Diefs 120 Peninsula

[DiefsReef]

That’s a whole lotta water!!!

I know right! should never run out. I will have 2 display tanks, 2 gt tanks and 1 frag tank running so figure I'll use it.

 

[ArmyReefer]

I have been watching and learning on R2R since 2017.
Finally at the end of 2019 I started working on my first reef tank. When I got the go ahead from the boss, I bought a used 90gal 48x18x24 with stand and also found a great deal on a Red Sea MaxE 170 cube (will create separate build thread for 170 and link later).
She (the Boss) then decided she wanted a peninsula tank so I starting all over again.
The end of February I ordered a Marineland 120 from my LRS and started to build my own stand.
I bought a 40gal Breeder for a sump while waiting on the 120 to arrive, which took some time to arrive due to current global crisis we all know about. In the mean time I started to work on the custom stand.
After many mishaps as I am not a full time cabinet builder I am now at the point of needing just one more coat of Spar/Polly to complete the 120 stand.
I will update the equipment list as it comes in since the list grows almost daily it seems. (should have bought a Red Sea Reefer Peninsula at the start and saved lots of money)

Equipment list:
Peninsula drilled Marineland 120 gal 48x224x24
Eshopps Eclipse L Bulkhead
Vertex Omega 150 Protein Skimmer
2x VorTech MP40 pumps
2x Red Sea ReefLED 90 lights
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO
400 watt Aquatop Titanium Heater
External Blueline 55 HD Water Pump - 1100 gph (Panworld 150) on order
90 gal 48x18x24 in basement sump

Arriving today/soon hopefully:
x4 Wasserstein WiFi Water Leak Sensor, Smart Flood Detector
x2 Blueline 55 HD Water Pump
100ft TekTube Flexible PVC Pipe
And way to much moneys worth of plumbing fittings from BRS



Original 90gal used tank:

After looking at the bottom of the stand I decided I didn't want that in my living room and my wife decided she wanted a tank a little bigger. Gotta Love her!
Decision was made to sell the 90 and get a 120 with in stand 40 Breeder for sump.
Later after viewing #Flippers4pups build thread my wife decided I needed all the sumps down stairs in the basement so off to the drawing board again!
Now we are keeping the 90 for an in basement sump and using the 40 breeder as a sump for the Max E 170.

Marineland 120 on order and off to build a stand:

How to make a box
I didn't want plywood so decided all solid Oak (should be strong enough)
First 2 sides, Check

Two Ends:
As I stated in the beginning, I'm not a professional woodworker.
The 1st set of ends I had all squared and sanded and ready for glue.
when I cut out all the biscuit slots I cut the sides on the wrong edge. I had to start all over again

New outside end:
I glued 4 pieces together for the outside end.
Never having done that before it came out ok.

Gluing a box:
Amazing what it takes to make a box square

My wife said I needed doors!

Internal supports:

Doors and a bottom: (door panels and bottom are the only plywood in the stand)

Off to stain, Spar/Polly and Rubber coat the inside base:
2 coats of Early American stain and all the rest of the pic have 2 coats of Spar/Polly
My wife wont let me stain of polly (apparently she does it better) and its been raining for 2 weeks here in the ATL.

Peninsula drilled Marineland 120 48x224x24 waiting on a stand.

So that's it for today on the start of the build thread for this tank.
My much Better Half is supposed to do some finish coats on the stand today and I'm off to get my basement in line for all that's getting ready to happen down there.

Thanks for all the help from so many people on this forum.
There is NO way I could have gotten this far by myself without this site!

What did you use to skin the stand?

 

[DiefsReef]

What did you use to skin the stand?

I didnt skin the stand, its all hardwood construction. Solid Oak.
Pics of the build process on page 1.

 

[DiefsReef]

My wife put this out on FB the other day. Thought it was pretty funny.


To create a saltwater aquarium you must first:
Paint your walls
Install new chandeliers
Install new fans
New carpet
Build cabinets
Install a supporting beam
Clean out your work space
Install new plumbing
Replace insulation
Install a new door
Clean concrete flooring
Clear yard debris
Build a shed
Replace garbage disposal
Move A/C vents
Paint concrete flooring
More to come....

I was complaining about all the work and said all I want is fish.
While I was downstairs working on the fish room my wife decided to do this... She said "You wanted fish, I gave you fish"

 

[TDiefRN]

You need to add sealing the mouse holes, care for broken wife, and feeding your son!

 

[TriggerFinger]

My wife put this out on FB the other day. Thought it was pretty funny.


