The 220 Upgrade

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

Hello R2R,
It's been a wild year of saltwater keeping. The 125 have has some ups, and several downs. The original thread is here:

Build Thread - Mat’s reef tank, eventually

So, this is my 1st foray into saltwater. We got this aqueon 125 gal and stand from Petsmart for about $200. Couldn’t pass it up. i just bought a sump for a whopping 15 bucks, it’s in great condition. However, I wasn’t expecting to find an affordable sump, and I’m not really ready. I’d like to...

www.reef2reef.com

The school my wife teaches at used to have a FW planted setup for their science classes. It was taken down a few years ago and has been sitting in their garage. We were able to get this 220 gallon, 7x2x2, aquarium from the school for the low price of just getting it out of there

. Free stuff rocks!
This thread is going to detail the build of the 220 from start to finish, including a new stand. I'm in no rush for this, as the 125 is finally stable and things look pretty good. Here's a list of what I intend to go into it:
Tank: 220 gal Oceanic 7x2x2 -->Free
Sump: 40 breeder --> Free
Lighting: 3 AI Prime 16HD & 1 AI Hydra 52 (might upgrade to 64HD) --> Currently on 125
Flow: 2 AI Nero 3 & 1 AI Nero 5 --> currently on 125
Return: MaxSpect Jump DC 8K --> Currently on 125
Overflow: Eshopps Eclipse L (3 out 2 in) --> Currently on 125
Pinpoint PH probe for realtime PH monitoring --> Currently on 125
Inkbird Heater controller with 2 Eheim 800W standard glass heathers --> Currently on 125
approx 80 lbs crushed coral gravel bed --> Currently on 125
approx 130 lbs dry live rock (some used) --> Free
Instant Ocean salt
Stand: We'll cross that bridge when we come to it

nuxx · May 25, 2023

Sounds fun

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

So, the fun beings:
1st step was to check out the tank. Here it is in the garage before we moved it:

As you can see it was a little dirty. We wiped the outside down and used suction handles to carry it onto a trailer. I brought that stand, too. It's definitely too short to be used as the final build, but it will be a place to store it as I'm building the final stand.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

We got it home and i sprayed it out. Then I used a green 'scotch' scubby with pure vinegar on a small area to see how much hard water deposits I was dealing with. This revealed the intensity of the scratches. Honestly, it looks like someone went after this thing with an SOS pad.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

So, this is going to take some time to fix. However, the tank still needs an overflow. Drilling a tank is always a moderately harrowing experience. I decided to get the drilling done 1st. That way, if I crack the tank, i won't have wasted all that time getting the scratches out.
It went swimmingly well, and not just because I got soaked in the process. Compared to my first drilling experience with the 125, this time it was easier (longer tho, that glass is thick) and the holes came out way smoother:

For anyone looking to drill their tank, I would advise getting the kit. They're cheaper than buying the parts separately, and the template will get your holes exact. The only caveat would be if you are using a DIY overflow. Go slow, keep a trickle of water on your bit, keep the speed at about 2/3 full bore, and NEVER stop the drill while in the cut. Pull it out periodically to clear the ground glass out of the cut. To avoid blow out on the inside (that means chips or worse when the cutter goes thru), securely clamp a very flat board on that side. I used a piece of MDF on the inside and the template on the outside sandwiching the glass. Also, as you get close to competing the cut reduce pressure and let the cutter slowly grind thru that last 1/8-1/6th inch.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

With that accomplished, it's time to tackle those scratches. Now, the tank is going to be sitting against a wall, and I'm going to paint the back. My current tank is painted black, and I don't mind that. BRS did an investigates video on painting tanks, and black turns out to suck up light. My lights are not pushed to 100%, the back will eventually get covered in coraline or other algae, and I am going to magnet some rocks with GSP and encrusting gorgonian, so I don't really think color matters. I'm probably just going to go with black again. The point here is that the entire back wall (strategically chose the side with the worst scratches) will not need to be ground clear.
The front and both side do need to have the scratches polished out. To accomplish this I will be using this kit from glasspolishshop.com

For my purpose, being a great deal of surface area and some relatively deep scratches, I added a pack of the GlasNet 200 Coarse discs. These pads really speed up the initial grind out. I am not sponsored by this company, it was simply the best glass scratch removal system I was able to find. If you're interested, here's the link to the kit:

Glass Polish Glass Scratch Repair Kit xNet 28003

Glass polish glass scratch repair kit designed to be used with electric drill - ideal for small damaged area repairs or for removing single scratches from any glass surface.

