250 "budget" build

[Randy the reef guy]

Hello everyone,

Getting back into this hobby after about an eight year break. I've been lurking around the forums and LFS's for a year or so contemplating a build. I finally decided to dive back in lol. After being out for eight years I consider myself a novice again as technique and technology has significantly changed.

A little about me:
I was 10 when I got my first aquarium

, it was a fresh water 10 gallon that I got for Christmas. Other than my 8 year break I have always kept a aquarium since. I have worked for many pet stores and did pond building and aquarium maintenance on the side when I was younger. I have done some work in Oregon's indoor horticulture industry using deep water culture hydroponic set ups. I am currently a retail manager (so not rich lol) hence the budget build.

So I was cruising the local offer up and found a great deal on a 250 in an interesting size and went to look at it. I met a nice gentleman who was moving and never set this aquarium up. This tank was donated to his school and he was planning on setting it up for his senior project and didn't get a chance to. Thank you Hayden(he is a member of R2R) for the great deal.

The tank:
It is a 3/4 acrylic tank that was built by a custom tank maker in Vancouver Washington the tank has the plumbing in the center of the tank as it was designed to be viewed from all sides.
Dimensions= 60x22x40. The stand and hood is oak is believe.

 

[wom001]

Nice, welcome back! Start slow, Qt and don't make the stupid mistakes I did lol.

 

[Rjukan]

Hi. Welcome back!

That is definitely an interesting setup! I'm curious to see how you will plumb the overflow and returns since they are on the bottom and in the middle of the tank without a overflow box of some sort. Can't wait to see this progress!

 

[watdachuck]

Following, sick looking set up... If you need any recommendations let us know!!!!

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Nice, welcome back! Start slow, Qt and don't make the stupid mistakes I did lol.

Thanks, I did set up a qt. Went with a 20L.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Hi. Welcome back!

That is definitely an interesting setup! I'm curious to see how you will plumb the overflow and returns since they are on the bottom and in the middle of the tank without a overflow box of some sort. Can't wait to see this progress!

Thank you! I thought it was a cool size as well. I do already have it plumbed, the tank in real time is further along just decided to start the thread today. It will take me a while to catch up.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

So some of the challenges I ran into right away with this tank was height of the tank and how to get it into my house.
It about killed me getting the tank onto the trailer when I picked it up from Hayden's house so we hired some movers to meet me at my house and move it inside. I would highly recommend this to people buying large used tanks because I quickly found out they are not light lol.
The height issue was solved by a trip to the local home depot. I wanted something kind of like a walk board. I found a ladder/step stool they call a gorilla ladder. It has a few adjustments up to 30 inches and is extremely stable. So I picked one up so I could start the plumbing.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Time to start the in tank plumbing.

The way the tank came to me it was set up with 3/4in lock line through bulk heads in the bottom with two 1in overflow holes. I threw all the bulk heads away and got online to order some new stuff. I went with all black pipe inside the tank. I wanted to move the returns to the back of the tank and use the lock line with random flow generating ends. I ran the line along the bottom of the tank as I will have a sand bed that will cover the pipe. The overflow is set 4in under the emergency overflow due to the tank volume. (Only 25 gallons will drain into the sump in case of an outage or other failure)

I decided to paint the back of the tank as well. I used plastidip in the can so it can be brushed on. I also painted the insides of the wooden corner pieces to hide the pipe better. While I was at it I installed locking black egg crate in spots I was planning to put rock work.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Another thing that had to be done in preparation for the added weight of the aquarium is reinforcing the flooring under the tank. My home is a year old and they dont build them like they used to lol. I added 4x4 bracing on blocks directly under the aquarium to support the joists. Not a fun job but nessasary in my opinion.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looking great! Welcome to R2R!

 

[SPR1968]

Great pictures and write up so far and thanks for sharing it with us

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Looking great! Welcome to R2R!

Thank you!

 

[Rjukan]

That was a great idea to run the returns to the sides, looks awesome. What do the tops of the drains look like, it's hard to tell in the pic. Are they just straight up with a strainer on the top?

I'm guessing you're going to drill and pin your rocks to get them up high enough? It could look really impressive with the height of that tank. Speaking of the height... you're going to be a tong/claw master in no time

 

[Randy the reef guy]

That was a great idea to run the returns to the sides, looks awesome. What do the tops of the drains look like, it's hard to tell in the pic. Are they just straight up with a strainer on the top?

