230 Gallon Reef Build

[bassman]

I am just starting a new 230 gallon reef. I should be picking up the tank in 2 weeks. I am just working on the stand now.


Say goodbye to the China cabinet (YES! :mrgreen:)

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Bye%20China%20Cabinet.JPG

Figuring out the footprint.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Rough%20Footprint.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Footprint%202.JPG

Checking the wall for hidden obstacles.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Checking%20for%20obstacles%20in%20the%20wall.JPG

The wife's fears realized! She knows there is no turning back now.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/No%20turning%20back%20now.JPG

Center support loose fitted. I had to cut out a 2x4 from the wall so I am figuring out the best way to re-direct the load.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Center%20Support.JPG

There will be another 4x4 inside the wall directly behind the first one, below the 2x6. The 4x4's will not sit side by side in the final assembly, probaby 2 inches apart in order to hit the floor joists properly.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Partial%20Tie%20in%20with%20existing%20wall%20stud ..JPG

[Tom R]

It looks like were having fun now.

Keep us up to date on the progress.

Tom R

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Very nice so far. Looking forward to seeing the progress!

[Denis]

Hi Bassman,
I was wondering how are you going to support the floor joists from bellow.
I'm assuming (from looking at the first picture) that the FJ run from the window towards the tank (parallel to the tank). And why did you cut into a wall in a first place ? You know this tank will put about 3000 lb in a 12 sq. feet.
I'm also getting new tank (340 gal) soon.

[bassman]

Yes the joist run the length of the tank.

The reason I cut into the wall is to put some of the load in the exact same spot as the load from the wall. Which happens to be a 6" wide load bearing wall in the basement. One joist sits right on the wall, the next on is only 5" from that one, into the room.
That is why I have another 4x4 inches away from the one in the wall. From there it goes to industry standard, 16" centers. So 9 of my legs will rest directly on joist. The other 3, in the wall, sit right on the bearing wall. So in total I have 12 points, 250 lbs per point, 750 per joist. Which I have minimized even more by placing the legs that rest on the hardwood on 2x4 runners, this will distribute some of the load vertically across the joists as well.

My joist only run 11' between bearing walls and they are 20" tall, very strong.

I have shown my plans to a couple engineers I used to work with and they all agree, I am WAY over building this stand and the load is nothing to be concerned about. Better safe than sorry.

[Denis]

20" joists ?, wow, I only got 10" and had to double them up (8" on centers now).
My joists also run leghtwise to the tank, I had to build two of these:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k236/Krakonosh/Reef/IMG_2536.jpg
Never mind the white one, that's from my current tank (150 gal).
I'm glad you got it figured out, you can never be too safe and there is no such thing as overbuild. I tend to do the same.
I'm looking forward to your reports.
We should I guess ask the mods to move this to the Tank Journal forum.

[bassman]

Yes I am hoping I calculated everything properly and the engineers know what they are talking about. LOL It should be good to go though. It sure adds a major concern when setting up a tank running with the joist though doesn't it.

I will be creating a measuring device to document any movement in the joists as I fill the tank slowly. I will fill it up a 1/4 of the way, let it sit for a few days, check for movement and repeat until it's full. I will leave the device in place for life so I can always check it when ever I like.

I do have the option of installing telepost on all the joist should I need to. I would be losing the only bedroom in the basement but what can a guy do? LOL

It sure looks like you had to do lots of work, I am very thankful I didn't have to do anything like that, knock on wood. Great job though, looks extremely solid.

I did start a journal today, perhaps this thread should be deleted?

[bassman]

Here is a rough drawing of how the joists run under the tank.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/230%20Tank%20Stand.bmp

Here I am marking the exact location of the joists.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Marking%20Joists.JPG

I then transferred the lines to the pond liner I am using to protect the hardwood.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Transferred%20Joist%20Locations%20onto%20pond%20li ner.JPG

I should have most of the framing for the stand done tonight.

[bassman]

Here are a couple of pics of the 100 gal sump system I setup recently, it's not 100% finsihed yet.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/80%25%20Done.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Sump%20Room.JPG

[Denis]

Hey Bassman, looking good, only thing I wouldn't put the pond liner there, only directly under the wood. If you ever spill any water there it would get trapped under it making it very hard to remove. Also you could skip the 2x4 framed top as most glass tanks only need support on the perimeter.
What brand of tank are you getting ?
I that sump under the tank in the basement ?

