HaleMoana 220 Starphire In Wall

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Hello everyone
Been a member here for a couple years, and finally decided to post up a tank thread. I moved 2.5 years ago which gave me the perfect opportunity to upgrade my tank. Don't tell my wife, but thats part of the reason that I wanted to move in the first place. :bigsmile:

So, I started the build back in January of 2011 but then got put on hold for about 18 months when my wife and I had our first child. With very little time, I lost motivation. But got it all back this Summer when we went to Disney and she loved Nemo and the aquariums!!! :cheer2:

So, here we go....

Finishing the basement to move my home office down there since I got kicked out of the guest room.

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

I made an engineered beam to carry the load across the rear of the tank. I wanted to do this to avoid having any vertical supports blocking my access to the sump/fuge underneath. I have a 5ft acrylic fuge and having vertical legs in the back would have not allowed me to use it.

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Equipment List:
Bubble King SuperMarine 250
2 x Vortech MP60
Geo 618 Calcium Reactor
Reeflo Super Dart Gold Return
RKE loaded with NET, etc...

Sand from Marco Rocks. Thank you 20% off sale for Black Friday last year. And Thank you postal carriers!!!

Beananimal overflow with help from a local reefing friend and fellow DVRC club member.

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Finishing up the trim work

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Finally Cycling...

Fuge

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

a fence that I rigged up to keep jumpers in. I used magnets to secure it to the tank so it is easy to remove when I need to get into the tank for maintenance.

Still deciding on lights (leaning towards the Radion Pro's) so I threw up an old 48" T5 fixture over the right side of the tank, then I got one of those Chinese LED fixture for the left third of the tank.

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Finally time to start having fun!!! Time to start stocking...

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

3Twinklets · Oct 16, 2012

I love the view from your desk!! I wish I had been able to set mine up in my office since I spend most of my time there.

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

yeah, thanks man. That was exactly my thought too. I work from home while not traveling for a living, so I spend a lot of time at my desk. If it wasn't going to go in the living room, then this was the next best place for it. Although I have found that my productivity has gone down quite a bit. lol

:roll:

LVE · Oct 16, 2012

Great looking tank. I would love to have my desk set up right in front of my tank. Lucky guy.

schooleyosis · Oct 16, 2012

What a great setup. If I had a tank near my desk I would not get ANY work done. What are the bulkheads in the rear of the tank for? Closed loop circulation?

allabout · Oct 16, 2012

Awesome setup! Better than a room with a window!

strange33w · Oct 16, 2012

Nice set up really liking the firefish trio

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Thanks everyone!!

schooleyosis said:
What are the bulkheads in the rear of the tank for? Closed loop circulation?

The bulkheads in the back are for the returns.

schooleyosis · Oct 16, 2012

I see. didn't you also put in overflows on one end of the tank? I see you have multiple tanks under and next to your main tank. Curious to know how it all works...

HaleMoana · Oct 16, 2012

Yes, I have the overflow (3 x 1.5" holes) on the left side of the tank (when looking from the front). These overflow holes dump into an external box where I have a beananimal overflow. Water drains from the bean down into a 40B which houses my skimmer. From there I have a 2" pipe running downstream from my fuge so that most of the flow bypasses the fuge. In that same 40B, I have another 1.5" pipe that I have a ball valve on dialed back to slow the flow that eventually dumps into my fuge.

After the fuge, the water goes through the bubble trap and into a return section. Then the return pump returns the water through those two bulkheads in the back. I also have a frag tank plumbed off the return as well.

I know it's confusing. I'll take a video one of these days and post a link.

schooleyosis · Oct 16, 2012

That's a great explanation, I read it correctly but didn't process the original post right. I was thinking drains not returns on the back glass. All makes perfect sense now. I'd still like to see the video though