210G Mixed Reef "Built-Out" Thread

[bleedingthought]

Then, came the lighting stuff. I wanted to do three 400W 20,000k XM MHs in Lumenarcs III and 2 5 foot VHO actinics. Thanks to Thales for lighting inspiration and Louey for the reflectors.

I ended up building a box to house all 3 400w ballasts. It turned out great but it now gets insanely hot. And I mean that in a sense that the room probably goes up about 10 degrees when they're all on for a couple of hours. I'm going to re-route the ballast box to the outside of the house in a covered area to solve that problem.

The lighting rack is built out of aluminum tubing and has double drawer sliders so that the whole rack slides a full 24" to the back or to the front. I'm very happy with it even though this was my first time attempting something similar.

After these pictures, I added a fan and 4" insulated ducts that go through each reflector and then dumps the hot air outside the house. I also installed the VHOs and made the wiring neater.

 

[bleedingthought]

I had to drill the tank according to the diagram that I drew up after talking to Paul at OM about the closed loop setup. Here's some pictures of that:

 

[bleedingthought]

Plumbing ended up getting crazy. I had to plumb 2 drains to the sump, 2 sump returns, 2 drains for closed loop, and 4 returns for closed loop. Plus, I added a manifold for reactors, had to plumb the OM 4-way, and tried to make everything so that I could change it if necessary. It was a bit of a nightmare but after a couple of days, lots of glue and primer, a couple of leaks, and some silicone, I got it all done.


The 2 black elbows are 2" ABS fittings that I drilled a bunch of 1/4" holes all over it and put enkamat on the end to use as the closed loop drains.

 

[bleedingthought]

Before I finished plumbing, I made the sump. I used 1/4" glass to make the baffles. The first baffle from right to left was later removed so the new skimmer could fit in there.

Then, after the silicone cured, I filled it up with tap water to test it and found a couple of leaks and had to get it fixed like I mentioned in the last post. I also poured a couple of gallons of vinegar in the tank and let it run for a couple of days for a final cleaning.

 

[bleedingthought]

After all that was resolved and the tank was drained, it took almost 5 days to fill the tank with RO/DI water. I then added some heaters and the salt. I started the tank and plan on keeping it with Reef Crystals. Been good so far.

I wanted the rocks to be a lot more secured and stable than the last tank so I drilled some of them with a 1/2" bit and put a 1/2" fiber glass rod through them. I did that four times and it came out looking pretty good, in my opinion. Best of all, there is a very small amount of rocks that sit on the bottom. I did have to add a big stack of rocks in the center to cover the closed loop drains but it's ok.

Then, I added sand. It's the seafloor sand from Caribsea. Cheap and not too fine. Happy with it so far!

 

[bleedingthought]

Here's how it ended up looking after the sand settled:

 

[bleedingthought]

And here's the skimmer I got last week. It's a MSX300 from SWC (through Marine Solutions). This thing is a monster. Like I mentioned in one of the posts above, I had to take one of the baffles out. It takes up about 16"x17" of the sump! I even had to drain the sump and pull it out so I could slide it in there.

This is 2 days after I started the break in process:

Here's a little video of it during the same time (a little over 48 hours after I dropped it in the sump):

 

[bleedingthought]

I've gotta take more pictures. It's been almost 2 months since I started filling the tank with RO/DI water. That last picture up there (not of the skimmer) was taken on 3/16. I've got some more after I started adding corals and fish so I'll post them later.


Hope you guys are liking it!

 

[Anonymous]

thats some good milky foam your skimmer is building. Looking forward to more pictures

 

[iseeweed]

8O Totally insane! I love it

 

[trido]

Looking good.

How was it drilling allof those holes? Scary? I want to drill mine and have all the bits to do so but my wife keeps saying" No, No, No".
One wrong move and were out of a large tank and wont have money to replace it any time soon.

 

[bleedingthought]

Looking good.

How was it drilling allof those holes? Scary? I want to drill mine and have all the bits to do so but my wife keeps saying" No, No, No".
One wrong move and were out of a large tank and wont have money to replace it any time soon.

Piece of cake! The thicker it is the easier. The 210g is 1/2" thick so it went real smooth.


When drilling, I usually stay about 3" away from edges and other holes.

 

[Anonymous]

My god, this thread is like reefer porn. 8O

For a man who always demands photos, you're sure delivering. 8)

 

[bleedingthought]

My god, this thread is like reefer porn. 8O

For a man who always demands photos, you're sure delivering. 8)

Took me a while, but I'm getting there.


Maybe Len will see this?

 

[mutley29]

One word "AWESOME"

Makes me want to redo my system again

How's the skimmer doing now it's well and truly broken in?

Please Please keep us updated

 

[bleedingthought]

One word "AWESOME"

Makes me want to redo my system again

How's the skimmer doing now it's well and truly broken in?

Please Please keep us updated

Skimmer has been doing good. I had it overflow 2 days ago because I turned off the return pump to bomb the tank with food and the sump level rose about 4" and the skimmer went nuts. I smelled something horrible and there was 3" foam all above the sump!

I gotta change the tubing on it and it'll truly be rocking. I'll mess with it this Sunday.

More pictures coming soon.

 

[ChrisRD]

Great work! 8)

I really like how the rockwork turned out...

 

[bleedingthought]

Great work! 8)

I really like how the rockwork turned out...

Thank you, Chris!