R-3 Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 So after 5 different tanks in three years in this hobby I can finally setup the tank I want .....maybe....just kidding. I thought all along it was gonna be a 125G 4'x2'x25" I just picked up from Dennis. Well that lasted a little while till the girlfriend said she wanted something along the peninsula style tanks we had talked about before. See we have a living room/dining area that is about 30x20 that needs to be broken up a bit. Is it me or is she the reason I keep changing tanks, hmmmm.... So after getting quotes from local and not so local tank builders I stumbled upon a used tank on craigslist. The add read 200G Fish Tank/Base. I thought I would click on it even though it would most likely turn out to be another 75G tank mistaken for a 200G by a craiglister. Nothing against people that sell tanks on there but have a little clue what you are selling. When i read the add I almost crapped my pants. I actually did check for some remnants but thank god everything was okay. It was a Envision built 60"x30"x24" Peninsula style tank. Pretty much exactly what I was looking for minus a couple inches in width. But I could live with that for the significant price break. So that brings me to my Friday. My Reef-compadre Rey (Reefin) agreed to come with on my quest to go get the tank today after work. I was somewhat worried because I wasnt sure what type of shape it was in. There was only one pic in the ad and it wasn't that great. Hoping for the best I finally arrived in SW PDX ready to see what would hopefully be my new tank. Initially after seeing the tank I was just wondering how we were gonna move it. This thing is a behemoth!!! So after thinking about buying it for about 3.7 seconds I agreed to take the beast home. It needs some general cleaning and a real good buff job but other than that the tank was in great shape. After getting the tank down a couple flights of stairs and the stand out the side door and around to the front we got everything loaded up. Amidst all that Steve the guy I bought it from brought a small 24"x18"x8" frag tank and a sea swirl and just gave them to me. What a score. Great deal on a tank and free stuff!! So we continued down the road to Waves to meet Andy and hopefully do some shopping. Well we got there a little late (Sorry Andy) and missed Joel and Jordan but managed to hook up with Andy. I drove home listening to Rey whine about how he couldn't buy a couple False B&W Percs because I took to long at Steve's house buying the tank. After a hour long drive I got the tank home safely and into its spot for the time being. I even found out the tank is actually 60"x34"x24", 4" WIDER!! I gotta do some work to the stand like wrapping it and maybe some other stuff. I havent got to far into the planning stages yet but my brain is churning. Thats one of the reasons I'm posting this at 1AM. So here are some specs so far on the build: TANK- Envision 60x34x24 1/2" 212G Peninsula Style Tank SUMP- MRC Custom Sump 30"x18"x16 RETURN PUMP- Iwaki MD40RLT 750GPH Pressure Rated FLOW- Seaswirl Im thinking a pair of controllable Tunzes. I dont feel like drilling holes. MAIN LIGHTING- 2 250DE Phonenix 14ks- SS Dual HQI Ballast- Reef Optix 3's OR 2 400W SE _________- PFO or SS HQI Ballast- Nyles DIY Reflectors (Hoefully) SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING- 4 5' T5's or 4 5' VHOS SKIMMER- Its up in the air really. Im thinking of the new Octopus Pro 250. Not sure yet. All I know is I need something bigger than the ASM G3 I got now. CA Reactor- PM 622 would seem to work well OKAY HERE IS THE BEST PART SOME PICS-MIND TANK IS STILL REAL DIRTY-I POSTED PICS FOR THE PIC HOUNDS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Super nice score Ryan. Any idea on when this tank was built? The lack of radiused corners on the cutouts dates it somewhat I would look into the MSX skimmers as well. I don't know how Octopus, MSX etc are doing it--it just seems impossible that they're making any profit! Deltec's in trouble...lol. -Sol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Well Ryan it looks great and now you are officially ahead of me in the tank building department!! Which sucks for me!! Hopefully I'll catch up soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 Super nice score Ryan. Any idea on when this tank was built? The lack of radiused corners on the cutouts dates it somewhat I would look into the MSX skimmers as well. I don't know how Octopus, MSX etc are doing it--it just seems impossible that they're making any profit! Deltec's in trouble...lol. -Sol I was told it was 5-6 years old. I actually kinda like the non-radiused corners Yeah I have looked at those skimmers. They seems pretty nice. A guy on RC named Luke33 modded the crap out of one pretty easily. With all these skimmers coming out Deltec and some other big namers will lose some business but people will still buy a name. I heard Deltec is suppose to have a huge price drop, could be just a rumor. Well Ryan it looks great and now you are officially ahead of me in the tank building department!! Which sucks for me!! Hopefully I'll catch up soon! Dont worry Mike you will catch up. I gotta sell a bunch of other reef stuff from the 125 to buy stuff for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Dont worry Mike you will catch up. I gotta sell a bunch of other reef stuff from the 125 to buy stuff for this. My biggest problem is room. Where to put an 8' long tank that stands 6' tall without lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 My biggest problem is room. Where to put an 8' long tank that stands 6' tall without lights? TEAR OUT A WALL Yeah I remember that tank at Ryan's. It was a beast. When I got home last night and brought the tank in Anna was like "Ummmm.....thats really big" I just Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Definitely a sweet deal, even before the guy tossed in the freebies. It looks great! Time for you to stop wasting time posting here and get to work firing that baby up ...and when you do, MORE PICTURES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 Definitely a sweet deal' date=' even before the guy tossed in the freebies. It looks great! Time for you to stop wasting time posting here and get to work firing that baby up ...and when you do, MORE PICTURES [/quote'] Yeah I wanna get working on it. Im pretty excited about it. I gotta continue refinishing and painting the 125G Tank and get it up for sale first. Then I can buy more equipment for it. Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhuru Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Looks awesome Ryan, you always seem to find the sweet deals man. Dibs on the 125! J/k, I haven't been able to sell my 70g, LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 Looks awesome Ryan' date=' you always seem to find the sweet deals man. Dibs on the 125! J/k, I haven't been able to sell my 70g, LOL.[/quote'] Man I really stumbled on this one. It was in the furniture on Portland craigslist. I was looking for a couch You gotta come over and see it. Its beastly. Then you can look at the 125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 When I got home last night and brought the tank in Anna was like "Ummmm.....thats really big" I just Tank looks great! Just wait a few weeks! When I first replaced my 40G with a 120G, it looked insanely large! Even to me, but husband and daughter definitely thought I'd finally gone over the edge. Now, we all three think it really isn't big enough and a 240G would fit perfectly into that area!(nutty) It helped that we added on a bit, I have to admit. Our living room is now large enough for the humans, the fish tanks and our three house bunnies. No money left over for a larger tank for now, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Ryan, how will you address humidity in this tank? Im just curious. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 Not sure yet Nyles. I thought about venting under the house??? Maybe out the side? What ideas do you got Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coker98 Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 [language filter]!!!! Nice friggin tank coming from Craigslist. You've done it again. Get this thing rollin so I can give YOU frags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Is this open top or canopy? If your going with the custom reflectors we are doing I would have them enclosed and run a base vent out the wall or somewhere else close by to keep out that humidity in the winter. Even if its just a small fan on a rheostat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Nice score Ryan! So much for that spot upstairs eh? I see you got carpet down and flooring, i bet it looks great! That tank is a beast, so many possibilities. I'll vouch for the octo skimmers. I've done the mods Luke33 did and mine is rippin!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamatSLS Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Where are you at with this Ryan?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Dang! How'd I miss this one. I have seen the old style James' Tank and they're still built like a well.......... TANK! Looks like it will come out real nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 Where are you at with this Ryan?? Its been stalled a little bit. Just trying to piece everything together. I need to sell some other stuff to make room so I can take the tank into the garage and start buffing it and work on the stand. Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted May 30, 2008 Author Share Posted May 30, 2008 UPDATES: So I have sold most of my reef junk in the garage so Im gonna start going on this in about a month. I have to finish putting a crank in my jetski and finish painting the trailer. Ive been thinking about different things with this buld lately. Mostly return pump and lighting. LIGHTING- Im thinking I wanna go T5 with this tank. So I was thinking of going with 8 80W 5' T5's (4 WH7 ballasts) I have also heard of people staggering 4' 54w T5's on a 5' tank. Im not sure is the staggering 4' bulbs would cover enough. What do you guys think???? RETURN PUMP- I have a Iwaki I was gonna use but I think Im gonna go all internal. I was thinking like a Eheim 1262 (900GPH- 4' head so probably about 600-700) Calcium reactor, skimmer, and media reactors will be in sump. I have a big sump 48"x24"x18". I has two holes in that I think I will just patch. What do you guys think??????????? I was wondering about the patch though. It is probably better to do the patch from the inside out right?? Anyone have any experience patching holes? What Weldon should i get? Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Just patch both sides for piece of mind. I like in-sump return pumps. They are just easier to remove and clean IME. Maybe it had to do with the way i plumbed the external in, i donno. T5s are what i would use too. I can't say about staggering the bulbs, although i've heard of it. Seems you would be sacrificing some light though. Lets see the ski when you are done too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Get the 5' lights and that way later on you won't be sorry you got the 4' ers and staggered them. I'd go internal return pump also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Put me down in the MH column. T5 lighting can have great PAR, but nothing comes close to the look of point-source lighting over a tank IMO -- the highlights are brighter, the shadows are darker and the glimmer lines add sooo much to the overall look of the reef. Fluorescent lit tanks just aren't as 3-d to me; they're just... flatter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 If you do t5's, I'm doubting 8 are enough (assuming you're going SPS?) over a 34" wide tank. I really think that once you get into wider tanks, you can really use the spread of halides more to your advantage (With a good reflector, of course). With lumenarc III's, you could easily light that tank with 2X400 watt halides. That would obviously consume 800 watts, and 10X80 watt t5's would consume exactly the same 800 watts. So the efficiency point kind of becomes moot. On the holes in your sump, assuming they're the "nice kind" (purposeful and round, not jagged and accidental), I would recommend putting in a bulkhead and threading a PVC plug into the bulkhead. It both looks cleaner, and gives you more options down the road for re-plumbing if you decide you want to. -Sol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhuru Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I vote for everything in sump to make life easier, and T5's because you will have better control of the color. With 400w MH you may end up wanting to supplement anyways, even the 20K bulbs look best with actinic supplementation. With 10 x T5's you will have amazing control of the color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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