Big Al's 230 Reef in Hot Springs

Discussion in 'New Tank Builds' started by doubleorange, Jun 10, 2015.

  1. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Hi All!

    New to the forum but I like it a lot. I actually live in Longview, TX but I am building a new reef for my Dad in Hot Springs, AR. We had a 230 gallon built by DAS in Dallas. Dimensions are 96 x 22 x 27 tall.


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  2. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Here's the tank...
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    Here's the stand.
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    The sump and filtration will be in a walk in closet behind this wall. It's gonna take me a few weeks before much gets done in there.
     
  3. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    First pass at aquascaping on this thing

    Here's my first pass at aquascaping this tank. I'm fairly happy with it. I can tweak it later. This is about 350 lbs of fiji rock. Scored great deals on about 250 lbs off of Craigslist. Sand is Seaflor Special Grade -- really uniform and clean, no large particles or trash in it. Put 160 lbs of aggregate in.

    Lights are Aquaillumination SOL Blue. They are left over from my last tank that I had to tear down when I moved from Houston. I just set a few lights up top temporarily because I haven't done any designing on the canopy/light mounts yet. All in good time...

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    You see one of two 80 gallon reservoirs in the photo. I will run one as an "active" tank with tank water always flowing through it to increase total system volume. The second tank will be for mixing salt water. When we are ready to change the water we will simply turn a 3-way valve and presto -- water change will be complete and 80 gallons of dirty water will be removed from the system.
     
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  4. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Here's a bronze port hole I got off of ebay. I am going to mount it in the room behind the tank so that you can peek into the tank.

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  5. Lyndya

    Lyndya Blenny

    Big Al welcome to the site. We have a meeting once a month and always have exciting information exchanges as well as a great social time and meal. This month's meeting is in Cabot Arkansas. You have a great looking tank Please keep us updated with new pics. I love (I mean really love) that bronze port hole. Would love to see it installed.
     
  6. Kim

    Kim Secretary Staff Member

    Hiya,

    Can't wait to see this tank mature!

    Kim/Benton, AR
     
  7. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Thanks Lynda for the welcome! Not sure the date of the next meeting but I look forward to meeting some reefers in the area at a meeting soon. I have to time it right because I live in Longview TX but am spending a couple of weekends a month in Hot Springs working on this tank project for my Dad -- Big Al.

    Tank is cycling now via a temporary rubbermaid tote sump until I can build a proper one out of acrylic. Will be working on the fish room utilities this upcoming weekend of 6/20.

    Corey
     
  8. Lyndya

    Lyndya Blenny

    Will be glad to meet you when you do find time to attend. The next meeting is this Saturday and the location is about 1 1/2 hrs from Hot Springs so that would take a lot of time away from the most important thing "the build". Good luck as you progress through all stages of the tank establishment.
     
  9. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Here is my temporary sump until I can get more done in the fish room.

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  10. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Fabricated brackets for powers adapters for lights and powerheads.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 31, 2015
  11. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Wiring Details

    Worked on getting the wiring over the tank squared away. Using the AI LED's. I'm looking for another used light now but find that most of them are with a black housing.

    IN PROCESS WIRING
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    COMPLETED WIRING
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    Eventually I will build a flip-up canopy but that will be after I finish the fish room... and sump... and frag tank... and...
     
  12. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    First Fishies

    Tank parameters looked good so I went ahead and added the first fishies. Got seven small blue-green chromis and a six line wrasse.

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  13. huntindoc

    huntindoc RRMAS BOD Membership Director Staff Member

    Looking good! I really like my AI Vega's, 5 of them on an 8 footer ought to get the job done!
     

    Attached Files:

  14. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    My brother helped me install the bronze porthole into the wall. It is in the room behind the fish tank and looks through the wall into the back of the tank. The porthole is installed through a European 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea poster.

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    Here you can see my son through the porthole.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2015
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  15. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Did some more work on the fish room. Installed the controller and modules but I have lots of wiring to do still.

    Now all I need is a real sump... The acrylic is ordered finally and I hope to start gluing that up soon.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2015
    LJC6780 likes this.
  16. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    I added some more fish over the past month including three tangs; yellow, kole and powder blue.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2015
  17. whippetguy

    whippetguy Super Moderator

    Very creative and nice work!
     
  18. Kim

    Kim Secretary Staff Member

    Hiya

    yeah...I like the rock work. Been itching to change my tank around a little.

    Kim/Benton, AR
     
  19. doubleorange

    doubleorange Plankton

    Thanks for the kind words y'all!
     
  20. Dee

    Dee RRMAS Supporter

    Here is my new tank. 20150817_191746.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

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