I'm guessing you're going to drill and pin your rocks to get them up high enough? It could look really impressive with the height of that tank. Speaking of the height... you're going to be a tong/claw master in no time

Thanks. Yes tongs are a necessity in this tank. Unfortunately I still suck with them[emoji14] . Here is a pic of the drains I have a regular strainer on the main and low profile on the emergency drain.

 

[najer]

Sweet, welcome!

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Great pictures and write up so far and thanks for sharing it with us

And welcome to R2R as well!

Thank you so much. Glad to finally be contributing on R2R!

 

[Randy the reef guy]

A little about the goals for my tank.

When I was thinking about the live stock that I wanted to keep I started by really being honest with the time I can commit to the tank and who can help me if I am away etc. I think this is an important factor to consider when choosing equipment and live stock. Fortunately I have the coolest wife ever and she is really getting into this hobby. Unfortunately she works a lot of hours too. However, my parents are retired and live with me and my dad has really gotten into the build and is learning a lot. So on my absence I have a built in tank sitter[emoji226] [emoji225] .

My long term goal is automation I will be adding apex control and am looking into automated water changes, dosing, feeding and built in fail safes. I am not starting out with the apex but will soon add when I find a good deal or break down and shell out the $$.

My livestock plan.

This will be a softie tank. I might try a few of the easier sps someday but I am primarily interested in softies.

Fish:
Lightning maroon clowns x2
Bangaii cardnal (aqua cultured) x3
Male lyertail anthist x1
Female lyertail anthist x4
Purple tang x1
Clown gobys yellow and green x4
Mandrain goby (aqua cultured) x1



Possible fish:
Cole tang.... this would require breaking the tang rule and I'm not sure I want to do that...

Lepord or flasher wrasse. Still researching these guys. Getting mixed opinions on agression. Also dont want it to out compete the mandrain for food.

Well... I was going to add pics of the above fish from google images but cant get it to work. If anyone has a easy way to do this I'd love to know about it. It keeps telling me I dont have permission. If I cant get it to work I'll take some pics the next time I'm in my LFS.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

The rock work:

I ordered my dry rock from Amazon. It came out to about $1 per pound. I ordered 320 pounds. I didn't get pictures of the last three boxes that came in but here is most of it. Seems you get a large rock or two, mostly medium sized rock and a few small per box. Each box is 40 pounds and contained very little rubble I was impressed on how well it shipped. The boxes that I didn't get pics of where the 12-14in peices. I put them all in water to get the rinse for a couple weeks with a powerhead.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

After a couple weeks of rinsing I wanted to start the rock work. We (my dad got into the project at this point[emoji14]) started by laying down egg crate under the spots we wanted to rock to protect the acrylic. Then I explained my overall plan of a large center column to cover the plumbing and offer lots of caves and overhangs to the live stock and two shorter columns off set one from the front and one from the back with arches to create depth. I wanted the tank to be interesting from all sides and not just look like it is meant to be viewed from the front glass. I also wanted a few shelves at different heights.

I was reading about the use of emarco 400 in public aquariums and my lfs was using it on some of their display tanks so I thought let's give it a try. I'm sure glad I did. This stuff is great.

Due to the cure time building this rock work took about a month.

Some tips:
Mix small amounts.
It should be the consistency of cement, only put a little of the acrylic liquid in at a time.
Use a marker to mark where the rocks touch together.
Use cups, pvc or whatever you have on hand to brace your rock work. Silicone cups work great.
Give it 24 hours before you work on the next piece. It will be dry but not fully cured in two hours.

 

[Randy the reef guy]

Set up the qt while building rock. I added dr Tim's amonia and bacteria as directed. It's been two months and still cycling...... I bought my first fish two lightning maroon clowns thinking the dr Tim's will cycle the tank quickly but haven't brought them home yet. Thankfully my lfs (cuttlefish and corals) are understanding and are holding my fish for me. I added the rock to the qt to try to speed up bacteria growth but will remove later. I would not recommend running rock in your qt. I will swap it for ceramic rings after i get it stable. The tank is a 20l from petco for $20 the rest of the equipment is inexpensive stuff i ordered on amazon. I am using an auquaclear filter with sponge media. I use a glass thermometer and digital and a seachem amonia alert badge. I used large pvc for hiding spots.