glasspolishshop.com

While I use the term "speed up", this is a grueling process. I spent roughly 2 hours with the coarse disk to get about 90% of the scratches out of 1/3 of the front pane. I did take pictures, but the light sucked and you couldn't really see the 'frosted' look I was able to attain. With the 1st step, you're looking for a heavily frosted appearance with no visible scratches. The subsequent 3 steps will be polishing out the haze you create with the initial grind out.
I will also need to do this to the big center glass piece, unless that can just be removed. I don't think it's structural, it's just siliconed into place, but I'd had to be wrong with 3000 lbs of water.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

While I was waiting for that to be delivered, I decided to start brainstorming some aquascape. The 125 was my first ever attempt, and it has some issues. It's low, for one, and the arches are too small. There's also just a lot of solid rock, with doesn't lend well habitat for fish and inverts to hide in.
This time, I'm going to try to do better. This isn't really something you can change if it doesn't work out quite right. I like the idea of NSA, but the HNSA that BRS did, and a similar idea that Tidal Gardens did, look like the best hybrid approach. Some of those NSAs look like pretty fantasy buildings, but don't look like there's any real habitat for the fish.
I would REALLY like to get feedback on this 'scape. I am lightly gluing things together to hold their shape at this point for pictures and videos. I will cement the final shapes with Marco mortar. So, positive, negative, let me have it! The opinions the better.
The basic idea is going to be 3 separate 2'x2' pieces. I'm thinking a tower with a shelf and branches, a large open cave-like structure, and big cove.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

This is what I have for the Tower. It was further along, but I moved it for a short video and broke a couple pieces off. There should be 2 more branches spiraling out with an overhang on the ends:

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

The cardboard behind the pieces is 2', the total height of the tank. I will be placing these directly onto the glass, then pouring the rock around them.
The next piece is the open cave. I'm not sure if I should add another layer above where it's currently at. It's only about 12", but that would leave a good amount of growing room for SPS, if/when I go that route.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

This last piece is my first steps toward a cove. However, I ran out of both unique inspiration and super glue insta-set. So, this is just the base rock. I'm juggling with the idea of throwing a 4th in the mix to fill it out into more of 3/4 circle instead of a 1/2. I started making some structure, but it was just turning into a repeat of the cave, so I stopped in the hope that coming back in a few days, or getting ideas from others, would spark some inspiration.

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

I will also point out that i made these base rocks. Base rock is wildly over-priced, and I wasn't about to spend $40-80 per foundation rock. Reef rock is actually pretty easy to cut with a hacksaw or sawzall. Larger pieces pose some difficulty getting all the way to the center, but it's manageable with a long blade. Once cut, I sanded them flat with a belt sander. I kept all the powder that cutting them generated to use to hide the glue joints after the mortar cures.

Stephen8169301 · May 25, 2023

Looking good like the scape it’ll be awesome seeing all the fish swimming around that how are the scratches going?

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

I'll need to get the sun in a better position to see how the one side has been ground down. There's a little more heavy work to do in that are before I start buffing out the damage caused by the coarse pad. That's only about 1/6 of the heavy grinding, so this is going to take many hours to clean up.
I have 2 concerns about this phase:
1) Lensing. I don't know if have been/will be able to achieve a perfectly even buffout. If not, there will be weird distortions due to minor curvature in the glass
2) Seams. The process has not been particularly kind to the silicone. I'll run a leak test on it, but I'm concerned I am damaging the seals.

Gumbies R Us · May 25, 2023

Loving the aquascape progression!

Stephen8169301 · May 25, 2023

Mathew0 said:
I'll need to get the sun in a better position to see how the one side has been ground down. There's a little more heavy work to do in that are before I start buffing out the damage caused by the coarse pad. That's only about 1/6 of the heavy grinding, so this is going to take many hours to clean up.
I have 2 concerns about this phase:
1) Lensing. I don't know if have been/will be able to achieve a perfectly even buffout. If not, there will be weird distortions due to minor curvature in the glass
2) Seams. The process has not been particularly kind to the silicone. I'll run a leak test on it, but I'm concerned I am damaging the seals.

What about talking to a glass shop? For a quote I’ll be following this build for sure

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

Only glass shop I found in the area won’t do tanks

Stephen8169301 · May 25, 2023

Mathew0 said:
Only glass shop I found in the area won’t do tanks

Whats your main fish to have in this tank?

Mathew0 · May 25, 2023

Fish list:
Tangs:
Powder Blue
Scopas
Purple
Darwin clown pair
One Spot Foxface
Pajama Cardinal trio
Hectors Goby x2
Court Jester Goby
Snowflake Eel
Wrasses:
Red Coris
Melanurus

planned future fish:
School of 5 Lyretail Anthias
Mandarin dragonette
Molly Miller Blenny

Mathew0 · May 30, 2023

I finished the pillar. Here is a video. Let me know your thoughts. One thing you cant see in the video is that I drilled several intersecting holes in the large rock center rock. I'm hoping that will be good habitat for the eel or other cave dwellers.