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Time for an upgrade - build thread of my new 226 Peninsula tank


mFrame

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I've had my 90g tank for just over 3 years. Though I've loved it, and loved having it set up as a peninsula tank between my living room and breakfast nook, there have been some things I haven't liked about it.


I custom built the stand for it and always expected to have a matching 2' wide X 7' tall accessory cabinet to go along with the tank to hold all my reefing equipment/tools/controllers/etc. So we left a 2' gap between the tank and the wall. Focus on the tank took priority over woodworking, and then a family heirloom 2' butcher block table ended up filling that gap. It's constantly cluttered with reef equipment, food, wires, and salt overspray. I credit the abuse the table is taking with my wife okaying me to upgrade the 90g to my new 226g, as long as "we can rescue the butcher block and not have a gap between the tank and the wall" she said. That gave me plenty of room to play.


So our new story begins...


I was able to pick up a great custom aquarium stand from a member here. It's solid oak, 7' x 2' x 36" tall.


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As much as I appreciate oak and the beautiful job done on the stand, it needed to be black to match our living room decor and needed some holes covered to serve as a peninsula stand. So off to sanding, painting, and laminating the top and back. I'll also be converting the doors to be attached with magnets rather than the hinges previously used.


[images updated here to keep you from having to scroll through the whole thread]

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With the stand accounted for, I started shopping tanks. Both Jake @ River City and Gary @ Austin Aquadome were great about discussing the design and options. I especially loved Jake's idea of having an additional hole in the overflow specifically for running electrical wires to the sump. One of my biggest pet peeves of my existing tank is external wires running down the side of the tank - with the new one this won't be an issue. I finally settled on a custom tank from Deep Sea Aquatics, dimensions 84" x 24" x 27 1/2" tall. It has (2) 2" PVC crossbraces, a PVC bottom, and the overflow is centered on the left side with (5) pre-drilled holes for drains/returns/electric. 226 gallons, 433 lbs empty.


The tank arrives tomorrow. Me and a few buddies will pick it up, take it home, and figure out where holes need to be drilled in the stand. Then will come plumbing, a custom sump, dry rock from Marco Rocks and Real Reef Rocks from the Austin Aquadome, and preparing 250g of salt water for the tank transition in a few weeks. Tank assemblage, transfer, and rock design work will be lead by Timfish of Fishy Stuff. The rock will be connected via pvc piping to avoid the avalanches I've had in my existing tank. With (4) 55g barrels of water percolating in the garage I think I may try an experiment for cycling/seeding the dry rock. In one barrel I will put existing Live Rock rubble with the new dry rock. In the 2nd barrel will go Dr Tim's conditioning product. In the third I'll mix in existing tank water from a water change out of my display tank. In the final barrel I'll do nothing. Each barrel will get some food or mysis to promote the cycle.


Next post will be more pics of the painted stand and modifications to the doors with magnets. Then hopefully a post on the sump, plumbing, and choices of what I'll be doing underneath. To be followed with actual transition documentation, and finally to answer the question of what I'll be doing for lighting.


Man that seems like a lot of work left to be done....


*** Updated 2/21/2013 *** It WAS a lot of work left to be done, and several things still remain.

20121028_110440 (Medium).jpg

The tank after transition and installation. Still needs new lights, the sump, magnets in the doors, and the rock column...
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Existing Equipment:

  • Tunze Nano Wavemaker
  • (2) Tunze Turbelle Nanostream pumps
  • Skimmer
  • Aquacontroller 3 with (2) DC8, wireless network adapter

Prospective Updated Equipment:

  • Tunze Wavemaker
  • (2) Tunze Turbelle Nanostream pumps
  • Aquacontroller 3 with (2) DC8, wireless network adapter
  • No skimmer
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Existing Livestock list --

Fish:

  • Purple Tang
  • Yellow Tang
  • Pair of black saddle clowns
  • Red Scooter Blenny
  • (3) Bluegreen Chromis
  • Neon Dottyback
  • Coral Beauty
  • (2) Flame hawks

Inverts:

  • Red serpent star
  • Brown serpent star
  • various blue/red/white leg hermits

Clams:

  • Blue Derasa
  • Brown Crocea

Other:

  • Hawaiian feather duster
  • (3) RBTA
  • (1) Condylactis anemone
  • (1) brown/white rock anemone

Corals:

Prospective Livestock List:

Fish:

  • Bellus Angelfish
  • Pair of Blue throat Triggerfish
  • Achilles Tang
  • Blue reef chromis
  • Red mandarin

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This is one of my favorite tanks in that size range: http://www.rimlessreef.com/index.html So many options for stocking in a big tank. Can't wait to see this come together.

I'd love to have a clown Tang again, such awesome colors and personality. I'll have a bit more rockwork, but more along the line of large arches and several shelves with lots of empty space for the swimmers.

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I think you'll definitely need more flow than what you have, especially since this will be set up a peninsula. I have 2 6100s and 2 6105s on my 5' peninsula tank and at the long end I sometimes feel like I need an extra PH.

What do you mean by 2 - 2" PVC crossbraces? Internal cross braces or on top? I'm assuming this isn't a rimless tank?

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One of the engineering problems with tanks like this is, that you want the end of your peninsula to be clear of flow ugliness (MP's stuck on the glass, a wavebox obscuring view, etc). Something I've thought might be a neat solution (short of drilling a CL through the bottom of the tank) is to do a CL that had the lines running through the substrate with the outlets exiting the substrate and pointing back towards the overflow box on the other side of the tank. Of course there are challenges associated with this approach (thin outlet lines [1/2" tops], extra hardware to run the CL [additional pump or more powerful return pump, SCWD etc]), but you gain unobstructed view.

QpmGf.png

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What do you mean by 2 - 2" PVC crossbraces? Internal cross braces or on top? I'm assuming this isn't a rimless tank?

The crossbraces are on top and divide the tank into thirds. Rather than the old style 6" glass crossbrace these are 2" and made of black pvc. It's not rimless.

As for flow, Tim and I have a few tricks up our sleeves that we hope to be able to pull off which will mask the powerheads but still allow flow throughout the tank. Part of that ties in to his DIY aragonite rock demo he'll be giving at September meetings.

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What do you mean by 2 - 2" PVC crossbraces? Internal cross braces or on top? I'm assuming this isn't a rimless tank?

The crossbraces are on top and divide the tank into thirds. Rather than the old style 6" glass crossbrace these are 2" and made of black pvc. It's not rimless.

As for flow, Tim and I have a few tricks up our sleeves that we hope to be able to pull off which will mask the powerheads but still allow flow throughout the tank. Part of that ties in to his DIY aragonite rock demo he'll be giving at September meetings.

MP40....THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK. you heard it here first, barriers are being broken.

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MP40....THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK. you heard it here first, barriers are being broken.

I seriously considered having a bulkhead installed in the far right of the tank to have my return come up through the bottom, but figured out a different way to achieve this without killing the resell options of the tank, though I can't imagine selling it.

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MP40....THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK. you heard it here first, barriers are being broken.

I seriously considered having a bulkhead installed in the far right of the tank to have my return come up through the bottom, but figured out a different way to achieve this without killing the resell options of the tank, though I can't imagine selling it.

Shhhh. don't let your tank hear that you are considering selling it one day before you even have it installed. Bulkheads can always be plugged, although less holes is always better when you're talking about a literal ton of water.

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