250 gal. Mixed Reef - From Start to Finish

[Herstead]

Hi Everyone!

As some of you know Stephanie (Nienna) and I are setting up a 250 gal. Deep Dimension mixed reef tank. We bought the tank with its stand and a bunch of equipment off of the Classifieds last year and have been planning, researching and buying equipment as it goes on sale since then.

We have a 4 foot Vertex LED array, an RO/DI system, about 150 lbs. of dry rock, an electric salinity meter and Hanna Checkers to name a few key pieces of equipment. Photos of some of that will come in the future.

In order to set up the tank on our main floor we had an engineering report done on the floor and just recently completed the reinforcement. The reinforcement included tripling up 5 floor joists and adding a second jackpost under the beam. The photos show the work done.

We will try to keep this thread updated with progress.

- Jonathan

[exv152]

Do the joist supports go the full length of the floor/joists? Just curious in case I need to get the same thing done.

[NjOyRiD]

is there a way we can contact that engeneer?

[Herstead]

Hi again,

Yes the joists go along the full length of the floor between beams, and the name of the engineering firm was Star Engineering here in Ottawa.

I will warn you it cost just over $600 to get the official report with tax and depending on your situation could cost more. Also, any engineering report will maintain the safety factor in the house so their report is how to add that much weight and still be as safe as a normal room not just safe enough for the tank. A lot of people use the wiggle room the safety factor gives to reduce the amount of reinforcement needed but engineers are required by law not to do that and as we're both engineers, we respect that extra safety.

- Jonathan

[gerryo]

Well said, Jonathan.

And a very nice job indeed.

[Herstead]

Hi again,

I forgot to mention at the same time we had 2 GFCI plugs installed. Each one also has a new 15 amp breaker just for it. This means if one trips the other still works. We will try to always have at least one pump on both circuits so circulation is maintained.

- Jonathan

[gerryo]

" one pump on both circuits ".

Isn't that defeating the purpuse of the GFCI?  I don't think that it's the circuit that goes faulty but the pump would be the culprit.

[redbelly]

As you cant have a single pump plugged into multiple circuit I am pretty sure he means one pump on each circuit.

So if/when one pump does become faulty and trips the gfi, the other pump will be on the other circuit and so it will keep running.

Unless you are buying so very cheap return pumps i find they dont trip gris very often. Its usually heaters and cheap circulation pumps like mj's.
Titanium heaters are normally WAY better imo.
With all pumps (return or circulation) typically the more expensive ones have a better epoxy casing.

[veron]

I would have had 20amp breakers instead of 15amp. If you can change them out that would be better. Chances are you'll be running more than just 1 pump on that circuit correct? Most if not all new installs for kitchens etc,, use 20 amp T slot outlets. way more wiggle room. If your putting lights,power heads,heaters etc... on other breakes then you might be okay but if your using just the 2 x 15 amp breakers to run your entire tank I'd upgrade.

[Herstead]

Hi,

Yes I meant at least 1 pump on each circuit.

We only need 15 amps each, as far as I can tell. With everything running we should be under 25 amps total. Our lights are LED which mean a lot less draw then some. Also, we would prefer to trip a breaker if something starts to draw way over its normal limit instead of burning the house down. If I need to I will change them out though.

- Jonathan

[Stussi613]

Hi,

Yes I meant at least 1 pump on each circuit.

We only need 15 amps each, as far as I can tell. With everything running we should be under 25 amps total. Our lights are LED which mean a lot less draw then some. Also, we would prefer to trip a breaker if something starts to draw way over its normal limit instead of burning the house down. If I need to I will change them out though.

- Jonathan

At 12.5 amps on a 15 amp circuit you're at the top end of the practical load on the circuit for each 15 amp breaker. When I size PDU's for servers 25 amps is the max I'll rate the PDU's for on a 30 amp circuit, leaving 15% overhead, but that's mostly to deal with inrush issues that could spike the circuit over 30 amps and take the stack down. 

I'm not sure anything you are running would cause a spike, but something to consider...especially since the efficacy of breakers diminishes exponentially if they've been tripped more than once.

[veron]

well, having set up a lot of tanks over the years your gonna use up 2 x 15 amps very fast !  15 amps is not
what you be tripping at anyways. Once your around 12 amps any little spike will trip and it usually happens when your not home. If your running GFCI the chances of burning down your house are very slim and it won't matter wether 15 or 20 amp.   a 250g tank will need many things and your gonna probably regret 15 amp breakers.
Skimmer, return pump,power heads,lights, topoff,heaters to mention a few things. It takes nothing to change out a breaker and outlet and won't cost you any more hydro so why  not?   Your GFCI is what will trip before the breaker anyways. Looks like a fun project.

