My New To Me 290 Gallon A.G.E. Hybrid

T

Tremelle

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My new tank is a used 290 gallon A.G.E. hybrid tank with starphire glass on 3 sides, the front and two sides. The tank measures 60” long x 36” wide and 30” high. I am the third owner of the tank, which was built new in 2008. The 30” tall stand is also an A.G.E. product. It has 2 doors in the front and one on each end. This appears to be one solidly built tank and stand. It also came with a 4 chambered acrylic sump measuring 48” long x 23” wide x 16” high. The seller also included a ReeFlo Super Dart Gold Pump, 3 250 watt mogul based Coralvue Lumen Bright reflectors and 3 250 watt electronic ballasts.

Since this new tank will be replacing my 210, I will be using the Deltec AP702, the Tunzes, the uv sterilizer and possibly the Aquatronica controller. The uv sterilizer is only rated for 250 gallons but it should be ok.

I am torn on what lights I want to go with on this build. The 72” Sun Light Supply Maristar fixture is too long for the new build. I like leds, but they come with a health price tag. T5s are just cost prohibitive when considering a 60” fixture and the amount and cost of the bulbs so often. So I am considering going with a setup of 3 or 4 hqi metal halides. The tank has 3 mogul metal halides for now. The three reflectors seem to provide nice coverage since they are arrange with the middle reflector positioned a little forward of the 2 outer reflectors. The canopy you see in the pics will not be used resting on the tank. I will be constructing a new lighting canopy depending on the lights I decide to go with. Even if I decide to stay with the reflectors the canopy will be mounted up above the tank. I have a mounting idea in mind that I need to put down on paper and then have fabricated. I don't like canopies on tanks. Since I love angels, I mostly keep leathers, mushrooms and ricordia. You have any suggestions for lighting?

It will probably be about a month before I start the move of the livestock from my 210 to the new tank. I need to plumb the overflows and decide how I want to mount the skimmer. There is not enough room in the stand for the skimmer to be mounted externally. I may have to mount it in the sump. I am going to have a cabinet positioned next to the stand to house all the electronics. I am also planning to sand the stand and stain it a darker color to match the surrounding furniture, which is like a rich espresso color.

Here are a few pics of the tank with just the center/forward lamp on. I cleaned the sump once I got the tank home and on the stand. I have yet to clean the tank, as seen in the pics. I will not be able to really clean the tank next weekend.

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Here is a pic of my 210 that will soon be dismantled and sold.

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There will be plenty of pics and updates as the build progresses, stay tuned.
 
That is one huge tank I hope you have long arms!! I think it will be a great tank and will give a bunch of room for your angels to swim around in. On the lighting issue I would go with LED's. I know they are expensive up front but will probably save you money in the long run. I would have them on my tank except I have a heavy SPS load and am not convinced that they are the best for hard corals but I think they would really pop your corals. By the way that is a great looking 210.
 
That's a real nice tank. Having moved it twice myself, I've gotten a pretty good look at it.
 
I am finally able to get back to working on the tank after the holiday and holiday travel. I have spent a bit of time cleaning up the tank of it's old build up in the sump. I now need to tackle the overflows. Today I went to Ikea to try and find a side cabinet to house the electronics for the system. Well I had no luck in doing so. I did run across some neat led lights for inside the stand. The led strip is 22" long and have proximity sensors. So the lights will turn on and off just by opening and closing the doors. Here is a link to the lights I am using, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30180778/. I bought two of them, and may pick up a third one for the side door. You can connect up to four in one daisy chain and one power plug. After installing the two I bought I realized I did not buy the intermediate cable to connect the two strips. :-( So I am only able to operate one light at the moment.

Here are some pics of the leds and also them installed.

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I also made a short little video to show the functionality of the lights.

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I spent Friday evening applying primer and a basecoat of paint to the stand. The previous owner had applied a thin coat of polyurethane to the stand on the indside and outside. I sanded the polyurethane and then applied a primer coat of Zissner BIN. That stuff is great. I then applied a basecoat of enamel paint. I wanted to stain the stand a much darker color, closely matching my furniture but had no luck in finding a stain. Once the painting is done I will be placing some white frosted acyrlic panels in each door to match the cabinet that will be next to the tank holding my skimmer and electronics.

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Here is a picture of the cabinet I will be altering to hold my skimmer and electronics. Currently it has four drawers. I will be taking the drawers out and mounting the drawer fronts on a frame to make them one panel. It will be held on the magnets.

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I have finished with the painting of the stand. I now need to go to Regal Plastics and have them cut my frosted white acrylic door inserts. Here are a couple pics of the stand as of today along with a couple of rough concept pictures. Keep in mind the canopy that is seen in the pics will not be on the tank. It is just sitting up there to clear floor space.

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It has been a slow go with the new tank. I still need to move the over 20" before I start on the plumbing, but I did finally decide and get my tank lighting squared away. I went with the Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion R2, the 1250mm (three LED panels) - for aquariums up to 165cm length. I was lucky enough to run across a guy on another site that had a two month old unit he needed to sale. What a savings I got.

Here are the specs on the light fixture:
8-channel control of color and intensity, 14-channel capable
• Cree XM-L Cool White LEDs & Cree XM-L Neutral White LEDs
• Cree XT-E Royal Blue 450nm
• Cree XT-E Royal Blue 465n,
• Cree XP-E Green 530nm
• Cree XP-E Red 630nm
• Cree XP-E Orange 610nmh
• UV-A 400nm & 420nm
• Cree XP-E 475nm up to
• Wireless communication with the lamp - BlueTooth / Wifi(soon)
• GHL Profilux / Apex / Neptune controllers compatible (by external module)
• Ethernet port(soon)
• Built-in web server - the ability to control from anywhere in the world(soon)
• Full control of the light spectrum
• Software / firmware written in C

I now need to construct a mounting system for the fixture since I can not hang it from the ceiling. Here are a few pics of the fixture sitting on the tank with the leds set at 60%.

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I have finally mounted my Metis Hyperion over the new tank. I did not want to mount it from the concrete ceiling so I made a light bridge out of 1" acylic. I was trying to achieve a minimalist look and it sure does accomplish that. I used a Radion hanging kit to hang the fixture.

Here are a few pics, starting with a pic of the raw material all the way to the final product.

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I had a request for some full tank shots on another site. So I am sharing those pics here also. The led fixture's power is set at 60% and the color rendition is set to 16k at the moment.

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I finally got my skimmer and electronics out of sight. I took an Ikea 4 drawer cabinet and turned it into my accessories housing. I took the drawer fronts and attached them to a sheet of abs plastic cut to size. I then used some of the magnetic closures from Home Depot to attach it to the housing. I now need to tidy up the wiring and mount the power banks. I am also still undecided if I want to place matching frosted panels on the stand doors. The results are in the following pictures.

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