210g acrylic dream

[DeniseAndy]

Well, after 10 years with my 40yr old thick glass tank, I am finally replacing the tank with an acrylic custom made tank. I want to keep my stand, so I havd to custom build it for the proper dimensions. No one makes a 7' tank anymore that is 24" by 24".

Sooooo excited. The tank is on order. I looked at another glass tank and had some quotes, but I decided on acrylic from a local builder.

The tank will simply be put where my current tank is and sump and everything remains unchanged. Well, except the plumbing has to be redone.

It will be a long week-end doing it, but cannot wait. Probably late summer.

Just ordered a 24" overflow system from Modular Marine. Looked at many, liked this the best. It will replace my corner overflows (thank goodness).

My lights will remain MH and T5s as I do like this combination. I will be building new stands for them though (well my hubby will anyway).

I will post pics of my current and tearing it down when it happens. not going to be easy to move a 10yr old tank and all inhabitants. At least I am not moving homes.

I will need tons of neighboring men to help me move the monster tank when done. It is over 400lbs of glass. AHHHGGGG!

 

[JBKReef]

Which "local builder" did you go with? As someone from the Cinci area looking to upgrade in the next couple years...

 

[DeniseAndy]

Jason at Aquatics and Exotics. He builds a lot of tanks for commercial use. Good guy and company been around over 20 yrs. Good pricing too. Let him know I told you about it. ;Shamefullyembarrased

 

[Maggie321]

Ooo. Following! I have an empty used 210 in my garage. Slowly putting parts together to fill it

 

[DeniseAndy]

Took me two years to get my first one going. Lots to consider.

 

[TonyNguyen]

Wow I love acrylic tanks! Congratz Take your time!!!

 

[TonyNguyen]

The good thing is it will only take 2 person to move the tank!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Wow I love acrylic tanks! Congratz Take your time!!!

Good to hear. I worry a bit about scratching, but my kids are older now and we do not have little ones around. Plus, I have heard using magic erasers on them is key to clean so I will make a magnetic cleaner with magic eraser.

 

[User1]

Took me two years to get my first one going. Lots to consider.

This is true - at least for me. Then again I'm pretty unorganized Tank ordered in June of 2015. Arrived at door on December 28th 2015 - I was in no rush . Sat in garage till sometime the following December in 2016. Then started to set it up, leak check, etc until it was finally moved into the house to start official build in January of 2018...go figure. Cycle complete and 40 breeder that was the reason for upgraded moved last weekend.

@DeniseAndy I will say that is one of the reasons why it sat for so long. Trying to find time to ask people for help (family members offered several times). I just never wanted to bother anyone. 210 gallon tank, glass, is heavy. Finally I found a material lift I could rent, wife and kids helped, and we got it on the stand. That started the ball moving finally and it just went from there.

With Acrylic you already have that hurdle beat! Good luck and looking forward to your journey!

 

[TonyNguyen]

All my tanks in the past were acrylic, and they are so clear! Don't stress too much about the scratch. You can buff them off even with a tank full of corals and fish. Just crank up your skimmer. Anyways After I'm done with my 210 and my pico. I have a 10ft acrylic tank waiting for me, I'm scared to look at it...lol

 

[DeniseAndy]

Not much happening as we are heading for vacation and tank still being built, but I did get my overflow in today. Looks great. Heavier than I thought.

Modular Marine 24" Overflow

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Exciting and congrats!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, I now have the tank. Between vacations and my tank builder having his first baby, we have a tank!!! I was in no realy hurry, so worked out well. Plumbing parts ordered will be in tomorrow.
I have lots of tubs to move the animals into.
Worked out a new return and lighting system.
Should be moving it soon.

Here is the tank. (covers still on obvioulsy). It is a blue background and has those covers for the holes. I am thinking of going with mesh though to keep more air flow.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, I got some rock because I wanted a bit more and new scape for the new tank. Looks great! This came from Bill's Reef Connection. Here are some pics. I only got 40lbs, but amazing pieces.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I am almost ready to change over the tank. We are waiting to get our lighting design finished. We will be using metal posts and hanging all the lighting. We just need a welder and to get the metal. Not as simple as it should be.

I will be fragging much of my gorgs and also have two nice size colonies of green finger leather. Also some of the purple/blue plating sponge. If you are local, let me know what you want. I really cannot ship (I can, but costs are outrageous).

Also may be going to the Lexington frag swap and Dayton frag swap in October, so maybe we can meet up there.

So excited to get this new build going. Just so much to get together before starting. Now school is going and two boys in soccer and girl in lacrosse, life gets hectic.

 

[DeniseAndy]

So, I got all livestock moved on Saturday. What a pain in the but. My female trigger decided to hide in a tub we had in the back of the tank and I found her flapping around dry. I had to reach in with two fingers and gently pull her out. She is now in a tub with the male and I will check today to see how everyone is doing. I was gone all yesterday.

Also, my rabbitfish has one eye that looked funny, so I decided to pull her to treatment tank. Well, in the process I put her in a 5g bucket for transport. I reached down to grab the bucket by handle and, yep, she jumped out of the water, spines up, right into my thumb nail.
Bleeding and trying really hard not to cuss with kids around, I ran to sink and ran hot water (had hubby look up quick) for 45 min I soaked my thumb in hot water. Man did that sting.
However, did not swell much and after that felt fine. Could have been much worse.

Here are the tubs. three 45g and one 25g. Some fish are in sump, 40g, downstairs.

Corals are all ticked off. No light. I will get lights on today.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Here is the lighting frame. Have to drill and paint today.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well with tears and sad heart, I found my poor male blue throat trigger dead. I guess the stress of moving was too much. So far everyone else is okay. The rabbitfish is still stressed out. Others seem to be doing okay in the tubs. Just got lights on all the tubs as it is taking longer than expected.

We cannot get the old tank out. Soooooo heavy companies charge so much to remove it. Painting of light coming along. Lots of coats to get nice and solid black.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, finally got the beast out. Took 6 men to move the tank off the stand and out of the house. I had to hire a company to come get it. Yippee!!!

Now we are getting the stand ready to handle the acrylic tank. Since it had a glass aquarium, we need to add some center support and a platform on top. Then for some plumbing, checks, done!

So excited. I have cleaned all pumps and equipment. gave me a chance to clean fish room a bit. Hopefully in a few days the tank will be up and filling.

Animals okay so far. Not thrilled, but doing okay. Here are some new babies that will go into the tank once they are a bit larger.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, I removed the rock from the sump that the carpet was in and dosed it with cipro. I did this two fold. One, the carpet looked stressed out. Two, my rabbitfish in there needed a treatment for an eye infection. So, two birds, one stone (hopefully).

I also removed the large bta that was in there. The carpet immediately perked up. I am wondering if that was also an issue. Hope not as my main system has lots of btas. I will have to space them far apart and hope no-one goes walk about.

Working on plumbing. Well, okay, my hubby is working on plumbing and framing for new tank (acrylic not glass). He is great. It has not been an easy swap out so far.

Animals are still holding on okay. Cannot wait to get set back up. Although, I keep buying more animals. Darn sales by great vendors.

I did lose one tub of animals, but was able to save the one fish (female trigger) and part of some leathers. I lost some gorg, leather, male trigger in the tub. Luckily, these were all duplicate corals, so I am sad, but not heart broken. Just on the fish. Kept tank going and it is curing rock now. No lights, just flow. Should get some nasty stuff dying, but the bacteria will be happy.

My 40g is packed full of lps. Maybe it is time to move the tanks around. Just a bit worried that all my leathers and the nems will not play nice with my favias and scoys and such.

Would love to see those more though. Food for thought.