[Herstead]

Hi all,

I guess I will switch them out with 20 amp breakers. I think I would have been OK since our lights only draw 420W total but I will bow to your collective knowledge.

- Jonathan

[veron]

Good call.  :]   you'll be suprised of the things not thought of...
new water mixing pump, Kalk stirrer, carbon & GFO media,, the list goes on...
Maybe later on you don't like LEDS?? and you want to change out.. ya never know.

[Nienna]

Breakers have now been switched out - this weekend was big decision time - figuring out exactly which fish we want!

One of the key resources we used to help us figure out what would work is the fish compatibilty thread over on Reef Central (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112) - generally Steve (Snorvich) will review your planned stocking list for peaceful tanks and let you know about potential issues.

So without further delay, here's the list with a fish cutout picture!

1) Pair of Amphiprion ocellaris (Fancy Snowflake Clowns) M+F
2) Pair of tank-bred Pterapogon kauderni (Banggai Cardinals) M+F
3) Harem of Pseudanthias bimaculatus (Twin-spot Anthias) M+FFFFF
4) Pair of Synchiropus splendidus (Mandarin Dragonets) M+F After pods population is going strong (8-12 months).
5) An Acanthurus coeruleus (Atlantic Blue Tang)
6) An Ecsenius midas (Midas Blenny)
7) A Siganus doliatus (Scribbled Rabbitfish)
8) A Chromis cyaneus (Blue Reef Chromis)
9) A Chromis atripectoralis (Black Axil Chromis)
10) Pair of Centropyge loriculus (Flame Angel) M+F
11) A Chelmon Marginalis (Marginal Butterfly) from Australia.
12) A Halichoeres chrysotaenia or Halichoeres chrysus (Vrolik's or Canary Wrasse) We will have a 2 inch sand bed.

And Finally we will chose 1 or 2 of the following groups:
a) Pair of Cirrhilabrus lineatus (Lineatus Wrasse) M+F
b) Pair of Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis (Gold Rhomboid Fairy Wrasse) M+F
c) Trio of Paracheilinus carpenter or Paracheilinus mccoskeri (Carpenter's or McCosker's Flasher Wrasse) M+FF

[az]

i'd recommend;

pair of flame wrasse would add lots of color.

goby shrimp pair for the bottom.

yellow eye kole tang or any bristle tooth tang will help with algae.

a royal gramma.

few barnacle blennys.

[Herstead]

Hi all,

We have decided to put the sump in the basement so we can have a large one.
We are going to use http://www.tscstores.com/2-X-2-X-6-150-GALLON-POLY-STOCK-TANK-P3658.aspx as it is on sale. A few other sizes are also on sale till tomorrow if anyone is interested.

The main drawback is an aluminium plug that needs to be sealed over.

The 150 gallons will bring system up to around 350 gal. and still leave 50 gal room to drain back to the sump.

- Jonathan

[Aquaticfinatic]

Gotta be an update by now no??

[Herstead]

Update:

We have gotten all our dry rock and will soon be building our aquascaping. Our background is going to be dry rock and foam with an egg-crate base. We have reattached the bottom brace of the aquarium (it had come off during transport).

The main return pump we are going to use is a Reeflo Blowhole 2700 and is currently on back-order till the 8th.

Other than that we have been getting the house ready, we still need to paint the wall behind where the tank is going.

- Jonathan Herstead

[Herstead]

Hi all,

So we are now working on the rock work. We think this will be basically what it will will look like, please chime in with any glaring problems we have missed.

We will be working on the foam and rock background next.

- Jonathan and Stephanie 

[Stussi613]

How much rock is that, weight wise?

[Herstead]

Good question!

The rock in the photo, not including what we will have in the background and sump is around 170 lbs.

That is dry rock, from what we have researched dry rock is ~75% of the weight of live rock if it were to be dried. So when it becomes live in the system it would be like using 226 lbs. But as I said earlier, it is not all we are using.

We are also going to have a 2-2.5 inch sand bed. The rock work is going to be on stilts, probably composed of brick, to keep it from being supported on the sand or buried but done so the brick will be completely buried and invisible.

- Jonathan

[Stussi613]

Wow, something to reference the scale might be helpful for those following along...I was sure that was about 50lbs of rock based on a first look 

[Nienna]

Jon cropped the photo it originally showed the tank in the background - now all you can see is the base.  The cardboard box it's in is about 5' by 34", with the tallest bit of rock sitting 16" up.

[Herstead]

So my DVD's were beside where we have the rocks set up, so I added one for scale. Decided on the worst one possible for this. 

- Jonathan

[Stussi613]

Okay, that puts it a bit more into perspective! 

I like the layout, you'll have lots of shelves for corals...looking good!

[Aquaticfinatic]

Update!!

