Doobiej's 220g Build

yeah coast to coast overflow, didnt have room to run it on the outside because the tank need to be tight to the back wall so I ran it internal.

here is a pic with the plumbing installed.



those ring marks are from the suction cups I have to use to lift this thing.

after hours of research I decide to use ABS for the internal standpipes (only) because there is no black PVC available. there does not appear to be any conclusive evidence that ABS pipe can or does leach anything more than PVC would. There is no fungacides added to ABS (at least in canada ) so I figured the black pipe against the black background would look better than white. I used ABS to PVC transition cement on the bottom joint and left the top one dry fit.

the rest of my plumbing below the bulkhead is standard pvc as well as the return plumbing.

I am having a 72"Lx20"wx20"H custom sump being built and hopefully I will see it next week sometime.

hoping to get my 90gallon out of the way today so I can get this thing in the house.

 

ok here we go. 60 hours of fun ( not really ) but the end result was worth it.

Wake up saturday morning. 6:30am. get coffee going. head to home depot.
pick up all the parts I need and some Tim Hortons coffee.

10:00am - start draining 90 gallon tank into rubbermaid bin and remove all the live rock and inhabitants.



12:00 noon. call 6 of my strongest friends and ask them to be over at 4:45 for the BIG LIFT. Call one friend to come help remove current tank and stand. clear out office and make room for new tank and stand.

2:30pm - head to liqour store ( friends dont lift stuff for free ). buy 48 beers ( strong friends mean big friends who can drink alot )

4:45 - 3 carloads show up. 4 guys lift tank ( barely ) and 2 grab the stand from underneath and haul it in to the office. 4 guys struggle to get the tank 20 feet from the garage around side the house to the front door. 2 end guys cant fit through door while holding tank. need to hand off somehow. hmmm think tank is getting really heavy. forearms are getting really sore. manage to get through. hmm. tank is almost in but there is a problem. a wall. tank is getting really heavy. lots of swearing. need to lift tank up 3 feet and let the other down a foot or so. did I mention the tank was heavy.

5:00 - tank is in the house and on the stand. wife brings 2 cases of beer in.

5:30 - wife heads back to the garage to get 2 more cases of beer.

8:00pm - friends are getting rowdy and time to kick them out and get to work.

need to make 220 gallons of RO water. luckily I have 45 gallons done.

1.:30am - need to start rinsing 120lbs of sand.

2:30am sand is rinsed and in the tank

5:00am. 4 more 45 gallon tubs of RO water have been added to tank. add salt and power heads.

6:00am - install lights and test them. crawl to bed




9:45am Sunday - 2 year old daughter wants daddy to get out of bed to open valentines day cards. ok.

11:00 am Sunday - start work on plumbing by drilling holes in hard wood floor ( wife watching very closely )



2:00pm - install plumbing and head downstairs to finish up.




5:00 pm - plumbing is done. time for supper



8:00pm - put daughter to bed
8:30 pm - check temperature and salinity. start adding live rock and finally the livestock





10: 30 pm sunday - sit back with a cold beer and admire .



8:00 am monday morning. get up and check on the inmates.
all is well, temp, salinity, and all perams are good. start cleaning grunge marks off tank from each level when I added water and cloudy water left a mark




10:00am - tank is doing good and fish are super happy with their new home. they swim laps back and forth in excitement.



4:00pm - get started on installing cabinet face that I pre- cut for easy assembly once everything was up and running and ok.



7:30 - call it a day and get beer and chair and sit and enjoy new tank.

8:00pm - upload pics and add to my build blog.


next step is pickup my new 6 foot long custom made sump,new protein skimmer and extra pump.

but thats another day....

 

wow thats a huge tank, very jealous congrats

 

you are one hard worker vary cool cant wate to see the sump!

 

thanks. my daughter loves the movie Finding Nemo. she spends hours in front of the tank so my gift to her was a new home for her fish.

its a lot of real estate for 4 fish but will add more in the coming months.

she already has her eyes on a few candidates at the LFS.

 

Very cool build doobiej. Out of curiosity, whats the distance going to be between your tank and sump going to be? What pump do you plan on using to get the water back-up to the dt?

 

the height is approx 12 feet from pump to top edge of tank.

I am using 2 magdrive 18 pumps. at 12' they drive about 800GPH each giving me about 1600GPH through the sump. I have 2 koralia 4 PH's adding another 2400GPH in the DT for a total flow rate of 4000GPH in the DT.

 

some pics of my percs, tang, starfish(s) and diamond goby.

 

wow nice

what kind of lighting, what kind of skimmer

 

WOW - So much real estate. You made the transition to the larger tank look so easy (I know it wasn't), but your planning was great.