef skimmer with skim locker
-Apex
-Jeabao return and skimmer pumps
-2 WAV pump
-Gyre pump
-Bashsea sump
-Might hook up my Geo calcium reactor when things grow out, but I’ll be doing kalk for the foreseeable future.

 

[SaltyT]

Congrats on the new tank!

I really like the dimensions you went with, if I ever go custom I'd do something similar.

 

[Fudsey]

Following along ! !

 

[ninjamyst]

You used to live in Chicago near downtown right?? I still have Setosa, purple Stylo, and starburst monti from you almost 8 years ago.

 

[sawdonkey]

You used to live in Chicago near downtown right?? I still have Setosa, purple Stylo, and starburst monti from you almost 8 years ago.

Yes, still do. I recently moved a few miles north to the Ravenswood neighborhood though.

 

[sawdonkey]

I got my 80/20 light rack built. Three coral care gen 2s will rest on the tabs and I’ll mount 4 60” programmable bars on the underside.

I wanted to make it easy to take down one fixture without taking down the whole rack if that ever becomes necessary (it was often necessary with my old Orphek lights).

I will eventually clad the outside of the rack with some cabinet material likely mounted with button fix fasteners.

 

[sawdonkey]

Rack is up and Coralcares are running. I’m pretty happy with how the rack turned out. I put an outlet above it so zero wires will hang down.

Now I need to mount my four programmable bars….and find someone to move the new tank in from my garage!

 

[R-balljunkie]

you may consider adding a crossbar to use the factory tab, minimize risk to the diffuser glass. if it cracks, may be costly.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Rack is up and Coralcares are running. I’m pretty happy with how the rack turned out. I put an outlet above it so zero wires will hang down.

Now I need to mount my four programmable bars….and find someone to move the new tank in from my garage!

Looks good without the wires showing!!!

 

[sawdonkey]

you may consider adding a crossbar to use the factory tab, minimize risk to the diffuser glass. if it cracks, may be costly.

You’re totally right, but I’m using the 15 extrusion that is bigger. It doesn’t line up with the holes in the fixture. I also want the fixtures to be lengthwise. Plus, part of my goal was to me able to easily remove a light if in need to work on it. I hear ya though. I put some of this rubber knobs on the tabs that you use to keep cabinet doors from slamming.

 

[sawdonkey]

Today is the big day. Old tank is going out, and new tank is getting moved in from the garage. You could say I’m a fit Ernie’s about getting this beast in!

 

[sawdonkey]

Phew! That was a beast. Now to start sniffing glue…I mean plumbing this thing.

 

[jp_75]

Dude it looks awesome!

 

[sawdonkey]

Well, my hands are sore from cutting PVC. Everything is plumbed and the tank is fully running. Most of my live rock is in the tank along with corals that made it through my six months of neglect. There’s a little more rock in my sump.

I’ll be gluing rocks together to form my scape later this week. I’m super particular about my rockwork, so that is likely going to take multiple nights after work and the kids are in bed. I like doing rockscapes, but I hate it too. I’ve never had the luxury of doing it with dry rocks. Lots of epoxy and superglue does the trick though, even when wet.

I’m super happy with the CDA tank. It just looks and feels really sturdy. Loving the 80/20 stand too. I’m modifying some IKEA cabinets to hide the plumbing that goes from tank to sump closet. Then I’ll be skinning the stand and light rack with IKEA cabinet panels when I get things figured out.

 

[Mjl714]

Well, my hands are sore from cutting PVC. Everything is plumbed and the tank is fully running. Most of my live rock is in the tank along with corals that made it through my six months of neglect. There’s a little more rock in my sump.

I’ll be gluing rocks together to form my scape later this week. I’m super particular about my rockwork, so that is likely going to take multiple nights after work and the kids are in bed. I like doing rockscapes, but I hate it too. I’ve never had the luxury of doing it with dry rocks. Lots of epoxy and superglue does the trick though, even when wet.

I’m super happy with the CDA tank. It just looks and feels really sturdy. Loving the 80/20 stand too. I’m modifying some IKEA cabinets to hide the plumbing that goes from tank to sump closet. Then I’ll be skinning the stand and light rack with IKEA cabinet panels when I get things figured out.

are you going to stay bare bottom?

 

[sawdonkey]

are you going to stay bare bottom?

No, not a fan of the bare bottom look.

 

[Mjl714]

No, not a fan of the bare bottom look.

Me neither

 

[sawdonkey]

Scaping has begun. Many of my rocks have coral encrusting on them, so it’s proving to be pretty difficult. I’m chipping a lot of it off and will glue it in place when I get things in place. I’m loving the 32 inch tank width. So many more placement options than my old 24 inch wide tank.

On a side note, I always hate aquascaping because all of the sharp rocks and corals really tear my hands up. Last night, I tried my Milwaukee work gloves and wholly cow, I will never work on my rocks without them again. They are tight so they have dexterity of not wearing gloves, they have a rubber-like material that protects but water can pass through it..so they don’t fill with water. Game changer and less than $5 a pair!

 

[Mjl714]

Good to know, might come in helpful.

 

[sawdonkey]

I have my rockwork mostly in place now. Having the 32 inch wide tank has given me so much open space. I’ll put the finishing touches on the scape as start adding coral.

For now, I’m working to get my water quality in good shape. I want the coral I transferred over to start looking happy before I add new and I want to get through these diatoms I’m having before I put my gravel in. Going though a little bit of the uglies. Nitrates are at about 25 and PO4 was .9 until I put some GFO on.

Now that I have room, I just ordered a 13 inch extension for my Lifereef skimmer to make it 40 inches tall and increase its output (which is already 2x better than any other skimmer I’ve owned).

Lastly, I went to the LFS today and bought 7 azure damsels and 4 lyretail anthias. now that freed up some bio load by getting rid of my old eel and blue tang, I’m going for more movement in the water column with smaller fish. Gonna QT them for a bit before adding.