[Stussi613]

Update!!

John and Steph are the only people that move slower than me 

[Aquaticfinatic]

John and Steph are the only people that move slower than me 

We are all dooooooommmmeedd I tell ya! That bad slower than stussi 

[Herstead]

So yeah, been awhile since an update. Been busy with a lot of things.

We now have our main pump and are getting our plumbing supplies together.

We bought 6, 45 gallon Olive Barrels at Cohen and Cohen for $17 each to hold mixed water, kalk and RO/DI water.

We also purchased an Orca Pro I Skimmer, used, through the classifieds here on OVAS.

And today we finally got around to foaming our rock wall. The photos show the progression of the foaming. We actually used two brands of foam. One was Handi Foam which was bought online the other was Touch N'Foam Landscaping foam from Lowe's. If we had known Lowe's had it we would not have bought the first two cans online and would have just gone with the stuff from Lowe's.

There was a bit of a learning curve to judge how much the foam would come out of the can with what pressure and how it would expand but we are very pleased with how it turned out.

We plan to cover it with epoxy and then sand to make it look like rock in the near future.

- Jonathan

[Aquaticfinatic]

Where is this store? Is it the furniture place in Nepean?

We bought 6, 45 gallon Olive Barrels at Cohen and Cohen for $17 each to hold mixed water, kalk and RO/DI water.

[Nienna]

Where is this store? Is it the furniture place in Nepean?

Here's the link to their site: http://www.cohenandcohen.com/reuse/

They are real olive barrels - be aware that you need to clean them out before use, and you need to check to make sure you're not buying one that's been cracked.

In other news, we got word that our 'stand' for the basement sump and other aquarium equipment has arrived and is ready for pick up.  We'll probably be getting that this weekend.  It's a heavy duty metal shelving system - once that's set up with the sump in place all we'll need is the remaining pvc plumbing parts as we've got the flow path all diagramed out.

The main room where the tank will be is hopefully going to be painted by the end of this weekend.

[Herstead]

Hi all,

Sorry for the long wait, we have been working on it a lot, but have not had enough time to update.

Here is a picture of the rock wall with epoxy and sand on it.

More pics and info to follow.

- Jonathan

[Aquaticfinatic]

Just put water in it already!! 

[Stussi613]

Just put water in it already!! 

They're holding out on us...They have water in it and fish in quarantine!

[Nienna]

They're holding out on us...They have water in it and fish in quarantine!

Yup, I'm afraid there's quite a few pictures we need to get up on this thread - getting the chance to actually sit down at the computer for longer than 15min is the issue atm.

We'll try to get the pictures processed and up by the end of this weekend 

[Herstead]

Hi all,

So I thought we had taken more pictures then we did, but here are the highlights. First pic is the rock wall in and siliconed and the dry rock in place with us just starting the sand. Next is all the sand in with salt water and a piece of live rock for seeding. And finally a more detailed shot of the live rock.

We have our Tunze powerheads in but not in their final configuration and the lights need to be added and baffles put in sump so we can add the remaining water and turn on the return pump.

[Feivel]

Any Updates??

[dbl_dbl]

Cool scaping, looking forward to an update.

[Herstead]

Sorry about lack of updates. We do plan on updating this but with all the work with Aquamania and other things, Stephanie and I have not had much free time.

For now here are a few pics, we have baby trochus snails that were born in our tank (7 at last count), our snowflake clowns and me getting a manicure from a peppermint shrimp.

- Jonathan

[Herstead]

So  I got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully I will get around to posting more pictures and updates.

I just got this beautiful green mandarin from David at Got Fish?

[Philnashbass]

Gorgeous specimen.
I got a camera too, and like you, I'm hoping to "develop" my reef photography skills.

[Jellyanne]

What, is there another thread for your tank, because I know there is a lot more in it now!

[Herstead]

New Photos! Guilted into taking pictures it is!

- Jonathan

[bitterman]

What about a whole tank shot

[Herstead]

OK

[Dxpert]

Awesome pictures! If be very interested to see a few details on your ups system also, could you post a few shots and a brief description?

[bitterman]

Nice!  the flame angle pick at your corals at all?

Bruce

[sas]

Beautiful tank! Great to see the pics, it must be incredible in person!

[Jellyanne]

  Thank you!
I've seen it in person at night and it was really beautiful.
It's amazing in the daylight! The night light doesn't do justice to those anthias, that's for sure.
You guys have a great set-up

[GuyFawkes]

Nice tank! Nice to see more people posting there salty tanks on here


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[Herstead]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

The flame angel has not been picking at corals as far as we can tell.

- Jonathan

[GuyFawkes]

I would like one. But the 12 fish I have now is plenty for my 100g. Time to start a new one maybe lol


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