[bassman]

Hi there, thanks for the input.

The pond liner has since been relocated. It runs up the wall about 8 inches now and I will be running more peices down and over lapping the bottom pce. It's hard to explain but when I am done the stand it's self will hold water.

The edges of the liner will be siliconed to the floor thus not allowing any water under it. I did this with my 55 and it works awesome. I designed it so that the cavity under my tank can hold more then 55 gal as I didn't want to drill a floor drain in the floor where my tank currently sits.

I have NUMEROUS plans to keep water from ever hitting the floor and if it should it will be directly into a floor drain, filter sock and back into the sump.

My 55 has been up for 4 months and I have yet to spill a single drop of water on the floor around it. Knock on wood!!

I thought about removing the 2x4 top but I already have all the lumber and it puts my counter top 3.75 inches higher then the 2x6's, giving a person a little more room for their legs under the tank and it gives me a nice straight line across the front to attach my oak trim.

I am buying a second hand tank so I am not sure where it was built or buy whom. It is being sold by another forum member.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/New%20230.jpg

Yes, the sump tank is in the basement below the tank. I just finished building everything done there and I couldn't be happier.

[bassman]

Here are a few pics from last night.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4030061.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4030062.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4030063.JPG

[bassman]

Finished the front legs last night.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4040061.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4040062.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4040063.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4040064.JPG

[Floop70]

I can't wait to see what this looks like when its completed.

[Aquanut]

Wow Bassman, that looks like it is going to be a pretty cool setup!

[bassman]

Thanks, I can't wait to see it finished either, I love building this kind of stuff. My only sorrow is that this will probably be the last one of these I will get to build. LOL That is if I want to stay married.

It will be nice to finally have a properly designed system that I can just leave be instead of upgrading things all the time but I will miss all the DIY stuff.

Once it's all done I will be knocking out the wall to the left of the tank, opening up the kitchen on the otherside. :-)

[Jason McK]

WOW that stand could hold up your entire house. LOL

Looks Great can't wait to see more

J

[bassman]

WOW that stand could hold up your entire house. LOL

Looks Great can't wait to see more

J

Thanks, that was kind of the idea LOL, I don't any room for doubt on this stand.

[bassman]

I think I have finally decided on a plan for the rest of the cabinet. Took some major calculating to get all the dimesions right and have everything balance out. I had to change my original plans because I am going to be building a dry moat around the bottom of tank now to deal with any over flows or leaks.



http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Stand%20Pic.jpg

Pics of the moat to come. I will be building it today.

[Parker]

Wow! That's going to look great when it's done.

[bassman]

Here is a pic of the pond liner sealing off the wall and floor

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4060065.JPG

And here is the start of the "dry moat"

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4060069.JPG

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/P4060068.JPG

[bassman]

Update.

Long story short the used 230 I purchased did not meet my standards in the light of day so I opted to use it as a sump instead. Therefore I have been busy installing it in the basement. I am pretty much done now, just a few little odds and ends to tie up and a bit of trim.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Sump%20Jun%207,%2008b.jpg

I needed an easy to build, cheap, super strong, open bottom stand so I went with cinder blocks. I already had a platform made for the main tank out of 2x4's and 3/4" plywood covered with pond liner and 1" of styrofoam so I just laid it across the cinder blocks.

I had never used cinder blocks before to build a stand I found them very easy to work with. They can be tricky to level but I found what I feel is a great shim material.

A lot of the time sand is used for leveling bricks so I was wracking my brain trying to think of something I could use on my concrete floor, obviously sand wouldn't stay in place without a little box or tray under the bricks. Then it hit me, shingles! normal ashphalt shingles, it's crushed ashphalt glued to tar paper, perfect!
I do expect it to mush down a little bit and deteriorate a little over time (depending on how often it gets wet) but I don't think it will ever become and issue. Even if all the paper disintegrated the granuals would still remain. So far so good anyways it's been a couple of weeks and the tank is still dead on level.

To cover the cinder blocks I used some old, unfinished hardwood flooring that was left here by the previous owners. It was a little trickier than I originally anticipated. This was due to the fact that I needed to make all the internal panels removable, not only removable but removable FAST as my plumbing and return pump are behind them. If there is ever a leak I won't have time to run around looking for a screw driver.