To create a saltwater aquarium you must first:
Paint your walls
Install new chandeliers
Install new fans
New carpet
Build cabinets
Install a supporting beam
Clean out your work space
Install new plumbing
Replace insulation
Install a new door
Clean concrete flooring
Clear yard debris
Build a shed
Replace garbage disposal
Move A/C vents
Paint concrete flooring
More to come....

And I was complaining about all the work and said all I want is fish.
While I was downstairs working on the fish room my wife decided to do this... She said "You wanted fish, I gave you fish"

Great fish choices! They look super healthy and disease free too! ;Smuggrin

 

[DiefsReef]

You need to add sealing the mouse holes, care for broken wife, and feeding your son!

All because I love you Babe!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Love this!! You're not too far away from me. Can I say that I HATE driving through your city?! I had to buy the Peach Pass because of you...well, not you personally, just your city.

Your wife's post is amazing. My husband dared to question my new BioCube today. I said you have spent WAY more on golf this year than I spent on my little BioCube...that shut him up. He has no idea what I've spent on coral, though. ;Joyful

 

[DiefsReef]

Love this!! You're not too far away from me. Can I say that I HATE driving through your city?! I had to buy the Peach Pass because of you...well, not you personally, just your city.

Your wife's post is amazing. My husband dared to question my new BioCube today. I said you have spent WAY more on golf this year than I spent on my little BioCube...that shut him up. He has no idea what I've spent on coral, though. ;Joyful

Thank you! My wife is amazing, she fell in the garage and blew out a disk so had to have surgery. She was down and out 6 weeks but is doing much better now. She works to much! As for the Big ATL I cant stand going anywhere near the city which is why we live 40 miles North and I stay far away if I can .
If you had to buy a Peach pass then you drive down there way to often and I'm very sorry for you for sure

 

[ReefGrammie]

Thank you! My wife is amazing, she fell in the garage and blew out a disk so had to have surgery. She was down and out 6 weeks but is doing much better now. She works to much! As for the Big ATL I cant stand going anywhere near the city which is why we live 40 miles North and I stay far away if I can .
If you had to buy a Peach pass then you drive down there way to often and I'm very sorry for you for sure

Ouch, sorry about the surgery! I'm glad she's doing better.

I have family in north Florida, so unfortunately I know I-75 through Georgia all too well!

 

[Shanel]

Wow! What a nice tank. Great job on the stand!

 

[DiefsReef]

Wow! What a nice tank. Great job on the stand!

Thank you so much, Sorry i did not see the post back in Oct
Been a while since i looked at my build thread
I just ran through your build thread and talk about a great setup!
You can tell you have been doing this for some time and know how to get things setup right.

 

[DiefsReef]

Been a while since I updated the thread.

I finally have the basement ready to install the mixing station.
Cant believe its taken so long to get to this point.
I'm going to toss a bunch of pics in here to update the progress to this point...

Before: (forgot to take pics before I actually started)

The box in the pic has 8 gel cell deep cycle batteries for my solar setup and cant just unplug it and take it out sooo, I painted around the wheels and will worry about that later


After:

Moved and re-plumbed the RO/DI last night and moved the tanks in place.
Today I'll work on plumbing (my wife says its about time ;Penguin)
I think I'll have enough water!

 

[Shanel]

Wow! Looks Awesome. Great Job! Wish I had that much space for a mixing station. I've got a small storage closet behind my tank wheremy mixing station will be. That's a project for after the holidays.

 

[reef-rc]

yeah...that's just enough water - for 4X display volume . Looks awesome.

 

[DiefsReef]

Woohoo BRS valve order finally arrived, Maybe I can get some Salt Water mixing this weekend!

 

[DiefsReef]

Well learned an expensive lesson, the smaller Sicce Synca pump that come with only the barbed fitting with o-ring cannot be used with NPT fittings. I put some pipe dope on the fitting and screwed them in and the next day its almost like the dope broke down the plastic and the threads where getting eaten up. $170 paper weight

 

[DiefsReef]

Got some plumbing done and mixed my 1st batch of SW WOOHOO!

Had some leaks to run down (locations in red) after initial setup but got them tightened up.

Move some rock to a container for pre cycle and added some Seachem Stability to see if we can start growing some itty bitty bugs to hopefully jump start the cycle when I get water and rock in the main tanks.
I added some MarinePure Ceramic Biofilter media to the container as well to drop in the QT tanks when I get them setup.

Anyone think this is a waste of time or should do something better please let me know!!

 

[reef-rc]

if you are able to pre-cycle rocks in sufficient quantity for your tank...i would do it. The sooner you are able to cycle your rocks; sooner your tank will be ready for corals.

 

[DiefsReef]

if you are able to pre-cycle rocks in sufficient quantity for your tank...i would do it. The sooner you are able to cycle your rocks; sooner your tank will be ready for corals.

Awesome thx for the advice!