Author Topic: Our 400g upgrade (Read 17817 times)

slandis3 · « **on:** April 24, 2011, 18:56:03 »

Well I have been gone for a while do to personal reasons. So things have settled down around the house so I will share with you my new build. We decided that our house was too small for a large aquarium (we had a 250g marineland dd) but we did not want to get out of the hobby. So I sacrificed part of my garage to make a fish room/sitting room. As of right now the system is running and doing well we just need to finish the floor and trim in the room. So here are some pics of the build along the way. I got the tank off of reef central from a guy in West Virginia. I also got a 60g frag tank from him while I was there. The tank is a used Envisions Acrylic 400g tank with and external overflow. The tank is 72â€x48â€x27â€ made from 1â€ acrylic. It is setup for a closed loop system. I will be running 2 400w halides and 1 250w halide. The skimmer is a reeflo 200 running a dart gold pump. The skimmer is direct feed from one of the 3 2â€ drains The sump is a 125g running a reeflo drat for return. Right now the closed loop is running a reeflo snapper but I am going to rebuild it later this summer to dart specs. I also setup a 55g tank full of algae with a 175w halide over it. I am running a 5â€™ tall custom kalk reactor on the system and running my top off water through it. I am adding about 1# of kalk a month to the reactor. I need to â€œskinâ€ the stand and build a hood still. I am going to either build another DIY reflector to match the 2 I have now or buy 3 new ones. The frag tank I am setting up will be running a 175w 14k bulb on a 6 on 6 off light schedule. I am planning on getting a calcium reactor late this year or tax time next year. Heating and cooling of the room will be done with a LG mini split ductless system with 2 9000btu head units.

Here is the start of the garage demo. I go tired of cracking the drywall on the ceiling when I was in the attic so I hung 7/16â€ plywood up to start. Then I installed some flush mount lights to save space.

Then we started to build the wall that would separate the garage. I installed new outlets and insulated the wall as I went. I also installed a ceiling fan while I was at it.

Then I put up the wall that would hide the fish room part. Then started to hang and finish the drywall (which I hate doing).

slandis3 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 24, 2011, 18:57:08 »

A lot of sanding mudding and painting later this is what we had.

I got the ductless split system in and ready to install.

Then we went for a long drive for the tank. The steel stand it came with was in bad shape so I made a new one out of 2â€x8â€s. I painted it with water/mold resistant paint. Here is the tank before I cleaned it up.

Then I started to do some of the plumbing so I can fill it with water and start the cleaning process. The pump in the pic was a temp pump until I tore down the 250 in the house. I also changed some of the plumbing later.

slandis3 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 24, 2011, 18:58:00 »

Here is a pic of the sump in place and me cleaning the tank. It took a long time to polish the inside of the tank out.

Here it is when I was setting it up with saltwater. The large rock in front was from Rayviv, Thanks.

Here are some shots of the fish room as I was setting it up. This is the frag tank I got while I was down there.

Here is a shot after I tore down the system in the house and the new system was completely up and running.

slandis3 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 24, 2011, 18:58:45 »

Here are some shots a few days after I transferred everything from the 250 to the new tank.

Here is the water change can with mixing pump. I may switch this to a 55g tank.

slandis3 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 24, 2011, 18:59:32 »

Here are some updated shots I took a few days ago.

lazylivin · « **Reply #5 on:** April 24, 2011, 19:06:24 »

That is a monster tank. Looks great Mike.

micki · « **Reply #6 on:** April 24, 2011, 19:21:58 »

Wow! That is crazy! Very nice!

bkvreef · « **Reply #7 on:** April 24, 2011, 19:34:32 »

Been watching your build on RC for a while now. It looks great!

larrynews · « **Reply #8 on:** April 24, 2011, 19:38:33 »

WOW!!!! I WANT ON.

muttley000 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 24, 2011, 19:45:13 »

I've been following your RC thread also. A monster tank allows those monster rocks! looking forward to seeing it complete!

Kenn · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2011, 20:10:12 »

That is one awesome build !!!

DarinSchmidt · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2011, 21:13:09 »

well done. where did you get the big tank and do you mind if i ask how much???

slandis3 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2011, 21:14:46 »

Thanks everyone, I will post some more pics this week. I got the tank used from reef central and paid $1500 for it and $100 for the frag tank.

DarinSchmidt · « **Reply #13 on:** April 24, 2011, 21:19:06 »

Nice, thats a good price for that big of an acrylic tank.

Joel · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2011, 13:33:54 »

Looks good Mike, nice job.

UDJustin · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2011, 18:46:26 »

Quote from: Joel on April 25, 2011, 13:33:54

Looks good Mike, nice job.

How come you give mike a nice job comment but every post I make I get a you suck comment?

slandis3 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2011, 21:22:17 »

Our first frag to grow out in the frag tank. The tank being 12" tall with about 2" of sand makes it so I don't need egg crate to hold the frags I can place them right in the sand for a more natural look.

rayviv · « **Reply #17 on:** April 25, 2011, 21:55:27 »

Humm; My BIG rock does not look so big now.

It looks real nice Mike. Can you make mine look like that?

Joel · « **Reply #18 on:** April 26, 2011, 09:56:35 »

Quote from: UDJustin on April 25, 2011, 18:46:26

How come you give mike a nice job comment but every post I make I get a you suck comment?

Mike"s new project tank is up and running in a relatively short amount of time including building a room for it and it looks good.

You on the other hand, Seahorse tank.......Deep Dimensions tank.....Cube......probably others I am forgetting.....

slandis3 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 26, 2011, 10:54:30 »

Quote from: Joel on April 26, 2011, 09:56:35

Mike"s new project tank is up and running in a relatively short amount of time including building a room for it and it looks good.

Thanks Joel, I just wanted the 250g out of the house so the kids have room to play.

DarinSchmidt · « **Reply #20 on:** April 26, 2011, 10:58:36 »

Quote from: UDJustin on April 25, 2011, 18:46:26

How come you give mike a nice job comment but every post I make I get a you suck comment?

maybe he secretively has a crush on you. Kids do this, some older people just never grow out of that stage.

Joel · « **Reply #21 on:** April 26, 2011, 14:21:06 »

Nope...I just like to screw with Justin

slandis3 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 01, 2011, 20:59:43 »

Got some new shots of the tank as well as some new frags.

Here is a Teal zoa I got from Blown76mav as well as the next 4 corals/zoa's

Tub blues

Unknown

Bonzi

Pink w/blue polyps stylo. We got it from reef systems so it will take a while to color up

Hollywood stunna

A side shot of the tank, really hard to get this side.

Our Orange shoulder tang and tenninnie tang cursing together.

slandis3 · « **Reply #23 on:** May 01, 2011, 21:04:55 »

Here are a few more.

Our sail fin showing off for the camera

A top down of the bird of paradise. I wish it showed that much green from the side. lol

I am hoping to get started on the light rack in the next week or so. I want to build a lid of sorts so we can add some wrasses at some point.

micki · « **Reply #24 on:** May 02, 2011, 15:09:04 »

Very nice! Let me know when you're ready to frag some of those zoas!

2024 Ohio Reef Frag Swap

Author Topic: Our 400g upgrade (Read 17817 times)