Basically I made a series of panels that pressure fit into place, one holds the next in place. The panels across the front are wired to the cinder blocks, I used screws sticking out the backside of the panels to allow me to plumb them vertically, this is key. The entire front must be perfectly true and square in order for the internal panels to line up properly. The other thing I should mention about building these panels is that I could not cut any boards lengthwise with my table saw, my pockets are empty and my blade is completely fried so that made things that much more interesting. LOL

Inside the tank I built a 12" wide x 48" long x 7" deep cheato compartment. I kept it back 12" from the front of the tank in order to allow my light to penetrate to the bottom where I have a little LR rubble tray where I may play around with fragging.

The rest of the sump is wide open, no baffles, only LR. I am keeping it bare bottom for ease of cleaning. I have more LR cooking now and I will accumulate more as times goes on.

For mechanical filtration I have 100 micron filter socks that I rotate. That's about it, I am keeping it simple.

As for the main tank I have finished all the framing and the cabinet structure now but I don't feel as though I should proceed with the "finishing" of the stand until I have the tank in place and filled. I am expecting some "settling" in the stand which may cause slight shifting that would throw my finishing work ever so slightly out of alignment. So I will have to build the tank before proceeding.

The long story bedind the used 230 I purchased ended with my wife getting me all the glass I would need to build a brand new 230. Not only did she get it for me she also had everything precision cut and water jet drilled from a brand new sheet of starfire!! Here is the best part, the company had everything cut, drilled, edged (minimum edge), crated and ready within 4 hours! Here is the REAL kicker......ready? it was 100% free !!! all of it! I just have to build it. :mrgreen:

She used to work for a large glass company that supplies such places as Las Vegas (just a little bit of glass used there LOL). Anyway she is just one of those people that everyone loves and would bend over backwards for. She used to be the personal assistant to the president of the company whos *ss she has apparently saved on numerous occassions, so he told me as I was thanking him for the 50th time. LOL

Needless to say I am stoked!!

Here she sits....

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Open%202.JPG


Now the fun part, putting it together perfectly. If I put even one scratch in this tank after all this I am sure I will probably throw up right on the spot! LOL

Wish me luck.

[BC Mosaic]

Very nice set up.
I like the packaging for the cut glass and such a sweeeet deal !!
Looking forward to more photos of the process.

[dsaundry]

Tagging along...looks great so far:biggrin:

[bassman]

Here is a pic of the main tank stand awaiting the finishing and plumbing. All the framing is done now and the dry moat is in place. I do still have to build another "deck" as I used the original one for the sump tank. I want to get the main tank built and water tested outside before winter so it will have to wait for now.

http://www.ultrafab.net/temp/230/Completed%20Framing.JPG

[Delphinus]

Wow, some neat ideas here, and a great story behind the display tank. :) Looking forward to watching this unfold! :)

[bassman]

Wow, some neat ideas here, and a great story behind the display tank. :) Looking forward to watching this unfold! :)

Thanks Tony, I will be sure to take lots of pics. Where you will see the most ridiculously over cautious and anal tank assembly ever! LOL

[drydock]

So did you take the summer off or something??? :biggrin:

Some of us are still waiting to see what's happening next. This is as bad as the TV networks and waiting for the new season of your favorite show to start...

I'm impressed with your build so far. The drawing of the end result is really impressive... can't wait to see how it turns out so keep on with the photos and updates.

[Treebeard]

I just finished reading this thread from start to finish and can't wait to see what's next!

[bassman]

Sorry for the delay in progress, it's summer, what can I say. LOL

I did start the process of building the new tank the other day however.

I am going to be extra anal about this task. So I am covering both sides of the glass with 2 layers of packaging paper and taping the edges where the silicone will be applied. Once I have everything dry fit and ready to go I will remove the tape from around the edges and apply the silicone.

I did not have a decent work area or bench in my shop so I have been spending some time getting all that done first.

So far I have covered 2 of the panes and the centerbrace. I am hoping to get more done tonight.

I am still searching my local hardward stores for some proven silicone. Unfortunately I may end up having to drive to Prince George to pick some up, if they have it there.

So not a lot done so far but the wheels have started turning again. I need to get this tank built and water tested before winter so it won't be long now.

