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View Full Version : SHF's & BC Mosaic's new 220g Starphire system


SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:37 PM
So, my friend Richard asked me to rehome his fish & corals for at least the next couple of years, maybe forever & we finally settled on his 220g starfire tank instead of the 7' 265g (too big to fit into my place).
The new tank had its front pane replaced by BCMosaic, Kolewolf & myself and has sat in storage for about a year. REALLY shocked that Irene said yes to this upgrade!

Timeline:
Saturday - Aug.14, 2010 - Built 6' x 25" x 34" stand out of 2x6s, 2x4s, & 2x3s

Sunday - Richard brought over tank & we water tested it on my lawn
- water test went well so we drained, drilled 2 holes for 1" bulkheads, painted back blue & built black acrylic overflow box system
- the 2 of us transported the tank into my livingroom & hefted it onto the stand

Monday-Thursday - Plumbed the tank, built an 80g sump (too tall) so bought an old 90g wide & cleaned it up & modified into a 4' x 2' x 18" tall sump. Sump has 2' wide 28" long skimmer "box, a section for the refugium (stored extra live rock) and a 6' section for the return pump

Friday - transported 200lbs of Live Rock, some corals and saltwater from Richard's 7' reef tan
- spent most of the night aquascaping the rocks

Saturday morning - went to Richard's & caught & transported fish, corals & water to my place
After lunch (all-u-can-eat fish&chips at C-lovers), we caught out the last fish, scooped up the last corals & drained thte tank to collect all the sand
Released fish into my tank at 7:30pm and started washing sand (2 or 3 hours) then did final aquascaping, setup skimmer, setup return pump, setup lights
- FINALLY finished at 4 am & turned on the new lights (6' 3x1502 metal halide with 14000k Phoenix bulbs - but we only turn on the end lights not the middle

Monday - August 23 - Added second skimmer due to heavy bioload

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:38 PM
System Specs:

220g 6' long x 2' wide x 30" tall
Starphire glass front - low-iron glass for extra clarity
Overflow - 12" x 6" x 6" DIY black acrylic with 2 x 1" drains & 1 x 3/4" return
Return - Sedra 9000
Skimmers - SWC Extreme200
- Marine Tech 250 with Sedra9000 meshmodded impeller pump

Flow - HK Magnum8 & HK4 & HK3

Stocking:
1 6" Vlamingi tang
1 4" Elongate (A. mata) tang
1 4" Blonde Naso tang
2 4" Purple tang (Red Sea)
1 4" Chocolate tang
1 3" Orange Shoulder tang
4 4" Yellow tangs
1 3" Blue Regal tang
1 2.5" Kole tang
1 8" Porcupine puffer
1 6" Marine betta
1 4" Emperor angel (Juv.)
1 4" Lamark's angel
3 Lyretail anthias
2 Psychadelic Mandarin gobies
1 Cleaner wrasse
1 Leopard wrasse
1 Scissortail goby/dartfish

Still to be added from my other tanks I'm shutting down &/or selling:
4 Blue-eyed cardinals
1 Bangaii cardinal
1 Yellow Watchman goby
2 Black Leopard wrasses
1 Lyretail hawkfish
1 Black Sailfin blenny

Corals:
Assorted LPS, SPS, Photosynthetic Gorgonias & softies (mostly frags or small colonies)

Inverts:
Lots of snails
Not much else (Poofie the puffer would make short work of them)

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:39 PM
Now for some pics - Cause a tank journal thread without pics is a waste of time, I know, I know.
These were taken Tuesday morning after I spent Monday plumbing the overflow system.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0916.jpg

Empty tank on stand

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0919.jpg

DIY black acrylic overflow with Durso silent drainage system

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0921.jpg

Felicia in front of tank to give size reference & cause she's sooo cute

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0924.jpg

Side view from my computer desk

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:40 PM
These pics taken Friday night (after hauling rocks & water from Richard's):

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0926.jpg

90g wide sump (allows me to work inside the short stand (I usually build much taller, but wife wanted a shorter stand for viewing from the couchs)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0928.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0925.jpg

Tank with 150g new water, 40g old water and 170lbs live rock

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0929.jpg

Other side view

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:41 PM
Saturday night - around 4am after finally installing lights
The plywood & doors have NOT yet been installed, just leaning up against the front of the tank:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0930.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0932.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0938.jpg

