Noobies 220gallon Build

[DJ Monty]

Yes I am a noobie starting with a 220gal.. No I'm not totally crazy, well maybe I am but here goes anyhow..I've been putting this together now for around 3 weeks. I'm sure there will be mistakes along the way but that's ok. I'm obviously open to both criticism & suggestion.. If you see anything I've done wrong please let me know. Hopefully I can fix it before I get to far. Sorry for the lack of pics in the beginning but I just didn't take too many.. I'll remedy that as we go along..
I was actually looking for a 4' tank but my LFS had this 72x24x30 & I had the the space for it so we loaded it up and took it home. That was interesting on its own.. Once home I realized I had to get this thing out of the truck but had no stand for it. I didn't like the one the LFS had for it. So after an hour of thinking & making notes we took a trip to Home Depot to buy all the bits to make one.. Two days later we ended up with this..

Which turned into this

I put in a 32" refugium which I believe is around 30g together with a Fluvial SP6 return pump..I then put in around 230lb of dray base rock and would finish that with around 30lb of live rock & 80lb ofCaribbean live sand.. Now it's time for the water.. Problem is I don't want to carry all that water from my LFS so it's time to make a water station.. You tube here we come..

 

[Joey waid]

Looking real good so far, please keep us in the loop....

 

[singleshot]

Looks good nice starter tank, how tall is the stand? Wanna make use you have enough room for the skimmer height wise.

 

[DJ Monty]

So after spending a little time on Youtube it was off to Home Depot again. A bit of woodwork & a bit of plumbing, what could go wrong.. Well not much actually. Pretty much nailed it..

So now I can make my own water & pump both from & to the tank from my garage.. There are a few little bits to finish of but overall it's up & running.. My main issue is that my city water supply is only at 28 psi so I'm told I need a booster pump on the "In" line so I won't end up with so much waste. Can anyone confirm this is the way to go ?

 

[DJ Monty]

Looks good nice starter tank, how tall is the stand? Wanna make use you have enough room for the skimmer height wise.

I was lucky there, I made the stand at 28".. Ive been looking at skimmers today & there are a few that I can use that I now know will fit... Trouble is there seems to be so many different makes out there & I don't really know where to start. Advice/suggestions anyone please..

 

[singleshot]

So after spending a little time on Youtube it was off to Home Depot again. A bit of woodwork & a bit of plumbing, what could go wrong.. Well not much actually. Pretty much nailed it..

So now I can make my own water & pump both from & to the tank from my garage.. There are a few little bits to finish of but overall it's up & running.. My main issue is that my city water supply is only at 28 psi so I'm told I need a booster pump on the "In" line so I won't end up with so much waste. Can anyone confirm this is the way to go ?

Looking good, I've heard you need 40psi or better anything less you'll need a booster, my Gauge was stuck at around 30 for a bit then I flicked my gauge to see if it was stuck and it was shot up to 60psi. Also I would suggest a DJ power strip for the water changing station helps to have everything at your fingertips in one place

 

[DJ Monty]

Now it's time for the rock. As I said earlier I put in around 230lb of dry base rock and would finish that with around 30lb of live rock & 80lb of Caribbean live sand. It took 5 or 6 attempts to get it how I liked it & I think I only got it right then because my girlfriend came to help

Here it is with a little light from the outside left

Next thing to get into is the lighting..

 

[DJ Monty]

I have the DJ power strip just haven't got around to installing it yet. I still have a few bits to tidy up...

 

[SaleenCB]

Looks awesome. Nice craftsmanship!!!! Couple of suggestions to do with as you will. I would suggest painting the back of the tank...you are going to have a lot of wires that will take away from your look of your display. Also, you have enough room under the tank for more water volume. Looks like your sump is set up so maybe add a refugium. On a 220, I would maybe want to do at least a 50 gall sump (just my opinion) but you can offset that with a refugium as well. Also..awesome that your girlfriend is wanting to help...keep her around lol!!

Also (had to add this), I think its awesome you are starting out with a 220...more water volume makes it easier to correct mistakes!!

 

[DJ Monty]

Well I figured that while the tank was cycling I would figure out what lights I was going to use. I was driving my girlfriend crazy with all the talk of different lights & it seems that every morning when I woke up I had changed my mind from the night before. She had had enough so she went to the LFS & went with their suggestion. Boy was I shocked, & happy of course.. You know what they say, never argue with a woman I followed that advice & quietly figured out how I was going to mount them. Again I decided to make something that would match up to the stand. Here is what I came up with. Something simple & easy to make that would be strong enough.

 

[DJ Monty]

Looks awesome. Nice craftsmanship!!!! Couple of suggestions to do with as you will. I would suggest painting the back of the tank...you are going to have a lot of wires that will take away from your look of your display. Also, you have enough room under the tank for more water volume. Looks like your sump is set up so maybe add a refugium. On a 220, I would maybe want to do at least a 50 gall sump (just my opinion) but you can offset that with a refugium as well. Also..awesome that your girlfriend is wanting to help...keep her around lol!!

Also (had to add this), I think its awesome you are starting out with a 220...more water volume makes it easier to correct mistakes!!

We have a large piece of card that will be put on the back of the tank but I just can't decide whether to paint it black or blue. Maybe we will do black one side & blue on the other. That way we can change it around & figure out what we like best.
Yes there is room underneath for more.. I'll figure that out as I go along.

 

[SaleenCB]

Sounds like a great plan. Your water station looks awesome. If you ever get a chance, would love to see some more detailed pics and plan. Need to make one myself in the near future. Just need to do some more research and planning.

 

[DJ Monty]

Forgot to post a pic of what she came home with for the lighting.. Radio G4 pro's

& more

 

[DJ Monty]

Sounds like a great plan. Your water station looks awesome. If you ever get a chance, would love to see some more detailed pics and plan. Need to make one myself in the near future. Just need to do some more research and planning.

I'll do a plan with more detail as soon as I get the chance...

 

[SaleenCB]

Forgot to post a pic of what she came home with for the lighting.. Radio G4 pro's

& more

Definitely a keeper!!!

 

[DJ Monty]

Managed to get the lights mounted & working.

Obviously I need to learn how to take better pics...

 

[locito277]

Gen 4 look. I e. I'd definitely go with the reversible background. Never know if some day you move the tank and you have one side painted black you wouldn't be able
To view on both sides. I'm setting up the exact same size tank!! Following along!

 

[SaleenCB]

The rock on the left side of the tank...hard to tell from the angle of the pics but if your rock is touching the glass, might want to adjust about a 1/2 cm to be able to clean the glass in that area.

 

[DJ Monty]

The rock on the left side of the tank...hard to tell from the angle of the pics but if your rock is touching the glass, might want to adjust about a 1/2 cm to be able to clean the glass in that area.

I didn't think of that when I put it together but there is just enough room to clean.. Thanks for that...

 

[DJ Monty]

Gen 4 look. I e. I'd definitely go with the reversible background. Never know if some day you move the tank and you have one side painted black you wouldn't be able
To view on both sides. I'm setting up the exact same size tank!! Following along!

Do you have a build thread for your tank ? I'd love to see it ..