Khoa's 210 AGA build log

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It started as a 120 AGA tank move. Then as the 120 sit in the house dry, waiting to be plumbed, DeMarcus (DeMarcusR) posted his 210 tank for sale/trade. After some hesitation (I wanted 250+ starfire), I decided the price is right and contacted DeMarcus, didn't think he'll do the trade though. Much to my surprise, he liked my 120 and I like his 210. So we decided to swap. I hired movers to do the swap and on 3/18, we did the swap!

I'm not very good of documenting every minute detail with pictures, so please forgive the lack of eye candy [smilie=itwasntme.gif]

Let's start with a hole in the ground for the "fish room" floor drain. The room is supposed to be a closet, but its location is perfect for a fish room, though only 1/2 a size I wanted. This room is 4'x5'. The most left pipe at the front is that special floor drain
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Foundation was poured and here's what the same drain looks like. From this side, it is the right most pipe
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After we moved in, I had to rip out the carpet and put the drain cover on. Builder had to put carpet over to avoid getting into a lengthy code compliance issue with inspectors. Also builder had to redo the cement banking so that water will flow toward the drain. You'll see my 70G QT tank being filled with RO water, too
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I need a star by this post.... so I think I'll post in it. ;-)

Cool build start. Would love to be able to plan my fish plumbing and setup before the house was built like this! :-D
 
Part of my excuse for not posting frequently is that I've been buried at work since February! Luckily I did manage to move everything to the new house by mid-Feb. Trying to catch up with a chronological order of the move + new build...

The upstairs bath room is directly over this fish room, so I run a 3/8" water line through the sub-floor and into the room. Split off with a T so that I have separate RO feed and a spare "spray" faucet to clean things up. Here's a pic. Note, I need to patch up the sheet rock to avoid moisture getting into the sub-floor. Picture is taken today, but it was done a long while ago.
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You'll see a T and the RO feed line here
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Here's a pic of my QT/holding tank being filled
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This is what happens when you cramp the 210 contents into a 75 tank [smilie=smile.gif]
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Moving a long to the tank swap pictures. Well, didn't take picture of the empty and dry120, so the 210 will have to do. This is right after movers put the tank up and left. Note that the bottom 75 is another tank and is part of the deal. It is being used as a sump. I had to drill for a 2" intake. More on that later
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In the pic above, you'll notice that the steel stand was rusting just about everywhere. Here's what a quart of Rustoleum and some labor can do. Well, I couldn't get to the back, bottom or top because I just couldn't move the tank to paint [smilie=devil.gif] Note that this sump is drilled on both sides. Left is a 1 1/2" bulk head done by Marcus. I drilled the right side for a 2" bulk head (3" hole) and a 3/4" top for overflow
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Fully plumbed and leak test. Note the shower liner around the sump. I had planned to not use any liner, but since the tank sits on hardwood floor, better to add protection now.
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Some, not to clear, pictures of the right side. You'll see the Reeflow Dart, over-flow bulk head and the 2" intake
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Here's another pic of the 1" discharge outputs that I want to use for miscellaneous stuff like phosban/carbon reactor, CA reactor. I normally use NTP thread those 1" caps to connect the 3/8" JohnGuess quick connect
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Khoa, if you want to use some glue to bond the corners of the shower liner, I have a nearly full can I purchased for my own set up, and only used about a handful of dobs out of it. You can pick it up Thursday when you get your filters.
 
Good idea. Thanks Marc!

Here's my way of keeping the corners up.
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Well, I'm up to mid-April now. Let's continue to catch up to May [smilie=lol.gif]. Full water test on 4/12
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I then basically spent the next 3 weeks working on the stand wood veneer and canopy. The cabinet people I contacted were either too busy to bid on my small project or quoting too high a price. So, I decided to do this job myself.
 
I had planned to let this tank complete its natural cycle and get good water quality before moving corrals over. Unfortunately, the QT/holding tank had a bad ick out break, so I had to move the inverts and corals over to this tank and leave the fish behind for ick treatment.

I know this narrative is very boring without pictures, but I couldn't take pics of the sick fish. I had attempted to treat ick with hypo-salinity twice in the past and each time, ick came back when the fish were "cured" and moved into the main tank. Each treatment period was 8-week, so I guess I was not able to keep the salinity at 1.009 constant. This time, I'm treating with coper using Cupramine. 1 day after the coper level got to 0.5 mg/L, all of the white dots disappeared and the fish went from extremely lethargic to active and eating well again. It took me 3 days to get from 0 to 0.5mg/L with testing twice daily. I'm now at every other day tests and the Coper level seems to hold up at 0.5. After the main tank goes fish-less for 6 weeks (end of May), and if I don't see symptom of ick, I'll move the fish back.

OK, that was long. Now back to the main tank. The stand wood veneer and canopy were built from Ash wood for the front, crown molding is pine from Home Depot and Lowes. I could not find Ash veneer or planks for the sides, so I used cabinet grade Birch plywood. Interesting mixture, hope it turn out OK after wood stain and polish.

It took one weekend to do the bottom without doors. This picture was taken a week after the bottom was done.
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Had to join to boards to make the 12" canopy. This is my first attempt at any wood working, so you'll see obvious flaws, but over all it's not too bad
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I don't have the skills or tools to make raised cabinet doors, but luckily, the people that installed our kitchen cabinets would build me the same set of doors for this. A trip to Corinth and a couple hundred bucks later, I got my doors [smilie=rofl.gif]
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Here's an, almost, full shot of the "furniture" with the lights off.[attachment=0]DSCN2844.JPG[/attachment]
 
Almost catch up to current date now... One weekend to build the stand, one weekend to build to canopy. Last weekend was staining and applying polish

This is what the cabinet looks like after being stained the night before

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The canopy looks a whole lot darker due to different lighting.

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Another pic at the top to show the open top and back

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And here is the door
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After the first coat of clear gloss Polyurethane

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After the 1st coat, I decided I didn't like polyurethane very much, so I applied a 2nd coat of clear gloss Spar urethane which is supposed to hold up better (designed for exterior doors). Here's a full shot after the 2nd coat is dry enough to handle

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Another full shot picture

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Since this is a 29" high tank, I want to have easy access to the top, so I made the 5' door. This way, my aquascaping work won't be as bad, but it'll still cause troubles because my arms are not long enough [smilie=devil.gif]

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Ignore the nuisance algae and the bleached SPS, I'll get to them soon [smilie=sadsmile.gif]
 
That looks great. However, your shower liner is so tall in the stand that your return pump would be ruined if it collected more than 6" of water within. I have mine 2" tall, and the pump is sitting on some 3/4" foam. The motor should stay dry if the liner fills up.
 
@ctaylor81 wrote:
Great job on the stand said:
Thanks for the complement! It was built to slide in, but I did put 3 screws, one on each side, to the plywood, then put the trim over to cover the screws. Removing the stand will be as simple as popping the trims, unscrew and pull the cabinet out.
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@Marc wrote:
That looks great. However said:
Thanks. I basically decided between the lesser of the two evils. Flooding hardwood floor and flooding just the pump [smilie=devil.gif] I figured the pump is cheaper to replace if damaged than the wood floor which I can't even replace unless I move the tank! Of course, a main tank leak will hurt everything and I have no solution for that!
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No new tank is without problems. Let's start my list.

Because I had to move rocks and corals before the main tank is ready, I'm fighting some sort of an out break. Not sure if it's GHA or something else. Here are a few pics
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Many of the SPS are bleached, but luckily, I haven't lost any completely yet. I need to take some pictures to document the event.
 
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