No flash for this last full tank shot:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0939.jpg

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:42 PM
Water is a little murky since everything is still a little stirred up:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0936.jpg

Side view (Saturday night/4am)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0942.jpg

Just the tank

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0944.jpg

Left Rock structure

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0946.jpg

Right Rock structure

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:43 PM
Today (Monday early afternoon: August 23) - second skimmer just installed & micron filter sock on down tubes have helped clean the water up

Cut the plywood facing, installed facing & cabinet doors - VERY HAPPY with how it turned out (cabinet stand) but still need to finsih the side panels (adding doors to those as well)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0926-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0924-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0927-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0925-1.jpg

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 09:44 PM
Sectional shots (Monday, August 23, early afternoon:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0928-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0929-1.jpg

Left side:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0930-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0931-1.jpg

Right side:

Most of the pics were taken without my contacts on (relying on teh Nixon DX3000's autofocus completely)

Thanks for looking & hope you enjoyed.

Anthony

lastlight
08-23-2010, 09:55 PM
Really nice job with the towers. They look really good as is but I imagine those will be boss for coral mounting location/variety.

That's one heck of a long span for those 6 foot 2x4s is it not?

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 10:16 PM
Really nice job with the towers. They look really good as is but I imagine those will be boss for coral mounting location/variety.

That's one heck of a long span for those 6 foot 2x4s is it not?

Those are two 2x3s and 1 2x6 for each 6' span. The planks are all glued and screwed together for extra stength. Altogether, the beams are roughly equivalent to 4x6 beams, so more than adequate. I tend to over-engineer everything I build, especially big fish stands. It would hold the weight of my Honda CRV no problem:wink:

lastlight
08-23-2010, 10:21 PM
Well I want a pic of that =)

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-23-2010, 10:41 PM
Well I want a pic of that =)

In the close up pic of the sump & stand, you can se the two stacked 2x3s & they are glued & screwed onto a 2x6 inside.

lastlight
08-24-2010, 01:40 AM
In the close up pic of the sump & stand, you can se the two stacked 2x3s & they are glued & screwed onto a 2x6 inside.

No I meant the Honda up on your stand!

Delphinus
08-24-2010, 03:49 AM
Old CRV or new CRV? The older ones are much smaller and it won't be anywhere near as impressive.

Tank and in particular the aquascape looks great man.

Lance
08-24-2010, 04:10 AM
Looks great Anthony!
On the back left side of the tank there is what looks like some Monti Cap growing. Are they covering a return line or PH?

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-26-2010, 04:29 AM
Old CRV or new CRV? The older ones are much smaller and it won't be anywhere near as impressive.

Tank and in particular the aquascape looks great man.

Sorry, old CRV. With this addiction, do you really think I could afford a new CRV?

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-26-2010, 04:32 AM
Looks great Anthony!
On the back left side of the tank there is what looks like some Monti Cap growing. Are they covering a return line or PH?

The original frags were glued onto a plastic return pipe from an old filter system. The pieces have since grown & been fragged several times. Works great since I can move it around no problem. It was transferred from my 210g reef into the new tank in under 10 seconds & did NOT involve any breaking or cutting either.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
08-29-2010, 02:38 PM
So, after one week, the tank is still doing extremely well. Have to add the NPX pellets & ATO today, as well as finish the side plywood/door panels.

Haven't added any more fish yet, but a few more corals now call the 220g home.:biggrin:

Since we've decided to stick with the 2 lights instead of 3 over this tank (love the look of contrasting light/shadows/light), that's going to hopefully help curb my obsession with adding more & more corals into this "fish" tank.

Tom R
08-29-2010, 04:30 PM
Hi Anthony

The tank is looking great.

You are hands down the best aqua sculptor I know.

One or two weeks into it and you have a tank that most would die for.

Congrats on yet another fabulous tank, you make it look too easy.

Tom R

SeaHorse_Fanatic
09-23-2010, 07:48 AM
Well for those who didn't read my other thread, this tank cracked (front pane) Monday, Sept. 6th around midnight and dumped a tonne of sw all over our floors and carpets & loveseat.

Thanks to my very good & generous friend, Chin Lee, I now have his old 165g painted & resealed and ready to be reincarnated as the replacement tank for the busted 220g.

I will start a new tank journal thread when I have time to keep track of this new build.

Anthony