I post some pics later today of the glass covering process and just how anal one can get. LOL

[whatcaneyedo]

Hello Bassman! I just stumbled upon this thread and read it start to finish. You've got some pretty cool ideas; I really like the dry moat. I've seen a hardwood floor or two just destroyed by a fish tank flood so that could be a real lifesaver. Will you be allowing people to drop by and check out this creation when its finished? I know I'd take the trip from Prince George to see it sometime.

[bassman]

Hello Bassman! I just stumbled upon this thread and read it start to finish. You've got some pretty cool ideas; I really like the dry moat. I've seen a hardwood floor or two just destroyed by a fish tank flood so that could be a real lifesaver. Will you be allowing people to drop by and check out this creation when its finished? I know I'd take the trip from Prince George to see it sometime.

Thanks so much. I like the moat too, hopefully I will never have to use it.


Oh yes, for sure. You can come over anytime. I just started assembling the new tank yesterday. :-) It won't be long now.


Just let me know next time you are heading through town.

[JDigital]

No progress pics? :lol:

[bassman]

:cry:, I built the tank last week and still doing some finishing touches. However, my wife had our camera with her on vacation with some friends so I was unable to take pics of the build process. Which sucks because I put a ton of work into covering all the glass with paper and having removable tape strips around the edges to give my silicone a straight edge.

I will snap some pics tonight of the finished tank. Everything went very smoothly and I am planning to water test it later this weekend or early next week.Then she's coming in the house!

[bassman]

First I would like to apologize for the delay and lack of detailed picks, things have been very hectic in my life lately. That, and the next time I pick up my camera to use it and the batteries are dead I will backing over it with my truck!!! Seriously that thing is a pce of junk! LOL

Anyhoo, it was a nail biter as this was my first build but I pulled it off without any damage or scratches. :-)

Here she sits.

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/230%20built.JPG

Due to the nature of how I got this tank and lack of time I had, I had to copy the design of another one. So I ended up with the drain holes in the bottom rear corners, which I didn't like. I didn't want corner overflow boxes.
The tank I was dreaming about had a coast to coast overflow. I also didn't have any glass to build the overflow boxes with and I couldn't find anything out here with a resonable price tag.

So I was trying to figure out a way to make a better overflow system. Something I could hide easier and that wouldn't take up so much real estate in the tank.

I decided to use PVC eave trough and run 1.5" flex hose up the back of the tank to the eave.

Like so.

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Overflow%20Drain.JPG

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Overflow%202.JPG

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Overflow%20Box.JPG

Here it is painted.

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Overflow%20Painted.JPG

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Overflow%20Painted%202.JPG


I then filled it up with the water from my sump and added the rock also from my sump.

Here is day 1

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Day%201.JPG

Now the crappy part.

The next day most of my corals looked pretty much dead! All my SPS are bleached and show little polyp extension, if any.

One of my large xenias literally melted with in 1 day! As you can imagine I am not very happy.

None of my fish or inverts show any signs of stress or anything like that. My two anemones seem fine too, maybe not as large as usual but not wilted looking or anything.

I have no idea what I did, or didn't do. The only thing I can think of is that due to all my corals being disturbed when I was moving them to the new tank they all released toxins at once, filling the new tank with them.

Due to the fact that I didn't have 230 gallons of RO water laying around and it takes me about 5 days to make it I had no choice but to let them sit in the slurry. I added filtration and carbon right away but it doesn't seem to have helped much.

It's been six days since this happened and my new water is ALMOST ready! Maybe one more full day.

Most of my corals are showing signs of improvement but a couple look to me to be beyond repair.

I am sure most will come back to life and all will be fine, in time.

I will post some more picks once everything is running and the rocks are arranged properly.

Oh here is one of the sump plumbing in the basement.

http://ultrafab.net/temp/230/Sump%20Plumbing.JPG

[whatcaneyedo]

The gutter overflow idea is interesting. I've been trying to come up with a different overflow box for my own tank and I think that might work for me as well. What is the black paint you used?

If you cant find any in Quesnel, next time you're in PG drop in and I'll hook you up with some free xenia.

[bassman]

I used that Krylon paint from Crappy Tire, works good, dries fast.

Glad to hear the overflow may work for you, I am looking forward to seeing it in action. Hopefully tonight or 1st thing tomorrow.

Thanks for the offer on the Xenia, I appreciate it. If need be I may take you up on the offer. :-) Things are looking a "tad" better today, nothing exciting though.