Big DIY project, 240 setup and running

[Ryan@FRA]

So its been a while since i have posted on the forums. Noticed that RC club site is dead.

I started this project about 9 days ago. I was out of the hobby for some time, then got suckered into taking a 120g reeftank from a buddy up here in Allenspark. I was never happy with the exact location and setup of the tank, so i decided to change it. The 120 was up for over a year, and was completely overgrown. Whats worse, is that i had a 240 in the garage for the last two years, brand new and begging to be set up. I finally decided to pull the trigger.

Equipment-

72x30wx24t 3/4" acrylic tank center braced.
56 gallon refugium
75 gallon live rock tank
50 gallon frag tank
150 gallon sump

2x 600w MH 10k Bulbs.

GEO Skimmer

Flow is accomplished by two things, closed loop running off a dart, and a 30 gallon surge tank.

aquacontroller 3 with DC8
litermetere 3 for auto water changes.
homemade kalk reactor made out of a 55 gallon plastic drum.
Korallin calc reactor

The system is all run by one reeflo barracuda, all systems are fed separately and have there own return back to the sump, including the skimmer. My liverock is pegged by a 1/2" cpvc base that was installed below the sand bed. The sand bed is 4-5" deep and the rock work is very open.

I like to keep lots of fish and mostly sps/lps corals, so the system was designed around that concept. I wanted a TON of sand real estate, so my rock work is mostly vertical with some overhangs for fish hangouts.

You can see that i just skinned a 2x4 structure with cabinet grade ply and solid oak trim.

Stand trimmed but prior to stain

Live rock

Making the pvc rock structure

end view when it was still dry

Stained and filling up with water

Left rock work

Right side

Tank drilled and surge tank installed.

Wet tank.

I will take some videos of the surge tank doing its thing.. its awesome, my favorite part of the build.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Wicked Color]

Welcome! and how cool is that rock work!!!
I am going to be doing a large build soon as well, your pics have me very excited, and your aqua-scaping is giving me some new ideas.
When you get cycled hit me up and I will hook you up some corals.

 

[Cherub]

wow that is a very nice job you did there. Looks great

 

[Ryan@FRA]

Welcome! and how cool is that rock work!!!
I am going to be doing a large build soon as well, your pics have me very excited, and your aqua-scaping is giving me some new ideas.
When you get cycled hit me up and I will hook you up some corals.

Its cycled it was put online with a existing system that was running in the basement. Basicly i did this, i plumbed in a 75 gallon tank, a 50 gallon frag tray, and a 56 gallon fuge in the basement. I stubbed in my plumbing for the upstairs tank. I installed the entire basement system running on the barracuda and then transferred my 120 that was upstairs to the downstairs system. Built the system up stairs, filled it with RO and salt, heated it with lights and then opened the valve from the basement to put it online. If you need any help or want to talk about ideas in more detail, pm me and i will send you my number. Or if your up in the allenspark area anytime soon i will give you a tour.

Thank you for the compliment. I have been reefkeeping for 15 years now, and this tank was set up exactly how i wanted it, or what i wanted in the past and didn't get.

I would love some new coral stock! i have plenty of frags to trade as well

 

[Boogie]

WOW! Nice build!

 

[dv3]

Nice work! ...and welcome to the club!

 

[Ryan@FRA]

Thanks !!!!

 

[the_fish_man]

Following

 

[Ryan@FRA]

So far the system is working well. The surge tank originally dumped out the back on the first surge because the overflow could not handle the 1 gallon per second flow rate that the surge produced coupled with the returns on the tank turned on. I did not realize that the surge tank was on when i commissioned the system and got a very wet surprise. This is day three that the system has been up and running and most of the kinks seemed to be worked out. Corals are actually coloring up nicely under the 10k lights which is a surprise to me considering the shock of the move. For the first time in my reefkeeping carear, i didnt get a brown diatom bloom, i got a green one.

The surge coupled with the dart closed loop provides an amazing amount of flow. The only water i have going to the tank is through the surge. My overflows wont handle a ounce more flow so i was left with the choice of turning down the surge, or turning off the return. The return and the surge as supplied from the same sump and pump. The surge drops out every 5 minutes, and drops its 30 gallon payload in 30 seconds. The wave action across the top of the reef looks awesome.

Here is a vid of the surge:
[video=youtube;G7l0pdDtFp8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7l0pdDtFp8[/video]

 

[Ryan@FRA]

This is a view of the surge from the open corner.
[video=youtube;qH-meEphUx4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH-meEphUx4&feature=player_profilepage[/video]

 

[Zooid]

Very cool!

 

[Boogie]

Nice!...but...instead of saying "Thanks for looking", can you end it with "Stay fishy my friends."? Would gain extra points. =)

 

[ryan820]

Woooow.... I'm totally hooked on this tank. Can I have it?

 

[120greefman]

Love the surge. The view from the end scared me though. Reminded me of my surfing days in SoCal and paddling out while giant waves came crashing down on you.

 

[Ryan@FRA]

Thanks! unfortunately there is quite the diatom bloom right now.. next i will go through the fish room, once its presentable. I dont have the calcium reactor or the ATO hooked up yet. Its time for all the tweaks.

 

[Ryan@FRA]

I am really happy with the surge, it turned out better then expected. its always a crap shoot when your trying to figure out what is going to work best.